9 Best Harvest Alternatives in 2026 (Tested & Compared)

In mid-2025, Bending Spoons acquired Harvest. By 2026, the pricing model had changed from a simple flat per-seat rate to a two-layer system: a base per-seat charge plus usage-based fees that scale with the number of active projects, clients, tasks, and invoices in your account. The sticker price on the pricing page did not tell the full story. Some accounts saw renewal bills that were multiples of what they expected. One engineering consultancy with 20 seats reported a jump to over $20,000 per year following the change, a 600 percent increase. Others moved from $12 per month to over $1,900 per month.

Harvest is still a functional product. The time tracking works, the invoicing is clean, and the QuickBooks and Xero integrations are solid. But the pricing unpredictability has sent a large number of agencies, freelancers, and professional services teams looking for alternatives with flatter, more readable costs and features that Harvest never offered: on-premise deployment, DCAA compliance, expense management, and approval workflows that connect directly to billing.

This guide covers the nine best Harvest alternatives tested for August 2026. Every tool was used hands-on. Pricing is verified directly from vendor websites. TimeLive leads the list because it solves the specific gaps Harvest leaves open: full expense and billing cycle management, DCAA compliance, on-premise deployment, and flat predictable pricing. Each tool after it is listed because it does something better than the rest in its category.

Why Teams Are Leaving Harvest in 2026

The pricing change is the trigger but it is rarely the only reason. Teams switching from Harvest consistently cite the same five gaps:

• Unpredictable billing under the new model. Your monthly cost now depends on how many projects, clients, tasks, and invoices exist in your account, not just your headcount. For an active agency, those numbers grow with the business. The bill grows with them, and not in a way that is easy to forecast.
• No project management built in. Harvest tracks time and produces invoices. It does not have Kanban boards, task assignment, or project status views. Most growing teams are running a separate PM tool and paying for it on top of Harvest.
• No on-premise deployment. For government contractors, healthcare organizations, legal firms, and businesses with data residency requirements, cloud-only is not a viable option. Harvest offers no self-hosted alternative at any tier.
• No DCAA compliance. Defense Contract Audit Agency requirements are a non-negotiable for US government contractors. Harvest does not meet them. For teams with federal contracts, this alone disqualifies the tool regardless of pricing.
• Expense management is basic. Harvest allows expense logging and billable expenses do pull through to invoices automatically. What it lacks is any approval workflow before that happens – there is no multi-level expense approval, no expense policy enforcement, and no manager sign-off before a billable expense reaches a client invoice.

Quick Comparison: 9 Best Harvest Alternatives

All pricing per user per month, billed annually unless noted. Verified August 2026

How We Evaluated These Tools

Each tool was tested against real agency and freelance project structures over a minimum of one working week on both desktop and mobile. We ran complete billing cycles, timesheet approval workflows, and tested integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and major project management tools. The scoring table below reflects actual testing, not marketing claims.

Scoring criteria (10 points each): time capture quality, approval workflows, invoicing capability, free plan generosity, integrations, reporting depth.

All scores reflect independent testing as of August 2026. No vendor reviewed or influenced these results.

The 9 Best Harvest Alternatives in 2026

1. TimeLive by Livetecs |  Best for Compliance Teams, Full Billing Cycle Management, and On-Premise Deployment

Harvest was built to track time and produce invoices. It does those two things well and stops there. TimeLive covers the complete workflow from time entry through expense approval, client invoice generation, and accounting sync, at a flat per-module pricing structure that does not change based on how many projects or clients you run. For teams moving off Harvest because the usage-based billing made costs unpredictable, TimeLive’s pricing model is the structural opposite: each module is a fixed $4 per user per month regardless of usage volume.

Why TimeLive Works as a Harvest Alternative

The two features Harvest users miss most after leaving are retainer billing and expense-to-invoice flow. TimeLive handles both natively. The time billing software pulls approved timesheet hours into invoices automatically, applying per-client, per-project, or per-task billing rates from a single rate hierarchy. The expense tracking module lets team members log billable expenses against client projects, routes them through a configurable approval workflow, and carries approved expenses directly onto the client invoice alongside tracked hours. No export, no manual re-entry.

