In this Harvest vs Toggl Track comparison, I will show you the key differences between these two popular time tracking apps. I will compare Harvest to Toggl Track based on features, pricing, user interfaces, my experience, and pros and cons.

I spent weeks with both time tracking apps recently, and I am here to share the benefits and limitations of each tool to ensure you make the best choice.

Now, let’s dive into the side-by-side comparison of Toggl vs Harvest!

My ratings: Harvest Vs Toggl Track

Key differences between Harvest and Toggl Track

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.

What is Toggl Track?

It is a time tracking app designed for freelancers and teams with automated time tracking, project & team management, invoicing, and many other features.

You can use Toggl Track on the web, desktop (Mac & Windows), and iOS and Android devices as well. Also, you can install its browser extension for quick, real-time tracking and use the built-in Pomodoro timer.

Detailed comparison: Harvest Vs Toggl Track

First, I will guide you through the features of both time tracking apps one by one. Second, I will show their user interfaces, integration options, pricing, and my overall experience when using them. Lastly, I will show you the pros and cons of Toggl and Harvest and their alternatives and reveal my pick.

Key features

Let’s begin with Harvest’s key features!

Harvest’s key features

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. By 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 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.

Toggl Track’s key features

Here, I guide you through all the key features I tried when testing Toggl Track.

Automated time tracking

If using the desktop app, you can utilize Toggl Track’s automated time tracking feature. You can easily switch between apps, websites, and documents without manually logging time entries.

And the question that many of you ask: Does automatic time tracking mean that my boss can spy on me?

Nope, Toggl Track is 100% private, which means there are no screenshots, mouse tracking, or any other invasive employee surveillance features. In addition to this, you can choose which activities you want to share with others, so it’s really about improving productivity.

When opening a window, you get a notification to start a project time entry, and Toggl Track will capture the time spent with that specific project.

Furthermore, you can automatically track selected pages with Chrome extensions when setting up the integrations. Just enable the pages you want to track, and Toggl Track will automatically record the time spent on those pages.

During my Toggl Track review, I had a positive experience with its automated time tracking feature. Based on my experience, it made a positive impact on my time management and saved a significant amount of time, as you no longer need to record manual time entries.

Timer

Toggl Track offers offline time tracking functions through its desktop and mobile apps. Just a heads-up: during my Toggl review, I mostly used the web app.

If you go to the “Timer” tab on the left, you can easily access Toggl Track’s timer feature. It works pretty simply; you only need to add a description, add a tag or a project, select whether it is billable or not, and you are ready to go. Once you finish the task, you only need to hit the stop button, and that’s it.

I also love Toggl Track’s calendar view and the small line above it representing the projects I worked on that day. It’s a small feature, but I found it really useful during my Toggl Track review.

An additional way to start time tracking is to use the browser extension. You can access this option under your extensions. Here, Toggl Track allows you to use the Pomodoro timer, which is pretty helpful in day-to-day work.

If you did not use the automatic time tracking and forgot to start the timer, you can manually add the time entries in your calendar view.

Ultimately, Toggl Track’s timer is an accessible feature and helps you to smoothly track the exact time your team spends on projects, tasks, and other activities.

Projects and clients

Using Toggl Track, you can create projects and clients. With these features, you can easily track project profitability, the time spent on tasks, clients, and teams.

It is also great that you can filter on a specific project, team member, client, or whether it is billable or not. This offers a quick picture of your projects with the most crucial data.

If you select one of the projects, you can gain insight into the hours worked on the specific project. You can also access the team members who worked on it and what tasks they performed relating to this project.

Such features allow you to track time spent across multiple projects, clients, and teams. Also, Toggl Track works as a lightweight task management app for your team.

To summarize, I was satisfied with Toggl Track’s task and project management features. What stood out most was how simple and intuitive everything felt, making it easy to get started without a steep learning curve.

Timesheet

You can use Toggl Track to set up automatic timesheet creation from the tracked time. For this, you can select the team member, approver, and period. Currently, Toggl Track only allows weekly frequency, but soon they will release the monthly.

