Float is a strong answer when the spreadsheet is the problem. It puts people, projects, time off and capacity on a live schedule, so a resource manager can see who is overbooked, drag work to someone else, and report utilisation, budgets and margin from that plan. Many agencies use it beside the tool where the actual client work lives.
Kavaro is for the agency whose staffing decision and delivery plan have drifted apart. The question in the meeting is not only who has hours left. It is who can take this brief, what is still tentative, what it does to the week and the margin, and whether the work itself — phases, approvals and the client view — is moving. Kavaro proposes the allocation. A person confirms it.
Kavaro vs Float at a glance
| Capability | Kavaro | Float |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | People plan and client delivery in one place | Visual resource scheduling and capacity planning |
| Schedule | People × calendar, booked in hours or a percentage | Live schedule in hours or a percentage of capacity |
| Availability | Working hours, leave and contract context on the plan | Working hours, time off and public holidays in the schedule |
| Unconfirmed work | Tentative bookings stay distinct from confirmed delivery | Upcoming projects can be planned on the schedule |
| Skills | Ask who has the skills and the remaining capacity | Filter the schedule by skills, role and availability |
| How a change is made | Chat proposes the allocation; a person confirms or rejects it | Drag, drop and reassign work on the schedule |
| Utilisation | Planned load and logged time on the same numbers | Planned versus actual utilisation, with operations and finance dashboards |
| Delivery | Phases, approvals, checkpoints and a client view sit with the bookings | Tasks and client workflow usually stay in the project tool beside Float |
Why agencies look at both
Both products exist because a Friday spreadsheet cannot tell you, on Tuesday, whether the next piece of work will overload someone. The difference is what sits on that plan. Float is built to be the schedule. Kavaro is built to be the schedule and the work the schedule is protecting.
1. The schedule and the work are the same plan
A capacity tool can say a designer is free on Thursday and still miss that Thursday is the client review, the pitch deck and the launch amend. Float is commonly paired with a project system so tasks live in one place and allocations in another. That split is manageable until the two views disagree. Kavaro keeps phases, approvals, checkpoints and the shareable client view on the same plan as the bookings, so the capacity conversation and the delivery conversation use the same names and dates.
2. Tentative work does not look like won work
Agencies lose money in both directions: holding people for a pitch that never closes, or winning the work and discovering nobody credible is free. Kavaro styles unconfirmed bookings as tentative and can hold an open role until a person or freelancer is named. Float is built to plan upcoming work on the live schedule and to show the capacity effect of that plan. The practical test is whether pipeline and confirmed delivery can be read apart in the meeting, without a second tab.
3. Ask who can take it, then approve the answer
Float’s working motion is the schedule itself: filter by skill and availability, then drag the allocation. That is fast when the resource manager already knows the move. Kavaro is built for the question that arrives mid-meeting — who is free, who has done this work, what it does to utilisation and margin. It proposes the bookings. Someone with permission confirms or rejects them, so the plan cannot restaff the week on its own.
4. Utilisation finance can trace
Float reports planned and actual utilisation and, on its reporting plans, project cost, budget and margin from the schedule. Kavaro reports utilisation from live bookings and from time logged against those bookings, with cost and charge views limited to the people granted finance permission, and export for the review pack. Neither number is useful if it was rebuilt by hand the night before the meeting.
Other comparisons
- Kavaro vs Resource Guru — If you also need to schedule rooms, kit or other non-people resources.
- Kavaro vs Runn — If the decision is which mix of future projects the agency can carry.
- Kavaro vs Productive — If budgets, expenses and invoicing need to live in the same system as the plan.
- Kavaro vs Bonsai — If the current tool is built around freelance proposals, contracts and invoicing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Float a good fit for an agency?
Yes, if the problem is a visual schedule. Float shows who is booked, who is over capacity and how scheduled work relates to time off, utilisation and project financials. It is often used beside a separate project tool. Kavaro is the better fit when the people plan, tentative work and client delivery need to be one plan, and a proposed staffing change still needs a person to confirm it.
Does Float replace project management?
Float is built as the resource schedule: capacity, allocations, time off, timesheets and project financial reporting. Teams commonly keep tasks and client workflow in another tool and connect that work to Float. Kavaro keeps phases, approvals, checkpoints and the client view on the same plan as the bookings.
Can Kavaro show utilisation the way Float does?
Kavaro reports utilisation from live bookings and from time logged against those bookings. Bookings are hours or a percentage, tentative work stays distinct from confirmed work, and cost and charge views are available to the people granted finance permission. Float also reports planned and actual utilisation, with operations and finance dashboards.
Who confirms a staffing change in Kavaro?
Kavaro can propose who should take the work from live availability, skills and the effect on utilisation and margin. A person with permission confirms or rejects that proposal. The plan does not restaff itself.
See how Kavaro handles this work
Try Kavaro free for 30 days. Bring a live plan, ask who can take the next piece of work, and approve the staffing before it goes live.