18 years helping Canadian businesses
choose better software

What Is Calamari?

Calamari is an HR management software that makes people management easier. It allows for planning and tracking of all types of absences. You can get notifications about upcoming absences and time-off requests. Calamari supports companies with offices based in multiple countries and locations and supports role-based security. The app is integrated with project management tools like JIRA, Slack, Office265, GSuite, Microsoft Teams, Basecamp, and Asana.

Who Uses Calamari?

Calamari helps in employees' time tracking management. It automates and simplifies processes connected to absences and timesheets. We provide support in the initial set up & employees' data import.

Where can Calamari be deployed?

Cloud-based
On-premise

About the vendor

  • Calamari
  • Founded in 2014

Calamari support

  • Chat

Countries available

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra and 225 others

Languages

English, French, German, Polish, Spanish

Calamari pricing

Starting Price:

US$2.00/month
  • Yes, has free trial
  • No free version

Calamari does not have a free version but does offer a free trial. Calamari paid version starts at US$2.00/month.

Pricing plans get a free trial

About the vendor

  • Calamari
  • Founded in 2014

Calamari support

  • Chat

Countries available

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra and 225 others

Languages

English, French, German, Polish, Spanish

Calamari videos and images

Calamari Software - Calendar with detailed information about upcoming absences, holidays, and remote work
Calamari Software - Online Timesheets with all the details about employees working time. You have a possibility to clock in/out, call a break, add project, and notes
Calamari Software - Clock in/out and see all the details about your working day
Calamari Software - Manage your company documents with ease
Calamari Software - Many possible integrations with a possibility to use our API
View 5 more
Calamari Software - Calendar with detailed information about upcoming absences, holidays, and remote work
Calamari Software - Online Timesheets with all the details about employees working time. You have a possibility to clock in/out, call a break, add project, and notes
Calamari Software - Clock in/out and see all the details about your working day
Calamari Software - Manage your company documents with ease
Calamari Software - Many possible integrations with a possibility to use our API

Features of Calamari

  • Alerts/Notifications
  • Approval Process Control
  • Attendance Management
  • Attendance Tracking Software
  • Billable & Non-Billable Hours
  • Calendar Management
  • Clock In/Out
  • Compensation Management Software
  • Employee Database
  • Employee Management
  • Employee Scheduling Software
  • Leave Policy Management
  • Leave Tracking
  • Mobile Access
  • Multi-Location
  • Onboarding Software
  • Overtime Calculation
  • Payroll Reporting
  • Project Time Tracking
  • Reporting/Analytics
  • Role-Based Permissions
  • Self Service Portal
  • Shift Swapping
  • Third-Party Integrations
  • Time & Attendance
  • Time Off Management
  • Timesheet Management
  • Vacation/Leave Tracking

Alternatives to Calamari

Work smarter with edays! Efficiently manage all types of leave and absence, reduce admin, and gain actionable people insights.
Software that helps businesses create apps that guide and collect data from the people, machines, and devices across their operations.
ChiroTouch is the cloud standard in chiropractic software and the only completely integrated EHR software accessible on any device.
Sage HR is an all-in-one HR platform that transforms how small and medium-sized businesses manage and engage their people.
Time tracker and timesheet software that allow teams and business to see where the time and money goes.
uAttend was built for businesses that need an easy-to-use, affordable, and reliable time and attendance system.
Looking for a flexible HR solution? We offer a modular solution that grows with you. Join our global community of 5 million+ users!
Trusted by teams of 2 to 20,000 to plan, track, and collaborate on work, Jira offers every team the top tools and practices for growth. Learn more about Jira
Integrated business management solution that automates financial, customer relationship and supply chain processes.

Reviews of Calamari

Average score

Overall
4.7
Ease of Use
4.6
Customer Service
4.9
Features
4.5
Value for Money
4.7

Reviews by company size (employees)

  • <50
  • 51-200
  • 201-1,000
  • >1,001

Find reviews by score

5
73%
4
26%
3
2%
1
0%
ROMY
ROMY
Manager in Malaysia
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Services, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Very good HR Management Software !

