Best Resource Management Software in 2026

Why resource management software matters

Most project management tools answer the question "what needs to be done?" Resource management software answers a harder one: "who is free to do it, and can we afford it?" Once a team runs more than a handful of projects at a time, the spreadsheet that tracks who is booked on what starts to break. People get double-booked, someone's two-week holiday is missed until the week before a launch, and new work gets accepted without anyone checking whether the team has the hours.

A dedicated resource management tool puts every person, their working hours, their time off and their project allocations on one schedule. Good ones then add the layers that agencies, consultancies and internal delivery teams need: tentative work for deals that are not signed yet, utilization targets, skills so you can find the right person, and budgets that show how much of a project has been burned.

This guide compares six tools for that job: Float, Runn, Resource Guru, Productive, Smartsheet (with its Resource Management add-on) and Teamwork.com. Every price and plan detail below comes from each vendor's own pricing page or help center, checked in October 2026.

What to look for in resource management software

Resource management tools look similar in screenshots: a timeline with people down the side and colored bars across it. The differences show up in the details below, so use them as your buying checklist.

• Capacity planning. Can you set each person's working hours and days, and see at a glance who is over or under capacity? Can you plan in hours and in percentages?
• Utilization. Can you set utilization targets and report on billable versus non-billable time? This matters most for agencies and consultancies that sell time.
• Tentative bookings. Can you pencil in work for a pitch or an unsigned contract without it counting the same as confirmed work? Without this, sales pipeline planning happens in a separate spreadsheet.
• Leave and time off. Are vacation, sick leave and public holidays handled in the tool, and do they reduce capacity automatically?
• Skills and roles. Can you tag people with skills and filter the schedule to find who can do a task? Can you use placeholders for roles you have not hired yet?
• Project financials. Can you attach rates and budgets to projects and see budget burn, margin or profitability?
• Forecasting and scenarios. Can you look ahead to see future demand versus capacity, and test "what if" plans without changing the live schedule?
• Time tracking. Can people log actual hours against their planned allocations, so you can compare plan versus actuals?
• Billing model. Some tools charge only for people on the schedule, some for every person in the account, some for every user, and some have seat minimums. At 10 people the difference is small; at 100 it is significant.

Feature comparison: which plan you need

Headline prices only tell part of the story, because several tools reserve key resource management features for higher tiers. This table shows the lowest published plan that includes each feature, based on each vendor's plan comparison.

Two patterns stand out. Float, Runn and Resource Guru put most scheduling features on their entry plans and gate reporting, timesheets or finance one tier up. Smartsheet and Teamwork.com, as broader work management platforms, place the deeper resourcing features on quoted tiers or add-ons.

Float: full review

What it is. Float is a dedicated resource scheduling and capacity planning tool. Its pricing page describes two self-serve plans, Starter and Pro, plus Enterprise for larger teams.

Key features. According to Float's feature comparison, every plan includes scheduling in hours or percentages, on-schedule capacity, global holiday calendars, departments and roles, custom workdays and hours, skills and tags, cost rates, time off management, phases and milestones, project budget tracking, project templates, project role suggestions, utilization trends, billable versus non-billable comparison, budget burn and project margin tracking. Float's help center documents tentative projects, tentative phases and tentative allocations, which appear as outlined tiles on the schedule so they are easy to tell apart from confirmed work. Integrations on all plans include Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Slack, Zapier and a custom API.

Pro adds the pieces that connect the plan to what actually happened: time tracking with prefilled and auto-logged timesheets and locked time entries, estimates versus actuals and planned hours versus actuals, project cost estimates and expenses, client rate cards in up to five currencies (Starter has one), a project finance dashboard, a people operations dashboard, advanced time off controls, SSO, domain restrictions and team-enforced 2FA.

Pricing. Starter is $7 per scheduled person per month billed annually, or $8.50 billed monthly. Pro is $12 per scheduled person per month billed annually, or $14 billed monthly. Enterprise is custom and aimed at teams of 100+ seats. There is no free plan; trials run 30 days on the Pro plan with no credit card. Float charges only for people you add to the schedule. Guests can view the schedule and log in for free. Starter includes one placeholder and Pro includes five.

