# LeaveBoard — Absence Management

LeaveBoard by ZenThink S.R.L. holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 1.5/5), as of 2026-10-15. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: ZenThink S.R.L. (https://leaveboard.com)
- Category: [Absence Management](https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/leaveboard
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/leaveboard/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/leaveboard/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-21 · evaluated 2026-10-15 · oldest source captured 2026-10-13

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: ZenThink S.R.L.
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Default not stated; pages mention France [S13]
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S1]

## The panel's verdict

LeaveBoard, a cloud-based absence management tool from ZenThink S.R.L. aimed at small and mid-sized businesses, is strongest on requests and approvals at a flat 7 — mobile requests, approvers per team or per employee, clash checks, blackout days, delegation to HR admins, approvals in Slack, anonymized leave types. Weakest is sick leave and eAU at 0 to 1: sickness is a tracked leave type with manually entered past days, and no public information appears on eAU retrieval, the six-week continued-pay limit, child sick days or BEM. Payroll handover scores a uniform 3 — an Excel/XLS report with no named German payroll system on the captured pages. Hosting is named (OVH in France, ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II), but sovereignty spans 3 to 5 over a subprocessor chain given as service categories plus Braintree for cards, with no published list of names and locations. The genuine split is pricing transparency, 1 to 4: a free tier, feature lists per tier and a headcount-adjusted price are public, but no price figures appear, and judges split on how far that goes.

**Speaks for it:**
- Requests and approvals are well evidenced: mobile web-app requests, approvers personalized per team or per employee, blackout days, clash checks, delegation to HR admins and approvals in Slack.
- Anonymized leave types, three access levels and configurable visibility let colleagues see who is away without the reason.
- Entitlements adjust automatically on the employment date, with carry-forward, half days, custom leave types and an earned-days view for leavers.
- Hosting is named and audited: OVH in France, with ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II cited.
- Single sign-on via OAuth2 and OpenID with Google, Outlook and Slack is documented.

**Held against it:**
- Sickness is tracked as another leave type with manual entry of past sick days, and no public information appears on eAU retrieval, the six-week continued-pay limit, child sick days or BEM.
- The payroll handover is an Excel/XLS export, with no named payroll system such as DATEV in the captured material and no public information on an API or webhooks.
- No price figures appear for any paid tier, nor minimum users, minimum term or VAT treatment.
- The subprocessor chain is disclosed as service categories plus Braintree for cards, with no published list of names and locations and no public information on a data processing agreement covering sickness data.
- Deletion of data works only by contacting the vendor, not as a setting.

**Best for:**
- You run a small or mid-sized team and mainly need the everyday request-and-approval flow — mobile requests, Slack approvals, clash checks and blackout days.
- You want colleagues to see who is off but not why, using anonymized leave types and three access levels.
- Your rules fit per-company and per-employee allowances with carry-forward, half days and custom leave types, with automatic adjustment for mid-year joiners and an earned-days view for leavers.
- You already pass absences to payroll as a spreadsheet and need reports tailored for payroll rather than a system-to-system link.

**Avoid if:**
- You must run the regulated German sick process — eAU retrieval, six-week continued-pay counting or child sick days — where scores sit at 0 to 1.
- You need absences to flow into a named payroll system such as DATEV, or need an API or webhooks.
- You need a published subprocessor list with locations, or a documented data processing agreement covering sickness data.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price.

