BigTime Software vs. Forecast

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BigTime Software
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
BigTime IQ is time and expense tracking software from Chicago-based BigTime Software.
$20
User per Month
Forecast
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Forecast.it is a project portfolio management solution built around features such as resource planning and time tracking, budget estimating, and analytics and reporting, with key third-party integrations.
$29
per seat (billed annually)
Pricing
BigTime SoftwareForecast
Editions & Modules
Essentials
$20
User per Month
Advanced
$35
User per Month
Premier
$45
User per Month
Projector
$60
Lite (Annual subscription)
$29
per seat (billed annually)
Pro (Annual subscription)
$49
per seat (billed anually)
Enterprise
Call us
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BigTime SoftwareForecast
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
BigTime SoftwareForecast
Small Businesses
Atera
Atera
Score 8.9 out of 10
Atera
Atera
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 6.8 out of 10
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 6.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 6.8 out of 10
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 6.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BigTime SoftwareForecast
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(31 ratings)
1.0
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(4 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BigTime SoftwareForecast
Likelihood to Recommend
BigTime Software
I believe it is well suited for our industry! We are professional services consulting firm and we need this! However if there is a smaller company who does not need to track these items, then they should not use this big of a platform
Read full review
Forecast
Forecast is well suited for tracking schedules, especially if it is only being controlled by a single department. When it comes to using Forecast in a larger ecosystem with more "cooks in the kitchen" it would be helpful to have the software more easily integrated with other software.
Read full review
Pros
BigTime Software
  • I like the functionality of being able to make payments electronically and the amount of banks and payment methods that are available.
  • Another very useful feature of this tool is that the system allows to set a parameter to perform automatic invoices.
  • I also really like the amount of templates that this tool has. Since it allows us to make customizable reports to our clients.
Read full review
Forecast
  • Assign and allocate resources.
  • Identify lean departments and identify areas to increase headcount.
  • Manage agile teams.
  • Identify bottlenecks in departments or resourcing.
Read full review
Cons
BigTime Software
  • For some types of projects, we are unable to use BigTime's invoicing feature. It would be nice if we could further customize invoices to fit our needs. We still have to use Quickbooks to complete certain invoices.
  • Being able to create Purchase Orders in BigTime would be extremely useful to us. We currently use Quickbooks for this.
Read full review
Forecast
  • Not as intuitive as its companion software, Harvest. This software takes longer to learn when on-boarding new staff. It is also difficult to view time notes without needing to physically open them up. This could be improved by expanding the "on hover" functionality. Personally, having spent as little time in workflow software is really important, as it gives me more time to code.
  • Because we use this software to plan schedules, items often fall through the cracks. I would like to see some more sophisticated syncing with not only Harvest but also with Asana.
  • Lack of integration with Asana. It would be nice to pull data from forecast and display it in Asana. This would be helpful for understanding how much time I have to spend on a project rather than bounce back and forth between web apps.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
BigTime Software
Its been a huge help in saving time and making billing more efficient. Would like to see the product grow and be able to continue to use it.
Read full review
Forecast
No answers on this topic
Usability
BigTime Software
Staff adapted to the new timesheets immediately. The invoice platform is nice and tracking WIP is great! Color backgrounds still need work. The new vibrant mode is OK. still trying it out.
Read full review
Forecast
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
BigTime Software
BigTime is available 99% of the time. At times there are bugs, but most are resolved quickly
Read full review
Forecast
No answers on this topic
Performance
BigTime Software
have not noticed a slow integration issue using QBO
Read full review
Forecast
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
BigTime Software
The support is amazing! They are always available through the chat interface in the program. Each support person has fully answered my questions the first time. I have had a positive experience with each inquiry. It is very important to me that I am able to get instant access to help so that I can make the most of the software and all of its capabilities.
Read full review
Forecast
I have not needed support for Forecast.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
BigTime Software
Monte and Tyler have been helpful with report assistance I called on recently
Read full review
Forecast
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
BigTime Software
I liked the client management, but it didn't do time tracking, billing or syncing with quickbooks. It was too robust for my needs. I tried it for the client management and thought I might use it along with bigtime, but it was too cumbersome and would involve too much double entry. And it didn't track time or bill which are necessary functions
Read full review
Forecast
I have not used any other scheduling software other than Forecast. The company selected Forecast because it is used in conjunction with Harvest. The pair of web apps can be used to pull detailed data. This is very important to our agency, and making data-driven decisions is exceptionally important to our agency mission.
Read full review
Scalability
BigTime Software
The product is useful for faster billing and efficient timesheet logs. I do like the report features however there are many options and can be overwhelming for the user. It is most helpful to set up reports speaking to an agent to ensure the right fields are set, etc.
Read full review
Forecast
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
BigTime Software
  • Before BigTime, we were using Excel to track everything, creating invoices, and run reports. Getting on BigTime has saved us tons of time and effort which equates to dollars saved on labor.
  • From a legal standpoint, BigTime has allowed us to be organized and prepared in the event we would need to present financial details to anyone.
Read full review
Forecast
  • Allow departments to run efficiently.
  • Quickly identify whether departments need to hire.
  • Easily visualize project gaps in resources.
Read full review
ScreenShots

BigTime Software Screenshots

Screenshot of BigTime Wallet provides clients with a personalized experience to pay on time from anywhere, in one click.Screenshot of A big-picture view into operational insights to make adjustments to how resources are managed.Screenshot of Real-time, actionable insights for professional services firms.Screenshot of The platform is designed to work within existing workflows and software stack, acting as a single source of truth for data.Screenshot of BigTime's invoicing engine supports dozens of industry-standard billing scenarios and enough options to satisfy exacting customer needs.

Forecast Screenshots

Screenshot of Understand and know how to best utilize your capacityScreenshot of Easily plan and adjust workloads across the entire resource pool to prevent bottlenecks.Screenshot of Have everything in one place to groom the backlog, plan the sprint, and track the progress and velocity.Screenshot of Share real time reports with stakeholders to help them make important decisionsScreenshot of Understand the true cost of each projectScreenshot of