Absence and leave / Comparison
Timetastic vs Leave Dates: which saves your HR team more work?
The choice in 30 seconds
For a 40-person UK employer with working payroll, the job is straightforward: make holiday booking easier and stop HR correcting balances. Start with the problem that causes the most interruptions.
| Your team | Start here | Why |
|---|---|---|
| People regularly change their working days | Timetastic | Affected bookings recalculate after schedule changes; complex patterns need Pro. |
| Employees need several allowances or individual leave years | Leave Dates Plus | Those features are explicitly included in the plan. |
| Stable working patterns and ordinary holiday requests | Compare the entry plans | Extra configuration may add nothing useful. |
Timetastic: bookings recalculate after schedule changes
A member of staff moves from five days to four after booking next month’s holiday. The useful question is whether HR must revisit those bookings.
Timetastic says affected current- and next-year bookings recalculate when a new work schedule takes effect. Its Pro plan adds alternating two-week patterns and ad hoc changes.
Leave Dates tells administrators to update affected future bookings separately. Its schedule changes take effect immediately. That extra step is manageable for an occasional change; it is less attractive when changes are routine.
That is why we favour Timetastic for this buyer. It is a judgement about the documented workflow, not a claim that we measured either product’s speed. Annual entitlement still needs to reflect your policy: recalculating a booking does not settle every allowance question.
Leave Dates Plus: several allowances and individual leave years
Separate annual leave and other contractual balances can make a single allowance awkward. Leave Dates Plus includes unlimited allowances and personalised leave-year start dates, alongside SSO and API, webhook and Zapier access.
Choose it when those distinctions are part of how your business already works. Do not pay for elaborate settings simply because they are available. If calendar visibility, TOIL and overlaps are the real need, look at Essential first.
Budget separately for any connection you need built. API access gives you a way to connect systems; it does not mean your payroll connection arrives ready to use.
One setup mistake can make either product look wrong
Both products treat imported public-holiday calendar entries as non-deducting. If your stated allowance includes bank holidays, copying that full number into the wrong setup can leave staff with too much bookable leave.
Timetastic explains adjusting the entered allowance. Leave Dates documents deducting leave requests when deductions are needed. Follow the method that matches your policy before inviting everyone to book.
At 40 people, use the annual bill rather than the rounded headline
Leave Dates' GBP pricing page, checked 2 October 2026, displays these annual-billing amounts. VAT is excluded. This assumes 40 paid users throughout the year and no other charges or discounts.
| Plan | Annual amount per user | 40-user annual amount |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | £9.00 | £360 |
| Essential | £18.00 | £720 |
| Plus | £22.50 | £900 |
Plus displays a rounded monthly equivalent of £1.88. Multiplying that by 12 would produce £22.56, rather than its stated £22.50 annual bill. Use the actual billing amount for the budget.
Our retrieval of Timetastic's pricing page displayed dollar rates, with Business, Pro and Rota & Time Clock scope. We have not substituted an older third-party GBP price or converted that display into a UK quote. Confirm currency, tax and the selected plan directly before comparing totals.
Test requests, cancellations and schedule changes before switching
If your current tool handles approvals, balances and changes reliably, a small subscription saving is a weak reason to move. If HR keeps repairing bookings or answering balance questions, the workflow difference matters.
Try one ordinary request, one cancellation and one working-pattern change before importing the whole team. Check the resulting deductions and identify any bookings HR must update by hand.
Stay with leave management unless you also need rota planning. Timetastic’s wider Rota & Time Clock offering is a separate scope decision, not an automatic upgrade for this buyer.
Questions buyers ask
Does Timetastic update existing leave after a working-pattern change?
Its published schedule guide says affected current- or next-year bookings recalculate automatically. Confirm the expected deductions in your proposed configuration; this article reports documentation, not a hands-on test.
Does changing a Leave Dates schedule update existing leave?
Its published instructions say it does not. They describe updating affected future leave separately, alongside the relevant allowance and schedule changes.
Which is cheaper for a UK team?
We have a current GBP annual-billing breakdown for Leave Dates but no matched Timetastic UK quote for the required configuration. This page does not name an overall price winner.
Should a 40-person employer buy the broadest plan?
Only when its scope serves the actual requirement. Use the selected paid plan during acceptance, and include implementation and recurring admin work in the comparison.
Sources and research scope
Primary sources checked 2 October 2026; schedule handling and plan boundaries rechecked for this revision. Recommendations reflect documented workflows and editorial judgement, not hands-on testing. Current matched UK pricing for Timetastic remains unverified; no overall price winner is claimed.
- Timetastic schedule instructionsEffective dates and automatic recalculation of affected bookings.
- Leave Dates schedule-change instructionsSeparate allowance, schedule and future-booking steps.
- Leave Dates plansGBP annual billing and Plus scope.
- Timetastic plansCurrent product scope; dollar display in retrieval, not a verified UK quote.
- Timetastic public holidaysNon-deducting calendar entries and allowance setup.
- Leave Dates public holidaysNon-deducting calendar entries versus deducting leave requests.