When SaaS product and engineering teams look for a capacity planning tool, they’re not just comparing features, they’re making decisions about how their teams work.
- Can this tool help us plan the next sprint or the next two quarters?
- Will it reduce ambiguity or add another layer of work?
- How well does it plug into our current workflow and stack?
Float, Runn and Rally both aim to solve the same core challenge: helping teams understand what they can deliver, with the people they have, in the time they’ve got. But they take very different approaches and those differences matter depending on your planning horizon, team structure, and decision-making process.
In this article, we'll discuss these differences in depth, drawing from the experiences shared on review platforms, Reddit, and community forums. Our goal is to help you make the best decision for your team not just based on what’s in a feature list.
What Product Teams Are Really Trying to Do with Capacity Planning
For most SaaS product and engineering teams, capacity planning means answering questions like:
- Who is available to work on this project next week?
- Can we start this new initiative without delaying something else?
- Do we need to hire to meet our roadmap goals
- Are any team members overbooked or underutilized?
These aren’t just scheduling questions—they’re about making informed decisions with limited time, people, and context. Good capacity planning tools help teams see what’s coming, adjust plans as things change, and keep everyone aligned without bouncing between spreadsheets.
Float: What Users Like (and Don’t Like) About This Capacity Planning Tool
The biggest reason people like Float is its visual design. It’s easy to see your team’s schedule at a glance. You can drag and drop tasks onto a calendar to adjust schedules. Many users say this saves them time compared to using spreadsheets.
Another highlight is that Float is easy to get started with, even for new users. It doesn’t take long to set up a project or assign tasks. Some people mention that while it’s simple to use, it can take a little time to learn all of its features. Luckily, Float offers helpful guides and a support team to answer questions.
Best suited for:
- Small to mid-sized SaaS teams (10–50 people)
- Teams that need to plan a few weeks ahead
- Teams working on multiple projects at once
- Managers looking for a clear, visual way to schedule work
Why teams use Float
Float is designed to help teams quickly see who is working on what, and when. The interface is simple and easy to learn. Most users like how they can assign tasks by dragging and dropping them onto a timeline.
Float works well with other tools. It integrates with:
- Jira, Asana, Trello – to sync tasks
- Google and Outlook Calendars – to track availability
- Slack – to notify the team of changes
- Harvest and other time tracking tools – to link actual hours to plans
What Float does well
- Short-term planning: It’s great for scheduling work for the current sprint or the next few weeks.
- Resource visibility: Managers can easily see if someone is overbooked or underused.
- Fast setup: Most teams are up and running in a day or less.
Where Float has limits
Float is not built for long-term planning or strategic forecasting. Here’s what it doesn’t do:
- No long-range planning: You can’t easily plan projects several months in advance or compare different scenarios.
- No financial or hiring forecasting: Float doesn’t help you figure out if you need to hire or how much a delay might cost.
- Basic reporting: Reports are limited. If you need detailed breakdowns, you’ll likely need to export to a spreadsheet.
Runn, Why Teams Choose it & More
The biggest reason people like Runn is its real-time visual planning. Teams love the drag-and-drop interface, color-coded charts, and interactive timeline that shows exactly who’s working on what — and who has room. Multiple users say Runn’s occupancy and capacity charts are now essential for planning. One Redditor put it this way: “None of the alternatives show me capacity and leads like Runn does.”
Another standout is Runn’s forecasting power. Teams can plan tentative projects, adjust workloads on the fly, and instantly see how changes affect utilization. Whether you’re allocating across 10 or 50 people, users say the scheduling stays manageable and flexible. For teams juggling multiple projects, this dynamic, bird’s-eye visibility is a game changer.
Best suited for:
- Small to mid-sized professional services teams (10–100 people)
- Agencies, consultancies, and remote-first product teams
- Teams that need to plan weeks or months ahead
- Managers balancing team capacity across multiple active and tentative projects
Why teams use Runn
Runn is built to help teams plan confidently, not just for today — but for the next quarter or more. The interface is clean and easy to learn, with many users praising how fast it is to build a schedule and adjust it over time. You can assign work, add placeholders for future projects, and track time-off, all within the same timeline view.
The real power comes from the ability to forecast scenarios. Users appreciate that charts and reports update in real time, so they can understand the impact of changes instantly. This makes Runn especially useful for project managers and team leads who need to model different workloads, hiring needs, or delivery timelines.
