Harvest has been one of the most popular time tracking software solutions since its launch in 2006. So, I decided to test it and share everything I found during my Harvest review.

My primary goal was to figure out if Harvest time tracking helped up my productivity, the efficiency of my business, and whether its pros outweighed its cons.

In this Harvest time tracking review, I’m going to share my first-hand experience with its features, as well as its pricing and whether it is the best time tracking software for your business.

Let’s dive in!

What is Harvest?

Harvest is a time tracking tool designed to help with expense management and tracking billable hours and employees’ time spent on projects.

Thanks to its straightforward design and accessibility, this software solution is a perfect fit for businesses of any size. While the tool is web-based, you can download it as a Windows, Android, or iOS app too, depending on your preferences.

With that said, join me as I go through everything Harvest has to offer you to track time & more.

Harvest key features

Let’s take a look at the features I tried during my Harvest review.

Time Tracking

The time spent completing tasks, whether the hours are billable or not, should be easy to track and manage, which is why time tracking is one of Harvest’s key tools.

You can start and stop the timer for your activities with a few clicks. Once you start the timer, it runs in the background and you can deal with your work.

Through the simple timesheets, which have an intuitive design built for users of all backgrounds, and the desktop and mobile apps, as well as 50+ tool integrations, the time tracking process is a breeze.

Once you have integrated Harvest with other tools, you can use their built-in timer, and Harvest will capture the time automatically. Apart from this, I did not see the option to capture time automatically without integrations or the browser extension.

As for the timesheet, you can access this tool under the “Time” tab. As default, you will see your current timesheet, but you can switch to those that are pending approval, unsubmitted, or approved.

Personally, I love the simplicity here, and the fact that you can find the timesheet under the timer makes things easier for beginners.

Invoicing Features

The invoicing features are incredibly easy to navigate, even if you have no prior experience with Harvest, like me.

Users can create a new invoice, choose an existing client or add a new one, choose whether the invoice is for tracked time and expenses or a freeform invoice, and then decide whether it’s a single invoice or a recurring one.

I don’t enjoy invoices with manual entries, which is why I was impressed by the Harvest invoicing tool, which integrated the time tracker and the completed tasks into the invoice automatically.

With Harvest, you can configure all of the key information that you need to include in all of your current and future invoices, such as the company information, the default values for tax and payment deadline, and even the logo.

Whether I approached invoicing from the Invoices tool itself or the Projects tool, where I could see all of the outstanding balances, my team’s time, and the internal costs, invoicing a client was seamless.

Through the Projects tool, I got to choose which specific expenses I wanted to invoice, how to display them, and whether to attach receipts.

All in all, I was satisfied with the invoicing tools during my Harvest review; however, I disliked the lack of detail in the invoice overview section, which makes checking the details more complicated than it needs to be.

Reporting and Analysis

Whether you’re a freelancer or you run a company, the goal is always to be profitable, which Harvest helps you achieve through its reporting and analysis tools.

Creating reports for the time, expenses, and activities involved in a project can be tedious and time-consuming. But Harvest can help in this.

Harvest lets you create instant reports on project budgets and costs, reports on the team’s tracked time and expenses, and export your data for sharing.

The reporting and analysis tools of Harvest were some of my favorite features during testing because they are pretty detailed and offer many insights into the efficiency of the company and individual employees.

Under the Reports tool on the Harvest platform, I found eight sub-categories, including:

• Time
• Profitability
• Detailed Time
• Detailed Expenses
• Activity log
• Contractor
• Uninvoiced
• Saved Reports

While I got to access all of these instant report tools on the platform with my 30-day free trial, the Profitability and Activity Log are only available through the Premium plan once the free plan expires.

The instant reports barely take up any time of your day, and they are perfect for maintaining the team’s tracked time and expenses, as well as the completed tasks for accurate billing.

Whether you are creating a time tracking report or you’re focused on your expenses, you can create a report in 2-3 minutes thanks to the forms that Harvest includes on its platform.

First, I chose the period the report was for, and then I picked the client, the specific project, and the tasks I did. As I did the task on my own, I didn’t include teammates, but that is a viable option too.

My one complaint is that two of the most essential tools (i.e., profitability and activity log) are only available through the Premium plan.

Project Management

When taking a look at Harvest’s project management tool, I immediately ran into a smooth interface that allowed me to sort all of the projects, input the total project budget, enter billable hours and unbillable hours alike, and even sort the hours by the tasks that they went into.

