Resource management software is a virtual tool that aids managers in successfully delivering projects.
These tools cover the entire scope of resource management, including resource planning, scheduling, utilization, forecasting, and capacity planning. In short, they reduce the effort required from a project manager and increase the efficiency of the project workflow.
In this article, we’ll explore the 15 best resource management software – their key features, pricing, and customer ratings. We’ll even go into the benefits of using these tools and answer relevant questions about project management.
Table of Contents
- 15 best resource management software
- 2. Float
- 3. Resource Guru
- 4. Resource Management by Smartsheet
- 5. Forecast
- 6. Silverbucket
- 7. eResource Scheduler
- 8. Runn
- 9. LiquidPlanner
- 10. Paymo
- 11. Infinity
- 12. Hub Planner
- 13. Microsoft Project
- 14. Saviom
- 15. monday.com
Let’s dive in.
15 best resource management software
Here are some of the top resource management tools in 2022:
1. Mavenlink
Mavenlink is a sophisticated software solution that combines resource scheduling, planning, and analysis in a user-friendly system. It’s a good resource management tool for organizations looking to scale up operations.
Key features
- Optimize resource utilization with project management, accounting, and team collaboration modules.
- Manage clients, expenses, and timelines with dashboards that track relevant project resource KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
- Predict resource utilization with the resource forecasting feature.
- Simplify resource capacity management and resource planning with custom project reports.
- Fast integration with other productivity and project management apps via the M-Bridge API.
Pricing
Please contact Mavenlink directly for pricing information.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (690+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (565 reviews)
2. Float
Float is a robust, web-based resource management platform suitable for big and small teams, especially for marketing resource management.
Key features
- Manage your team’s allocations with efficient resource planning and scheduling features.
- Track your team’s task productivity metrics and compare planned estimates with actual hours to monitor project progress.
- Prevents overallocation through its team availability management feature and budget notifications.
- Provides visual representations of project metrics in resource utilization reports.
- Integrates with a wide variety of project management apps, like Jira and Asana.
Pricing
Float has paid plans that start at $7.50/user per month, offering resource planning, resource scheduling, and a time tracking add-on. They also offer a 30-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (855 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (1155+ reviews)
3. Resource Guru
Resource Guru is a user-friendly and cloud-based resource scheduling software specializing in non-human and human resource management.
Key features
- Create tasks and resource bookings based on resource availability.
- Add, edit, and delete resource schedules using the drag-and-drop feature.
- Identify capacity planning issues and review team allocations to optimize business performance.
- Track employee and resource availability for resource capacity planning.
- Get daily project resource summary emails and notifications.
Pricing
The Resource Guru plans start at $3/user per month and come with a 30-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (175+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (390+ reviews)
4. Resource Management by Smartsheet
Resource Management by Smartsheet is a simple resource management solution that helps managers optimize teams and tasks across projects.
Key features
- Manage timesheets for project planning and task allocation.
- See how schedule changes impact your project budget in real-time.
- Track employee work time and holidays in a spreadsheet to adjust project schedules.
- Review project decisions based on powerful reporting and analytics.
- Forecast resource utilization for accurate planning.
Pricing
Resource Management by Smartsheet starts at $9/user per month, offering resource and project management plans with a 14-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4/5 (110+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (60+ reviews)
5. Forecast
Forecast is project planning and resource allocation software that helps companies boost project success through data-driven insights and AI-automated processes.
Key features
- Automate project planning and resource allocation with an intelligent AI tool.
- Track current costs, potential revenue, and how you can capitalize on projects.
- Improve resource management KPIs with real-time insights from reports and analytics.
- Review available resources for improved project planning.
- Connects easily with around 30 integrations, like Github and Google Calendar.
Pricing
The software has paid plans starting at $29/user per month with resource, project, and task management features. Forecast also offers a 14-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (60+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (55 reviews)
6. Silverbucket
Silverbucket is cloud-based resource capacity planning software for all types of organizations. It’s a user-friendly resourcing tool that helps predict resource utilization and increase project profitability.
Key features
- Create detailed and accurate reports for project resourcing with precise forecasting.