Where Harvest gives you no choice on deployment, TimeLive offers cloud and on-premise versions both in full production. For government contractors and organizations operating under DCAA, SOX, or Section 508 frameworks, the on-premise option combined with TimeLive’s native compliance features fills a gap that Harvest cannot address at any price. For legal firms and accounting practices where billable hour precision and audit trails are critical, this is a material difference from Harvest’s cloud-only model.

The native QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, and Xero integrations sync time and expense data in both directions without middleware. For teams currently using Harvest primarily as a bridge between time tracking and accounting, TimeLive replaces that bridge with a direct connection. The mobile time tracking app covers iOS and Android with geo-location stamping, and the time-off tracking module handles leave requests and approvals inside the same platform.

Key Strengths

• DCAA, SOX, and Section 508 compliant required for government contractors and federally-facing organizations
• Cloud and on-premise deployment both in full production with full feature parity
• Flat per-module pricing at $4/user/month with no usage-based fees on top
• Expense tracking with multi-level approval workflows, expense policies, and billable expense billing on invoices
• Billing and invoicing free on all plans including the free tier
• Native QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, and Xero sync with no middleware
• Multi-level timesheet approval workflows with manager sign-off before billing
• 15 languages, SAML SSO on Professional and Enterprise plans
• 19 years of production reliability across enterprise deployments

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Free: 3 users, 3 projects. Full feature access including invoicing and billing. Cloud and on-premise.

Paid modules: Each module (Timesheet, Expense, Time-Off, Attendance, Project Management) is $4/user/month. Billing and invoicing remain free on all paid plans. A 10-person team using Timesheet and Expense modules pays $80/month total, versus $90/month for Harvest’s Teams plan base rate alone before usage fees stack.

Verdict

TimeLive is the most complete Harvest replacement for teams that need more than time tracking and invoicing. The flat pricing model eliminates the unpredictability that drove teams away from Harvest after the Bending Spoons acquisition. The compliance and on-premise features cover requirements Harvest cannot address. For agencies, consultants, and professional services teams that need expense-to-invoice flow without usage-based billing surprises, it is the strongest option on this list. Read the TimeLive vs Harvest comparison for a full feature-by-feature breakdown.

2. Clockify |  Best for Budget-Conscious Teams Who Need Approvals Without Enterprise Pricing

Clockify is the most widely deployed time tracker in the world by user count, and the reason is straightforward: the free plan is genuinely usable and the paid tiers are cheaper than almost every competitor including Harvest. For teams leaving Harvest primarily because of pricing, Clockify is the most direct landing spot. It covers time tracking, multi-level timesheet approvals, attendance tracking, invoicing, and expense management across its paid plans with a per-seat cost that does not layer usage fees on top.

Why Clockify Works as a Harvest Alternative

Harvest’s invoicing is clean but it is locked behind the paid plans and the new usage-based model means invoice volume itself contributes to your bill. Clockify’s Standard plan at $5.49 per user per month includes invoicing, billable rates, timesheet approvals, attendance tracking, and time-off management. A 10-person team on Clockify Standard pays $54.90 per month before any usage considerations. The equivalent Harvest Teams plan costs $90 per month as a base rate before usage fees apply.

Clockify’s browser extension embeds timers inside Asana, Jira, Trello, ClickUp, GitHub, and over 50 other project management tools. For teams that already work inside these tools, this removes the tab-switching friction that causes billable hours to go untracked. The integration library for context-switching is genuinely stronger here than in Harvest. Kiosk mode for shared-device PIN clock-in is a feature Harvest has never offered, making Clockify a better fit for teams with field workers or shared workstations.

Key Strengths

• Flat per-seat pricing with no usage-based fees on top
• Timesheet approval workflows on Standard plan at $5.49 per user per month
• Kiosk mode for shared device PIN clock-in
• Browser extension tracking inside 50 plus project management tools
• Invoicing, billable rates, and expense tracking on Standard and above
• Attendance, time-off, and scheduling on Standard plan
• Free plan for up to 5 users with unlimited projects

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Free: 5 users, unlimited time tracking, unlimited projects, basic reporting. Basic: $3.99/user/month. Standard: $5.49/user/month, adds invoicing, billable rates, approvals, attendance, scheduling. Pro: $7.99/user/month, adds screenshots, GPS, forecasting. Enterprise: $11.99/user/month.