I had never used Harvest before, but I was able to go through the setup process for the projects, input the project details, and keep track of the project progress with ease. The buttons are well-marked, so you can navigate from one task and its details to another task or even different projects in seconds.

One of the advanced features that caught my eye was definitely the option to choose who to show the project report to: whether everyone involved, or just the administrators.

With its advanced time tracking for projects, you can easily filter on the time spent weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly for each project. You have the same options for the tasks, the team, and even for the invoices, which makes project management very simple.

The one thing that I disliked about the entire Harvest project management tool setup was the lack of different colored tabs. Although the black and white colorway certainly adds to the simplicity of the app, it makes keeping track of time, tasks, and expenses a bit more difficult than it has to be.

Client Management

In addition to projects, you can also add clients with Harvest. It’s really simple, you only need to go to the “Manage” tab, and add the name, address, and currency.

Once you’ve done it, you can assign clients to projects and start tracking the billable hours.

Expense Tracking

Expense management, especially with multiple clients and numerous projects, is no easy feat. That is where the Harvest expense tracking tool comes in. With this tool, you and everyone on your team can input the amount of money you spent on a particular project expense.

With this tool, you get to choose the specific project that the expenses were made for, the category of the expenses, such as lodging or meals, and the dates they were made on. On top of that, you and your team members can attach the receipt, which enables you to manage time and expenses much more efficiently.

Thanks to the button that enables you to select whether the expense is billable or not, you can easily manage the client work that needs to be included when you send invoices.

The one potentially problematic aspect of this feature is the fact that you and everyone on your team can edit the expenses at any time. That opens up space for errors and inconsistency.

Budget Monitoring

Budget monitoring doesn’t get its own individual tab on this platform, which is somewhat of a negative in my eyes. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t track the budget all the same.

By going through the Projects tab, you can see exactly what the total project budget is, how much of it goes to internal costs, how much is for billable tasks, and how much is for unbillable tasks.

With these visual reports, you can keep a firm grasp on the amount you have already spent and how much you have left from the total project budget.

The alternative is to track the billable hours and non-billable hours that each team member working on a particular project has. All this data works towards giving you a clear picture of the time and expenses required for the project.

Project Cost Estimation

Harvest lets you to create a project estimation for your clients. It is helpful for scenarios when your client asks for a detailed service breakdown with prices, and you want to provide them with style.

Essentially, it looks like an invoice where you can add each service with prices, description, and additional information.

Ultimately, it is a helpful feature if your clients need project estimation. Although it is not regular in my business, probably agencies can utilize these tools.

Harvest user interface

During my Harvest review, I noticed that it has a user-friendly design. It’s easy to locate all the features and navigate its pages.

While it is not particularly beautiful, I appreciated that it is practical. It means you can find more features under one tab, and you do not need to constantly switch between the functions.

Harvest Integrations

You can directly connect Harvest with numerous popular third-party apps like Asana, Monday.com, or Notion.

Furthermore, Harvest supports the Zapier integration, so you can access an additional 7,000+ third-party integrations.

Harvest Pricing

During my Harvest review, I took the time to compare the three pricing plans and the difference in prices when you opt to be billed annually as opposed to being billed monthly.

Free Plan

There is no way for me to talk about Harvest as a time tracking tool in this era of pay-to-play software solutions without mentioning the fact that Harvest’s free plan is actually free.

That means that I created an account and got to access most of the available essential time tracking tools without being forced to pay, or even having my credit card required.

When I looked closer at the free plan, I found that it gave me in-depth access to every feature, including creating unlimited project options and creating advanced reporting, but only for the first month. After that, I would be left with the basic free option, which allows me to bill clients, use the time tracker, and use some basic reporting features.

That being said, if you’re not a freelancer who can rely on this basic package, you might want to look into the other two billing plans, which include a lot of other tools.

Pro Plan

The Pro Plan, which comes out at $11 a month if you pay annually and $13.75 a month if you get billed monthly, offers unlimited seats and unlimited projects.

All new users can experience this Pro Plan for free during the 30-day trial period, but once that period is up, you need to pay to access billable and cost rates for teams, team reporting, project and people imports, accounting and payment integrations, and even scheduled phone support.

These features all come in addition to the standard free features, which offer the basic time tracking and project progress tools.