- Optimize resource allocation and identify team workload conflicts on one screen.
- Automate data flows to streamline project administration and operations.
- Compare task estimates with actual time data to gauge project progress.
- Add additional third-party business integrations.
Pricing
Silverbucket has a resource management plan that starts at $9.50/planned person per month for up to 40 employees. There’s also a 30-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (15 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (10+ reviews)
7. eResource Scheduler
A collaborative resource management tool, eResource Scheduler lets organizations optimize non-human and human resource allocation.
Key features
- Access important resource capacity planning and scheduling information all in one place.
- Optimize resource utilization based on insights from detailed reports.
- Improve resource planning and management with third-party app integrations.
- Enhance resource management with the invoicing and time tracking add-ons.
- Simplify resource allocation with the click-and-drag feature
Pricing
eResource Scheduler has a core scheduling plan that costs $5/resource per month with additional financial and timesheet add-ons. The tool comes with a 14-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: NA
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (15+ reviews)
8. Runn
Runn is a real-time resource planning software and forecasting tool for work management. Its straightforward user interface helps project managers bring their teams on the same page.
Key features
- Identify over-bookings with the resource overview and easily reschedule tasks with the drag-and-drop feature.
- Use timesheets to compare actual vs estimated time for tasks.
- Track KPIs and use the forecasting functionality to optimize project planning.
- Integrate with project planning apps like Harvest, WorkflowMax, and Clockify to import project data and sync time entries.
- Simplify collaboration with in-house and remote teams.
Pricing
Runn has a free plan for up to five people and a paid plan that costs $10/user per month. It comes with a 14-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: NA
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (10+ reviews)
9. LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is a smart tool with an intuitive user interface. It specializes in planning intelligence – helping managers plan, forecast, and deliver projects.
Key features
- Plan work based on real-time forecasts of task durations via the predictive scheduling feature.
- Balance resource allocation with intelligent workload distribution reports.
- Monitor resource utilization and demand with several views, including workload, schedule, and task board views.
- Create tags for skills, location, and more to optimize capacity management.
- Use portfolio management to keep projects profitable.
Pricing
The tool has a limited-user free plan and paid plans that start at $15/user per month, offering resource scheduling, project management, time tracking, and more.
You can also try the full-featured software in its 14-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (240+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (635+ reviews)
10. Paymo
Paymo is a resource and project management tool specializing in improving productivity across teams.
Key features
- Adjust your resource plan to account for paid time-off and holidays.
- Review the resource capacity for users, tasks, and projects.
- Use the drag and drop feature for real-time resource scheduling.
- Improve team collaboration and communication through discussions.
- Integrate with a host of reliable third-party business apps.
Pricing
Paymo has a single-user free plan. Paid plans start at $5.95/user per month and include project templates, employee scheduling, leave management, a Gantt chart, and more.
It comes with a 15-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (565+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (415+ reviews)
11. Infinity
Infinity is a configurable and flexible project and resource management software that helps you manage resource demand and capacity.
Key features
- Organize work processes and tasks in Kanban, list, calendar, or table format for simplified planning and resource management.
- Visualize project and non-billable tasks from efficient resource planning.
- Create roadmaps for different workflow stages with the Kanban board tool.
- Track each employee’s activity to monitor project progress.
- Access video and text tutorials to get familiar with the software.
Pricing
Infinity requires a single payment rather than periodic subscriptions. The software starts at $199 for up to five members.
The tool doesn’t offer a trial period, but subscribers can ask for a 100% refund within 30 days.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (15 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (25+ reviews)
12. Hub Planner
Hub Planner offers project resource management and planning solutions that help managers with resource capacity planning.
Key features
- Optimize resource management based on analytics from reports.
- Compare planned vs actual time spent on tasks for easy project monitoring.
- Reassign or schedule tasks based on employee time-offs.
- Access a wide diversity of resource management features.
- Share reports with clients and stakeholders easily.
Pricing
Hub Planner has paid plans starting at $8/resource per month, offering resource scheduling and unlimited projects. They also offer a 60-day free trial.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (15+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (100 reviews)
13. Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is designed to assist any project manager in scheduling, monitoring, and planning projects. It’s beneficial for all professional services, helping freelancers and large businesses optimize resource allocation and utilization.
