Book Time Off imports the Timetastic full-organisation export in one upload, bringing your departments, people and this year's approved leave. It is a flat £1 per user / month against Timetastic's £1.20 Basic, with a 30-day free trial and no card, so you can set it up alongside Timetastic and switch only when you are happy. The £1 plan also includes Microsoft 365 single sign-on, Outlook calendar sync, Teams notifications and admin reports with CSV export, which Timetastic keeps for its £2 Pro tier.
Why teams switch
Timetastic is a good, established tool. The reasons teams move to Book Time Off are usually simple: a lower, flat per-user price, a focused leave-only product without features they do not use, and a migration that does not mean an afternoon of retyping. If you mainly need to track who is off, approve requests and keep allowances tidy, the switch is low-risk because the data move is genuinely one file.
What moves across
The import reads the Timetastic full-organisation export (the .xlsx or .xls file) and brings three things into Book Time Off:
- Departments · each with its manager and its max-absent limit, so capacity control is set from day one.
- Team members · each with their allowance, approver, birthday and start date.
- This year's approved leave history · so the calendar and wallchart look right immediately.
It is an XLSX full-export upload, not a CSV paste, and that is deliberate. The full organisation export carries the structure of your organisation (departments, managers, limits and approvers), not just a flat list of names, so the team calendar is correctly shaped the moment the upload finishes.
The switch in three steps
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Export from Timetastic
In Timetastic, download the full-organisation export (the .xlsx or .xls file) that lists your departments, people and leave.
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Upload to Book Time Off
Start your free Book Time Off trial and upload that one file. The import reads the structure and creates your departments, people and this year's approved leave.
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Check and invite
Give allowances and approvers a quick once-over, then invite the team. UK bank holidays load automatically, so there is nothing to enter there.
Start the 30-day free trial, upload your Timetastic file, and see your team appear on the wallchart. No card required.
What to check after import
The upload does the heavy lifting, but a two-minute review before you go live is worth it:
- Allowances · confirm each person's annual allowance reads across correctly, and adjust any that changed since the export.
- Approvers and managers · check each department's manager and each person's approver are right, so requests route correctly.
- Max-absent limits · confirm the per-department capacity limits match how you actually staff cover.
- The working week · Book Time Off sets the working week company-wide, so check it matches your standard week.
The honest differences
Two differences are worth knowing before you commit, because they are the places Timetastic does something Book Time Off deliberately does not:
Timetastic runs a separate balance for each leave type. Book Time Off records leave types such as sickness, unpaid or compassionate leave as categories on one shared allowance under a single approval workflow, with annual leave drawing down the balance (birthday leave can optionally be a non-deducting perk). If you rely on a distinct pot and approval flow per type, that changes for you. The import also carries this year's approved leave history, not every past year. For most small teams neither is a blocker, but decide deliberately.
Everything else most teams use carries over in spirit: custom allowances per person, half-day bookings, one-click approvals, departmental capacity limits, carry-forward of unused allowance with an optional expiry window, and automatic UK bank holidays from the GOV.UK feed that are never deducted from anyone's allowance. For the full feature picture and where Book Time Off is not the right call, see the Timetastic alternatives comparison.
The price difference
Pricing checked against each provider's own site on 5 June 2026:
| Book Time Off | Timetastic | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £1 / user / month (flat) | £1.20 Basic / £2 Pro |
| Free trial | 30 days | 30 days |
| Card to start | No card | No card |
| Minimum users | None | Check current plan |
| Microsoft 365 single sign-on | Included | Pro plan (£2) |
| Outlook calendar sync | Included | Pro plan (£2) |
| Microsoft Teams notifications | Included | Pro plan (£2) |
| iCal feeds (Google & Apple) | Included | Pro plan (£2) |
| Admin reports with CSV export | Included | Pro plan (£2) |
| Absence trend charts & insights | Not yet | Pro plan (£2) |
| Separate balance per leave type | No · one shared allowance | Yes |
| Imports your Timetastic export | Yes · one XLSX upload | n/a |
For a team of 20 on Timetastic Basic, the flat £1 rate is roughly £4 a month less, and more against Pro, for the core job of tracking leave. The saving is not the main reason to move, but it is real and it compounds.
The in-app import help article walks through the upload screen by screen, and the longer Timetastic migration guide on our blog covers the move in more depth. Still deciding? The Leave Dates vs Timetastic vs Book Time Off comparison sets the three side by side.
Frequently asked questions
Download the full-organisation export from Timetastic (the .xlsx or .xls file) and upload it once into Book Time Off. It brings across your departments (with their manager and max-absent limit), your team members (allowance, approver, birthday and start date) and this year's approved leave history. It is an XLSX full-export upload, not a CSV import, so the structure of your organisation comes with it and the team calendar looks right from day one.
Three things: your departments, each with their manager and max-absent limit; your team members, with their allowance, approver, birthday and start date; and this year's approved leave history. You do not retype anyone. After uploading, it is worth a quick check of allowances and approvers before you invite the team.
On headline price, yes. Book Time Off is a flat £1 per user per month on any billing, with no minimum. Timetastic is £1.20 per user per month on its Basic plan and £2 on Pro. For a team of 20, that is a saving of around £4 a month on Basic, or more against Pro, for the core job of tracking leave. Both run a 30-day free trial with no card.
Be aware of two honest differences. Timetastic runs a separate balance for each leave type; Book Time Off records leave types as categories on one shared allowance under a single approval workflow, with annual leave drawing down the balance, so if you rely on per-type pots that changes. The import also carries this year's approved leave history rather than every past year. For most small teams neither is a problem, but weigh them before you move.
No. You can run the 30-day free trial of Book Time Off alongside Timetastic, import your export, set allowances and try a few bookings before you switch anyone over. When you are happy, invite the team and cancel Timetastic. There is no card required to start the trial.
Sources
Competitor pricing was checked against the provider's own site on 5 June 2026. Prices and terms change, so verify on the day you decide.
| Provider | Checked | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Timetastic (Basic £1.20, Pro £2, 30-day trial, no card, separate balance per leave type) | 5 June 2026 | timetastic.co.uk/pricing |
| Book Time Off (flat £1 pricing, Timetastic XLSX full-export import, features) | 5 June 2026 | Book Time Off product (see import help) |