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KPilot vs BigTime

KPilot vs BigTime. KPilot shows what your hours earned.

BigTime prices hours at the rate you enter. KPilot uses QuickBooks and payroll to show what each client, team and the company earned, and why it changed.

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KPilot and BigTime
CapabilityKPilotBigTime
Reads QuickBooks actuals backYesInvoices, payments, credit memos and customers as they change, plus expense totals per accountPartialManual sync button; no credit memo object; posted invoices never update
Cost of a personYesFrom pay: salary, allowances and employer charges per contract, prorated by day, plus overhead per hourNoA typed rate: one hourly number per person, default zero
Overhead allocationYesThree-tier step-down; booked expenses replace the plan once the month is bookedPartialManual entries per project
P&L by department and companyYesFrom one project to the group, with eliminationsNo
Why margin movedYesComputed every day, by business driverNot found
Versions and change trailYesDaily versions, saved versions, and who changed whatNot found
Cash forecastYesForecast, scenarios and reconciliationNo
Hourly billing and rate cardsYesTime and materials per man-hour or per man-day, at each client’s rates; invoices planned from the staffed effortYes
Public APIPartialLeads API todayYes
Security certificationNoNot certified yet. Separate database per customer, passkeys, access by department, audit trailYesSOC 1, SOC 2
Source: each vendor’s public documentation, October 2026.
01Loaded costKnow what each hour costs02OverheadInclude overhead in client margin03Margin analysisSee why margin changed

What KPilot adds

Three things KPilot calculates for you, shown on Mesabrook, our demo company.

01Loaded cost

Know what each hour costs

Hannah’s hour costs $88.67: her $108,000 salary and employer taxes, divided by the hours she can work, plus her team’s share of overhead. KPilot updates it when her contract changes.

  • Salaried, hourly or contractor (1099)
  • Employer charges with their yearly ceilings
  • Gusto payroll for closed months
Read how KPilot costs an hour
Hannah GoldsteinSenior Consultant · Austin, TXSalaried exempt
Annual base salary (gross)$108,000
Social Security, employer 6.2% up to $176,100$6,696
Medicare, employer 1.45%$1,566
Federal unemployment (FUTA) 0.6% of the first $7,000$42
Texas unemployment (SUTA) 2.7% of the first $9,000$243
Loaded pay$116,547
÷ Productive hours 220 working days, minus 15 days off1,640 h
Cost per productive hour$71.07
+ Overhead share Transformation & Change, November$17.60
Loaded cost per hour$0.00
Tue, Nov 3 · Lone Star · 7.5 h × $88.67$665.03
Employer charges from Mesabrook Advisory’s company template.
02Overhead

Include overhead in client margin

KPilot spreads general and support costs across the teams that bill, by revenue, labor cost, headcount or capacity. Booked QuickBooks expenses replace the plan once the month closes.

  • G&A, support and delivery teams
  • Spread by revenue, labor, headcount or capacity
  • QuickBooks expenses replace the plan
Read how overhead allocation works
Cost centres$143,000 spread
Mesabrook Advisory LLC · NovemberBooked in QuickBooks through October
G&ASpread by revenueOffice, 600 Congress Ave$21,500Software$11,200Insurance$3,800Leadership$26,500Total$63,000
OverheadSupport teams, spread by direct laborFinance & Accounting$24,800People & Talent$18,600Internal IT & Systems$14,200Business Development$22,400Total$80,000
Delivery teamsStrategy & Digital Advisory3,080 h of delivery$54,300$17.63 an hourTransformation & Change2,483 h of delivery$43,700$17.60 an hourPlatform Engineering & Ops2,412 h of delivery$45,000$18.66 an hour
Booked expenses replace the plan once a month is booked. A key that cannot be computed shows an error, never zero.
03Margin analysis

See why margin changed

Compare today with yesterday, a month end or your budget. KPilot breaks the change down by staffing, deals, planned invoicing, late invoicing, budgets and actuals.

  • Daily and saved versions
  • Tiles that add up to the change
  • Who changed what, and when
Read how the margin bridge works
P&LLive
Mesabrook Advisory LLCInvoicedCompared with
Full-year operating margin14.1%against 14.2% on Yesterday−0.1 pts
Where the move comes from
Team and staffing−$4,800
Late invoicing−$2,400
Actuals+$600
Change in operating income−$6,600
Full-year operating margin14.1%against 15.6% on Oct 31−1.5 pts
Where the move comes from
Team and staffing−$61,400
Deals+$38,500
Planned invoicing−$47,600
Late invoicing−$31,200
Budgets+$18,600
Actuals−$34,900
Change in operating income−$118,000
Full-year operating margin14.1%against 17.5% on Budget, saved Jan 5−3.4 pts
Where the move comes from
Team and staffing−$142,000
Deals+$64,000
Planned invoicing−$88,500
Late invoicing−$52,300
Budgets+$31,500
Actuals−$80,000
Change in operating income−$267,300
Pick a version: the bridge splits the move by driver, and the tiles add up exactly to the change.

Which tool fits your firm

Each tool is a better fit for some firms. Here is how to tell.

Choose KPilot when
  • The CFO wants department and company margin, with overhead
  • QuickBooks sync has let you down before
  • Most of your people only log time: they cost $8 a month each
BigTime fits better when
  • SOC 2 or a public API is mandatory
  • You run QuickBooks Desktop
  • You need payments or mobile time entry
  • The need is plain time and billing

Questions to ask in your evaluation

Ask every vendor, including us, to show the answer on your own data.

  1. 01

    When a credit memo is applied in QuickBooks, does margin update without anyone clicking sync?

  2. 02

    Where does each person’s hourly cost come from, and who updates it after raises?

  3. 03

    How do rent, tools, admin and bench time reach client and department margin?

  4. 04

    Show last quarter against this quarter, and why margin moved, without Excel.

Included in GrowthFrom $599 a month for up to 10 full users. Team members $8 each.
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Questions

BigTime already syncs with QuickBooks.

Its help center says the QuickBooks Online sync is started by hand and that posted invoices are not updated. KPilot reads invoices, payments and credit memos as they change.

Can we keep BigTime for time and billing?

Yes. KPilot can import time from the tools you use and read billing from QuickBooks. It also bills time and materials per man-hour or per man-day, at each client’s rates.

Where do these comparisons come from?

From each vendor’s public documentation, help center and pricing pages, as of October 2026. KPilot’s column comes from the product itself.

Can we try KPilot on our own data?

Yes. Start the 14-day trial, or book a demo and we set it up on your QuickBooks company.

Works with the rest of KPilot

Project profitabilityWhat every engagement earnsMargin GuardThe work you haven’t billedCompare KPilotAgainst BigTime, Kantata, NetSuite and more

See your margin by client and team.

Try KPilot next to BigTime on your own QuickBooks data.

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