15+ Resource Management Software Picks (2025) & What It’s For

Struggling with team capacity, project forecasting, and profitability? Productive is your all-in-one solution for professional services resource management challenges.

Take control with Productive’s advanced resource management features:

Stop juggling multiple spreadsheets and tools. With Productive, you’ll gain clear visibility into your team’s availability, prevent resource conflicts, and make data-driven decisions that boost your bottom line.

With Productive, you can create a resource management plan while taking into account key employee details, including their working hours, allocated time off and categories, and holidays (especially useful for remote employees).

When creating your bookings, you’ll also get an overview of how many hours have already been booked across a specific service (for ex. design or development).

Productive’s resource planner works on the basis of drag-and-dropping, so you don’t have to redo everything to implement changes to your schedules or even assignees.

If you want to get ahead of your future projects, Productive offers tentative bookings that help you map out plans without impacting your employee capacity.

This is a great way to plan out your project schedules early—and if anything changes, you don’t have to worry about it impacting confirmed plans.

If you’re struggling to monitor how effectively your team’s time is being utilized, Productive has the answers. Get comprehensive utilization tracking that eliminates guesswork and prevents both overallocation and bench time.

Get instant visibility with color-coded capacity indicators in your Resource Planner, allowing you to spot potential issues at a glance.

Dive deeper with customizable utilization reports that let you analyze performance by department, seniority, skills, or any criteria that matters to your business.

When you have complex projects and need to look ahead, Productive’s resource forecasting shows your team’s utilization in coming weeks and months.

This helps businesses prevent issues with unexpected resource gaps which can impact project timelines and client relationships.

When you schedule resources, Productive automatically generates real-time financial projections that show where your projects are headed. Watch key metrics like profitability, revenue, and budget burn unfold across upcoming weeks and months—no more end-of-project financial surprises.

Notice a project trending toward unprofitability? You can immediately reallocate team members and watch how these changes impact your bottom line.

Another powerful tool is scenario planning, which lets you build deal and project scenarios and compare them side by side to make truly data-driven decisions

With Productive’s real-time insights, you’ll transform your resource planning from manual work into a strategic financial tool that directly improves your bottom line.

Productive replaces multiple tools with a single, integrated solution with key features for managing employee time.

Team members can use multiple ways to log hours—such as the timer for real-time tracking or add entries manually.

For those who consistently forget to track hours, managers can enable automatic tracking that creates entries based on resource bookings, increasing accuracy and simplifying administrative work.

Take control of your approval process with individual or bulk timesheet reviews, and lock periods to prevent retroactive changes. No more mysterious missing hours or questionable entries to disrupt your invoicing.

With the built-in leave planner, you can stop transferring employee lave from spreadsheets to your tools. Handle the entire process from Productive, from allocating absence categories, to leave requests and approvals.

You can go for a free 14-day trial before you decide to check out a paid plan.

Smartsheet is a versatile resourcing and project management solution that empowers businesses to collaborate, plan, and execute projects seamlessly. It offers intuitive spreadsheets, interactive Gantt charts, and automated workflows, enabling real-time visibility and streamlined project management.

Features:

Smartsheet provides a user-friendly interface that allows teams to quickly adapt and begin managing resources effectively. It’s often compared to a spreadsheet, which can be both a positive and a negative. If you’re looking for a more modernized solution, consider some other alternatives from this list.

You can also learn more about Smartsheet in our list of Bitrix24 competitors.

Hive is one of the best project planning tools for smaller teams that want to manage valuable resources.

Features:

Users underline that they enjoy Hive for being user-friendly and having an intuitive interface. However, users report some issues with the project and task management features:

Source: Capterra

Find out more in our list of the best Harvest competitors.

Asana is a popular resource management tool known for its simplicity and collaborative features. It enables teams to prioritize tasks, track progress, and manage resources effectively, enhancing overall productivity and coordination.

Features:

Asana’s clean and intuitive interface promotes easy adoption among team members, fostering better collaboration. The free version of Asana lacks some advanced features, which may require upgrading to a paid plan for a more comprehensive resource management platform, or checking out more robust Asana alternatives.

Microsoft Planner is a project planning software solution within the Microsoft 365 suite. It simplifies task organization and team coordination, providing a visual and user-friendly platform for efficient work organization.

Features:

Microsoft Planner’s integration with other Microsoft 365 tools allows for a seamless workflow, facilitating effective resource management within a familiar ecosystem. The tool’s reporting and analytics capabilities are relatively limited compared to other project management software.

LiquidPlanner is a comprehensive resource planning software that emphasizes dynamic scheduling and intelligent resource allocation. It provides accurate project forecasting and helps teams optimize their resources for maximum efficiency.

