SquadBear vs Calamari
SquadBear is one suite you run from Claude. Calamari is modular EU leave and clock-in, strong on shop-floor hardware. Honest split.
Comparison last reviewed October 2026.
TL;DR: Calamari is the modular EU leave and attendance tool people buy when they have a shop floor, a reception desk, or they only want one module. SquadBear is the whole people stack (leave, project time, attendance, reviews, health, records) at a flat $4, a 5-seat free tier, and an assistant that can run it. If you need iBeacons, pick them. If you want Claude to file Friday off, pick us.
At a glance
| Capability | SquadBear | Calamari |
|---|---|---|
| Operating model | Web app, Slack leave (/timeoff, /whos-out, /clock, approval DMs), Discord leave, Claude / ChatGPT / Cursor over MCP | Web app, Slack / Teams bots, MCP server |
| AI | First-party MCP, 210 tools across every module. Ten kinds of admin change wait for a person to approve them in the browser | MCP server, version 1: leave requests, the absence calendar, clock in and out (help centre, 1 June 2026). Slack / Teams bots |
| Leave | Policies, coverage, auto-reroute, sick notes | Strong leave and absence |
| Time tracking | Leave-aware timesheets, Jira / Linear / GitHub / Asana, submit and approve, R&D / CapEx | Clock-in, timesheets, billable hours, projects |
| Clock-in | Browser Clock, Slack /clock, agent, optional door tablet (card or badge) | Kiosk tablets, QR, iBeacons, GPS geofencing, web / Slack |
| Team health | Live health checks, eNPS, retros, actions. Included | Not a core feature |
| Performance and goals | Self, named peer, manager and anonymous upward feedback from three. Goals freeze when the round opens. Anytime feedback. A draft in your assistant, which you submit. No composite score and no ranking. Included in the $4 seat | Performance Review is its own module (self, manager, peer and subordinate feedback). Published at $3 per user per month, or $2.50 billed annually, with a minimum equal to 10 seats (calamari.io, 24 Oct 2026). Goals are in that module. Their goals page says OKRs, and showing goals on the review form, are still ahead |
| Core HR | Records, custom fields, processes that start on hire, sign-the-handbook | Core HR module, employee data, documents |
| GDPR and hosting | EU or US data region at sign-up, isolated workspaces, export and erasure | EU-headquartered (Poland), GDPR cloud |
| Free tier | Free for up to 5 people, every module, no time limit | Free trial only |
| Price | $4 / active person / month. Time, attendance and health can sit off | Their price is per module. We are not quoting a figure. |
Where SquadBear is the stronger choice
You are not stacking invoices. Calamari's Time Off + Clock In + Core HR is three line items. Ours is one $4 seat. Turn off time, attendance or health if you are not running them. The assistant is not an add-on.
The assistant reaches the whole suite. Calamari's MCP server covers leave requests, the absence calendar and the clock. Claude on SquadBear can also check coverage, log six hours on Platform v2, start a health check and draft a review. It is you, with your role. Hidden modules drop their tools automatically, and admin changes such as a new leave policy wait for a person to approve them in the browser.
Built for software teams. Time tracking is "what was the day spent on," not a punch for payroll. Issues come from Jira or Linear. Expected hours already subtract leave. Attendance is a separate switch if you also want who is actually in.
Health is in the same workspace. Health checks and retros sit next to the roster. You do not buy TeamRetro on the side.
Reviews stay in the same seat. A 360, goals that freeze when the round opens, and a draft in the assistant you already use are included. You pick every rating. There is no composite score.
Where Calamari is the stronger choice
- Shop-floor hardware. Factories, warehouses, clinics, retail: wall tablets, iBeacons, QR clocks. That is their product. Our kiosk is a door tablet with a card or badge, and it stays off until you turn Attendance on.
- GPS geofencing. Field staff punching in on a job site. We do not do that.
- Buy only clock-in. If you truly want nothing else, they will sell you one module. We would rather you hide the rest than invoice you per room, but they will unbundle further.
- A native phone app. We do not ship an iOS or Android app.
- Reviews on their own. Past five people, their Performance module at the published $3 or $2.50 rate is cheaper than SquadBear when reviews are the only module you buy. Ours stays inside the $4 seat with leave, time, attendance, health and records.
Who should pick which
- Pick SquadBear if you are a remote or hybrid tech team, agency or product company that wants leave, project time, optional attendance, and health in one suite your assistant can run.
- Pick Calamari if you run physical shifts, need iBeacons / GPS / QR clocks, or you only want a clock and will never care about leave-aware timesheets or health.
Related
Frequently asked questions
How does SquadBear compare to Calamari?
SquadBear is leave, issue-linked time tracking, attendance, 360 reviews, team health and core HR in one $4 plan, plus a first-party MCP server so Claude can operate all of it, and ChatGPT a curated catalog of it. Calamari sells Time Off, Clock In/Out and Core HR as separate modules, is strongest on physical clock-in (kiosks, iBeacons, QR, GPS), and has Slack/Teams bots and an MCP server of its own.
What is the difference in AI?
Both have an MCP server. Calamari's help centre describes version 1 of its server (article dated 1 June 2026) for submitting leave requests, reading the absence calendar, and clocking in and out. SquadBear's 210 tools reach the whole suite, so the assistant you already pay for (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) can also check coverage, log hours against an issue, start a health check or draft a review, under your permissions. Everyday writes follow that assistant's own confirmation setting. Ten kinds of admin change, among them leave policies, erasure, workspace settings, role changes and process starts, wait until a person approves them in SquadBear in the browser. Same audit trail as the UI.
Does SquadBear support kiosks or iBeacons?
A shared tablet kiosk, yes. People clock in with a card or a rotating badge, and the tablet can log visitors and parcels. iBeacons, GPS geofencing and QR wall clocks, no. That hardware is Calamari's home turf.
Are both GDPR-friendly?
SquadBear stores each workspace in the EU or US region chosen at sign-up, with export and erasure. Calamari is EU-headquartered in Poland.
Try SquadBear on your own team
Free for up to 5 people, then $4 per active person a month. Product modules are on every plan. Timesheet submit and approve, the audit log and webhooks are on Team.
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