Float

What is Float

Float is a specialized software focused on resource management, planning, and scheduling. It is designed primarily for professional services teams, agencies, studios, and consulting firms that need a clear view of their team's availability and project timelines. The core purpose of Float is to help managers allocate the right people to the right projects at the right time, ensuring workloads are balanced and deadlines are met. Its main functionality revolves around a visual schedule that shows who is working on what and when. The company was co-founded by Glenn Rogers and has operated as a remote-first company for many years, serving thousands of teams globally. Float is known for its user-friendly interface and its dedicated focus on doing one thing very well: resource planning.

Float Features

• Resource Scheduling: A visual, drag-and-drop schedule to assign tasks and projects to team members. It provides a clear overview of everyone's availability, including time off and holidays.
• Project Planning: Set up projects with specific budgets, phases, and milestones. You can track progress against the plan and see how resource allocation impacts project profitability in real-time.
• Capacity Management: Get an accurate view of your team's capacity to take on new work. The software helps you identify who is overbooked and who is available, preventing burnout and maximizing productivity.
• Time Tracking: An optional module that allows team members to log their hours against scheduled tasks. This helps compare planned time versus actual time spent, improving future estimates.
• Reporting and Analytics: Generate detailed reports on team utilization, project budgets, billable vs. non-billable hours, and overall performance. These insights help make informed business decisions.
• Skills and Tags: Tag team members with specific skills, departments, or locations. This makes it easy to find the right person for a task by filtering your team directory.
• Budget Tracking: Monitor project budgets in real-time. As you schedule work, Float calculates the cost based on individual rates and shows how much budget is remaining.

Float Pricing Plans

Float typically offers a tiered pricing structure based on the features required. The plans are usually priced per user, per month.

• Resource Planning Plan: This is the core offering, providing all the essential features for scheduling, project planning, and capacity management. It is ideal for teams that need a powerful tool to manage their resources without the need for integrated time tracking.
• Resource Planning + Time Tracking Plan: This higher-tier plan includes everything in the base plan, plus the integrated time tracking module. It is designed for teams that want to track actual hours against scheduled work to improve project estimates and billing accuracy.

Enterprise plans are also available for larger organizations, offering advanced security features, dedicated support, and custom onboarding.

Float Free Plan

Float does not offer a permanent free plan. However, it provides a free 14-day trial that gives full access to all features, including both resource planning and time tracking. This allows teams to test the software thoroughly with their own projects and workflows before committing to a paid subscription. During the trial, you can invite your entire team and use the tool without any limitations.

How to use Float

Getting started with Float is a straightforward process:

1. Set Up Your Team: Begin by adding your team members to Float. You can set their roles, departments, skills, and billable rates.
2. Add Your Projects: Create the projects your team is working on. You can define project phases, set budgets (in hours or cost), and assign project managers.
3. Schedule Tasks: Go to the main schedule view. To assign work, simply click and drag on the timeline for a specific person and project. You can easily adjust the length and dates of tasks.
4. Manage Time Off: Add holidays, vacation, and sick leave to the schedule so that everyone's availability is clear and up-to-date.
5. Track Time (Optional): If using the time tracking feature, team members can log their hours daily via a pre-filled timesheet based on their scheduled tasks.
6. Monitor Reports: Regularly check the reporting section to monitor team utilization, track project budgets, and analyze performance to make better planning decisions.

Pros and Cons of Float

Pros:

• Excellent User Interface: The visual, drag-and-drop interface is intuitive and easy for the whole team to learn and use.
• Fast and Responsive: The application is very quick, making scheduling and adjustments a smooth process.
• Powerful Reporting: Provides valuable insights into utilization, capacity, and project budgets.
• Focused Functionality: It excels at resource management without being cluttered by unnecessary project management features.

Cons:

• Lacks All-in-One PM Features: It is not a full project management tool; it lacks features like file storage, client portals, or detailed task dependencies.
• Pricing: The per-user pricing can become costly for very large teams or organizations.
• Time Tracking is a Premium Feature: The time tracking module is only available on the more expensive plan.

Float integrations

Float integrates with popular project management and communication tools to keep workflows connected. Integrations are managed in the Team Settings section.

• Project Management Tools: Integrates with Asana, Trello, Jira, and ClickUp. This allows you to sync projects and tasks from these platforms directly into Float for scheduling.
• Calendar Integrations: Connect with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar to sync scheduled tasks and time off from Float to your personal calendar.
• Communication Tools: A Slack integration sends daily and weekly schedule updates to individuals or channels.

Float Alternatives

• Resource Guru: A direct competitor with a very similar visual scheduling interface. Resource Guru is also heavily focused on resource management and is known for its powerful booking and clash management features.
• Forecast (by Scoro): A more comprehensive platform that combines resource management with project management and financials. It is a good option for teams looking for an all-in-one solution.
• Monday.com: A flexible Work OS that can be configured for resource management. It offers broader project management capabilities but may require more setup to match Float's dedicated scheduling features.
• Harvest: While primarily a time tracking and invoicing tool, its sister application, Harvest Forecast, provides visual project and resource planning capabilities.

Float API

Yes, Float provides a developer API that allows you to build custom integrations and automate workflows. The API gives you access to data related to people, projects, clients, and scheduled tasks. You can use it to pull data into other systems or push information into Float.

To get an API key, an account Owner can generate one in Team Settings > API. The API documentation is available on the Float developer portal.

Here is a basic example of how to fetch a list of people using the API with cURL:

curl -X GET \
  'https://api.float.com/v3/people' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'User-Agent: Your-App-Name (your-contact-email@example.com)'

Float Affiliate program

Float does not have a public affiliate program for earning commissions on referrals. They do have a referral program for existing customers, where you can earn credits or rewards for referring new customers. If you are an influencer or a consultant interested in a partnership, it is best to contact their support or partnership team directly to discuss potential collaboration opportunities.