Who it is for. Agencies, studios and internal delivery teams that need a clear, shared picture of who is working on what, with enough financial tracking to keep projects on budget. The billing model suits organizations where many people need to see the schedule but only some are scheduled.

Limits. Time tracking and plan-versus-actual reporting are Pro features, so teams that want to compare forecasts with logged hours should budget for Pro rather than Starter. Starter's saved views are personal only, and its activity feed keeps 7 days of history versus 180 on Pro. There is no free plan for very small teams.

Runn: full review

What it is. Runn is a resource and capacity planning tool focused on looking ahead: seeing demand against capacity, planning tentative work and testing scenarios.

Key features. Runn's Lite plan lists scheduling, tentative projects, capacity and utilization charts, skills and tags, and project financials. The full comparison on the pricing page adds placeholders, time off, public holidays, project budgets, rate cards, planned versus actuals, budget by phase, and utilization and capacity insights. Saved scenarios are capped at 3 per user on the lower plans and unlimited on Advanced. Standard adds timesheets, five custom fields, out-of-the-box integrations, an API and a 30-day audit log. Advanced adds unlimited custom fields and reports, workstreams, custom insights dashboards, SAML SSO and a 90-day audit log.

Pricing. The pricing page lists Lite at $7 per resource seat per month and Standard at $11 per resource seat per month, with Advanced on custom pricing. Plans start at 20 resource seats, and volume discounts begin above 100. Runn's FAQ says annual billing is available on all plans and is cheaper than monthly, but the annual rate is not listed separately. Standard can be trialed free for 30 days with no credit card and bought self-serve; Lite and Advanced are arranged by contacting Runn. Runn bills per resource seat: every person or resource in the planner needs a seat. Runn's FAQ distinguishes resources (who appear in the planner) from users (who have login access).

Who it is for. Professional services firms, consultancies and agencies with 20 or more people who want to forecast demand, plan around unsigned work, and see the financial impact of staffing decisions.

Limits. The 20-seat minimum makes Runn expensive for small teams: a 10-person team still pays for 20 seats. Timesheets are not on Lite. The Harvest and Clockify integrations are only available on request on Advanced.

Resource Guru: full review

What it is. Resource Guru is a scheduling tool for people and other resources, such as meeting rooms and equipment. Its emphasis is on preventing double-booking.

Key features. All plans include multi-resource bookings, tentative bookings, repeat bookings, total-hours bookings, time zone support, billable versus non-billable time, advanced clash management, elastic overtime, finding people by skill, team and role, leave management, public holiday calendars, calendar sync, custom filters, personalized dashboards, an API with webhooks and integrations. Resource Guru's product pages describe a waiting list for bookings that cannot be placed, so unresolved requests are not lost. Blackbelt adds Gantt charts, heatmaps, project dates and milestones, project rates and budgets, weekly timesheets with approvals, forecast versus actuals comparison, customizable reports and budget tracking. Master adds an approval workflow for bookings, SSO, unlimited custom fields and activity history, and phone support.

Pricing. With the annual toggle selected, the plan cards show Grasshopper at $5, Blackbelt at $8 and Master at $12 per person per month; with monthly selected they show $6, $9.60 and $14.40. Annual plans "come with 2 months free". Non-human resources cost extra ($2.50, $4 or $6 each on annual pricing). Note that the feature-comparison table further down the same page uses different figures ($4.16, $6.65 and $10 annual), so confirm the price at checkout. Enterprise is quoted. There is no free plan; the trial lasts 30 days with no credit card. You are charged for every person in the account, whether they log in or not, plus non-human resources and any placeholders beyond the plan allowance (1, 5 or 10).

Who it is for. Teams that mainly need a clean, conflict-free schedule, including organizations that book shared rooms or equipment alongside people.

