Spock vs Vacation Tracker: which one keeps your team in Slack?
Pick Vacation Tracker if your company also runs on Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace, or needs TOIL and multi-level approvals. Pick Spock if your team lives in Slack and you want requests, approvals, balances and the team calendar to happen right there, with a free plan for any team size.
New to Slack time off tools? Start with our vacation tracker for Slack overview.
Who each one is built for
Vacation Tracker is a leave management platform that connects to Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace. Employees can request time off and check their quotas from those tools. The wallchart, calendar view, reports and settings live in its web dashboard, and there's a mobile app too. It suits companies with several offices, different rules per location, or more than one chat tool.
Spock is built for teams that already spend their day in Slack. Employees request time off, managers approve it, and everyone checks balances and the team calendar from Spock's Home tab and messages. Admins set the rules once in a web dashboard. Employees never need to open it. It suits Slack-first teams that want time off handled where they already talk.
What Vacation Tracker does well
- More than one chat tool. It works in Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace, so a company that's split across tools, or moving between them, can run one system for everyone.
- Deeper policy rules on Complete. The Complete plan adds accruals, hourly tracking, TOIL (time off in lieu), multi-level and substitute approvals, and automations like probation periods and a cap on how many people are away at once.
- Its own mobile app. Vacation Tracker has iOS and Android apps, for people who'd rather book time off outside Slack.
Where Spock is different
- The whole employee experience is in Slack. The Home tab shows the team calendar, your balances and a request button. Approval requests arrive as a Slack message with approve and decline buttons Professional. Everyone can sign in to the web dashboard, but employees never need to, so there's no second login to hand out.
- A free plan for any team size. Unlimited members and requests, up to three leave types, no time limit. Vacation Tracker has a 14-day trial and no free plan.
- Colleague cover the whole team can see. When you request time off you can name who covers for you, and they show up in the team calendar Professional. That's different from Vacation Tracker's substitute approvers, which are backups who approve requests when the usual approver is away.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Spock | Vacation Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Where employees request time off | In Slack: Home tab, shortcuts or a message to the bot | Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, the web dashboard or the mobile app |
| Where managers approve | In a Slack message (Professional; on Free, requests don't need approval) | Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or the web dashboard |
| Team calendar in Slack | Yes, in the Home tab | Partial: upcoming absences in Slack, the wallchart and calendar view in the web dashboard |
| Balances in Slack | Yes (allowances on Professional) | Yes |
| Employees need a web login | Never. Everyone can sign in, nobody has to | Only for the full calendar |
| Approval levels | One approver decides: reporting line, named approvers or auto-approve | One level on Core, multi-level on Complete |
| Colleague cover / substitute approvers | Colleague cover shown on the calendar (Professional) | Substitute approvers on Complete; colleague cover not stated |
| Carryover | Yes, an admin runs it between January and March (Professional) | Yes, on Core and Complete |
| Accruals | Yes, monthly or weekly (Professional) | Complete only |
| Public holidays | 140+ countries, one calendar per location | Multiple countries (count not stated) |
| Calendar feed or sync | iCal feed for Google, Apple and Outlook (holidays in the feed on Professional), plus add-to-calendar links | Personal sync to Google or Outlook; shared calendars by iCal on Core, plus Google and Outlook on Complete |
| Platforms | Slack only (works in Slack's mobile app) | Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, iOS and Android apps |
| Reports and CSV | Weekly, monthly and yearly reports with CSV export, every plan | Balance and request reports on both plans; scheduled email reports on Complete |
| API and webhooks | REST API and webhooks (Professional) | OpenAPI, Zapier, ADP and an MCP connector on both plans |
| Free plan | Yes, any team size, up to 3 leave types | No |
| Trial | 14 days of Professional, no card | 14 days, no card |
Pricing side by side
| Feature | Spock Professional | Vacation Tracker Core (monthly / yearly) | Vacation Tracker Complete (monthly / yearly) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 people | $19.90 | $50 / $45.83 | $100 / $91.67 |
| 50 people | $49.90 | $100 / $91.67 | $200 / $183.33 |
| 100 people | $99.90 | $200 / $183.33 | $400 / $366.67 |
US dollars per month. Vacation Tracker's yearly figures are the monthly equivalent of a bill paid once a year, and it prices yearly plans in user tiers, so check its calculator for your exact number. Spock bills active users only.
