Cala HQ vs Lattice: Which Is Better in 2026?

Cala HQ is a simple way for growing teams to manage leave and paid time off. It brings requests, balances and a shared calendar into one place so employees and managers know who is away and when. It is especially useful for small remote teams that have outgrown spreadsheets, chat messages and disconnected calendars.

Employees can request time off, check their available leave balance and see upcoming absences before choosing dates. Managers can review and approve requests from a clear workflow. The shared team calendar makes planned leave visible to everyone who needs to coordinate work, while email digests help teams stay aware of upcoming time away.

Teams can configure leave policies to match their own rules. Cala HQ supports fixed allowances, accrued leave and unlimited leave, along with pro-rating and carry-over. This helps founders and people managers keep balances consistent without maintaining separate calculations for every employee. Public holidays for more than 50 countries make it easier to plan across locations and avoid treating every team member as if they work on the same national calendar.

Cala HQ focuses on leave management. It is designed to be quick to set up and easy for the whole team to use, without requiring a full HR system. A small team can start with the free plan for up to five users. The monthly paid plans are Team 10 for up to 10 users at $19, Team 25 for up to 25 users at $39 and Team 50 for up to 50 users at $69. Annual billing is also available on the Cala HQ website.

If your team needs a clearer way to plan time off, approve requests and track leave policies across countries, Cala HQ provides a focused place to do it. Visit the product website to see the current plans and start with the free option.

What problem it solves

Teams often track time off in spreadsheets, chat and separate calendars, making balances and upcoming absences hard to see. Cala HQ gives employees and managers one place for leave requests, approvals, policies and a shared calendar.

Lattice is a people management platform that helps companies develop engaged, high-performing teams through performance reviews, goal setting, continuous feedback, and engagement surveys. As organizations grow, managing performance and keeping employees engaged in a structured, fair way becomes critical but difficult to do with spreadsheets and ad-hoc processes. Lattice provides a dedicated system for the human side of work, helping managers and HR teams support their people's growth, align everyone around goals, and understand and improve how employees feel about their work.

The platform brings together the key elements of modern people management: performance reviews with customizable cycles and structured feedback, goal and OKR tracking to align individual work with company objectives, continuous one-on-one tools and feedback so growth conversations happen regularly rather than just once a year, and engagement surveys that measure employee sentiment and surface insights. By connecting these pieces, Lattice helps managers have better conversations, gives employees clarity on expectations and growth, and gives leadership data on the health and performance of their organization, all in one integrated place.

Lattice is used by growing companies that take their culture and people development seriously and want structured, thoughtful performance and engagement processes. The value is building a stronger organization through better people management: it helps companies set clear goals, give meaningful feedback, develop their employees, and measure and improve engagement, which directly affects retention and performance. Because a company's success depends so heavily on its people, investing in how performance and engagement are managed has real impact. For organizations that want to support and get the best from their teams in a fair, structured, and data-informed way, Lattice offers a respected, comprehensive people management platform.