5.0 3 months ago

Comments: I strongly recommend this service! Calamari provided a good solution to lots of our problems, Thanks to it, Everyday work has been easier than before. I love its multi-functionality and user-friendly interface.

Pros:

User-friendly tool. Very easy and convenient tool to use. A lot of function. Especially good for controlling the working hours and off days and asking for day off. Mobile app is highly recommended.

Cons:

Reporting section is kind of inconvenient. If employees change from full-time to part-time, then it is not easy to track time records.

Katie
Director of Finance and Operations in US
Fund-Raising, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

The best customer service and a great platform all for a great price!

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: [sensitive content hidden] is amazing! She gave us our online demo and has been an amazing resource since then. The overall experience has been great.

Pros:

Calamari is a great user friendly platform for time management, HR functions, and so much more. The customer service is amazing!

Cons:

Honestly, there is not much that I don't like. I'd like to see the platform have more integrations available.

Alternatives Considered: Slack

Reasons for Choosing Calamari: We made the switch from an Excel spreadsheet for time and efficiency purposes!

Switched From: Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to Calamari: We decided to use Microsoft Office 365 and we liked that it integrates with Temas.

George
CEO in Greece
Financial Services Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Change your NAME

3.0 3 years ago

Comments: Comsi comsa

Pros:

Everyone in Greece is sarcastic and loughs when he/she hears your brand name.

Cons:

Absense, time management, breaks control

Calamari Response

3 years ago

Thank you for your opinion. We're very glad about our company's name - there's the whole story standing behind it ;). If you experience any troubles with employees' time management, please contact us on: https://calamari.io/contact. Our Customer Service team will help you set everything up according to your needs.

Aaron
IT Manager in Malaysia
Nonprofit Organization Management, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

User Friendly

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: Very good, technical support was very responsive.

Pros:

Simple and easy to use, very user friendly.

Cons:

None. So far so good on our side for Calamari.

Alternatives Considered: Zoho People

Reasons for Switching to Calamari: Easy to use, simple setup and able to scale up/down rapidly.

Hannah
Customer Account Manager in US
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

10/10 user friendly and customer service

5.0 6 months ago

Comments: 10/10 customer service is extremely helpful and prompt in their responses. [sensitive content hidden] was very helpful with all my questions for adding time clock and getting it configured correctly. The support articles she shared with me were really easy to understand. Configuring everything hasn't taken much time out of my day. Top notch.

Pros:

App for staff and setup for admin are both very intuitive and easy to use. We have used the time off feature for 4 years now and it is simple and exactly what we need. We just added the time clock feature to streamline tracking our hourly employees and weekly summaries for payroll.

Cons:

I don't have any issues at all, which is amazing for an online tool.

Alternatives Considered: Day Off, QuickBooks Desktop and monday.com

Reasons for Switching to Calamari: Reasonable pricing, ease of use and quick setup, simple features which is what we needed at the time, room for growth to more complex features as needed.

Dee
Recruitment Co-ordinator in Portugal
Computer Software, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Calamari: Easy to use, detailed and brilliant.

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: Top quality support and assistance. Excellent simple and clear tool but with many options for set up.

Pros:

Logical, many areas of functionality. EXCELLENT customer service and support. Willingness to advance product with client input/suggestions. Good integrations. Easy to use.

Cons:

Not clear definitions of status of leave and balances.

Alternatives Considered: LeaveBoard, BambooHR, PaySpace, Leave Dates and actiPLANS

Reasons for Choosing Calamari: Did not allow for international staff and functionality not as good.

Switched From: PaySpace

Reasons for Switching to Calamari: Multiple companies in multiple countries. Contract workers vs employees. Different leave policies allowed for different groups. M365 integration. International public holidays functionality. Overtime functionality. Price. Support.

Mikaela
People Partner in US
Online Media, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Excellent service

5.0 4 months ago

Pros:

Fabulous customer service, [sensitive content hidden] is the best customer success person I've ever worked with. Super knowledgeable and every little detail we could want was already thought through and accessible.