| Criterion | The Team Lead | The Managing Director | The Payroll Accountant | The Data Protection Officer | The HR IT Integrator | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Entitlements & German leave rules | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Requests, approvals & team calendar | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Sick leave, eAU & continued pay | 0/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 |
| Payroll handover, time tracking & API | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Health data, access & works council | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 2/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** | **1.5/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The Team Lead** (v1.0): Approves leave for twelve people across two shifts and finds out about clashes too late. Wants requests and approvals on the phone, a named substitute on every request, minimum-staffing warnings before approval, and a team calendar that shows who is away without showing why.
- **The Managing Director** (v1.0): Runs a forty-person company in two federal states without an HR department and is liable when leave is calculated wrong. Wants part-time entitlements prorated correctly, the right public holidays per site, carry-over that lapses only after employees were told, and the eAU handled without a phone call to every health insurer.
- **The Payroll Accountant** (v1.0): Closes payroll in DATEV every month and corrects whatever arrived late. Wants absences exported with the right payroll codes, the eAU result attached to the sick day, the six-week continued-pay limit counted per illness, and past months locked once they are paid.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Treats every sick day as special-category data, because the law does. Asks who can see a reason or a certificate, how long absence records are kept and deleted, whether access is logged, where the data is hosted, and which subprocessors send the push notification that says someone is ill.
- **The HR IT Integrator** (v1.0): Wires the absence tool to payroll, time tracking, the identity provider and the calendar. Wants a documented API and webhooks, maintained connectors for the named German payroll systems rather than a CSV, SSO, and balances that agree with the time-tracking system on both sides.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Knows "eAU supported" can mean a photo upload, "DATEV integration" can mean a CSV, and "GDPR-compliant" can mean every manager sees every diagnosis-adjacent note. Reads for who actually retrieves the certificate, which leave rules are computed rather than typed in, and whether the carry-over expiry notice exists at all.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Ownership | Not determined | — | — |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | — |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Cookie usage: Cookies used; consent via use, per privacy policy [S5]
- Data processor role: Data Controller · Data Processor [S13]
- Encryption: yes [S13]
- Encryption at rest: encrypted storage · firewalls · password protection systems [S4]
- EU laws: yes [S4]
- Hosting certifications: ISO/IEC 27001 · SSAE 16 · ISAE 3402 · SOC 2 Type II [S13]
- Incident notifications: yes [S13]
- Minimum age: 13 [S4]
- VAT treatment: no · no [S2]

**Data**
- Automatic collection: Automatic collection of preferences and anonymous usage statistics via cookies and other technologies [S4]
- Collected: Registration data such as name and email addresses [S4]
- Deletion: yes [S13]
- Employee data: Employee data collected includes name, resume, phone number, email address, and availability information [S4]
- No sharing for promotion: yes [S4]
- Third party sharing service providers: data storage · maintenance services · database management · web analytics · security · payment processing · improvement of features [S4]

**Hosting**
- Data location: France · yes [S13]
- Payment third party: Hosting and payment data management handled by third party partners [S4]
- Provider: SSAE 16 · ISAE 3402 · SOC 2 Type II · France · OVH [S13]

**Integrations**
- Calendar feed types: company/team/office/personal time-off · work anniversaries · birthdays · public holidays [S11]
- Calendar sync: Google Calendar · Outlook Calendar · Apple · .ics feeds [S11]
- Calendar sync: Google Calendar · Outlook Calendar · Apple · .ics feeds [S12]
- Feed types: company/team/office/personal · work anniversaries · birthdays · holidays [S12]
- HR reports export: Microsoft Excel or spreadsheet of choice [S12]
- Listed: Microsoft Office 365 · Google Calendar · Slack · Apple iCal [S2]
- Office365 google slack: Google · Office 365 · Slack [S3]
- Office365 one click: yes [S11]
- One click setup: yes · Google · Office 365 [S12]
- Outlook google calendar: yes · yes [S9]
- Payment processor: Visa · Mastercard · Braintree Payment Solutions · yes [S2]
- Slack: yes · yes · yes [S9]
- Slack outlook google: Slack · Outlook · Google Calendar [S3]
- SSO protocols: OAuth2 · OpenID · Google · Outlook · Slack [S11]
- Suggest integration: yes [S11]
- Suggestion channel: yes [S12]
- Surface: Integrations section listed in support navigation [S1]
- Workflow notifications: yes [S12]

**Legal**
- Disclosure law enforcement: Personal information may be disclosed when required by law, subpoena, or other legal process in the US, EU, or other jurisdictions [S4]
- Effective date: 2017-05-01 [S4]
- Effective date: 2017-06-07 [S5]
- Force majeure notice: 5 [S5]
- Force majeure termination: 2 [S5]
- Governing law: Romanian courts (exclusive) · Romania [S5]
- License terms: personal, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-assignable, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive license; terminable at any time [S5]
- Minimum age: 18 [S5]
- Operator: ZenThink S.R.L. [S5]
- Privacy changes notice: on the Services · email [S4]
- Privacy notice consent: Using LeaveBoard constitutes consent to collection, transfer, processing, storage and disclosure of information per the Privacy Policy [S4]
- Privacy policy URL: https://leaveboard.com/privacy/ [S5]

