Calamari review
A rules-rich leave platform for growing teams managing multiple locations and policies.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Calamari is a cloud platform for managing employee leave, attendance, and HR information. It suits growing, distributed teams that need different policies by country, location, contract type, team, or employee group. Employees can submit leave requests, check balances, and view absence calendars through self-service tools, while administrators can manage holiday calendars, entitlements, and approval workflows. Web access, iOS and Android apps, API access, and workplace integrations support teams working across locations and systems.
Pricing is modular. According to the vendor’s pricing page, the annual Time Off plan starts at $2 per user per month and includes leave requests, an absence calendar, unlimited absence types, automatic carry-over and balance calculations, multi-country policies, and approval flows. The annual Core HR plan is also listed at $2 per user per month and adds a people directory, HR document repository, custom fields, and employee requests. Time & Attendance adds timesheets, time tracking, project tracking, and custom approval flows, while Performance Review covers surveys, external feedback, goals, and reviews. Subscriptions have a minimum cost equivalent to 10 seats, and there is no free plan; a 14-day free trial is available.
The strongest fit is organizations where leave administration depends on detailed rules rather than a simple shared calendar. Calamari supports accrual, proration, carry-over, expiry, balance calculations, public holiday calendars for multiple countries, and configurable multi-step approvals. Notifications can reach email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams, and reports can be exported to Excel or PDF. Integrations with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Jira, Asana, Basecamp, and an API help connect leave workflows to existing systems. Teams seeking only a lightweight leave tracker may find the modular HR scope and 10-seat minimum more than they need.
Calamari pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Custom accrual, carry-over, expiry, and proration rules
- Multi-step approvals with employee self-service
- Web, mobile, API, Slack, and Microsoft Teams access
- Where it doesn't
- No free plan
- Subscriptions have a 10-seat minimum equivalent
- Broader HR modules add scope beyond core leave management
Calamari fact sheet, pricing and score →
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