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Service businesses like digital marketing agencies and IT firms face constant pressure to deliver projects on time, within budget, and at exceptional quality. The challenge grows when multiple clients, projects, and cross-functional teams overlap.
For project managers, capacity planning in these environments is a non-negotiable, ongoing exercise for:
Without some form of capacity planning in place, even the most talented teams risk burnout and even strained client relationships.
Check out the top five capacity planning tools for 2025 selected by our editorial team. We specifically looked for highly functional, yet user friendly solutions that can help service businesses streamline their operations while keeping their customers and their teams happy.
A capacity planning tool is a software solution that aids organizations in forecasting, allocating, and optimizing resources based on project demand and the capacity levels of the team members involved.
This resource management tool provides a centralized view of team availability, skills, and workload that helps managers anticipate bottlenecks before they happen and actively monitor utilization rates.
For service businesses where labor is the main driver of value, capacity planning is essential for profitability in that it lets you easily leverage:
Capacity planning directly impacts the ability to deliver projects efficiently and simultaneously maintain client satisfaction and team morale. Here are some of the most important reasons service businesses need it:
In service industries, margins rely on keeping team members appropriately utilized. Underutilization means lost revenue, while overutilization leads to burnout, turnover, and quality issues. Capacity planning tools give visibility into billable versus non-billable work and help project managers align staffing with demand.
Agencies and consultancies rarely work on a single project at a time, and instead, they manage overlapping client accounts, ongoing retainers, and one-off projects. Without a clear picture of who is working on what, teams can easily become overbooked which can put deadlines and relationships in jeopardy.
Digital marketing firms, IT consultancies, and software agencies often use teams of designers, developers, analysts, and strategists that all work together. Coordinating timelines across these functions requires more than intuition; it requires a systematic approach. A structured capacity planning system can help you do that for more effective cross-functional collaboration.
Capacity planning tools can support strategic decision-making. When managers, owners, project leads, etc. can see resource gaps months in advance, they can make informed choices about hiring, subcontracting, or shifting timelines.
Clients are delighted when teams consistently meet deadlines and maintain quality. Effective capacity planning contributes directly to smoother delivery and stronger long-term client relationships, and therefore should be considered essential in the professional services industry.
Formerly known as Mavenlink, Kantata is purpose-built for professional services organizations as a full-blown PSA software solution. Thus, it combines resource management, project tracking, business intelligence, and financials into one comprehensive platform.
Key Capacity Planning Features:
Strengths for Service Businesses:
Kantata’s specialization in professional services makes it particularly suited for agencies and consultancies. It provides deep insights into utilization and profitability: two metrics that drive service business success. Its AI-powered forecasting in 2025 is even more precise, helping managers avoid bottlenecks at all costs.
Potential Drawbacks:
The platform can feel complex for smaller firms or businesses without a dedicated operations team. Pricing is also on the higher side compared to more lightweight alternatives like project management software.
Learn more about Kantata’s capacity planning tool
PSOhub is also a PSA solution that was designed with HubSpot users in mind, making it an excellent choice for service businesses already using that ecosystem. It covers project management, time tracking, and billing alongside in-depth resource capacity planning.
Key Capacity Planning Features:
Strengths for Service Businesses:
Small to mid-sized agencies benefit most from PSOhub because it reduces the need for multiple systems and is highly affordable. For businesses that use HubSpot to generate new work, the direct integration helps align sales and delivery capacity, helping teams avoid overcommitment.
Potential Drawbacks:
While effective for mid-market firms, PSOhub may lack some of the more advanced modeling and analytics that larger consultancies demand.
Learn more about PSOhub’s capacity planning tool
Monday.com is one of the most widely adopted work operating systems that works for virtually any type of business, and its capacity planning features continue to expand. With highly customizable boards, dashboards, and workflows, it adapts to the needs of many different industries.
Key Capacity Planning Features:
Strengths for Service Businesses:
Flexibility is Monday.com’s greatest asset, and agencies can build workflows tailored to their specific processes, whether for marketing campaigns, software development, or consulting deliverables. The intuitive interface also makes adoption easier across cross-functional teams.
Potential Drawbacks:
Because of its flexibility, Monday.com may require more setup time than specialized tools like Kantata. Businesses who want more advanced financial forecasting may need add-ons or integrations.
Learn more about Monday.com’s capacity planning tool
Teamdeck is basically a glorified resource management and time-tracking platform, designed with simplicity in mind. It provides clear, visual insights into availability and project allocations, making it a favorite among project managers who want a focused tool rather than a full project management suite.
Key Capacity Planning Features:
Strengths for Service Businesses:
Teamdeck’s lightweight design is ideal for small and mid-sized service companies that don’t need extensive project management capabilities. It gives managers an at-a-glance view of workload without unnecessary complexity.
Potential Drawbacks:
Because Teamdeck focuses primarily on resource management, it lacks some of the broader project or financial management features found in other tools. Firms who want more of an all-in-one project management solution may need to integrate additional platforms.
Learn more about TeamDeck’s capacity planning tool
ClickUp has rapidly grown into one of the most versatile work management platforms. Its capacity planning features combine scheduling, workload tracking, and goal alignment within an all-in-one environment. ClickUp AI is also now in tow to help automate more easily than ever.
Key Capacity Planning Features:
Strengths for Service Businesses:
ClickUp’s versatility makes it appealing to agencies and IT firms managing varied project types. It also offers competitive pricing and robust collaboration features, helping teams stay aligned.
Potential Drawbacks:
ClickUp’s busy interface and extensive feature set can be overwhelming, and some organizations may not need the full breadth of functionality. Customization usually requires careful configuration to avoid clutter.
Learn more about ClickUp’s capacity planning tools
Task-based capacity planning measures tasks lets you know what your team can handle on task basis and isn’t as concerned with actual hours. It’s most effective for small teams and straightforward projects.
Hours-based capacity planning will calculate the amount of time it will take for each project item and help you compare actuals vs planned hours. If you need to dial capacity down to the nearest hour, this is the option for you.
Using task-based and hours-based in tandem is the most dialed-in, accurate way to do capacity planning, giving you the ultimate control, visibility, and forecasting abilities. However, it takes more time and will be largely unnecessary for most small service businesses.
Effective capacity planning means:
Capacity planning tools automate much of this process, making it now exponentially easier to manage multiple variables, especially across multiple projects and teams.
Yes! Many businesses start with Excel to build simple resource allocation models. However, as teams grow and projects multiply, spreadsheets become error-prone and time-consuming. Capacity planning tools like those on this list provide real-time updates, integrations, and automation that Excel cannot match at scale.
Some solutions like ClickUp and Monday.com, offer free tiers with limited functionality. These can work for very small teams, but service businesses typically benefit from paid plans that unlock advanced forecasting, reporting, and integration features.
In 2025, agencies, IT firms, and consultancies that effectively leverage the right capacity planning tools gain the visibility and agility to balance workloads, maintain profitability, and deliver consistent client satisfaction.
The five tools we picked as the best, including Kantata, PSOhub, Monday.com, Teamdeck, and ClickUp, offer unique strengths, from Kantata and PSOhub’s professional services specialization to ClickUp’s versatility and Teamdeck’s radical simplicity.
Choosing the right tool depends on the size of your business, the complexity of projects, and the importance of integrations with existing systems.
Regardless of which solution you use, adopting structured capacity planning practices can position your service businesses to thrive with the ultimate in efficiency in this competitive, fast-paced market.