Spock costs less on monthly and yearly billing alike. Paying yearly takes about 8% off Vacation Tracker's price, so Core still costs close to twice as much as Spock at 50 and 100 people.
Want yearly billing for Spock? Ask support@spockoffice.com about a yearly plan.
Is "Slack only" a limitation?
Vacation Tracker's own comparison calls it Spock's biggest limitation: it only works with Slack. That's true. If your company isn't on Slack, or might move to Teams next year, Vacation Tracker is the better pick. No argument there.
For teams that live in Slack, though, "only Slack" is the point. There's no second tool to roll out, nothing new for employees to learn, and nobody to chase for a login they forgot. People ask for time off in the same place they ask a colleague a question, and managers approve it between two messages.
It also keeps setup small. Spock adds people from your Slack workspace automatically, so the team list is right on day one and stays right when someone joins.
Which should you pick?
Pick Vacation Tracker if your company uses Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace alongside Slack, or needs TOIL or multi-level approvals. It's also the one with its own mobile app.
Pick Spock if your team lives in Slack and you want requests, approvals, balances and the calendar all there, with nothing else to log into. Start on the free plan, or try Professional for 14 days without a card.
Switching from Vacation Tracker to Spock
Moving over takes an afternoon of admin work. Here's what's automatic and what isn't.
- Add Spock to Slack. Everyone in your workspace comes over automatically, and people who join Slack later are added on their own. No CSV, no invites.
- Set up your leave types, allowances and approvers in the admin dashboard. This part is manual, but most teams have a handful of each and it takes one sitting.
- Bring over current balances by hand. Set the yearly allowance per leave type, then add a manual adjustment with a note for anyone whose balance differs. It's one person at a time, so do it once, around the start of a month.
- Re-enter upcoming time off, not history. Spock doesn't import past leave records. Admins and managers can log already-approved time off on someone's behalf Professional, so start with what's booked ahead.
- Import public holidays for each country or office, then run both tools side by side for a week before you switch everyone over.
Time off, handled
in Slack
Free plan for any team size, or 14 days of Professional with no card. Your people come straight from Slack.
Frequently asked questions
Is Spock cheaper than Vacation Tracker?
Yes, on monthly and yearly billing. For 20, 50 and 100 people, Spock Professional is $19.90, $49.90 and $99.90 a month. Vacation Tracker Core is $50, $100 and $200 a month, or $45.83, $91.67 and $183.33 a month billed yearly. Spock also has a free plan for any team size; Vacation Tracker doesn't.
Does Spock work with Microsoft Teams?
No. Spock works only in Slack, including Slack's mobile app. If your company uses Teams, or plans to move to it, Vacation Tracker supports Slack, Teams and Google Workspace.
Can I move from Vacation Tracker to Spock?
Yes. Your people come over from Slack automatically. Leave types, allowances and approvers are set up by hand in the admin dashboard, and current balances are entered as a manual adjustment per person. Spock doesn't import past leave records, so most teams re-enter only the time off that's already booked ahead.
Does Spock have a web dashboard?
Yes, for admins. That's where you set leave types, allowances, approvers and holiday calendars. Every user can sign in, but employees never need to: requests, approvals, balances and the team calendar all work in Slack.
Does Spock have multi-level approvals?
No. One approver decides each request. For each person, requests can follow the reporting line (their team manager, or a general manager if they're not in a team), go to named approvers, or be approved automatically. If you need two or three sign-offs, look at Vacation Tracker's Complete plan.
Competitor details come from their public pricing and feature pages, checked in .