Cons:

Really can't think of anything, it's been a great experience.

AMY
CSR in US
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Simple and easy to use!

5.0 12 months ago

Comments: Love it! What an absolute time saver for keeping track of employee time off. The customer support is phenomenal, and they continue to help set up and answer questions in a timely manner.

Pros:

Ease of employees logging in their vacation and sick time. Visibility to all on one calendar. Less administrative burden on keeping track of time off. And there is a mobile app that helps our salespeople who are on the road see who is off in the office.

Cons:

The calendar view could show a bit more detail on the absence up front. As of now you have to "hover" over the individual to see if they are off the entire day or just taking a couple of hours off.

Alternatives Considered: Time Tracker and Bamboo

Reasons for Switching to Calamari: Excellent demo and easy platform. It was a breeze working with our onboarding rep at Calamari, and they continue to support anything that comes up along the way.

Yulia
HR manager in Cyprus
Information Technology & Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

OpenCV.ai

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: We recently implemented it and are still figuring out some of the features

Pros:

Clear interface, quite wide functionality Very responsive and fast support service

Cons:

There is no way to use different status emojis in slack

Alternatives Considered: Flamingo

Reasons for Switching to Calamari: Wider functionality, not overloaded with unnecessary features

Brian
Brian
Business administrator in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

I improve the design of work

5.0 2 months ago

Comments: It favors productivity time and managing more collaborative work between everyone to have a good quality of work

Pros:

I improve teamwork because it is more united with real-time information that we can all see and thus be able to work on the same approach. I also like that when there is a new person in the team we do not have to go back in the work to give them an explanation because through Calamari there are all the necessary tutorials so that they can be updated with our work and thus have a simple interface between new personnel and the daily work done

Cons:

There is nothing to say that I dislike, I have no words to describe something bad that has happened to me

Mona
HR Manager in Switzerland
Financial Services Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Everting you can look for in one app

5.0 last year

Comments: The setup process is very easy and they are helpful every step of the way

Pros:

I like that it considers all the flexibility options. You can control and change anything. Also the customer support has been super! i have dealt with one person from start to the end (her name is Ewelina) and she has been a superstar in the transition and always available. Also the mobile app is amazing

Cons:

Nothing comes to mind. I am very happy thus far.

Alternatives Considered: edays

Reasons for Switching to Calamari: Trial option, and flexibility in the settings

Natalia
People Partner in Poland
Gambling & Casinos, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

game changer :)

5.0 11 months ago

Pros:

We are a small IT company that wants to digitize all applications because our work is flexible regarding time and place. Requests, entitlements, and time management are all in one place. We can't imagine our daily work without Calamari notifications on Slack. It improves our work-life :)

Cons:

Initially, the interface seemed a bit clunky, but the Calamari team welcomes feedback and has made great progress over the past year. They ask about improvements and implement them quickly!

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Very easy and cost effective solution for Absence Management

4.0 10 months ago

Comments: I have been using Calamari in my last two jobs (I actually proposed and set it up in my current one) and I find it an easy and cost effective solution

Pros:

Easy to use Custom settings for every employee Fair cost

Cons:

Sometimes it appears bugs Entitlement always set to previous year for some weird reason

Kinga
CEO in Poland
Accounting Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Recomend. Practical to use for employees and managers.

4.0 11 months ago

Comments: Positive. When i nit know something or have problem very good support online.

Pros:

Everyone know actual holiday,sickness, work online or not.

Cons:

That work online and holidays look the same. Icons ahould be different.

Calamari Response

11 months ago

Thank you for your review. We have various options to differentiate types of absences. Please contact our support team. They will help you set it up correctly.

Michael
CEO in Malaysia
Marketing & Advertising, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Best HR Tracker for Slack

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: Its quite good but I worry about the price hike of calamari

Pros:

I love that it integrate to slack seamlessly so that you dont have to have too much app in this digital age.

