Scheduling chaos wastes so much of your time.
If you’re spending too much energy piecing together spreadsheets just to see who’s available and what’s actually getting done, researching Float makes sense.
The biggest headache? Unclear schedules create daily confusion and missed deadlines. That friction means projects overrun, you burn out your best people, and budgets slip away before you notice.
Float approaches this pain with live, visual resource scheduling, capacity forecasting, and easy drag-and-drop planning, all in a centralized dashboard that’s much simpler than clunky project management software.
In this review, I’ll walk you through how Float can actually help create order out of your team’s planning and scheduling work.
You’ll see in this Float review how the platform stacks up on features, pricing, real-world usability, where it shines for agencies and studios, and how it compares to its top alternatives.
You’ll come away knowing the features you need to cut through scheduling friction and pick a tool you’ll actually use.
Let’s get started.
Quick Summary
- Float is resource management software that helps agencies and teams schedule work, track time, and forecast project capacity effectively.
- Best for small to medium-sized businesses needing clear visibility into team availability and workload planning.
- You’ll appreciate its intuitive visual scheduling and integrated time tracking that simplify resource allocation and budget monitoring.
- Float offers tiered pricing starting at $7 per scheduled person per month with a 14-day free trial available.
Float Overview
Float is all about simplifying resource management for creative and professional firms. Based in New York, they’ve been laser-focused on solving this specific scheduling challenge for busy teams since 2012.
What I found truly sets them apart is their dedicated focus on creative and professional service teams. They aren’t an overwhelming, all-in-one platform; instead, they deeply understand the unique planning pain points that agencies, studios, and consultancies face daily.
Their recent updates, like pre-filled timesheets, are smart, practical moves. As I’ll explain through this Float review, these subtle changes significantly improve the accuracy of your team’s critical project reporting.
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Unlike competitors that bundle everything, Float’s primary value is in its intuitive, visual scheduling interface. It really feels like it was designed by people who actually manage team capacity, helping you avoid the complexity and feature bloat found in more general tools.
They work with leading creative agencies, architectural firms, and software consultancies. These are organizations that require a reliable, real-time view of who is available and when to keep projects moving forward smoothly.
From my analysis, their entire strategic focus is on mastering resource planning and forecasting. This directly addresses your need to balance workloads, prevent team burnout, and ultimately keep every single one of your projects profitable.
Now let’s examine their capabilities.
Float Features
Struggling to get a clear picture of team availability?
Float features offer a powerful suite for resource management and scheduling that helps your team stay on track and deliver projects efficiently. Here are the five main Float features that transform how you manage your resources.
1. Resource Scheduling
Team members always overbooked or sitting idle?
Unclear team availability can lead to missed deadlines or wasted resources, creating frustration for everyone involved.
Float provides a live visual schedule, allowing you to easily see who is working on what and when. From my testing, the drag-and-drop scheduling feels incredibly intuitive, making it simple to adjust tasks and allocate work. This feature helps prevent both over-allocation and under-utilization.
This means you can efficiently plan and allocate work, ensuring your team’s time is always used effectively.
2. Capacity Management and Forecasting
Can’t accurately predict future resource needs?
Balancing workloads and preventing burnout is tough without a clear view of your team’s current and future capacity.
This feature offers a live view of team availability, time off, and scheduled work, helping you balance workloads and prevent burnout. What I love is how it lets you forecast future resource needs with precision, ensuring adequate staffing for upcoming projects.
The result is your business can avoid under- or over-promising on project delivery, leading to happier clients and team members.
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3. Project Planning and Scoping
Projects frequently go off track and over budget?
Aligning resources with project needs can be a nightmare without the right tools, impacting timelines and budgets.
Float allows you to create detailed project schedules, aligning your available resources with specific project requirements. Here’s what I found: it supports unlimited project scoping and margin tracking, giving you a comprehensive view of project financials.
So, as a project manager, you can create accurate cost estimates and track budgets closely, keeping projects on time and within financial limits.
