CaptureLeave is a leave management platform built around a flat-rate pricing model: instead of charging per user per month, it charges a fixed amount per team size band. A team of 5–15 people pays $25/month regardless of headcount. A team of 36–50 pays $55/month. This approach is appealing to teams that want predictable spending without per-seat math and whose headcount fluctuates within a band.
The platform offers a 60-day free trial — one of the longest in this category — with no credit card required. This is a genuine advantage for teams that want to evaluate a leave management tool thoroughly before committing budget.
This CaptureLeave review covers CaptureLeave pricing, the flat-rate model, where it falls short and how it compares to actiPLANS for teams evaluating leave management in 2026.
Quick verdict
| Dimension | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of setup | 4/5 | Browser-based; straightforward team onboarding |
| Feature depth | 3/5 | Core leave management covered; limited integrations and analytics |
| Free trial | 5/5 | 60-day trial — no credit card required |
| Pricing model | 4/5 | Flat-rate bands benefit stable, mid-size teams; not ideal for small or large teams |
| Integrations | 2/5 | Limited integration set compared to competitors |
| Mobile experience | 3/5 | Mobile web access; no listed native app |
| Reporting | 3/5 | Basic leave reports and balance tracking |
What is CaptureLeave?
CaptureLeave is a cloud-based leave management platform designed for small to mid-size companies that want to replace email and spreadsheet-based absence tracking with a structured system. The product covers leave requests, multi-level approvals, balance tracking, team calendar visibility, and basic reporting.
What makes CaptureLeave distinctive is its pricing structure. Rather than per-user billing, it uses fixed bands: $25/month for 5–15 users, $40/month for 16–35, and so on. For teams whose headcount is stable within a band, this means no monthly per-seat calculation and predictable costs. For teams that grow across band boundaries, the pricing can jump in steps.
The 60-day free trial with no credit card requirement is the most evaluation-friendly trial in this category. Teams can run a full evaluation across two full months — including a complete monthly leave cycle — before making a purchasing decision.
Feature breakdown
Leave request and approval workflow
CaptureLeave covers the standard leave management cycle: employees submit, managers approve, everyone is notified, balances update automatically.
- Employee self-service leave requests
- Multi-level approval workflows — configurable per department or team
- Overlap detection — system flags when multiple team members are off on the same dates
- Custom leave types — holiday, sick, personal, and user-defined types
- Half-day bookings
- Email notifications for request, approval, and rejection events
- Leave calendar — team-wide view of approved absences
Leave policies and allowances
- Annual allowance tracking — real-time remaining balance per employee
- Carry-over rules — configurable per leave type
- Accrual support — build entitlement over the leave year
- Pro-rata for mid-year starters
- Individual allowance adjustments
- Public holiday calendar configuration
- Leave taken in full days and half days
Team calendar and visibility
The shared team calendar gives managers and employees a visual view of who is absent and when. Colour-coding by leave type makes it easy to distinguish holiday, sick, and other absence categories at a glance.
- Shared team absence calendar
- Colour-coded by leave type
- Manager and HR-level views showing full team
- Employee view limited to their own and immediate team’s leave
- Google, Outlook, and iCal calendar sync — approved time off exports directly to personal calendars
Reporting
Reporting in CaptureLeave is functional but not deep. HR teams can export data for payroll reconciliation and see summary reports, but there is no advanced analytics dashboard or trend visualization.
- Leave balance reports per employee
- Leave taken by type reports
- Export to CSV/Excel for payroll reconciliation
- Manager-level leave summary reports
What is missing or weak
- No native mobile app — CaptureLeave is accessible from mobile browsers, but there is no dedicated iOS or Android app
- Limited integrations — no SSO connectors (Google, Slack, Microsoft) or HRIS integrations (BambooHR, Personio, etc.)
- No annual billing option — pricing is monthly only, which means no discount for committing to a full year
- Band pricing can create awkward jumps — growing from 15 to 16 users means moving from $25/month to $40/month, a 60% increase for one additional user
- Band pricing is not ideal for large teams — at 101–150 users, cost is $125/month; at 151+ users, $0.25/user is added above 150, making the per-user cost variable again
- No time tracking module — leave-only platform with no project-level time tracking
- No payroll integration
CaptureLeave pricing
CaptureLeave uses a flat-rate band model. All plans include the same core feature set — the only variable is team size. There is no annual billing discount. A 60-day free trial requires no credit card.
| Team size | Monthly price | Effective per-user rate (midpoint) |
|---|---|---|
| 5–15 users | $25/month | $2.50–$5.00/user |
| 16–35 users | $40/month | $1.14–$2.50/user |
| 36–50 users | $55/month | $1.10–$1.53/user |
| 51–75 users | $75/month | $1.00–$1.47/user |
| 76–100 users | $90/month | $0.90–$1.18/user |
| 101–150 users | $125/month | $0.83–$1.24/user |
| 151–2500 users (max) | $125 + $0.25/user above 150 | Variable |
The flat-rate model is most cost-effective for teams in the middle of a band (e.g., 30 users in the 16–35 band at $40/month = ~$1.33/user) and least cost-effective at the bottom of a band (e.g., 5 users in the 5–15 band at $25/month = $5.00/user).