Verdict

For teams whose primary complaint about Harvest is price and whose workflows fit within standard time tracking and invoicing, Clockify resolves both. The absence of usage-based fees makes it predictable in the way Harvest no longer is. See the TimeLive vs Clockify comparison for a detailed breakdown of where each tool leads.

3. Toggl Track |  Best for Freelancers and Remote Teams Who Want Simplicity Over Features

Toggl Track is what Harvest aspired to be before Bending Spoons added the usage model: a clean, fast, privacy-respecting time tracker that works across every device and does not try to do everything. For freelancers and small remote teams who used Harvest only for time tracking and basic invoicing, and who are now paying more than expected, Toggl Track covers the tracking side cleanly at a lower price point with a better free tier.

Why Toggl Track Works as a Harvest Alternative

Harvest’s strength was always the combination of time tracking and invoicing. Toggl Track has the tracking side fully covered but handles invoicing only through paid plans and without the retainer and payment collection features that made Harvest compelling for agencies. For a freelancer tracking hours across multiple clients, the free plan covers up to 5 users with unlimited projects, idle detection, billable rate tracking, and browser extension support for over 100 tools.

Where Toggl separates from Harvest is the privacy model. Harvest was built with client billing in mind, which means reporting runs toward external visibility. Toggl’s design philosophy is the opposite: it tracks for you, not for oversight. Individual time entries are private by default and reporting is focused on your own productivity rather than client-facing output. For remote teams and consultants who track their own profitability rather than reporting to managers, this is a meaningful difference.

Key Strengths

• Clean, fast timer across web, desktop, and mobile with zero learning curve
• Free plan for up to 5 users with unlimited projects and idle detection
• Browser extension with native timers inside 100 plus tools
• Billable rate settings per project, client, and team member
• 30-day free trial of Premium features for all new accounts
• Detailed profitability and revenue reports on paid plans

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Free: up to 5 users, unlimited projects, idle detection, billable rates. Starter: $9/user/month, adds billable rate management, project time estimates, rounding. Premium: $18/user/month, adds timesheet approvals, profitability analysis, labour costs, forecasting. Enterprise: custom pricing.

Verdict

Toggl Track is the right Harvest alternative for freelancers and small teams who want clean, reliable tracking without paying for approval and billing infrastructure they do not use. It is not a replacement for Harvest’s invoicing. It is a replacement for Harvest’s timer, at a lower price and with a better user experience. See the TimeLive vs Toggl Track comparison for a breakdown of where each tool fits best.

4. MyHours |  Best Free Plan for Freelancers Managing Multiple Clients

MyHours is one of the oldest time trackers still in active development, running since 2002, and its staying power comes from a deceptively simple offer: unlimited users, unlimited projects, and unlimited clients for free. Where Harvest’s free plan caps at one seat and two projects, MyHours’ free tier is operationally usable for a growing freelance business with no artificial ceiling on how many clients you can serve.

Why MyHours Works as a Harvest Alternative

The comparison with Harvest sharpens on invoicing. Harvest’s invoicing is strong on the paid plan and includes online payment collection via Stripe. MyHours’ Pro plan at $8 per user per month includes invoicing from billable hours, customizable billing rates per client and per project, expense management, budget tracking with alerts, and timesheet submission and approval. This covers the core Harvest workflow at a lower price point with no usage-based fees layered on top.

For freelancers managing 5 to 20 clients who cannot justify Harvest’s per-seat pricing under the new model, the MyHours free plan is the most generous zero-cost starting point in this category. You track billable and non-billable hours across all clients, pull clean PDF and XLS reports per client, and stay free until you need invoicing built in. The upgrade to Pro is a clear decision point rather than a sliding scale of fees.