I found that Harvest offers a 20% discount if you opt for the plan to be billed annually, as opposed to the regular price for monthly billing. If your team has over 50 members, or you run a non-profit, a university, or a school, then you can get a discount on demand.

Premium Plan

The Harvest time tracking software offers the most bang for your buck through the Premium plan, which costs $14 a month if billed yearly and $17.50 if billed monthly.

With this plan, I got access to all of the tools included in the free and pro plans, but I also got to use the profitability reporting tool, timesheet approval, SAML-based SSO, saved reports, custom exports, requiring notes, and even custom onboarding for teams with 50+ members.

To make the comparison between these three plans clearer, I created the following table with their key features:

Harvest Security

One of my biggest concerns going into the Harvest review was the level of built-in security this software solution has. While the SSL encryption that Harvest offers for all its accounts and connections is commendable, it isn’t particularly high-level security, but it will still get the job done and protect your sensitive client information.

On the other hand, this platform keeps database backups for 180 days, application logs for 90 days, and customer activity logs for 1 year, which is crucial in the event of data corruption.

My Experience With Harvest

Overall, I had a positive experience with Harvest, and I tried all the features. It is an easy-to-use time tracking app that you can utilize on multiple platforms. While its features are not perfect, the time tracking itself is very straightforward with this app.

In addition, the invoicing feature makes this time tracking app an ideal solution for client-facing teams who need a simple solution for invoicing and project budgeting.

One of the key features I missed during my Harvest review is the automatic time tracking. Harvest only allows this for specific apps that you can connect to Harvest.

Harvest Pros and Cons

These are the key advantages and disadvantages of using Harvest that stood out to me when I was testing it:

Harvest Pros

It has a user-friendly interface design on all platforms. Harvest’s interface is incredibly easy to navigate across all systems, like Windows and iOS, and all device types, mobile and desktop alike.

Secondly, Harvest offers reasonable pricing plans compared to other time tracking apps.

Moreover, it provides smooth tools for invoicing preparation. Thanks to the easy time tracking and invoice preparation, you can create invoices almost instantly, without worrying about errors.

In addition, Harvest is quite massive when it comes to integrations. You can connect this time tracking tool with numerous third-party apps.

Lastly, the (manual) time tracking is straightforward with Harvest.

Harvest Cons

While the phone customer support is helpful, you can only access it if you pay for the Pro or Premium plans.

In addition, Harvest does not offer GPS tracking, which can be crucial for some businesses.

Furthermore, there is no automatic time tracking, only for the apps that you can integrate with Harvest.

Harvest alternatives

If you are not sure whether Harvest is the best time-tracking software for you, here are some alternatives:

• Rize: I use this time tracking app, and I think it is currently the best. It is an AI-powered time tracker that has helped me a lot with focus and building more sustainable working habits. Works great for solo entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals.
• Toggl Track: It is a user-friendly time-tracking app that offers desktop and mobile apps and a web version as well. It’s particularly useful when managing teams.
• Time Doctor: An app with robust time-tracking features and advanced analytics tools. It has employee monitoring, workforce, and productivity analytics features.
• Clockify: A time tracking app with an extensive feature set that offers a mobile, desktop, and web app for users.
• Hubstaff: A time-tracking and productivity-monitoring app with in-depth reporting features.
• ClockShark: ClockShark is a cloud-based time-tracking and employee scheduling software built for field service businesses with crews working outside the office.

Summary: Harvest Review

Harvest was exactly what I expected from a reliable time tracking software. It isn’t particularly fancy with its design and features, but it doesn’t need to be. It exists to track time, create invoices, and help with project and client management, and it does that very well.

Hope I was able to help you find the best time tracking app for you. As always, I will update this Harvest review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this time tracking tool.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Have a question or suggestion? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out anytime at aronkantor@thebusinessdive.com.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Harvest for free?

Yes, you most definitely can. The Harvest time tracking software has a free payment plan that includes all of the basic time tracking and project progress tools, so you can get a good use out of it for no charge.

Is Harvest safe?

Yes, it is. Harvest relies on SSL encryption to protect your connections and on Google Cloud’s multi-zone Kubernetes clusters to keep its platform reliable.

What if I dislike Harvest after the trial period?

Then, you can turn to another time tracking software without paying anything. Harvest doesn’t require a credit card to create an account, so you don’t need to remember to cancel the payment.

Does Harvest track your screen?

No, it does not. Havest does not take video recordings or screenshots of your screen, so you can be certain that all of your sensitive information is secure.