Runn also plays well with others. It integrates with:
- Jira – via third-party connectors
- Calendar tools – for syncing availability
- Slack – for communication workflows
- Custom APIs – to link with internal tools or CRMs
What Runn does well
Mid- to long-term forecasting: Runn helps teams model different project or hiring scenarios with dynamic charts.
Real-time capacity visibility: The timeline shows who's available, overbooked, or underutilized.
Flexible scheduling: Placeholders, time-off, and tentative projects can all be planned visually.
Support and responsiveness: Many users say Runn’s support team is proactive and quick to implement feedback.
Simple onboarding: Teams consistently mention the UI is intuitive and doesn’t require extensive setup or training.
Where Runn has limits
Runn is a strong capacity planning tool, but it’s not perfect for every scenario. Here’s where users report friction:
Limited customization: You can’t heavily tailor dashboards or workflows. Power users may want more control.
Integration setup takes effort: Runn offers flexibility via its API, but setup isn’t plug-and-play. Non-technical users may need support.
Not modular pricing: Some teams only need the capacity planning features, but Runn’s per-user pricing includes the full suite. That can feel pricey if you're only using a slice of the tool.
Basic reporting: Export to CSV is available, but detailed dashboards and report customization are limited out of the box.
Rally’s Capacity Planning: Driving Agile Team Efficiency
Rally's capacity planning feature, called Assign, is designed to help Agile teams effectively allocate tasks, balance workloads, and achieve their sprint goals. Unlike traditional capacity planning tools, Assign focuses on simplicity, integration, and actionable insights, making it a natural extension of Agile workflows.
Key Features of Rally's Capacity Planning
1. Integration with Agile Ceremonies: Rally's capacity planning integrates with Sprint Planning and other Agile ceremonies, ensuring alignment from the outset. You can build a clear agenda, including sprint goals, and use Rally to collect feedback and finalize task assignments.
2. Data-Driven Task Assignment: Assign leverages task estimates to ensure workloads are balanced across the team. It also supports Fibonacci sequence estimation, empowering teams to provide relative estimates for tasks.
3. Workload Visibility: Rally provides a clear overview of each team member's capacity, enabling managers to see who is overloaded or underutilized. The feature is particularly useful for distributed teams, ensuring that no team member feels overwhelmed or disconnected.
4. Real-Time Adjustments: You can adjust allocations in real-time, making it easier to adapt to scope changes or unforeseen challenges.
5. Jira Integration: Rally pulls work items directly from Jira, making it easy to convert these into actionable agenda items and assignments. This ensures smooth transitions between task identification and capacity allocation.
Problems Rally’s Capacity Planning Solves
- Inefficient Work Distribution: By providing a visual breakdown of workloads, Rally ensures no team member is overburdened while others are underutilized.
- Unclear Goals: Rally helps teams set clear sprint objectives and align capacity planning with those goals.
- Disconnected Workflows: Rally bridges the gap between estimation, task assignment, and execution, particularly for teams already using Jira.
- Lack of Flexibility: With real-time adjustments, teams can easily reassign tasks as priorities shift, minimizing disruptions.
How Rally Stands Out
- Focus on Agile Workflows: Rally’s Assign feature is purpose-built for Agile teams, integrating deeply with sprint ceremonies and estimation practices.
- Async-Friendly Design: The async nature of Rally allows distributed teams to review and adjust capacity at their own pace, avoiding the need for constant sync meetings.
- Simplified User Experience: While many tools overcomplicate capacity planning, Rally provides a clean, straightforward interface that prioritizes usability.
Should You Use Rally?
Rally is a great choice if:
- You need to integrate capacity planning seamlessly with Jira.
- You want to balance workloads effectively and prevent team burnout.
- You value Agile practices like Sprint Planning and want tools designed for them.
- You’re transitioning to async work and need a solution that supports distributed teams.
- You’re frustrated by overcomplicated tools and want a clean, intuitive interface.
Rally may not be the right fit if:
- You only need one feature (e.g., capacity planning) and want a standalone tool.
- You require highly detailed project portfolio management features.
- Your team uses non-Agile methodologies or doesn’t rely on Jira.
- You prefer tools with customizable estimation methods beyond Fibonacci.
- You need a fully customizable or white-labeled UI.