Key Strengths

• Unlimited users, projects, and clients on the free plan
• Billable and non-billable hour tracking from the free tier
• Clean PDF and XLS client reports on the free tier
• Budget tracking with alerts and expense management on Pro
• Invoice generation with customizable billing rates on Pro
• Timesheet submission and approval workflow on Pro
• ISO 27001 security certification

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Free: Unlimited users, projects, clients. Timer, manual entry, billable tracking, PDF and XLS export, mobile apps. Basic: $4/user/month. Pro: $8/user/month, adds billable rates, budgets, expenses, invoicing, timesheet approval, custom fields, integrations. Enterprise: custom.

Verdict

MyHours is the strongest free-tier Harvest alternative for freelancers who need to track hours across many clients without committing to a subscription. The upgrade path to Pro is clean and the pricing is flat. For a deeper look at tracking employee hours across projects, see the guide on managing multi-client time tracking accurately.

5. Timely |  Best for Teams Who Lose Billable Hours Because of Forgotten Timers

Timely solves a problem that Harvest has always had: the billable hours that disappear because someone forgot to start the timer. Its AI-powered Memory Tracker runs in the background on the desktop, capturing every app, document, and meeting throughout the day, then surfaces a draft timesheet built from that activity log. For teams where incomplete timesheets are the primary reason invoices underrepresent the actual work done, Timely changes the equation entirely.

Why Timely Works as a Harvest Alternative

Harvest requires you to start and stop a timer. Timely removes that requirement. The Memory Tracker captures work passively and the daily review takes minutes rather than the mental effort of reconstructing a day from memory. For agencies billing clients hourly where every uncaptured 15-minute increment adds up to lost revenue across a team, this automation closes a gap that no manual-entry tool including Harvest can address structurally.

Timely also takes the strongest privacy position on this list. Individual activity timelines are completely private to each team member. Managers see project totals and team summaries, not the raw activity that generated them. This is the structural opposite of tools like Hubstaff where monitoring is the core product. For remote teams and consultants where autonomy and privacy are expected, Timely’s model fits those expectations naturally.

Key Strengths

• AI Memory Tracker captures all work passively with no manual timer required
• Draft timesheets built from real activity, reviewed and approved rather than reconstructed
• Private activity timeline, managers see project totals only
• Project profitability dashboard with estimates versus actuals
• 14-day free trial available before committing
• 14 language support for international teams

Pros and Cons

Pricing

No free plan. 14-day trial. Starter: $9/user/month annually, up to 5 users, 20 active projects. Small Business: $16/user/month annually, up to 50 users, 50 active projects. Premium: $22/user/month annually, unlimited. Project management add-on available at $5/user/month.

Verdict

Timely earns its place for one specific reason: it recovers billable hours that manual-entry tools including Harvest structurally cannot. If incomplete timesheets are costing your agency more per month than the subscription, the math justifies the switch. For a broader look at how automatic and manual tracking tools compare, see the ultimate guide to time tracking and productivity software.

6. TimeCamp |  Best for Automatic Tracking and Budget Management Without Premium Pricing

TimeCamp sits between Timely’s full AI automation and the manual-entry tools on this list. Its automatic tracking uses keyword rules matched against running apps and browser URLs to assign time to the right project without a timer. For teams with predictable, tool-based workflows, the accuracy after initial setup is strong. The unlimited free plan, genuine budget management features, and one of the lowest invoicing-capable paid tier prices in the category make it a compelling Harvest alternative for cost-driven decisions.

Why TimeCamp Works as a Harvest Alternative

The Harvest pricing change hit teams with high project and invoice volumes hardest, because usage fees apply to exactly those activities. TimeCamp charges a flat rate regardless of how many projects, clients, or invoices you run. The free plan supports unlimited users and unlimited projects with basic time tracking and reporting. The Starter plan at $3.99 per user per month adds invoicing, billable rates, budget tracking, and time approval, covering the core Harvest workflow at less than half the Harvest Teams base rate before usage fees even apply.

Budget management is where TimeCamp distinguishes itself most clearly from Harvest. Each project can carry a budget in hours or money with real-time tracking of consumption and configurable alerts before the budget is breached. For construction firms and small agencies tracking project profitability against fixed-fee engagements, this visibility is built in rather than requiring a separate reporting step.

