PTO Tracking App for Small Business: What to Look For

Time off is one of the most common reasons a small business outgrows a spreadsheet. Someone texts a request, someone else remembers it differently, and by the end of the year nobody agrees on a balance. A PTO tracking app ends that conversation. Here is what to look for, what the law says, and how to test a tool before you commit.

What the law does and does not say

At the federal level, paid time off is mostly a matter of your own policy. The U.S. Department of Labor states that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave, or federal or other holidays. Those benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee.

That does not mean you can ignore the rules. Some states and cities have their own paid leave laws, so check with your State Labor Department. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies to covered employers, which include private-sector employers who employ 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in either the current calendar year or the previous calendar year. Employees are eligible if they work for a covered employer for at least 12 months, have at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the 12 months before their FMLA leave starts, and work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles. Eligible employees can take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for qualifying reasons. See the DOL's FMLA page for the details. Your PTO app should record your policy faithfully, but your policy and the legal questions around it are for you and your own counsel.

The features that matter

1. Requests that come in through one door. Employees should request time off in a portal, not by text, email, and hallway chat. One door means one record.

2. Manager approvals you can follow. A request should go to the right manager, and everyone should be able to see whether it is pending, approved, or declined.

3. Balances that update on their own. When a request is approved, the balance should change without anyone editing a cell.

4. A view of who is out. Planning a week is much easier when you can see time off at a glance.

5. Your rules, loaded for you. Different policies for different groups are common. Ask who sets up your time-off policies, because that setup is where many tools get stuck.

6. Hours and scheduling nearby. If you track weekly hours, time off and hours touch each other. It helps when they live in the same place.

7. A record of who changed what. If a balance is questioned, you want to see the history.

Other places to find PTO tracking

PTO tracking is built into many products, so you may already have a piece of it. A few examples, based on each vendor's own pages (as of October 28, 2026):

• BambooHR's pricing page lists time-off management with requests, accruals, and approvals, a time-off calendar, and unlimited custom policies in its Core plan.
• Gusto's pricing page lists basic PTO policies and holiday pay on its Simple plan. Gusto starts with payroll and adds HR tools on higher plans.
• Justworks's pricing page lists PTO management and time off reports among its plan features.

PTO is only one slice of HR. CypressHR gives you time off together with the people directory, documents, e-sign, and onboarding checklists (Pro only) in one place, for one flat monthly price (extra states $25/month each).

How CypressHR handles time off

CypressHR is HR software for U.S. small businesses, and time off is part of the core product. Based on the CypressHR site, here is what that looks like:

• Employees ask in the portal. The employee portal runs in a web browser on a phone or computer, so nobody installs anything.
• Managers approve. Requests wait for approval, and balances update when they are approved. On Pro, managers also get an approvals inbox that collects what is waiting.
• Setup help is free. After you pay, free setup includes loading your employee roster, your handbook and your time-off policy.
• Time off is included in Essentials. You do not need the higher plan just to track PTO.
• Who is out stays visible, within limits. Owners, HR and managers see "Out in the next 7 days" on the admin home page, and the time-off page has a two-week, day-by-day view. Managers see only their own team, and employees do not see anyone else's time off. This is on both plans. There is no company-wide calendar.
• Hours sit nearby. Pro adds weekly timesheets with manager approval and scheduling, for teams that need timesheets, scheduling, or more than one location.
• Changes are recorded. CypressHR keeps a record of who changed what.

Essentials is $350 a month. Pro has a founding price. Founding price: $500 a month for companies that sign up by December 1, 2026 (11:59 PM Central). Standard price is $700 a month after that. Both plans are a flat monthly price per company with no per-employee fees, plus applicable sales tax. See the pricing page.

One honest boundary: CypressHR does not include payroll. It keeps approved hours and gives you a file to bring to whoever runs your payroll, so it works next to the payroll provider you already use.

A quick test before you commit

1. Add three sample employees with different time-off situations, such as a new hire, a long-time employee, and someone part-time.
2. Submit a request as an employee, approve it as a manager, and check that the balance changes.
3. Ask what happens to your existing balances. Can you import people from a spreadsheet? CypressHR lets you import people from a CSV, and free setup includes loading your employee roster and your time-off policy.
4. Ask how you would view a year-end history for one person.
5. Ask what the tool will not do, such as run payroll or interpret a leave law for you.

The short version

A good PTO tracking app gives employees one place to ask, managers one place to approve, and you one place to look. If you want that along with a people directory, documents, e-sign, and onboarding checklists (Pro only) at a flat monthly price, open the CypressHR sample company and see time off, documents, and onboarding come together in one place.

Ready to look? Open the CypressHR sample company, see the pricing, or become a founding customer. Free setup includes loading your employee roster, your handbook and your time-off policy, and plans are month-to-month. Questions? Email support@cypresshr.app.