Limits. Grasshopper has no reports, timesheets or budgets, so most teams that care about utilization will need Blackbelt. Every person in the account is billed, which differs from Float's scheduled-only model. There are no refunds for partially used subscriptions.

Productive: full review

What it is. Productive is an agency and professional services platform that combines resource planning with project management, time tracking, budgeting and invoicing. It replaces Forecast in this list: Forecast was acquired by Accelo in July 2025, and forecast.app now redirects to Accelo, which sells by quote.

Key features. The Essential plan includes budgeting, resource planning, project and task management, docs, time tracking, expense management, reporting, time off management, an API and AI time tracking. Productive's feature list includes tentative bookings (soft allocations) and repeating bookings in Resource Planning, plus utilization reports. Professional adds recurring budgets, teams, advanced reports, advanced time off management with an approval flow, rate cards, billable time and expense approvals, skills, and HRIS and invoicing integrations. Ultimate adds revenue forecasting, the Scenario Builder for testing project scenarios, multiple subsidiaries, overhead calculation and enforced SSO or 2FA.

Pricing. Essential is $10 per user per month billed yearly or $12 billed monthly. Professional is $25 per user per month billed yearly or $29 billed monthly. Ultimate is quoted. All plans require at least 3 seats. The free trial lasts 14 days with no credit card. Non-profits get 50% off.

Who it is for. Agencies and consultancies that want resourcing, time, budgets and billing in one system rather than a scheduling tool connected to separate time and finance apps.

Limits. Skills and rate cards require Professional, and revenue forecasting and scenario planning require the quoted Ultimate plan. Pricing is per user, not per scheduled person. Because it is a broader platform, it is more to roll out than a pure scheduling tool.

Smartsheet: full review

What it is. Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-style work management platform. For resource management it offers two levels: workload tracking built into the Business and Enterprise plans, and Resource Management by Smartsheet, the product Smartsheet acquired as 10,000ft in 2019 and later rebranded.

Key features. According to Smartsheet's pricing page, workload tracking in Business provides "essential features to see who's available, what they're working on, and to resolve overallocations." Resource Management goes further: Smartsheet's product page lists capacity planning, time tracking, skill-based assignments, utilization reporting, forecasting of staffing needs, what-if scenario planning, and reports on time and fees, expenses, budgets and utilization. The help center documents tentative projects (shown in gray on the schedule so you can see budget implications before approval), leave types for vacation and sick time, and official holidays that are excluded from budgets and timesheet suggestions. Resource Management has its own login (rm.smartsheet.com, or rm.smartsheet.eu in Europe).

Pricing. Smartsheet Pro is $9 per member per month billed yearly ($12 monthly) for 1 to 10 members. Business is $19 per member per month billed yearly ($24 monthly) with 3+ members and includes workload tracking. Enterprise and Advanced Work Management are custom. Resource Management by Smartsheet is available for Business and Enterprise plans; Smartsheet's FAQ says "The cost depends on the number of users. For detailed pricing, please contact us." There is a 30-day free trial of Smartsheet.

Who it is for. Organizations that already run projects in Smartsheet and want resource planning connected to those sheets, especially PMOs that need portfolio-level reporting.

Limits. Full resource management means buying an extra product at a quoted price on top of a Business or Enterprise plan, so total cost cannot be checked from the website. Workload tracking alone does not include the time tracking, skills and utilization reports of Resource Management.

Teamwork.com: full review

What it is. Teamwork.com is a project management platform built for client-services businesses, with resource management built in rather than sold as a separate product.

Key features. Teamwork.com's resource management page lists a Workload Planner with unavailable time and time off management, a Resource Scheduler for long-term forecasting with tentative projects and placeholders, utilization reports and utilization targets, skills, roles, working hours, public holidays, and billable and cost rates. Time tracking is on every plan, including Free. Plan placement matters here: Accelerate includes "Plan team workloads & view live capacity", "Manage time budgets & retainers" and invoicing from logged time. Optimize adds "Plan tentative & active work", "Schedule resources by role or skill", financial and multi-currency budgets, and revenue, cost and profitability insights.

