absence.io is a Munich-based SaaS platform built specifically for vacation, absence, and time tracking in small and medium-sized businesses (typically 5–250 employees). Made in Germany and fully GDPR-compliant, it replaces the spreadsheets and email-based PTO requests that still run most SMB HR processes with a clean web app, employee mobile apps for iOS and Android, manager approval workflows, and integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Outlook, and major HRIS / payroll systems.
The platform is built around four core products: Employee Vacation Tracker, Absence Management, Digital Personnel Files, and Time Tracking. The platform is offered in three per-user tiers — Starter (€2,99), Pro (€4,99) and Complete (€7,99) per user/month. Billing can be monthly or annual, with roughly a 10% discount on annual plans. With 4.5/5 average ratings on G2 and Capterra, free onboarding, friendly support, and a focus on European compliance, absence.io is one of the most-recommended absence management tools for European SMBs in 2026.
Employees pick a date range, hit submit, and the request flows directly to the right approver. Approvers see who else is off in the same window before approving.
Track every kind of absence — sick days, parental leave, training, remote, comp days — with customisable absence types and approval rules per company.
Replace shared drives with a structured personnel file system. Store contracts, ID copies, performance reviews, and onboarding checklists in one secure place.
Clock in / out from web, mobile, or an in-office app-terminal kiosk. Generate timesheets, overtime reports, and project allocation views for payroll.
Two-way sync with Google Calendar, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and major HRIS / payroll providers — keeps absence data current everywhere.
Hosted in Germany with full GDPR compliance, EU data residency, and security certifications expected by European HR teams.
Three clear plans — Starter (€2,99), Pro (€4,99) and Complete (€7,99) per user/month — billed monthly or yearly (annual saves ~10%), all prices net per user.
Free guided onboarding plus responsive customer support — consistently mentioned as a high point in G2 and Capterra reviews.
absence.io packages a full SMB-focused absence and time-tracking workflow: vacation request and approval flows, absence type configuration, team calendar with conflict detection, digital personnel files, time tracking via web / mobile / app-terminal, public holiday automation, customisable approval chains, branded company workspace, role-based access (admin, manager, employee), Slack and Microsoft Teams notifications, Google Calendar / Outlook two-way sync, REST API, audit logs, GDPR-compliant EU hosting, free guided onboarding, and responsive customer support. Pricing is offered in three simple per-user tiers (Starter, Pro, Complete).
To help you decide whether absence.io is the right HR absence management tool for your team, we have curated four hand-picked YouTube videos covering hands-on overviews, demos, and a German user guide. These videos walk you through requesting vacation, approving absences, viewing the team calendar, and configuring company-specific leave types.
absence.io is a cloud HR platform that streamlines the way teams manage time off and people data. Its core services cover absence and leave tracking, digital personnel files, time tracking, and self-service requests with automated approval workflows — all synced with your calendar and payroll tools. See the dedicated pricing section below for plan costs.
absence.io uses a simple three-tier pricing model — Starter, Pro and Complete — charged per user, per month, with all prices net. You can bill monthly or annually (annual saves about 10%), and every plan includes a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Below are the current 2026 European public prices.
Core absence and vacation management: leave tracking, approval workflow, team calendar, reports and downloads, plus integrations with Microsoft, Google, Slack and more. Ideal entry tier for smaller teams.
Most popular plan. Everything in Starter plus time tracking, digital personnel files, single sign-on (SSO) and premium support — a complete HR toolkit for growing companies.
Everything in Pro plus travel expenses, expense management and API access for maximum flexibility and integration with your existing systems.
All plans can be billed monthly or yearly, with roughly a 10% discount on annual billing. Prices are net per user.
Test absence.io free for 14 days with no credit card required before choosing a paid plan.
absence.io rates roughly 4.5/5 across G2 and Capterra. Customers consistently praise the easy setup, the clean UI, the friendly customer support, and the fair per-user pricing (from €2,99/user/month). The most common criticisms involve waiting for specific integrations (Google Calendar improvements, advanced HRIS) and occasional mobile bugs. For European SMBs that want a focused, GDPR-compliant absence and time-tracking tool, absence.io is one of the strongest 2026 picks.
For our 35-person agency in Munich absence.io has been the perfect fit — €2,99 per user per month is excellent value for a tool we use daily. Vacation requests and approvals take seconds, the team calendar makes planning much easier, and the Slack notifications mean nobody misses a request. Free onboarding was actually free and very helpful.
Source: paraphrased from public G2 review — https://www.g2.com/products/absence-io/reviews
We replaced spreadsheets and email PTO requests with absence.io for our 80-person UK team. The Vacation Tracker module alone has saved our HR person several hours each week, and adding Digital Personnel Files moved all our contracts and onboarding into one secure place. GDPR-compliant European hosting was a hard requirement and absence.io ticks every box.
Source: paraphrased from public Capterra review — https://www.capterra.com/p/153192/absence-io/reviews/
Solid focused absence management tool — does exactly what it advertises and nothing more. We use Vacation Tracker and Time Tracking modules for our 12-person consultancy. The mobile app has had a couple of bugs but they have been responsive on tickets. Wish Google Calendar sync had a few more options but otherwise no complaints.
Source: paraphrased from public G2 review — https://www.g2.com/products/absence-io/reviews
If absence.io is not the right fit, the strongest 2026 absence and HR alternatives are:
Quick answers to the most common questions HR leaders ask before subscribing to absence.io in 2026.
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