Compare/Alternatives

Cala HQ alternatives

3 tools our write-ups put next to Cala HQ, with starting price, free tier, MCP and API side by side.

Cala HQ from $15/moFree tier

Closest alternatives

The short answer

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. From $1.60/employee/mo
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. From Quote
Calamari : Leave, time and scheduling inside a mid-market HR stack with an API, quote-based, for teams that have outgrown a stand-alone tracker. From Sales-quoted

Why people look past Cala HQ

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.

What we noted

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

Not the right fit 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

Worth keeping in mind: 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.

Cala HQ alternatives compared

Tool	Free tier	From	MCP	API	Head to head
Cala HQ (the one you are on)	✓Yes	$15/mo	–No	–No
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.	✓Yes	$1.60/employee/mo	–No	–No	Head to head
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.	–No	Quote	–No	–No	Head to head
Calamari Leave, time and scheduling inside a mid-market HR stack with an API, quote-based, for teams that have outgrown a stand-alone tracker.	–No	Sales-quoted	–No	✓Yes	Head to head

What each one does differently

Tickin

$1.60/employee/mo Free tier

Why it comes up: Tracks attendance, breaks and leave inside Slack and Microsoft Teams, free for up to 10 employees and from $1.60/employee/mo after that.

Stands out: Everything runs from one /tickin command in Slack or Teams, so staff clock in and request leave where they already chat, and it is free for teams of up to 10.

Watch out: Microsoft Teams support is only on the $4.80 Scale plan, and paid prices are quoted billed annually. Payroll starts on Growth.

Best for

Remote and hybrid teams that already run their day in Slack
Small companies that want free attendance and leave for up to 10 people
Teams that want payroll fed by the same hours later

Read the Tickin write-up Cala HQ vs Tickin

IHR

Quote 30 day free trial

Why it comes up: 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.

Stands out: The payroll month is handled with unusual care for a small tool: overtime steps and night windows by your rules, forgotten timers that stop themselves, employees filling their own missing days, and a finalized report that cannot change without a recorded reason. It also tracks equipment and access per person with a leaver report, and runs fully in Hebrew and Ukrainian as well as English.

Watch out: No prices are published, so every team has to ask for a quote, and the free trial caps at 5 people. It is a new product with no public reviews yet. Payroll itself is not run, only exported to Excel, there is no public API, and Slack and Teams connections are only on plans that include them. Location is recorded at clock events only, not as GPS tracking through the day.

Best for

Small teams that chase hours at month-end
Hebrew or Ukrainian speaking workforces
Teams across several countries' holiday calendars

Read the IHR write-up Cala HQ vs IHR

Calamari

Sales-quoted Free trial API

Why it comes up: Leave, time and scheduling inside a mid-market HR stack with an API, quote-based, for teams that have outgrown a stand-alone tracker.

Stands out: Pick Time Off, Time and Attendance, and Core HR as modules, with Slack, Teams, and Google already in the box.

Watch out: The pricing calculator has no currency-labeled entry price. Modules stack, and there is a minimum bill.

Best for

EU and multi-country teams with complex leave rules
Companies that clock in from Slack, Teams, or a kiosk
HR teams that want documents beside time off

Read the Calamari write-up Cala HQ vs Calamari

Common questions

What is the best Cala HQ alternative?

It depends on what sent you looking. We compare 3 alternatives to Cala HQ: Tickin, IHR and Calamari. Each one's "Why it comes up" line says what it does differently, and the table above shows all 3 on price, free tier, MCP and API.

Is there a free alternative to Cala HQ?

Yes. Tickin carries a free tier on our listing, so you can try the product without a card. Free tiers are capped, so check the limits against your volume before you move a team across.

What is the cheapest Cala HQ alternative?

Of the published starting prices here, Tickin is lowest at $1.60/employee/mo. Starting price is the entry plan, not the seat count you will end up on, so read the plan table on each listing.

Keep looking

Back to the Cala HQ write-up Every Leave management tool we list Search the whole directory

Editorial listings, never paid rankings. Prices checked 3 Nov 2026. Confirm current terms on the vendor site. Spot an error?