What Alpaka does

Alpaka is a UK-based SaaS company that provides workforce management software targeted at small businesses and care-sector operators. Founded in 2016 by Phill Rodgers and headquartered in Northampton, England, the company operates as a privately held, family-owned business with no external investors. The underlying technology originated in 2013 as custom applications used for enterprise clients including Adobe, NFU Mutual, Vodafone, Telefonica, and Philips before being repositioned as the standalone Alpaka platform.

The product is a cloud-based, multi-tenant workforce management suite hosted on AWS infrastructure spanning three availability zones (Ireland West as the primary facility), with TLS/SSL scoring A+ on SSL Labs and Aurora snapshots for backup. Core modules include Alpaka Presence (a smartphone-based time and attendance app with PIN/QR identification and an automated decision engine that flags exceptions and produces payroll-ready exports), Rota (staff scheduling with conflict prevention), Leave Management, and Absence Management, supported by add-on modules such as Messaging, Automations, Qualifications Tracking, file storage, Vehicles & Rooms, Sites & Departments, and Alpaka SMS. Pricing is unified across two tiers at £2.90 (Basic Attendance) and £3 (Full Suite) per person per month, with no setup, hosting, or support fees.

Alpaka operates a product-led, self-serve GTM model with a free 60-day trial, no credit card required, and optional live chat and phone onboarding support (UK 0203 286 6109). Distribution is direct-to-customer via the alpaka.io web platform and mobile apps on Apple App Store and Google Play, supplemented by SEO-led content marketing, LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook social channels, and email nurture. With a stated team of 1-10 employees working remotely from the UK and USA and a virtual-first policy (no office commute), the company claims a global user base spanning thousands of freelancers, team members, and small businesses, while its named customer evidence is concentrated in UK care homes (Askham Village Community, Clarendon Care Group, Redwood Healthcare, Forest Healthcare) and a single disclosed SMB (ACAI Outdoorwear).

Name

Alpaka

Legal name

Alpaka Ltd

Website

https://alpaka.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Alpaka is a UK-based SaaS company offering cloud-based workforce management software—including time and attendance, scheduling, leave, and absence tracking—for small businesses and care sector operators, delivered via a product-led self-serve model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Workforce Management Software

NAICS

Administrative and Support Services (561)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Process Automation (DPA) & Orchestration Suites (HDAEAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Platforms (HDAEAHAB), Managed Workplace Services (DaaS/Workplace-as-a-Service) (BPAEAIAA)

Keywords

• Workforce management software
• Time and attendance
• Employee scheduling software
• Absence management software
• Leave tracking software

Headquarters

HQ city

Northampton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription: Per-person monthly subscription model with two pricing tiers. Basic Attendance at £2.90/person/month and Full Suite at £3/person/month. No setup fees, hosting fees, or support charges. Invoiced monthly in advance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Alpaka is a cloud-based workforce management SaaS suite that replaces paper-based workplace tasks for small businesses. Its product surface spans time and attendance capture (via the Alpaka Presence smartphone app), staff rota/scheduling, leave and absence management, automated timesheet generation, team messaging and SMS reminders, all delivered through a multi-tenant web application hosted on AWS.

Product overview

Alpaka is a cloud-based workforce management software suite for small businesses, offered as a single unified platform with modular features. The core product includes time and attendance tracking (via Alpaka Presence), staff scheduling (Rota), leave management, and absence management, all integrated into one system. Additional modules include timesheets, messaging, automations, qualifications tracking, file storage, vehicles & rooms management, and SMS reminders. Pricing is simple with two tiers: Basic at £2.90/person/month and Full Suite at £3/person/month, with no modular pricing or upgrades required.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Alpaka Presence: Time and attendance tracking app that uses smartphone devices to record employee clock-in and clock-out times, with intelligent analysis of attendance patterns and payroll export capabilities.

Products and services

• Alpaka Workforce Management Platform Cloud-based SaaS suite that replaces paper-based workplace tasks for small businesses, including time and attendance, rota/scheduling, leave and absence management, timesheet automation and supporting modules, delivered through the alpaka.io web application.
• Alpaka Presence Smartphone-based time and attendance app that records employee clock-in and clock-out via PIN keypad or QR code, with an AI/robot decision engine that learns team movement patterns and generates payroll-ready timesheet exports. Available as a separate mobile app on iOS and Android.
• Rota / Staff Scheduling Software Employee scheduling and rota management software that creates staff schedules, prevents double-booking and shift overlap errors, and integrates with annual leave data for automated shift allocation.
• Leave Management Software Automated holiday and leave tracking system with configurable annual entitlements, automated credit management, and workflow-based approval processes for employee leave requests.
• Absence Management Software Sickness and absence tracking software with configurable absence categories, automated workflows, team-comparison insights and KPI-driven reporting to identify absenteeism patterns.
• Alpaka SMS Text message reminder service for sending personalised appointment and schedule reminders to employees or customers via SMS, integrated with the Alpaka workforce management platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• Timesheet errors eliminated with automated attendance capture
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Deputy: Global SMB-focused workforce management platform offering shift scheduling, time and attendance, and leave management. Closely overlaps Alpaka's core feature set and target customer profile of shift-based SMB employers.
• Planday: Shift planning and workforce management SaaS (owned by Personio) targeting hourly-workforce SMBs across Europe. Directly competes on rota, time tracking and absence management with similar price-sensitive customer base.
• When I Work: US-headquartered SMB employee scheduling and time tracking platform. Highly comparable product (scheduling, time clock, attendance) for the same small-business, shift-based workforce segment.
• Homebase: Free-tier SMB scheduling, time tracking and team communication app. Direct competitor in the same price-sensitive, mobile-first SMB workforce management category.
• Connecteam: Mobile-first employee app for deskless SMB workforces covering scheduling, time tracking, checklists and communication. Closely matches Alpaka's smartphone-first positioning and SMB focus.
• Rotageek: UK-based workforce scheduling and demand-driven rota software. Operates in the same UK SMB/care-adjacent market and competes on automated scheduling with UK-specific labour compliance.
• Sling: Shift scheduling, time clock and team communication tool aimed at shift-based SMBs in hospitality, retail and healthcare. Overlaps directly with Alpaka's scheduling and attendance modules.
• Timetastic: UK-based leave and absence management SaaS for SMBs. Competes directly with Alpaka's leave and absence modules and shares the UK SMB customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Personio: European SMB-focused all-in-one HR platform with scheduling, time tracking, leave and payroll. Broader than Alpaka but overlaps substantially on the workforce management modules and competes for the same UK/EU mid-market customer.
• BambooHR: Established SMB HRIS platform including time tracking and leave management. Competes indirectly with Alpaka where customers are evaluating broader HR suites versus a workforce-management point solution.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/alpaka_io
• Facebookfacebook.com/alpakaio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alpaka.io

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Alpaka