Note: there is no annual billing discount. Teams that want to reduce costs by committing annually will need to choose a different platform.
CaptureLeave vs. actiPLANS: how they compare
Feature comparison
| Feature | CaptureLeave | actiPLANS |
|---|---|---|
| Free option | 60-day trial, no credit card | Free forever for 1–3 users |
| Pricing model | Flat-rate bands (monthly only) | From $1.20/user/month billed yearly |
| Annual billing | Not available | Yes |
| Leave management | Yes | Yes |
| Accruals and carry-over | Yes | Yes |
| Calendar integrations | Yes | Yes |
| HRIS integrations | No | No |
| Mobile app | No — browser only | iOS and Android native apps |
| Reporting analytics | Basic | Absence and balance reports |
| Time tracking | No | Via actiTIME integration |
| Trial period | 60 days, no credit card | 30 days, no credit card |
Pricing comparison: CaptureLeave’s flat-rate model is competitively priced for mid-size teams. A team of 20 pays $40/month on CaptureLeave versus $30/month on actiPLANS (billed yearly).
actiPLANS includes native iOS and Android apps and the option to have the same 3 users free permanently rather than a time-limited trial. CaptureLeave’s 60-day trial is more generous for evaluation, but teams that need ongoing zero-cost access for a small team will find actiPLANS more accommodating.
Who CaptureLeave is for and who it is not for
Ideal users
- Teams of 15–75 employees with relatively stable headcount who want predictable flat-rate billing. The sweet spot is being comfortably within a band — a team of 30 pays $40/month regardless of adding or removing one person, and knows exactly what they will pay next month.
- HR teams that want a long trial period before committing. The 60-day no-credit-card trial is the most evaluation-friendly in this category and is ideal for companies with cautious procurement processes or committee approval requirements.
- Organizations that have had frustrating experiences with per-user billing spikes and prefer a flat monthly fee even if that means paying slightly more in some months.
- Desk-based teams where mobile app access is not a priority and the browser-based interface on mobile is sufficient for occasional leave requests.
Less ideal users
- Very small teams of under 10 employees — the minimum $25/month on the 5–15 band equates to $2.50–$5/user, which is significantly more expensive than per-user alternatives at $1.35–$1.50/user.
- Fast-growing teams approaching a band boundary — adding a single user that triggers a band jump creates an unexpected cost step that requires re-approval of the software spend.
- Teams that need SSO or HRIS integration — CaptureLeave’s integration set does not include these connectors.
- Teams where employees access tools primarily from mobile and expect a native app experience.
- Companies that want annual billing to lock in a rate and reduce monthly overhead — CaptureLeave only bills monthly.
CaptureLeave: our scorecard
| Category | CaptureLeave | actiPLANS |
|---|---|---|
| Free/trial option | Good — 60-day trial, no card | Excellent — permanent free for 1–3 users |
| Pricing predictability | Excellent | Excellent |
| Small team value (<15) | Poor — $25 minimum | Excellent — $1.50/user |
| Mid-team value (20–75) | Good to Excellent | Excellent |
| Annual billing | Not available | Yes |
| Leave management depth | Good | Excellent |
| Calendar integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Poor — browser only | Excellent — native iOS/Android |
| Reporting | Basic | Good |
| Setup complexity | Low | Low |
Conclusion: should you use CaptureLeave?
CaptureLeave’s flat-rate model and 60-day trial are genuinely differentiated. For stable mid-size teams who are frustrated by per-seat billing and want maximum evaluation time, it solves a real problem with a straightforward approach.
The gaps — no annual billing, limited SSO and HRIS integrations, no mobile app, and band-jump pricing anxiety — make it less compelling for teams that are growing, need connectivity to other tools, or have mobile-first employees.
For teams who fit comfortably within a mid-size band and value billing predictability, CaptureLeave is worth evaluating. For teams looking for a CaptureLeave alternative that offers a permanent free tier, native mobile apps, and per-user pricing that scales down cleanly as headcount changes, actiPLANS is the stronger fit.
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