Key features
- Use project portfolio management to track all types of resources.
- Track human resources separately using the resource engagements feature.
- Simplify resource planning and scheduling with a user-friendly tool that integrates with Microsoft Teams.
- Identify overburdened employees and optimize work distribution using the capacity heat maps feature.
- Track progress and resolve resource-related conflicts using Power BI.
Check out this in-depth Microsoft Project review.
Pricing
Microsoft Project has two different solutions:
- Cloud-based solutions: Plans start at $10/user per month and come with a one-month free trial. They include project planning, scheduling, resource planning, business intelligence, and more.
- On-premise project plan solutions: Require a once-off payment, starting at $679.99 per PC.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4/5 (1580 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (1330+ reviews)
14. Saviom
Saviom is a project management and resource planning tool that helps managers make informed decisions to optimize resource utilization and budget spending.
Key features
- Optimize project delivery with a comprehensive ERM (Enterprise Resource Management) suite for resource scheduling and planning.
- Adjust task and resource allocation via the drag and drop scheduling interface.
- Maximize the profitable utilization of every resource via the advanced forecasting and capacity planning module.
- Improve resource management with insights from customizable reports and analytics.
- Build heat maps to avoid under and overutilization of resources.
Pricing
Saviom’s software pricing is only available on request.
Customer ratings
- G2: NA
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (15+ reviews)
15. monday.com
monday.com is a user-friendly resource and project management software that allows users to plan projects from a desktop and mobile app.
Key features
- Use various views, like workload, Kanban, and timeline views, to visualize project data.
- Create new boards for tracking resource utilization easily.
- Automate workflows to streamline project operations.
- Simplify project resource management with color-coded labels.
- Integrate with over 40 business apps, like Slack and Google Drive via Zapier.
Pricing
monday.com offers a limited free plan and paid plans start at $8/user per month. They also offer a 14-day free trial.
Features like the Gantt chart function, dependencies, automations, and security permissions are available on the Premium plan.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (5655+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (2580+ reviews)
Check out this article to discover how to track time with monday.com.
Now, let’s look at the benefits of using these tools.
What are the advantages of using resource management software?
Here’s how resource management software helps businesses:
- Reduces administrative errors: Through automation and resource scheduling, managers can avoid resource allocation errors, like overbooking of resources.
- Optimizes resource utilization: Resource management tools increase project productivity by forecasting an efficient resource utilization plan.
- Data-driven insights for hiring decisions: By helping a project manager understand the resource demand for efficient project completion, these tools provide valuable insights into hiring new employees.
- Improves client relationships: Resource and project management software track task performance to make client spendings more transparent.
- Revenue growth: Resource management tools help project managers forecast revenue based on upcoming projects and resource capacity. It also optimizes resource demand and utilization to allow for data-driven decisions about taking on new projects.
Read on to explore a few important aspects of resource management.
3 FAQs about resource management
Here are three common questions about resource management:
1. What is a resource forecast?
A resource forecast entails a detailed estimate of the resources and effort required to complete a project.
This forecast is typically created in the initial phases of the project and helps a project manager determine the project timeline and budget.
2. How do you create a resource plan?
You can create a resource plan by:
- Identifying and quantifying the resources needed for the project, including team members, meetings, equipment, and other accessories involved in the project process.
- Scheduling tasks and resource utilization to create a timeline for project completion.
Ideally, a resource plan will serve as a roadmap for any resource manager to identify how, when, and where managers should use resources.
3. How do you calculate project resources?
You can calculate the project resource demand by identifying the project’s scope and then matching it with your team’s capacity and capability.
Referring to past project estimates and requirements can also help in this regard.
You can then use this data to evaluate your project budget.
Wrapping up
The best resource management tool should do more than just optimize resource planning and scheduling. It should let you forecast resource usage and adjust resource capacity planning based on availability.
All the tools we’ve mentioned here can help streamline the resource management process. So, you can go through this post to find the right resource management tool for your company’s specific needs.
