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KPilot vs Kantata

KPilot vs Kantata. See whether each client made money.

Kantata manages projects and resources. KPilot uses QuickBooks and payroll to show whether each client, team and the company made money, and why.

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KPilot and Kantata
CapabilityKPilotKantata
Reads QuickBooks actuals backYesInvoices, payments, credit memos and customers as they change, plus expense totals per accountPartialPaid add-on; pulls payments only, each recorded as a full payment
Cost of a personYesFrom pay: salary, allowances and employer charges per contract, prorated by day, plus overhead per hourPartialOne rate per member per currency; changes apply to new entries only
Overhead allocationYesThree-tier step-down; booked expenses replace the plan once the month is bookedNot foundIts knowledge base documents none
P&L by department and companyYesFrom one project to the group, with eliminationsNoProject P&L; organizations only restrict visibility
Why margin movedYesComputed every day, by business driverPartialAn agent explains forecast against actual, rolling out from October 2026
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 effortYesSeveral recognition methods
Public APIPartialLeads API todayYesMCP on a paid tier
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.
01OverheadInclude overhead in client margin02Group P&LOne P&L from project to group03Loaded costKnow what each hour costs

What KPilot adds

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

01Overhead

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.
02Group P&L

One P&L from project to group

The same P&L for a project, a client, a department, a company and the whole group, with intercompany eliminations, built from QuickBooks.

  • Activity, client, department, company, group
  • Eliminations between companies
  • Invoiced and cash views
Explore project profitability
P&LLive
Scope By companyInvoicedFiscal year 2026
Mesabrook Advisory LLCMesabrook Nearshore S. de R.L. de C.V.EliminationsGroup
Revenue$7,860,000$1,420,000−$960,000$8,320,000
Direct costs$5,140,000$890,000−$960,000$5,070,000
Gross margin$2,720,000$530,000–$3,250,000
Overhead$1,610,000$240,000–$1,850,000
Operating income$1,110,000$290,000–$1,400,000
Margin %14.1%20.4%–16.8%
Home currency USD. Mesabrook Nearshore converted from MXN at each month’s rate; its staff lent to Mesabrook Advisory eliminated.
03Loaded 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.

Which tool fits your firm

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

Choose KPilot when
  • 30 to 150 people on QuickBooks Online
  • Fixed fee or retainer billing
  • Projects already run in Jira or Asana
  • No admin to run a PSA
Kantata fits better when
  • The pain is skill-based scheduling
  • SOC 2, an API or Salesforce is required

Questions to ask in your evaluation

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

  1. 01

    What cost sits behind each hour, and who updates it when salaries change?

  2. 02

    Where do rent, tools and non-billable staff hit client margin?

  3. 03

    How will partial payments and credit memos from QuickBooks appear?

  4. 04

    Who administers it after go-live?

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

Kantata does all this plus resourcing.

Yes on resourcing and project margin. Its documented QuickBooks sync pulls payments only, each as a full payment, and it documents no overhead allocation or company P&L.

We bill by the hour.

So does KPilot: time and materials per man-hour or per man-day, at each client’s rates, with invoices planned from the staffed effort. Kantata adds several revenue recognition methods.

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 Kantata on your own QuickBooks data.

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