4. Time Tracking
Is logging actual hours a confusing, time-consuming mess?
Inaccurate time tracking can lead to flawed project estimates and budget overruns, making it hard to learn from past projects.
Float includes built-in time tracking that simplifies timesheets with pre-filled hours for more accurate data. This feature shines in helping you compare estimated hours versus actuals, which is vital for improving future project estimates and staying on budget.
This means you can streamline the process of logging hours, gaining valuable insights to improve your project planning accuracy for every new venture.
5. Reporting and Analytics
Struggling to gain meaningful insights from your project data?
Limited reporting can leave you in the dark about project performance and resource allocation, making informed decisions difficult.
Float offers various reports, including utilization trends, billable vs. non-billable comparisons, and budget burn tracking. While some customization is limited, the ability to export data for in-depth analysis is a huge plus. This feature helps you understand where your resources are going.
This means you can gain critical insights into project performance and resource allocation, empowering you to make smarter decisions for your business.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ User-friendly interface simplifies scheduling and resource visualization for quick adoption.
- ✅ Excellent for resource planning and time tracking, centralizing key project data.
- ✅ Effective forecasting capabilities help predict future resource needs and manage capacity.
- ⚠️ Lacks comprehensive project management features for complex projects.
- ⚠️ Limited customization options for reports may require data exports.
- ⚠️ Missing simple quality-of-life features like duplicating events for efficiency.
These Float features work together to create a robust resource management system that eliminates scheduling headaches and optimizes your team’s productivity.
Float Pricing
How much will Float really cost you?
Float pricing is transparent with clear tiers and a per-user model, making it straightforward to understand your potential investment in resource management software.
Plan | Price & Features |
---|---|
Starter | $7.00 USD per scheduled person/month (billed monthly) or $6 (billed annually) • Unlimited projects • Capacity management & forecasting • Mobile app access • 24/5 support • 1 placeholder |
Pro | $12.00 USD per scheduled person/month (billed monthly) or $10 (billed annually) • All Starter features • Built-in time tracking • Compare estimates vs. actuals • Desktop timer app • Single Sign-On (SSO) |
Enterprise | Custom pricing – contact sales • All Pro features • Dedicated Customer Success Manager • Personalized onboarding • Priority support • Custom contracts & SLAs |
1. Value Assessment
Great pricing value for teams.
What I found regarding Float pricing is that its per-scheduled-person model ensures you only pay for active users, which is excellent for cost efficiency. The flexible tier options mean you scale naturally with your team’s growth, avoiding oversized plans and unnecessary expenses.
This means your budget gets a predictable and fair cost aligned with your actual resource management needs.
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2. Trial/Demo Options
Try before you buy, wisely.
Float offers a 14-day free trial, which is ample time to test its resource scheduling and time tracking features. What I found valuable is that the trial allows full feature exploration, enabling you to assess its fit before committing to any Float pricing plan.
This helps you evaluate the software’s benefits and ensure it meets your team’s unique requirements without any financial commitment.
3. Plan Comparison
Choose the ideal plan.
For smaller teams needing core scheduling, the Starter plan offers solid value, but the Pro plan adds crucial time tracking and comparison tools. Budget-wise, the Pro plan offers the best balance of features for growing teams, delivering significant operational insights.
This helps you match Float pricing to actual usage requirements, ensuring you invest in the right level of functionality for your business.
My Take: Float’s pricing model is transparent and scales effectively with team size, making it a budget-friendly choice for businesses prioritizing clear resource management without hidden fees.
The overall Float pricing reflects transparent value for efficient resource management.
Float Reviews
What do real customers actually think?
Looking into Float reviews, I’ve analyzed user feedback across various platforms to give you a clear picture of real-world experiences and what actual customers think about this software.
1. Overall User Satisfaction
Users seem generally quite satisfied.
