Cala HQ
Team time-off tracker for small, remote and global teams, with leave policies, approvals, public holidays for 50+ countries and a free plan for up to 5 users, paid from $15/mo.
From $15/mo Free tier
Bottom line
Cala HQ is a lightweight time-off tracker that handles leave policies, approvals, balances and country-specific public holidays without an HR suite behind it. It is free for up to 5 users, and Team plans start at $15 a month billed yearly for up to 10 users, with every feature on every plan. It tracks time off only, so payroll, HR records and time tracking sit elsewhere.
Stands out for: It does one job and keeps it simple: setup in a few minutes, a shared calendar, and accrual and carry-over maths done for you. Every plan carries every feature, so the only thing that changes with price is team size, and the per-country holiday handling suits distributed teams.
Watch out for: This is a time-off tool and not an HR system, so there is no payroll, employee record keeping or FMLA and ADA casework. The prices shown on the vendor page are billed yearly, and I did not find a published monthly price. The 200+ teams figure is the vendor's own, and no API, SSO or integrations list is documented beyond Slack and email notifications.
Overview
Cala HQ is a team time-off tracker aimed at small, remote and global teams. Employees request leave, managers approve it with one click from an email or Slack notification, and a shared calendar shows who is off today and what is coming up.
Leave policies can be fixed, accrued or unlimited, with pro-rated accruals for mid-year joiners, carry-over limits with expiry grace periods and maximum balance caps. Custom policies cover parental leave, unpaid time off and sabbaticals.
Each employee gets the public holidays of their own country from built-in calendars covering 50+ countries, while one company leave policy applies to everyone. Requests can be routed to a leave manager per team, with minimum-notice rules, department filters, a Monday digest of who is away and reminders before leave starts.
Every plan includes every feature. It is free for up to 5 users, and Team 10, Team 25 and Team 50 cost $15, $30 and $55 a month billed yearly. The vendor says 200+ teams use it, and its data is hosted on cloud infrastructure with SSL and GDPR principles stated.
Who it's for
Best for
- Small teams replacing a leave spreadsheet
- Remote teams spread across countries with different public holidays
- Owner-led businesses with no HR department
- Teams that already live in Slack and email
Not ideal for
- Companies that need a full HRIS with payroll and employee records
- Teams that need FMLA or ADA leave casework
- Larger organisations that want a published API or SSO
Key features
Flexible leave policies. Fixed, accrued or unlimited leave, plus custom policies for parental leave, unpaid time off and sabbaticals.
Accrual maths handled. Pro-rating for mid-year joiners, carry-over limits with expiry grace periods and maximum balance caps.
Holidays by country. Built-in public holiday calendars for 50+ countries, so each employee sees their local holidays under one company policy.
One-click approvals. Managers approve or reject from an email or Slack notification, and requests route to the right leave manager by team.
Reminders and digests. A Monday email of who is off this week, reminders before leave starts and minimum-notice rules for requests.
Audit log. Every change, approval and adjustment is recorded with a clear activity history.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 5 users, all features, no card |
| Team 10 | $15/mo | Up to 10 users, billed $180 a year |
| Team 25 | $30/mo | Up to 25 users, billed $360 a year |
| Team 50 | $55/mo | Up to 50 users, billed $660 a year |
| Larger teams | Custom | Custom user limits and onboarding, contact sales |
Cala HQ is free for up to 5 users with no card, and every plan includes every feature. Team 10 is $15 a month for up to 10 users (billed $180 a year), Team 25 is $30 a month for up to 25 users (billed $360 a year) and Team 50 is $55 a month for up to 50 users (billed $660 a year), with 20% off for annual billing. Larger teams contact sales for custom user limits and onboarding. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.
Checked 3 Nov 2026. Vendors change prices without notice.
Is Cala HQ expensive?
Cala HQ starts at $15/mo. We list 15 leave management tools in total. 2 have a free tier, and those with a public price typically start around $5 a month.
- 10 quote-based
- 2 free tier
- 4 public price
Worked out automatically from every leave management listing, so it updates as the directory changes.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Free for up to 5 users with every feature included
- Local public holidays per employee under one company policy
- Managers can approve from the email or Slack notification, no login needed
Cons
- Time off only, with no payroll, HR records or time tracking
- Pricing is by user-count tier, so a team just over a limit moves up a whole plan
- No API or integrations list is documented on the marketing site
Integrations
Slack
What's new at Cala HQ
No updates logged yet. Follow Cala HQ and we will email you when it announces something new or its starting price changes.
Follow Cala HQ
Get an email when Cala HQ ships a new feature, posts release notes or changes its starting price. Only when something changes, and you can stop in one click.
How Cala HQ compares
See all Cala HQ alternatives, with what each one does differently and a head to head for every pairing.
| Tool | Free tier | From | MCP | API | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cala HQ (this tool) | ✓ | $15/mo | – | – | |
 Tickin Tracks attendance, breaks and leave inside Slack and Microsoft Teams, free for up to 10 employees and from $1.60/employee/mo after that. | ✓ | $1.60/employee/mo | – | – | Compare |
 IHR Small-team HR app that adds clocking hours and light hiring to time off with balances, with a 30-day free trial for up to 5 people and quoted plans. | – | Quote | – | – | Compare |
| | – | Sales-quoted | – | ✓ | Compare |
Tickin$1.60/employee/mo Free tier
Tracks attendance, breaks and leave inside Slack and Microsoft Teams, free for up to 10 employees and from $1.60/employee/mo after that.
IHRQuote
Small-team HR app that adds clocking hours and light hiring to time off with balances, with a 30-day free trial for up to 5 people and quoted plans.
Sales-quoted API
Leave, time and scheduling inside a mid-market HR stack with an API, quote-based, for teams that have outgrown a stand-alone tracker.
Your next step
Shortlisting Cala HQ?
Still deciding? Ask an AI assistant about Cala HQ.
ChatGPT (opens in a new tab)Claude (opens in a new tab)Grok (opens in a new tab)