Features:

LiquidPlanner’s intelligent scheduling algorithms ensure optimal resource allocation, maximizing productivity and project success. The tool’s advanced features and functionality may make it overwhelming for users who require a simple resource management software solution.

For more options, check out our LiquidPlanner alternative guide.

Saviom is a powerful project resource management solution designed to assist organizations in effectively managing their workforce and project resources. It offers comprehensive planning and reporting capabilities, empowering businesses to optimize resource utilization.

Features:

Saviom’s robust reporting and analytics features enable data-driven decision-making, leading to improved resource utilization and project outcomes. The initial setup and configuration process of Saviom may require technical expertise or assistance

Check out how Saviom fares as a replacement for Resource Guru.

Wrike is a versatile resource planning solution and project management software that combines project management capabilities with collaborative features. It offers comprehensive task management, real-time communication, and customizable workflows, making it ideal for businesses of all sizes.

Features:

Wrike’s flexibility and scalability make it suitable for both smaller and large enterprises, ensuring efficient resourcing across different organizational levels. On the other hand the learning curve for mastering advanced features and customization options in Wrike may be steep for some users.

To find out more, you can check out our Wrike or ClickUp or Productive comparison.

Jira is a popular resource planning tool primarily used for agile projects. It offers a range of features for planning, tracking, and releasing software projects, making it a preferred choice for software development.

Features:

It’s robust features and integration capabilities make it a powerful project management tool specifically tailored for software development projects. However, Jira’s interface and feature set might not be a perfect fit for businesses working outside the software development realm.

Ganttic is a visual resource scheduling software that simplifies resource allocation and capacity planning. It offers an intuitive Gantt chart interface, drag-and-drop functionality, and real-time collaboration, enabling effective resource management across projects.

Features:

Ganttic’s user-friendly interface and intuitive drag-and-drop functionality make it easy to create and adjust resource plans, enhancing efficiency and project coordination. Some users may find the reporting and analytics capabilities of Ganttic to be less comprehensive compared to other resource management tools.

Celoxis is a comprehensive project and resource planning tool that caters to diverse industries. It provides end-to-end project visibility, resource tracking, and collaborative features, enabling businesses to manage resources effectively and deliver projects on time.

Features:

The robust feature set and scalability of Celoxis make it suitable for various industries, facilitating efficient resource management and project execution. The extensive range of features in Celoxis may require additional effort for onboarding and training team members.

Workfront (formerly known as AtTask) is a comprehensive work management platform that offers powerful resource management capabilities. It combines project planning, resource allocation, and collaboration features, allowing businesses to optimize resource utilization and improve productivity.

Features:

Workfront is a platform within the Adobe ecosystem. It can be a good pick for creatives due its proofing features and Figma modules. As the main downside, multiple users state that it can take a while to learn Workfront’s terminology and start using it effectively.

Find the best Adobe Workfront alternative.

Planview AdaptiveWork, formerly Clarizen, is a robust resource allocation tool that combines project planning, collaboration, and resource optimization capabilities. It provides a centralized platform for planning, executing, and tracking projects while effectively managing and allocating resources.

Features:

Planview’s comprehensive feature set empowers businesses to manage projects and resources efficiently while facilitating collaboration and enhancing decision-making through its robust analytics capabilities.

Some users on Capterra state that the licensing model can be awkward and that the software can be expensive for their particular needs.

We also covered Planview AdaptiveWork in our list of the top Mavenlink competitors, so you can check out that article to learn more.

Paymo is an affordable option for managing client work, with Gantt charts, resource load charts, and leave management features.

Features:

Paymo is a popular tool for businesses with limited budgets: “Paymo is best for small teams, so it might not be as suitable if your team grows beyond 20 people” (Capterra). Users especially underline how useful it is for time tracking and tasks.

Forecast.app is an AI-powered software that offers a collaborative environment for resource managers and their teams.

Features:

Forecast offers a fair range of features for project and resource planning; however, the pricing of the software is not public, which can make it more difficult to make an informed decision on its cost for value.

One of the mentioned downsides for Forecast is the lack of a public roadmap to help businesses stay in sync with improvements and updates:

Source: G2

If you’re looking for solutions that include customer relationship management (CRM), here’s a handy list:

Productive’s integrated CRM transforms how you approach your sales pipeline. You can forecast team capacity for potential projects before they’re won and even tentatively schedule them against opportunities. By bridging the gap between sales and operations, you’ll close more deals with realistic timelines and set proper client expectations from the start.

Key features:

Bitrix24 is a Russian-based tool with a wide range of features for CRM, including telephony and basic marketing automation. However, its downsides include a cluttered user interface and customer support issues, according to some users.