From my review analysis, Float consistently receives strong satisfaction ratings, typically averaging 4.5+ stars. What I found in user feedback is that users commend its intuitive design and ease of use, which often leads to rapid team adoption and minimal training needs compared to other tools.
This indicates you can expect a smooth onboarding process for your team.
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2. Common Praise Points
The scheduling features are a major win.
Users frequently praise Float’s visual scheduling and drag-and-drop interface, making resource planning incredibly efficient. Review-wise, its ability to combine planning and time tracking in one place is repeatedly highlighted as a key benefit for forecasting and managing workloads effectively.
This means you’ll gain a clear, immediate overview of your team’s capacity.
3. Frequent Complaints
Some users desire more features.
Common complaints revolve around the software’s depth, particularly a perceived lack of comprehensive project management and advanced reporting features. What stands out is how users often need to export data for detailed analysis, indicating a desire for more robust in-app analytics and customization.
These issues might mean supplementing Float with other tools for complex needs.
What Customers Say
- Positive: “It’s been invaluable to plan resources and track time in one place. We’ve been using Float for years to forecast and plan ahead.” (User Review)
- Constructive: “[There’s] no project management feature. If it was there, we would have used just Float for both project management and resource planning/scheduling.” (User Review)
- Bottom Line: “Every project and scheduled resource is managed through Float. To put it simply: if it’s not in Float, it’s not getting done.” (User Review)
Overall, Float reviews reflect a strong core product with room for feature expansion as team complexity grows.
Best Float Alternatives
Looking for the perfect resource management tool?
The best Float alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations and priorities. I’ve analyzed when each competitor shines.
1. Teamwork.com
Need an all-in-one project management suite?
Teamwork.com excels when your primary need is a comprehensive project management platform with robust collaboration, communication, and budgeting features beyond just resource scheduling. What I found comparing options is that Teamwork.com offers a more holistic solution for managing entire projects, not just resource allocation.
Choose Teamwork.com if your business requires strong integrated communication and budgeting alongside project tasks.
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2. monday.com
Seeking a highly customizable, versatile work OS?
monday.com works better when you need a flexible platform that can manage diverse business operations, from CRM to HR, not just resource allocation. Alternative-wise, monday.com’s broad customizability fits varied needs, making it suitable for scaling across different departments and functions beyond Float’s core.
Consider this alternative if you need a highly adaptable system for managing multiple aspects of your business.
3. ClickUp
Want to consolidate multiple apps into one platform?
ClickUp specializes in replacing various productivity tools with its comprehensive suite covering docs, reminders, CRM, and more. From my competitive analysis, ClickUp offers extensive feature consolidation, making it an ideal alternative if you’re aiming to centralize all your work management.
Choose ClickUp if you’re looking for an ultra-versatile platform to unify diverse work management functions.
4. Resource Guru
Prioritizing dedicated resource scheduling and scalability?
Resource Guru is a strong direct alternative to Float, often praised for its clear overview of team availability and workload, scaling well for larger teams. What I found comparing options is that Resource Guru might scale better for larger teams, focusing purely on specialized resource allocation and tracking.
Choose Resource Guru if your core need is a dedicated resource scheduling tool for teams of all sizes.
Quick Decision Guide
- Choose Float: Visual, intuitive resource scheduling and capacity planning
- Choose Teamwork.com: Comprehensive project management with strong collaboration
- Choose monday.com: Highly customizable, versatile work OS for various operations
- Choose ClickUp: All-in-one productivity platform to consolidate multiple apps
- Choose Resource Guru: Dedicated, scalable resource scheduling for teams of all sizes
The best Float alternatives depend on your specific business requirements and project scope, not just feature lists.
Float Setup
Ready to deploy new software?
This Float review provides practical guidance on its deployment process and setup requirements, helping you set realistic expectations for implementation.
1. Setup Complexity & Timeline
Starting with Float is intuitive.