The timesheet itself is pretty simple. It collects your tracked time and structures it based on projects. In the top right corner of your screen, you can submit and approve timesheets.

Invoicing

Toggl Track offers an invoicing feature as well. With this feature, you can capture every billable hour worked across your entire team.

It directly prepares the invoice from the reporting tab if you hit the download icon and the “create invoice” option. With this feature, you can add all the information you need for client billing, including due date, address, purchase order, and so on.

Essentially, you can create an invoice with a few clicks for your clients. It is also transparent as you create the invoices from the reporting tool, which shows the actual hours spent on each project.

Let’s take a look at the reporting features!

Reporting and analytics

During my Toggl Track review, I discovered that it provides detailed summary reports about how you & your team spent their time with clients and projects. You can quickly access the Pie charts for project distribution and billable hours.

Nevertheless, besides the projects, you can filter on clients, team members, tags, tasks, and more. So, you have many options to analyse the data trends about your team’s productivity.

Inside the reporting tool, you can access additional features like workload view and profitability analysis. These features can be crucial for agencies or consultancy businesses to ensure they have enough capacity and they work within budget.

Overall, Toggl Track’s reporting tools worked great for me. As a business owner myself, I can safely say that it covers all the data about your business that you need to make the right decisions.

User interface

I know that the user interface is a crucial factor for many of you when deciding between Toggl Track and Harvest. So, let’s take a closer look!

Harvest’s 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.

Toggl Track’s user interface

Toggl Track offers an intuitive interface. No matter if you use the web or desktop app, the navigation is smooth, and there is only a minimal learning curve.

Integrations

It is time to check the integration options in the Toggl vs Harvest battle!

Harvest’s 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.

Toggl Track’s integrations

You can connect Toggl Track with over 100 third-party apps directly, including project management apps like Asana and Clickup, or note-taking apps such as Notion and Evernote.

In addition, Toggl Track supports the Zapier integration, so you can connect it with an additional 7,000+ third-party apps.

Pricing

Here, I will show you both time tracking apps’ pricing structures in more detail!

Harvest’s 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.

Here is a table where I summarize the free & paid plans of Harvest.

Toggl Track’s pricing

Free Plan

Toggl Track offers its Free Plan for up to five users. With this plan, you will access the automated time tracking, personal productivity tools like Pomodoro timer or reminders, as well as integrations with Google Calendar, Outlook, and 100+ tools via browser extension.

Furthermore, you can access the productivity reporting features using the Free Plan. After using Toggl Track in my business for a few weeks, I think the free version is ideal for freelancers and professionals to get started with time tracking.

Starter Plan

If you want to utilize more features during your day-to-day work, you can give Toggl Track’s Starter Plan a try. It is $9 monthly per user for annual billing. If opting for the monthly billing, the Starter Plan is $10 per user per month.

This plan includes team collaboration features, billable rates & invoices, unlimited projects, and more advanced reporting.

Based on my experience, it’s an ideal choice for small teams who want to have a solid time tracking app but do not need advanced features like profitability analysis or customizable reporting.

Premium Plan

With the Premium Plan of Toggl Track, you will get the essence of this time tracking app. It is $18 per user monthly if choosing the yearly billing. If you want to move forward with monthly billing, the Premium Plan will cost you $20 per user per month.

This Plan offers fully customizable reports, profitability analysis, single sign-on (SSO), fixed fee projects, and many more.

Quick note here: When you sign up for Toggl Track, you will get a 30-day trial, so you can access all the Premium features for completely free. So, you will have a chance to take a look at these features and decide if they are helpful for you in your daily work.

Also, Toggl Track offers discounts for nonprofits, students, and educational institutions. So, if you are one of these, I would definitely recommend checking this out.

Overall, the Premium Plan is excellent for small and mid-sized businesses that need more advanced data compliance tools and advanced features.

Enterprise Plan

Finally, Toggl Track offers an Enterprise Plan for larger businesses. Besides the features included in the Premium Plan, you will get a personalised onboarding and a dedicated customer success manager for your business.