**Pricing**
- Enterprise plan: 81 · no [S2]
- Free price: 0 · 9 [S2]
- Free tier: yes · yes · no · no [S8]
- Free tier: Get started for free [S10]
- Free tier: yes · no · no [S9]
- No contracts: yes · no · no [S3]
- No credit card: no · no [S1]
- No hidden fees: no [S2]
- No installation: no [S2]
- Pro price: 1.35 [S2]
- Trial: yes · 14 [S2]
- Yearly discount: 17 [S2]

**Product**
- Absence notifications: Managers automatically receive email notifications to approve absence requests [S10]
- Absenteeism insights: yes · yes [S9]
- Access levels: 3 [S14]
- Accrual model: annual · no · Jan 1 · company · employee · yes [S6]
- Add leave policy: Admins can add custom leave types via Company > Leave types > [Add leave type] [S6]
- Administration topics: invite employees · teams · offices · public holidays · deactivate employee · access levels · permissions · company settings [S6]
- Allowance adjust on employment: yes [S7]
- Allowance carry forward: yes [S7]
- Allowance earned function: Allowance earned function shows vacation days as if accrued monthly [S6]
- Allowance unlimited: Allowance per leave type can be a limited number of days or unlimited [S6]
- Anonymized leave types: anonymized leave types · yes [S14]
- Approver personalization: Approvers can be personalized per team or individually per employee [S8]
- Approver setup: Approvers are set up by editing the approver field in the employee profile [S8]
- Attendance tracking: employee attendance tracking software [S1]
- Auto approve: yes [S7]
- Auto message on approval: yes [S9]
- Automatic annual accrual: yes [S3]
- Automation: email notification workflows · dynamic policies · HR process automation · rules validation · chatbots · calendar feeds [S3]
- Blackout days: yes [S9]
- Bulk allowance view: yes [S7]
- Channels listed: Features listed include Leave Management, Leave Tracking, Leave Planner, Self-Service, Employee Directory, HR Reports [S4]
- Comment required option: yes [S7]
- Core description: Cloud-based HR tools to track employee time off, centralize workforce data, empower employees, and get accurate reports [S1]
- Custom allowance per employee: yes [S3]
- Custom leave examples: Custom time-off types can track WFH, Travel, Parental, Working from the office [S6]
- Custom leave policies: custom time-off policies that accrue automatically, multiple PTO policies or leave types [S1]
- Customizable permissions: yes [S14]
- Daily backups: yes [S3]
- Data export: export leave data in various formats for payroll, accountancy, HR [S1]
- Default advance notice: 1 [S7]
- Default allowance range: 365 · 0 · 365 [S7]
- Delegated approval: yes [S9]
- Demo available: yes [S3]
- Demo available: yes [S9]
- Deployment: cloud web-app · no [S3]
- Dual notifications: Dual notifications, e.g. for sick leave [S8]
- Earned allowance report: yes [S7]
- Employee directory: centralized employee records in one secure place [S1]
- Employee leave actions: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S9]
- Employee portal: secure online employee portal per employee · yes [S14]
- Enforce allowance: yes [S7]
- Enterprise features: Unlimited users, advanced leave policies, account manager, priority support [S2]
- Ess portal: yes · yes [S9]
- Features list: leave request form · absence manager · attendance calendar · leave reports · automated quota/carryover/pro-rata/accrual calculation · people dashboards · employee portal · employee directory · easy setup [S3]
- Features listed: Leave Management · Leave Tracking · Leave Planner · Self-Service · Employee Directory · HR Reports · HR Software · Employee portal · Leave app [S5]
- Free features: HR dashboard, time off tracking, employee directory, HR reports, absence calendar, leave policies, time off management [S2]
- Free services: consultation · onboarding · support · software updates · technical maintenance [S3]
- Free signup: yes · yes · yes · yes [S14]
- Free tier: yes [S1]
- Half day absence: yes [S7]
- Half day reporting: 0.5 [S7]
- Help guides: Getting Started · Employee guide · Manager guide · Administrator guide [S6]
- Holiday calendars: public holidays and custom work schedules supported [S1]
- Holiday import multi office: yes [S3]
- HR analytics dashboard: HR analytics dashboard shows hire dates and years in service [S6]
- HR reports export: Microsoft Excel · spreadsheet [S11]
- HR reports payroll: tailored HR report for payroll [S1]
- Instant email notification: Automatic email is sent to the line manager when an employee books time off [S8]
- Interactive tour: yes [S3]
- Leave clash check: yes [S9]
- Leave notifications: yes [S11]
- Leave planner: vacation planning, automatic balance calculation, public holidays setup, mobile-friendly, conflict prevention [S3]
- Leave policy editing: Admins can edit leave type policy settings via Company > Leave types > Settings [S7]
- Leave request form: Online annual leave form registers requests, informs manager, calculates allowance, considers working days/public holidays, shows who else is absent, shows remaining allowance [S9]
- Leave rules: yes · yes · yes · yes [S6]
- Leave tracker: track leave of absence · vacation/sick/remote work tracking · official holidays · custom leave types · centralized records · approval flows [S3]
- Leave type color: Custom leave types can be assigned a display color in the attendance calendar [S6]
- Leave type color code: yes [S7]
- Leave type custom names: yes [S7]
- Leave type reorder: yes [S7]
- Marketing free tier: yes [S4]
- Minimum leave notice: yes [S7]
- Minimum notice zero or negative: 0 · -1 [S7]
- Mobile access: yes [S3]
- Mobile app: mobile web-app for vacation requests [S1]
- Mobile apps: yes [S4]
- Multiple notifications: yes [S9]
- No install: nothing to install, simple step-by-step setup [S1]
- Notice periods: yes · yes [S9]
- Org chart: workforce organized by organizational chart [S1]
- Payroll reporting: yes [S9]
- People analytics: people analytics for hiring, promotion, planning [S1]
- Per employee allowance adjustment: yes [S7]
- Platform: yes · small and medium businesses [S9]
- Pro features: Unlimited users, plus priority support and advanced leave policies [S2]
- Probation period blocking: 90 · yes [S9]
- Probation pto block: yes [S7]
- Rejection justification: yes [S9]
- Replacement field option: yes [S7]
- Reports xls: XLS · payroll reports [S3]
- Retroactive booking: yes [S7]

