Float is a resource management platform that gives teams a live view of staff availability, project assignments, and delivery status, so managers can plan capacity and reassign work without guesswork. It combines scheduling with time tracking, letting teams compare planned estimates against actual hours worked on each project. Beyond scheduling, Float provides project cost estimation, margin and budget dashboards, and AI-assisted staffing suggestions to help fill open project slots with the right people. It's used by agencies, consultancies, and studios that need to see delivery performance across many concurrent projects at once, and is trusted by 4,500+ firms with B Corp certification.
Jira is a proprietary issue tracking product developed by Atlassian that allows bug tracking and agile project management.
Free for up to 10 users; paid plans from about $7.75/user/month.
- Purpose-built for capacity planning rather than a general project management add-on
- Estimates-vs-actuals reporting gives clear visibility into project profitability
- 30-day free trial with no credit card required
- B Corp certified and well-established with 4,500+ customer firms
- Powerful and configurable
- Strong agile support
- Scales to enterprise
- Big ecosystem
- Per-person pricing can get expensive for larger teams needing the Pro tier
- Enterprise pricing is not published and requires a sales conversation
- Focused on scheduling and capacity rather than task-level project management like Asana or Linear
- Can be complex/heavy
- Configuration overhead
- Overkill for tiny teams
What reviewers say
Float Reviews
No reviews yet.
Jira Reviews
4.5 (4)Solid choice
Tried Jira recently. Big ecosystem. No real complaints. Would recommend.
Recommend Jira
We rolled out Jira last quarter. Strong agile support. No real complaints. Would recommend.
Decent with caveats
We rolled out Jira last quarter. Upside: scales to enterprise. Downside: configuration overhead.
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The Verdict
AI-generated from listing dataJira is a comprehensive agile development platform with a free tier but higher complexity, while Float is a specialized, higher‑priced capacity‑planning tool focused on agencies.
Key differences
- •Primary purpose: issue/ agile tracking (Jira) vs resource scheduling & capacity planning (Float)
- •Pricing model: freemium up to 10 users (Jira) vs paid subscription only (Float)
- •Target audience: software/enterprise teams (Jira) vs agencies, consultancies, studios (Float)
- •Feature focus: customizable workflows, roadmaps, reporting (Jira) vs AI staffing, cost estimation, real‑time availability (Float)
- •Integration breadth: large Atlassian ecosystem (Jira) vs Zapier and select financial/HR tools (Float)
Pricing & value
Jira offers a free tier for up to 10 users; Float has no free option and charges per person.
Ease of use / learning curve
Float is purpose‑built for capacity planning and is generally simpler; Jira can be complex and heavy.
Features & depth
Jira provides extensive agile boards, customizable workflows, roadmaps and reporting; Float focuses on scheduling and budgeting.
Integrations & ecosystem
Jira benefits from a deep Atlassian ecosystem; Float lists Zapier and limited financial/HR integrations.
Scalability
Jira explicitly scales to enterprise size; Float’s enterprise pricing is unpublished but implied.
Support
Float offers email and priority support with SLAs for enterprise; Jira support details not provided.
Choose Float if…
Agencies or consultancies that require real‑time capacity planning, cost estimation, and AI staffing recommendations.
Choose Jira if…
Software development teams needing full agile project management and a free entry tier.
Common questions
Does Jira have a free version?
Yes, Jira offers a freemium plan free for up to 10 users.
Can Float manage individual task boards like Jira’s Scrum board?
No, Float is focused on resource scheduling and capacity, not task‑level board management.
Which tool provides broader integration options?
Jira, with its large Atlassian ecosystem, offers more extensive integrations than Float’s Zapier‑based connections.