A schedule shows who is booked. An agency also needs to know if the booking makes money.
Float and Resource Guru are well-liked resource schedulers, and they are better than a spreadsheet at answering "who is free next week". Agencies look further when the schedule has to agree with the timesheets, the budget and the invoice, and keeping three tools in step becomes a weekly job.
Last reviewed: 23 October 2026. Competitor details from each vendor's own pages, linked at the bottom.
What is the best Float or Resource Guru alternative for an agency?
If you want a visual booking board for named people, stay with Float or Resource Guru: Ancor does not have one. If you want capacity planned from the work itself, in hours per person, joined to timesheets, live project margin, retainers, client approvals and GST invoices, Ancor does that in one system for 10 to 100 person agencies, at one flat price per team.
Book people, or plan the work.
Resource scheduling
Drag-and-drop schedules where you book people (and, in Resource Guru, rooms and equipment) onto projects. Float Pro adds time tracking and project cost estimates; Resource Guru adds timesheets and reports from its Blackbelt plan.
Agency operating system
Capacity built from task estimates, in hours per person and department, four weeks ahead, next to the timesheets, margin, retainers, client sign-off and GST invoices that the same hours feed.
Line by line, from their own published plans.
| Capability | Float | Resource Guru | Ancor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per scheduled person: Starter $7, Pro $12 a month; Enterprise custom, annual contract; guests free | Per person added: Grasshopper $5, Blackbelt $8, Master $12 a month; extra charge for placeholders over the allowance and for rooms or equipment | Flat per team: ₹9,999 + GST / $99 up to 10 people, ₹14,999 + GST / $149 up to 20, ₹19,999 + GST / $199 up to 30 |
| How you plan | Drag-and-drop schedule, by hours or percentage | Drag-and-drop bookings with clash management and a waiting list | From task estimates: hours booked against hours available per person, over 100 percent flagged. No booking board |
| Time tracking | Pro plan | Timesheets on Blackbelt and up | Every plan: a timer on every task, weekly approval and locking |
| Budgets and margin | Project cost estimation on Pro | Project rates and budgets on Blackbelt and up | Live projected margin from cost rates on every project |
| Booking approvals | Not listed on the pricing page | Master plan | No booking approvals; timesheet approvals instead |
| Invoicing clients | Not offered | Not offered | GST invoices drafted from approved hours, milestones or retainers; TallyPrime export |
| Client approvals and retainers | No | No | No-login client portal with version-pinned sign-off; deliverable allowances with burn-down |
| Free trial | 30 days on Pro, no card | Free trial, no card | 14 days, no card |
Float and Resource Guru prices in US dollars from float.com/pricing and resourceguruapp.com/pricing, checked 23 October 2026. Plans change, so check their sites for the latest.
Three tools, three versions of next week.
- The schedule drifts from the work. A booking says Priya is on the launch for three days; the tasks say five. In Ancor the plan is the tasks, so when an estimate or a due date changes, the load changes with it.
- The schedule does not know the money. Booking someone senior onto a fixed-fee job changes its margin. Ancor shows projected margin from cost rates on the same project you are staffing.
- Hours still need a timesheet tool and an invoice tool. Ancor records the time against the task and drafts the GST invoice from approved hours.
Be honest about fit. Sometimes it is them.
- You plan by booking people, not by estimating tasks. Both are built around that board, with tentative work and placeholders for unnamed roles. Ancor plans from estimates.
- You schedule rooms, studios or equipment. Resource Guru books non-human resources too. Ancor does not.
- You need booking approvals or a waiting list for in-demand people. Resource Guru has both. Ancor has neither.
- You only need scheduling. For a small team, $5 to $12 per person is cheaper than a full agency system.
Where the competitor facts come from.
- Float plans, prices, trial, free guests and plan features: float.com/pricing, checked 23 October 2026.
- Resource Guru plans, prices, billing per person added, timesheets, reports, budgets and approval workflow: resourceguruapp.com/pricing, checked 23 October 2026.
- Resource Guru clash management and waiting list: resourceguruapp.com/features/resource-scheduling-software, checked 7 October 2026.
Where to go next
See next week's overload, and what it costs, in fourteen days.
The questions worth asking first.
Is Ancor a good Float alternative for agencies?
It depends on how you plan. Float is a drag-and-drop schedule: you book named people onto projects by the day. Ancor plans from the work instead: task estimates are spread across the weeks they are scheduled and shown per person in hours against capacity, four weeks ahead, with anyone over 100 percent flagged. If you want a booking board, Float is better at it. If you want capacity, timesheets, margin and invoices from one set of records, Ancor fits.
Is Ancor a good Resource Guru alternative?
For an agency that also needs timesheets, live margin, retainers and GST invoices, yes. Resource Guru is a booking scheduler for people, rooms and equipment with clash management and a waiting list, and leaves invoicing clients to another tool. Ancor has no booking calendar or waiting list.
Does Ancor have a drag-and-drop resource schedule like Float?
No. Ancor shows hours booked against hours available per person and per department, built from the tasks assigned to them. You change the plan by moving or reassigning the work, not by dragging bookings.
How does pricing compare with Float and Resource Guru?
Float is $7 per scheduled person a month on Starter and $12 on Pro. Resource Guru is $5, $8 or $12 per person a month by plan, charged for every person added whether they log in or not. Ancor is a flat price per team: ₹9,999 + GST or $99 a month for up to 10 people, ₹14,999 + GST or $149 for up to 20, and ₹19,999 + GST or $199 for up to 30. A scheduler alone is cheaper for a small team; Ancor also replaces the timesheet and invoicing tools.
Can Ancor tell me when to bring in a freelancer?
Yes. Where a week is overbooked, the capacity plan estimates how many freelancer hours would cover the gap and what they would cost, so you can weigh that against moving the deadline.