Odoo is an open-source ERP solution that addresses various use cases: eCommerce, accounting, inventory, CRM, and project management. It can feel cheaper than comparable solutions, but you’ll need to invest significant effort in setting up the software and finding the apps you want to integrate.

If you’re running a small businesses, you might want to look into these resource management tools. Some of them have limited free versions, while others are fully open-source:

Freedcamp is a task management option for professional services businesses. While it’s fairly affordable and has a free version for unlimited users, it lacks more specialized resource planning features. You can track projects and collaborate with team members, but larger businesses will need more advanced insight into resources.

In comparison to Freedcamp, Runn is created especially for resource planning, and includes features such as scheduling and forecasting. Its starter plan is free for up to 5 users. As its biggest downsides, users mention the need for more advanced reporting (for example, custom fields) and permissions levels.

OpenProject is an open-source project management tool designed for teams that need features like Gantt charts, time tracking, and workload management. While it’s highly customizable and ideal for collaboration, some users report confusion with installing and getting started with OpenProject, and the interface can be less intuitive compared to more modern solutions.

Microsoft offers three potential solutions for resource management: Microsoft Planner, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Project for web.

Microsoft Planner is a more scaled down solution, and users usually report that it’s not suitable for larger businesses or more complex use cases. According to a Reddit user:

On the other hand, Microsoft Project is more robust. It offers features such as resource requests, visual heatmaps, and robust resource analytics and claims to support proactive resource utilization, resource forecasting, and timely project delivery.

However, users often report that Project can be too old school for their teams and that licensing fees can get expensive.

There’s also Microsoft Project for the web (also known as the new Microsoft Planner), which is reported to be more user friendly and lightweight.

If this sounds complicated, you can try an alternative like Productive.

According to research by Wellingtone on project resource planning, 17% of businesses don’t use any software tools to manage their project resources, while as many as 35% manage them with Excel.

Resource planning ensures that your time, money, and personnel are allocated optimally. It also provides a more high-level overview of your processes, so you can resolve resource requests across multiple projects.

The benefits of this includes:

Overall, a good resource management solution supports both project managers and their teams.

Resource management tools are essential for effectively planning, allocating, and monitoring resources across projects and teams. Key features typically include:

While there are many options to choose from, your best choice will depend on a couple of main factors:

Make sure to also pay attention to how active the vendors are — you want a tool that is frequently updated with improvements and new features to help you stay competitive.

To summarize, our article reviews some of the best software for agencies:

With Productive, you can handle your projects, finances, collaboration, resources, and business intelligence, all in a single tool.

Book a demo with Productive find out how you can support your business growth.

Creating a resource plan starts with identifying the project’s scope and the specific tasks that need to be completed. Once the tasks are clear, determine what resources—such as people, equipment, and materials—are necessary.

Next, assess resource availability, taking into account current workloads and schedules. Assign resources based on skills, experience, and availability, while also considering potential risks or constraints. It’s important to use a resource management tool to adjust the plan on the go as needed.

Find out more on creating your capacity planning template with Productive.

Several popular techniques help organizations manage resources effectively. Resource leveling adjusts project schedules to address resource constraints and avoid overloading individuals. Resource smoothing ensures resources are distributed evenly without affecting project deadlines. Forecasting tools help map out future resource availability for better human resources planning.

Choosing the right combination of techniques depends on a company’s size, industry, and project complexity.

Resource management software for professional services is designed to help service-based organizations efficiently plan, allocate, and monitor their human and material resources. These tools are designed to support a variety of businesses, such as consulting firms, marketing agencies, IT services, and creative businesses.

In comparison to ERP solutions, these solutions usually don’t offer inventory tracking (or material resources management), but make up for it with client billing, budgeting, and CRM features. An example of this type of tool is Productive.

A project manager is responsible for overseeing an entire project from initiation to completion, focusing on achieving specific goals within a set timeframe and budget. Their duties include planning tasks, coordinating teams, managing risks, and ensuring deliverables meet quality standards.

Meanwhile, a resource manager is primarily concerned with allocating and optimizing the organization’s resources—such as personnel, equipment, and finances—across multiple projects.

While project managers are goal-oriented toward the success of individual projects, resource managers take a broader view, ensuring that resources are utilized effectively across all projects and organizational needs.

Resource Guru is another solution for resource management, with features such as leave management, project scheduling, and timesheets. While Resource Guru has overall positive reviews, some users find that it has limited integration options and it can be difficult to use on mobile devices. In comparison to solutions like Productive, Resource Guru also lacks more integrated financial and project management features.