Moreover, Toggl Track offers custom solutions for your setup, workflows, and integrations, and larger teams will probably receive discounts on the annual plan. However, Toggl Track has custom pricing, and you need to discuss the pricing with the sales team.

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.

My experience with Toggl Track

I spent a lot of time with this time-tracking software during testing. I not only tested it, but also implemented it in my business to see how it affects my workflows.

And honestly, I was quite satisfied. This time tracking app is super simple to use, while providing all the features a small or medium-sized business might need.

It has a user-friendly interface, and the reporting and client billing tools are outstanding. Considering its features & pricing, Toggl Track is among the best time tracking apps for me.

While it is not ideal for businesses with field services, as it does not support location tracking, it is especially valuable for remote teams, agencies, or consultancy businesses.

Harvest’s pros and cons

Considering my experience, let’s summarize Harvest’s pros and cons!

Harvest’s 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 invoice 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’s 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 location 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.

Toggl Track’s pros and cons

Considering all the factors, let’s summarize Toggl Track’s pros and cons!

Toggl Track’s pros

The first thing I realized in the course of my Toggl Track review is the ease of use. Compared to other time tracking apps, Toggl Track is beautiful and straightforward.

Secondly, it’s great that it supports offline time tracking.

Furthermore, Toggl Track is a versatile app that you can utilize on desktop, mobile, and web to track time.

Moreover, Toggl Track has advanced reporting features. It allows you to filter on projects, clients, team members, tags, and more.

In addition, it can be an excellent free time tracking app for individuals or freelancers, as the free version includes all the basic features they need.

Lastly, its invoicing feature can be quite valuable for agencies and consultancies. Just a side note here – I really love the fact that it pulls out the data directly from the reporting tools, so it offers a transparent way for billing.

Toggl Track’s cons

For construction, real estate, or other businesses that need location tracking, Toggl Track is not an ideal option, as it lacks GPS tracking capabilities.

Alternatives to Harvest and Toggl Track

If you are still unsure about your pick after this Toggl and Harvest comparison, here are some other alternatives:

• Rize: 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.
• Time Doctor: An app with robust time-tracking features and advanced analytics tools. It has employee monitoring, workforce, and productivity analytics features.
• 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.
• Clockify: A time tracking app with an extensive feature set that offers a mobile, desktop, and web app for users.

My pick: Toggl vs Harvest

While Harvest is a solid time tracking solution, I would choose Toggl Track over it. For me, Toggl Track offers a better user experience overall, and I mostly use the automatic time tracking that Harvest does not have.

Don’t get me wrong, Harvest has some special features like budget monitoring or expense tracking. And some of these features are especially valuable for project managers. Nevertheless, overall, I find Toggl Track a better time tracking solution for my business thanks to its feature set and ease of use.

Related articles:

• Harvest Review 2025 | The Truth After Personally Testing It
• Toggl Review 2025: My 4-Week Personal Experience
• Toggl Vs Clockify: I Tried Both for Weeks — This One Won (2025)

As always, I will update this Harvest vs Toggl Track article over time so you guys have up-to-date information about these time tracking tools.

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

Is Harvest time tracking good?

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

Is Toggl trustworthy?

Yes, it is a secure and excellent time tracking solution for small businesses and professionals. In the course of my one-month Toggl review, I found this time tracking app trustworthy. Just a quick note: I mainly used the Toggl desktop app.

Which is better, Clockify or Toggl?

After testing and using both Toggl Track and Clockify for weeks in my business, my pick is Toggl Track. While it is a more expensive time tracking app than Clockify, it offers a better user experience overall, and I found its feature set a better fit for my business’s needs.

That said, I do not need GPS tracking, and the main aspect for me when selecting a time tracking app is what features it can offer for productivity, rather than focusing on employee monitoring tools.

So, if you have similar needs, probably Toggl Track will be a better alternative for your business. However, if you need location tracking and to manage field teams, Clockify is a better solution.

Full article: Toggl Vs Clockify: I Tried Both for Weeks — This One Won (2025)

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.