Key Strengths

• Unlimited users and unlimited projects on the free plan
• Keyword-based automatic tracking reduces manual timer use
• Budget management with real-time tracking and configurable alerts
• Invoicing and billable rates from $3.99 per user per month
• Native integrations with 30 plus project management and accounting tools
• Attendance tracking and time-off management on Premium plan
• Flat pricing with no usage-based fees on any plan

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Free: Unlimited users, unlimited projects, basic reporting, unlimited integrations. Starter: $3.99/user/month, adds billable rates, budget tracking, invoicing, time approval. Premium: $7.99/user/month, adds attendance, time-off, timesheet approval, custom fields, priority support.

Verdict

TimeCamp is the right Harvest alternative for teams whose primary concern is cost and whose workflow involves predictable, tool-based work that keyword rules can capture accurately. The $3.99 Starter plan undercuts every invoicing-capable alternative on this list. For teams managing multiple fixed-fee projects with strict budget visibility requirements, the budget alert feature alone justifies evaluation. See the guide to the best apps for timesheet tracking for a broader context on where automatic tracking tools fit different workflows.

7. Everhour |  Best for Teams Already Running Projects Inside Asana, Jira, or Basecamp

Everhour is not trying to replace your project management tool. It is designed to sit inside it. Native integrations with Asana, Jira, Basecamp, Notion, and ClickUp embed timers directly into the tasks your team is already working on, removing the context switch that causes hours to go untracked. For teams where Harvest felt like a disconnected system that people forgot to open, Everhour solves that problem by putting the timer where the work already is.

Why Everhour Works as a Harvest Alternative

Harvest integrates with Asana, Jira, Trello, and Basecamp but the connection is a sync rather than an embed. You still run Harvest as a separate tab and import project data across. Everhour’s approach is different: the timer appears inside the Asana task or Jira issue directly, the time entry is made in that same interface, and the data appears in Everhour’s reporting without any manual sync step.

Real-time budget tracking against project estimates is built into every Everhour project. Budget burn rates update as hours are logged, with configurable alerts before a project hits its ceiling. For agencies managing retainer budgets and consultants tracking time to project profitability, this visibility is available without leaving the project management tool. The invoicing and expense tracking on the Team plan complete the billing cycle without requiring Harvest as a separate step.

Key Strengths

• Native timer embeds inside Asana, Jira, Basecamp, Notion, and ClickUp
• Real-time budget burn tracking with configurable threshold alerts
• Invoicing, expense tracking, and billing rates on the Team plan
• Team scheduling and capacity planning built in
• Reporting across time, cost, and project profitability
• Free plan for up to 5 users to test the tool before committing

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Free: up to 5 users, core time tracking features. Team: $10/user/month annually, all features including invoicing, expenses, scheduling, SSO, advanced permissions. Custom: minimum 50 seats. Annual billing saves approximately 15 percent.

Verdict

Everhour is the strongest option for teams that live inside Asana or Jira and found Harvest felt disconnected from where the actual work happens. The native embed removes the adoption friction that causes hours to go untracked in tab-switching tools. At $10 per user per month with a 5-seat minimum, it is not the cheapest on this list. But for teams where tracking compliance is the primary problem rather than pricing, the embed approach solves it more completely than any alternative. For context on how integrated time tracking affects employee productivity, see the detailed guide.

8. Hubstaff |  Best for Field Teams, GPS Verification, and Proof-of-Work

Hubstaff covers a set of requirements that Harvest was never designed to address and that most of the other tools on this list also skip: GPS tracking, geofenced clock-in based on physical location, optional screenshot monitoring, and payroll integration that pays workers directly from approved hours. For teams managing field workers across multiple job sites, these are operational requirements, not optional features.

Why Hubstaff Works as a Harvest Alternative

Harvest’s monitoring capabilities are zero. It tracks what you tell it to track via the timer. For a team of knowledge workers who trust each other, that is sufficient. For a construction crew working across multiple sites, a fleet of delivery drivers, field service technicians, or home healthcare workers whose hours need location verification, Harvest’s model is not a fit regardless of pricing.