Pricing. Free covers up to 5 users and 5 projects. Basics is $9.99 per user per month billed yearly with a 3-user minimum. Accelerate is $24.99 per user per month billed yearly with a 5-user minimum. Optimize and Enterprise are quoted. The pricing page says annual billing saves 29%; monthly per-user prices are not shown in the page text. The free trial lasts 14 days with no credit card.

Who it is for. Agencies and services teams that want project management, time tracking and resourcing in one tool and do not want a separate scheduler.

Limits. Capacity planning starts on Accelerate, and the features that resource managers usually want most (tentative work, skills-based scheduling, financial budgets and profitability) sit on Optimize, which has no public price.

Pricing comparison: what a 10-person team pays

The figures below assume 10 people who all need to be scheduled, using only prices published on each vendor's pricing page.

A few notes on reading this table:

• Float bills only scheduled people, so managers or stakeholders who only need to view the schedule can be free guests. Pro is the fair comparison if you need time tracking.
• Runn's 20-seat minimum doubles the cost for a 10-person team. At 20 or more people, Lite works out to $7 per seat and Standard to $11, close to Float.
• Resource Guru is the lowest headline price, but Grasshopper ($50 a month for 10 people) has no reports or timesheets, which is why Blackbelt is used here. Shared rooms or equipment add a per-resource fee. Confirm the final price at checkout because the page shows two sets of figures.
• Productive costs more than Float Starter but includes project management, time tracking, budgets and expense management in the same price.
• Smartsheet Business only covers workload tracking. Resource Management by Smartsheet is an extra quoted product, so the real cost of full resource management is higher than the $190 shown.
• Teamwork.com Accelerate includes project management and capacity planning. Tentative work and skills-based scheduling need Optimize, which is quoted.

How to choose

Start with how your team sells and plans work.

• You schedule people across many client projects and want the simplest good tool. Choose Float. Start on Starter if you only need the schedule, capacity, time off and budget tracking; move to Pro when you want timesheets and plan-versus-actual reporting.
• You have 20+ people and your main problem is forecasting. Choose Runn. Tentative projects, capacity and utilization charts, skills and project financials are on the entry plan, and saved scenarios let you test hiring or pipeline decisions.
• Your biggest pain is double-booking, including rooms and equipment. Choose Resource Guru. Clash management, the waiting list and leave management are on every plan. Pick Blackbelt if you need reports and timesheets.
• You want resourcing, time tracking, budgets and invoicing in one system. Choose Productive. Essential covers resource planning, time off, time tracking and budgets; skills and rate cards need Professional.
• Your projects already live in Smartsheet. Start with workload tracking on Business, and ask Smartsheet for a Resource Management quote if you need time tracking, skills, utilization reports and tentative projects.
• You need a project management tool first and resourcing second. Choose Teamwork.com. Accelerate gives you workload and capacity planning; budget for Optimize if you need tentative work and skills-based scheduling.

Before you commit, run a trial with real data: load your actual team, their working hours and next month's leave, then book two or three live projects and one tentative deal. Check whether the tool shows the over-allocation you already know exists. Every tool here offers a free trial (Float, Runn and Resource Guru for 30 days; Productive and Teamwork.com for 14 days; Smartsheet for 30 days).

Conclusion

For most teams, Float is the best resource management software in 2026. It has a low entry price, bills only people on the schedule, and covers capacity, time off, skills, tentative work, budgets and utilization on its Starter plan, with time tracking and plan-versus-actual reporting on Pro.

Runn is the stronger choice for larger services firms focused on forecasting and scenarios, provided the 20-seat minimum fits. Resource Guru is the most focused on preventing clashes and handles rooms and equipment well. Productive suits agencies that want one platform for resourcing and finance. Smartsheet and Teamwork.com make the most sense when you already use them, or when you want a broader work management platform with resourcing built in.