Resource Guru: presentation, uses and limits in 2026

Resource Guru
Link
Level
Easy
Average price
Starting at $4.16/month
Average price
Starting at $4.16/month
Category
Resource management and team planning tool

Resource Guru is a resource management and team planning tool designed to help teams organize availabilities, assign tasks and track workload in real time. Developed by Kelp Industries, it is aimed primarily at agencies, creative teams and service companies that need to coordinate several collaborators on simultaneous projects.

The tool is based on a visual planning system in the form of an availability table, enabling the occupation of each human or material resource to be visualized at a glance. Resource Guru also integrates a leave, holiday and absence management system, facilitating reliable long-term planning.

This page presents detailed feedback on Resource Guru, its most relevant use cases, its level of familiarity, pricing, key features, as well as its limitations. A comparison with market alternatives is also offered to help choose the most suitable tool according to the context of use.

Feedback from Resource Guru

Resource Guru is mainly used by project managers, agency heads and creative team managers to plan assignments and balance workloads between collaborators. Real-time visualization of resource availability is the tool's central strength, helping to avoid overloads and scheduling conflicts without resorting to complex Excel spreadsheets.

The tool is particularly effective in environments where several projects overlap and resources are shared between different teams or clients. Digital agencies, consultancies and creative studios find it a natural fit for managing flexible schedules, allocating specific resources to short or long assignments, and tracking occupancy rates in real time.

Among the limitations observed, Resource Guru doesn't offer advanced project management features in the strict sense: there's no native task management, deliverable-oriented Gantt chart, or integrated budget tracking. The tool is therefore more of a resource planner than a complete project manager, which may necessitate its use in conjunction with other tools as required.

When should Resource Guru be used?

Resource Guru meets the need for visibility on the availability of teams and material resources. It is particularly suited when workforce planning represents a central issue: monitoring occupancy rates, distributing workloads fairly, anticipating peaks in activity and managing absences. The tool centralizes this information in a single schedule, accessible to all authorized members.

Many user profiles benefit directly from Resource Guru according to their needs:

  • Agency managers: scheduling consultants and creatives on several customer accounts simultaneously.
  • Project managers:assigning employees to deliverables according to their skills and availability.
  • HR teams:centralized tracking of leave, holidays and absences for reliable planning.
  • Creative studios: management of material resources (studios, equipment) alongside human resources.
  • Operating departments: management of team utilization rates to optimize profitability.

One of Resource Guru's distinctive strengths lies in its ability to simultaneously manage human and material resources within the same schedule, making it a versatile tool for organizations whose projects mobilize equipment, spaces or tools in addition to human capital.

Getting to grips with Resource Guru

Resource Guru is accessible to resource management beginners, with no prior technical training required. The interface is based on an intuitive visual drag-and-drop schedule, which significantly reduces the learning curve. Initial familiarization is estimated at a few hours for routine use, and a few days for a full configuration including all resources and availability rules.

Several features make it easy to get to grips with the tool quickly:

  • Visual interface: schedule in calendar view color-coded by project or team.
  • Official documentation:complete help center with step-by-step guides and video tutorials.
  • Guided onboarding:guided configuration process from account creation.
  • Reactive customer support:assistance available by e-mail with short response times.
  • Free trial:30-day no-obligation trial period to test the tool in real-life conditions.

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Resource Guru rates and pricing models

Grasshopper package - $4.16/month per person (billed annually): this entry-level package includes resource planning, absence and leave management, availability reports, and access for an unlimited number of projects and customers. It is suitable for small teams wanting a simple availability tracking solution.

Blackbelt package - $6.65/month per person (billed annually): this intermediate package adds advanced customization features, including:

  • Customization of resource fields and metadata.
  • API access for custom integrations.
  • Advanced reporting on utilization rates and workload.
  • Management of material resources in addition to human resources.

This is aimed at medium-sized agencies and teams who need more flexibility in configuration and reporting.

Master package - $10/month per person (billed annually): this premium package includes all the features of the previous packages, to which are added:

  • Advanced access rights and permissions per user.
  • Priority support.
  • Features dedicated to large organizations with multiple teams or departments.

A free 30-day trial period is available for all formulas, with no commitment or credit card required. Monthly billing is also available at a slightly higher rate.

Key features of Resource Guru

Real-time resource planning: the heart of Resource Guru is based on a visual planning board that lets you see the availability of each human or material resource in an instant. Reservations are made by drag-and-drop on a weekly or monthly calendar view. Each time slot can be associated with a project, customer or task category. The system automatically alerts in the event of overbooking, avoiding allocation conflicts:

  • View by resource, project or team.
  • Management of partial allocations (e.g.: 50% of an employee's time on a project).
  • Visual load indicators: green (available), orange (loaded), red (overloaded).

Absence and leave management: Resource Guru integrates a dedicated module for managing leave, holidays and unplanned absences. Approved absences are automatically blocked in the schedule, guaranteeing reliable availability. This module also enables public holidays to be configured by country or by team, which is particularly useful for international or distributed organizations.