Cons:

I dislike the price hike of calamari. In 1 year, the annual cost almost doubled. And I dislike that some of the feature that was in the old and cheaper version was split into another product that you have to pay again.

Nick
Dentist in US
Health, Wellness & Fitness, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Good Product for Trackign Employee time worked and time off schedules

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: Overall we like the product. It keeps track of time off and daily timeclock functinos very well. It is highly customizable. I just have a hard time getting help if I need it, which luckily isn't too often.

Pros:

Product is very flexible on how you set it up

Cons:

It is so fexible, it can be difficult to set up. Getting help after initial setup has been challenging for me sometimes also.

Samuel
HR Manager in Cyprus
Financial Services Software, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Very happy Client

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: Im overall very happy with the system but it can be improved with the comments above.

Pros:

it is very easy to use and set up. You can set it up without any help

Cons:

I dont like that you have removed the birthdays. You are also missing the anniversary dates reminder which would be nice.

Mary Anne
Mary Anne
VP of Operations in Philippines
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: Free Trial
Reviewer Source

Impressed so far!

5.0 last year

Comments: Experience with Calamari is beyond my expectations.

Pros:

I've been looking for a time and PTO tracker for my teams as we grow, and we have been previously using spreadsheets which has become too tedious. I signed up for a trial with Calamari and it was an easy discovery of value for money. Setup was easy, and whenever I encountered hiccups, their support was amazingly responsive (3-4 mins response time). I've seen bugs but they fix it in just a few minutes after I reported it. The effort their support team takes to actually help me out was very much commendable (they fixed my accrual rules, sent me screenshots of my actual account on where I can tweak something). They are also very patient, I love tinkering and their support walked me through the entire setup.The integrations with Slack and Google Calendar are also one of the many things I loved.

Cons:

Not really a con, but I'd love to see an option to restrict requests on specific months/days.

Alternatives Considered: Flamingo

Joanna
Assistant of Board in Poland
Computer Games, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Simple and easy to delay employee management software

5.0 11 months ago

Pros:

it`s very simple, easy to read.

Cons:

nothing

Filip
Filip
HR and TL Manager in Poland
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Recommended

5.0 last year

Pros:

Simplicity. It's easy to learn, effective and very helpful.

Cons:

I don't use it as one tool for all and switch between several.

Agnieszka
HR Coordinator in Poland
Telecommunications, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Best customer service

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: System is great, easy to use.
It works perfectly for us and our suggestions are always taken into consideration.
Best customer service.

Pros:

I love the customer service and willingness of the admins to help.

Cons:

Nothing. Even if something is not working or there is no such feature we needed we always could count on the Admin team.

Tomasz
. in Poland
Printing, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Get the job done

4.0 11 months ago

Pros:

Online base, can use android tablet as a kiosk

Cons:

Poor showing time of work, days off etc. in one doc, bearly accepted by inspection of work.

Monika
Senior Administration Specialist in Poland
Chemicals, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

CALAMARI GREATEST HITS

4.0 11 months ago

Comments: overall the initial improessions are very good

Pros:

IN FACT ITS THE ABILITY TO RECORD EVERYTHING

Cons:

i dont know yet Im learning... legibility

Hajar
HRBP in Tunisia
Pharmaceuticals, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

A very user friendly tool

5.0 11 months ago

Pros:

Since we implemented Calamari, we have received very positive feedbacks from our teams because the tool is very easy to use, and it met very well our needs. The Clamari teams are also very supportive and very responsive, they supported us during the implementation phase, the training of the teams, and the launch of the tool, and I would like to thank them very much for that.

Cons:

A very user-friendly tool, and available on several devices (mobile, laptop...), for me it's making HR management simple :)

Lauren
Office Manager in US
Information Technology & Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Great Tracking, Friendly Support

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Great user interface. I've never had an issue - I used the chat feature for the first time in 2+ years today, and they were excellent.

Cons:

Today was the first issue I've had, and it was resolved quickly. I don't have anything negative that comes to mind.