Float’s user-friendly interface minimizes extensive training, enabling fast onboarding. From my implementation analysis, most businesses experience a relatively smooth setup process, allowing for quicker adoption compared to more complex systems.
You’ll want to plan for initial data imports and user role assignments to get your team up and running efficiently.
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2. Technical Requirements & Integration
Minimal technical hurdles expected.
Float operates as a cloud-based solution, accessible via web browsers and mobile apps, requiring no complex server installations. What I found about deployment is that it integrates well with existing project management tools and generally requires very little from your IT infrastructure.
Prepare for basic network connectivity and consider SSO or domain restrictions if on higher-tier plans for enhanced security.
3. Training & Change Management
User adoption should be straightforward.
The intuitive drag-and-drop scheduling and clear layout simplify workflow visualization, making the learning curve shallow for most users. From my analysis, user feedback consistently praises Float’s ease of use, which significantly reduces the need for extensive formal training.
Focus on familiarizing your team with the centralized resource planning and time tracking features to maximize their productivity.
4. Support & Success Factors
Expect solid vendor support throughout.
Customer feedback indicates a very positive experience with the Float team, often praising their responsiveness and willingness to go “above and beyond.” From my analysis, this level of support is crucial for successful implementation, addressing any issues quickly and effectively.
You should plan to leverage their responsive support team as a key factor in ensuring a smooth and successful deployment.
Implementation Checklist
- Timeline: Weeks for full team onboarding and initial setup
- Team Size:1 A project lead plus key team members for data entry
- Budget: Primarily software subscription, minimal external services
- Technical: Web browser access, potential CSV or integration imports
- Success Factor: Clear data preparation and user role assignments
Overall, Float setup is straightforward for most businesses, with strong vendor support enabling smooth adoption and quick time-to-value.
Bottom Line
Is Float right for your resource management?
My Float review shows a software that offers significant value for professional services teams needing dedicated resource scheduling and capacity planning.
1. Who This Works Best For
Professional services teams needing visual scheduling.
Float is ideal for small to medium-sized agencies, consultancies, or in-house production teams prioritizing effective resource allocation and project timing. From my user analysis, businesses struggling with spreadsheet-based planning will find Float a significant, intuitive upgrade, enhancing visibility and efficiency.
You’ll succeed with Float if your primary challenge is optimizing team utilization and ensuring projects stay on schedule without burnout.
2. Overall Strengths
Intuitive visual scheduling streamlines your operations.
The software excels with its highly intuitive, visual interface for drag-and-drop scheduling, robust capacity planning, and integrated time tracking. From my comprehensive analysis, its ability to combine planning and tracking in one reliable platform provides unparalleled insight into project progress and team workloads.
These strengths mean you gain clear visibility into who is doing what and when, preventing over-utilization or under-utilization for your team.
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3. Key Limitations
Limited scope for comprehensive project management.
Float primarily focuses on resource management and scheduling, lacking extensive features for broader project management like task dependency mapping or advanced collaboration. Based on this review, you might need additional tools if your business requires a full-suite project management solution beyond resource allocation and time tracking.
These limitations are manageable trade-offs if dedicated resource management is your core need, not a deal-breaker.
4. Final Recommendation
Float earns a strong recommendation for its niche.
You should choose Float if your business, particularly an agency or studio, requires a dedicated, user-friendly tool for optimizing team resources and project scheduling. From my analysis, your team will benefit from its visual clarity and focused capabilities for managing workloads and tracking project hours effectively.
My confidence level is high for its target audience but drops if you need comprehensive project management features.
Bottom Line
- Verdict: Recommended for professional services resource management
- Best For: Agencies, consultancies, and in-house production teams
- Business Size: Small to medium-sized businesses needing dedicated resource scheduling
- Biggest Strength: Intuitive visual scheduling and capacity planning
- Main Concern: Lacks comprehensive project management features
- Next Step: Explore a free trial to experience the scheduling interface
This Float review shows strong value for specific business needs, while clearly outlining its scope to help you make an informed decision.