Reports and dashboards: Resource Guru offers availability and utilization reports to measure resource occupancy over a given period. These reports can be filtered by resource, project, customer or team, and exported in CSV format for external analysis. Advanced packages include customizable reports with billability metrics, useful for agencies billing by time spent.

Resource Guru's advanced and complementary features include:

  • API REST: available from the Blackbelt package onwards, it enables Resource Guru to be integrated with third-party tools or customized in-house systems.
  • Native integrations: connection with tools like Zapier to automate data flows between Resource Guru and other platforms (Slack, Google Calendar, Asana, etc.).
  • Management of material resources: ability to schedule equipment, meeting rooms or technical tools alongside human resources.
  • Advanced permissions: configuration of access rights by role, enabling schedule visibility to be restricted according to user profiles.

Ce que Resource Guru ne permet pas

Resource Guru is designed exclusively for resource planning and does not offer full project management functionality. The tool has no native task management module, no deliverable tracking, no milestone-oriented Gantt chart, and no integrated budget management. Teams needing to combine resource planning and operational project management will systematically have to use Resource Guru as a complement to another tool. Furthermore, report customization capabilities remain limited in entry-level packages, and the absence of a native mobile application can be a hindrance for nomadic teams.

For uses that Resource Guru doesn't cover, several specialized alternatives exist on the market. Tools such as Monday.com, Asana or Notion offer more comprehensive task and project management. For more advanced resource management with budget tracking, solutions such as Forecast or Runn can be considered. Float is also a direct alternative to Resource Guru for team planning, with a similar interface.

The main compromises to accept when using Resource Guru are as follows: the tool excels at visualizing availability, but remains incomplete for overall project management. The cost per user can become significant for large teams. The absence of native task management means that tasks have to be entered twice in two separate tools. Finally, advanced integrations require the use of Zapier or the API, which may require additional technical skills.

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FAQS

Is it reliable and secure?

Resource Guru is a SaaS service operated by Kelp Industries Ltd, a UK company subject to European data protection regulations. The tool benefits from high availability with a 99.9% uptime commitment, communicated on their official status page. Key security features include:

  • Data encryption in transit via TLS/SSL.
  • Data encryption at rest.
  • Hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Services) servers.
  • GPR compliance for European users.
  • Regular data backups.

Resource Guru does not resell user data to third parties and offers a transparent privacy policy accessible from its official website.

Is it compatible with my other tools?

Resource Guru is compatible with all modern web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and requires no local installation. The tool offers native integrations and via third-party connectors to fit into an existing digital ecosystem:

  • Google Calendar: bidirectional synchronization of schedules.
  • Outlook / iCal: export of schedules in iCal format.
  • Zapier : automation with over 5,000 applications (Slack, Asana, Trello, Jira, HubSpot, etc.).
  • API REST : available from the Blackbelt package for custom integrations.

There is no official native mobile app, which is a limitation for users wishing to access the schedule from a smartphone. Mobile access is via the terminal's browser.

Is there responsive customer support?

Resource Guru offers customer support primarily focused on e-mail assistance, available to all subscribers, with response times typically under 24 business hours. Available channels and resources include:

  • Online Help Center:full documentation with guides, tutorials and FAQs accessible without an account.
  • Email support:available for all packages.
  • Priority support: reduced response times for Master subscribers.
  • Video tutorials: library of video resources for getting started and advanced features.

Support is mainly available in English. No telephone support or live chat is mentioned on the official website. Overall, the quality of support is well rated by users for its responsiveness and the relevance of the answers provided.

What do other users think?

Feedback from Resource Guru users is positive overall, with satisfaction particularly marked on the following points:

  • Recurring positive points: clear, intuitive interface, quick to get to grips with, significant time savings on schedule management, immediate visibility on availability, effective management of leave and absences.
  • Criticisms and limitations frequently mentioned: absence of native task management, lack of dedicated mobile app, cost deemed high for large teams, limited report customization in basic package, few native integrations outside Zapier.

Trends observed on review platforms such as G2 and Capterra indicate that Resource Guru is particularly popular with agencies and service teams, but less suited to teams seeking an all-in-one project management tool.

Can I easily change later?

Resource Guru lets you export planning data in CSV format, making it easy to retrieve information in the event of migration to another tool. The REST API available from the Blackbelt package also offers automated data extraction capabilities. For users wishing to leave the platform, resource, project and booking data remains accessible until the end of the subscription period. The main alternatives depending on requirements are:

  • Float: direct alternative for resource planning, with a similar interface.
  • Runn: resource management with profitability and budget tracking.
  • Forecast: resource planning combined with project management.
  • Monday.com / Asana: for teams looking for a more comprehensive project management tool integrating a resource view.

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Alexis Chretinat - Business Strategist
Entrepreneur and expert in digital solutions, Alexis Chretinat has been supporting professionals and project leaders for several years in their technological choices.

Specializing in business creation, sales and digital marketing, he puts his expertise at the service of users to help them identify the solutions best suited to their needs. Passionate about digital innovation and optimizing online performance, Alexis is committed to providing detailed, transparent and unbiased comparisons.

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