**Support**
- Cancellation: next renewal · yes [S2]
- Channels listed: Help Center · Implementation · HR Solutions · Free HR Resources · Integrations · Book a demo · Contact [S5]
- Demo booking: yes [S11]
- Help center: Help Center · Implementation · Contact · Book a demo [S1]
- Help center: Help Center · Implementation · HR Solutions · Free HR Resources · Integrations · Book a demo · Contact [S3]
- Onboarding: yes [S2]

20 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/leaveboard

## Questions

### Is LeaveBoard European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies LeaveBoard as EU-Made.

### Where does LeaveBoard store data?

The default storage location for customer data is not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026. The vendor’s pages mention France as hosting location, per [the vendor’s page captured 13 Oct 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/5626).

### Does LeaveBoard have a free plan?

Yes. LeaveBoard has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 13 Oct 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/5596).

### What are the best alternatives to LeaveBoard?

As of 15 Oct 2026, the panel rates [Kenjo (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/kenjo), [flair (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/flair-hr) and [HRlab (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/hrlab) highest among the other 16 Absence Management products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Kenjo](https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/kenjo) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [LeaveBoard alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/leaveboard/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 2 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 integrations fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 product fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 support fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://leaveboard.com/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S2] Pricing page: https://leaveboard.com/pricing/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S3] Leave management: https://leaveboard.com/leave-management/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S4] Privacy policy: https://leaveboard.com/privacy/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S5] Terms of service: https://leaveboard.com/terms/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S6] Entitlements & German leave rules — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/support/setup-add-leave-policy/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S7] Entitlements & German leave rules — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/support/setup-edit-leave-policy/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S8] Requests, approvals & team calendar — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/approval-workflow/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S9] Requests, approvals & team calendar — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/book-approve-manage-leave-requests/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S10] Sick leave, eAU & continued pay — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/sick-leave-request/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S11] Payroll handover, time tracking & API — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/integrations/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S12] Payroll handover, time tracking & API — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/de/integrations/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S13] Health data, access & works council — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/gdpr/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S14] Health data, access & works council — found from sitemap: https://leaveboard.com/access-permissions-system/ (checked 2026-10-13)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "LeaveBoard — Absence Management", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-21. https://whats-best.ai/software/absence-management/leaveboard

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/541?target=page