Forecast Alternatives for Resource Planning

Resource Guru is a scheduling tool for people, equipment and meeting rooms, and it is the cheapest entry point in this guide. Grasshopper costs $5 per person per month billed annually, with Blackbelt at $8 and Master at $12, and other resources such as equipment cost $2.50 each. The 2026 pricing took effect on July 1, 2026, and the annual figures are the monthly equivalent of a yearly bill.

The product suits teams that schedule more than staff. A studio can book editors, cameras and edit suites on the same calendar, and a consultancy can book rooms alongside people. Leave management is built in, clash detection flags double bookings, and the calendar views are simple enough for the whole team to read without training.

The trade-off is depth. Grasshopper has no reports, so teams that need utilization dashboards or budget tracking must step up to Blackbelt. There is no invoicing, no CRM and no project accounting, so Resource Guru works best as a scheduling layer next to tools you already use for money. For a team that mainly needs to know who is free and when, it is excellent value.

Price: $5 per person/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (30 days)

Website: resourceguruapp.com

Runn is a capacity planning tool for service firms that care about utilization and project financials. Lite costs $7 per resource seat per month billed annually and covers scheduling, capacity charts, tentative projects and rate cards, while Standard at $11 adds timesheets, integrations and the API. Advanced is sold through sales and adds unlimited scenarios and single sign-on.

The planning model is the reason firms choose Runn. Unlimited placeholders and tentative projects let you model future work by role before you hire, and the utilization charts show who is over or under capacity weeks ahead. Standard adds the financial layer, so you can see project margins next to utilization and spot the engagements that lose money.

The minimum is the issue. Every plan starts at 20 resource seats, so a 10-person team still pays for 20, which makes the yearly Lite bill $1,680 at list price. Runn also has no invoicing, so firms that bill clients need a second tool. If your firm has 20 or more people and plans months ahead, Runn is strong; below that size, Float or Resource Guru will cost less.

Price: $7 per resource/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (30 days)

Website: runn.io

Productive is an all-in-one agency management platform that covers sales pipeline, project delivery, budgeting, time tracking and invoicing. Essential costs $10 per user per month billed annually and includes budgeting, task management, docs, time tracking, expense management and reporting, while Professional at $25 adds custom fields, recurring budgets and billable time approvals. Ultimate is priced through a demo.

The appeal is the end-to-end flow. A deal in the sales pipeline becomes a project with a budget, the team logs time against it, and the invoice goes out from the same system. That single flow removes the handoffs between sales, delivery and finance that cause most agency billing errors, and the reporting covers profitability by client, project and person.

The limits are the entry terms. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and the 3-seat minimum means a solo operator pays for three seats. Ultimate pricing is not published, so larger firms need a sales conversation for the full feature set. For agencies of five or more people that bill by the hour, Productive is one of the most complete Forecast alternatives.

Price: $10 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Website: productive.io

Kantata is a professional services automation platform for large firms that run complex delivery across many teams. It combines project management, resource forecasting, time tracking and financial reporting in one system, with scenario planning, skills matching and utilization analytics. The product grew from the merger of Mavenlink and Kimble, and it targets firms that need portfolio-level control.

The depth is the point. Resource forecasting shows demand by role months ahead, project financials track margin in real time, and the reporting suite covers utilization, backlog and revenue recognition. Enterprise controls include approval chains, access roles and integrations with Salesforce, NetSuite and major accounting systems, which matter once a firm passes a few hundred people.

The drawback is access. Kantata publishes no price, so every engagement starts with a sales process and a written quote, and implementation takes weeks with dedicated onboarding. There is no free plan and no public trial. For firms under 50 people, the cost and setup rarely pay off; Float, Runn or Productive will cover the same planning needs at a published price.

Price: quote only

Free plan: No

Website: kantata.com

Teamwork is a project management platform with time tracking, resource planning and client billing built in. Basics costs $9.99 per user per month billed annually, and Accelerate costs $24.99, with a free plan for up to five users. The platform covers tasks, milestones, Gantt charts, workload views, time logs and invoicing, which makes it a practical all-rounder for client-service teams.

The workload view is the resource planning core. Managers see who is over capacity across projects, reassign work with drag and drop, and track time against budgets. Client billing links logged hours to invoices, and the reporting covers project profitability and team utilization. For agencies that want one tool for delivery and billing, Teamwork is a proven choice.

The limit is planning depth. Teamwork does not offer the scenario modeling or placeholder forecasting of Runn, and its capacity views are simpler than Float. The price also jumps from $9.99 to $24.99 between Basics and Accelerate, which is a large step for a growing team. Firms that plan mainly by week and bill by the hour will be well served; firms that model quarters ahead should look at Runn.

Price: $9.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Website: teamwork.com

Harvest is a time tracking and invoicing tool for freelancers, agencies and small professional services teams. Teams costs $9 per seat per month billed annually, Enterprise costs $14, and there is a free plan for one user. The product covers time logs, expense tracking, project budgets and invoicing, with usage-based fees for active projects, clients and tasks on the higher plans.

The strength is simplicity. Starting a timer, logging hours against a project and sending an invoice takes minutes to learn, and the reporting shows project budgets, team capacity and billable hours without setup work. Harvest Forecast, the companion scheduling tool, adds capacity planning for $5 per person per month billed annually, but it is billed separately from Harvest itself.

The limit is planning depth. Harvest alone does not forecast capacity or model future staffing, and the scheduling add-on costs extra. Teams that need real resource planning should pair Harvest with Float or Runn, or choose a tool with planning built in. For firms whose main need is accurate time and clean invoices, Harvest remains one of the easiest tools to run.

Price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Website: getharvest.com

LiquidPlanner, now sold as Portfolio Manager by Tempo, is a predictive project management platform for teams that run complex, multi-project portfolios. Essentials costs $15 per user per month billed annually, Professional costs $28 and Ultimate costs $42. The scheduling engine uses ranged estimates to forecast completion dates, and automatic resource leveling resolves over-allocation across projects.

The forecasting is the differentiator. Instead of a single deadline, LiquidPlanner shows a date range with confidence levels, and scenario modeling lets managers test what happens when a project slips or a team member leaves. Resource planning covers availability, priorities and cross-project workloads, and the time tracking and reporting support portfolio-level decisions.

The trade-off is cost and complexity. There is no free plan, and $15 per user per month is more than twice the entry price of Float or Resource Guru. The interface rewards training, and small teams may find the setup heavy for the value they get.

Price: $15 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Website: liquidplanner.com