Hubstaff’s geofencing defines a virtual boundary around a job site. Workers clock in automatically when they arrive within that boundary and clock out when they leave. GPS route tracking provides a complete location history for audit or client billing purposes. Optional screenshots taken at configurable intervals provide visual verification of work for clients who require it. For logistics companies and businesses managing hourly workers across physical locations, Hubstaff’s payroll integration with QuickBooks, Gusto, Wise, and PayPal means approved hours turn into payments without a manual processing step.

Key Strengths

• GPS tracking and geofencing for automatic location-based clock-in
• Optional screenshots at configurable intervals for proof-of-work
• Activity level tracking via keyboard and mouse monitoring
• Scheduling, shift management, and attendance tracking
• Payroll integration with QuickBooks, Gusto, Wise, and PayPal
• Works offline with automatic sync on reconnection
• Field team reports with location history and route playback

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Free: 1 user only. Starter: $7/user/month annually, basic time tracking, timesheets, activity levels. Grow: $9/user/month, adds full app and URL tracking, advanced reports. Team: $12/user/month, adds scheduling, attendance, payroll, unlimited integrations. Enterprise: $25/user/month. Note: GPS tracking and monitoring add-ons cost extra on lower plans.

Verdict

Hubstaff has no real competition on this list for field-based and location-verified workforce management. If your team works across physical sites and you need to confirm arrivals, track locations, and run payroll from verified hours, Hubstaff covers all of it in one platform. For office-based and remote knowledge workers, the monitoring features are more than is needed and alternatives like TimeLive, Clockify, or MyHours will be a better fit. See the guide on monitoring remote employees effectively for a broader context on where monitoring tools serve teams well.

9. Apploye |  Best All-in-One Platform for Agencies Managing Mixed Remote and Office Teams on a Budget

Apploye positions itself as the all-in-one replacement for teams currently running multiple tools alongside a time tracker. Time tracking, optional screenshot monitoring, timesheet approvals, client management, invoicing, and payroll all live in a single platform. For small agencies that have been stitching together Harvest for tracking, a separate tool for scheduling, and another for payroll, Apploye consolidates the stack at a price point that undercuts Harvest’s new model significantly.

Why Apploye Works as a Harvest Alternative

The free Starter plan covers up to 10 users with time tracking, screenshots (optional), attendance, and project and task management at no cost. This is the most generous free tier on this list for teams of 5 to 10 people. The Elite plan at $4.50 per user per month adds activity analytics, app and website tracking, invoicing, and client management. A 10-person team on Apploye Elite pays $45 per month total, versus $90 per month for Harvest Teams base rate before usage fees apply.

Apploye’s monitoring features are optional and configurable, which is a meaningful distinction from tools where monitoring is the core product. Screenshots can be turned on per team or per project, employees can delete accidental captures, and the monitoring layer can be disabled entirely where trust makes it unnecessary. For agencies managing a mix of full-time employees and freelance contractors on different accountability models, this flexibility covers both without requiring separate tools.

Key Strengths

• Free plan for up to 10 users, the most generous seat limit on this list
• Optional monitoring with configurable screenshot frequency and privacy controls
• App and URL tracking for productivity analytics on paid plans
• Client management, invoicing, and payroll on Elite plan
• GDPR and HIPAA compliant
• Timesheet approvals and scheduling included
• Elite plan at $4.50 per user per month, well below Harvest’s base rate

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Starter: Free for up to 10 users, time tracking, screenshots, attendance, project management. Elite: $4.50/user/month, adds activity analytics, app and URL tracking, invoicing, client management. Power: $8/user/month, adds real-time screenshots, higher frequency, API access. Enterprise: $10/user/month, adds SSO, ACH payments.

Verdict

Apploye earns its spot for small agencies that want to consolidate Harvest plus one or two other tools into a single platform at a significantly lower cost. The 10-user free plan is the most room any tool on this list gives you before requiring a paid subscription. For teams where optional monitoring is useful rather than necessary, the configurability means it works in both directions. For context on comparing all-in-one platforms against specialized tools, see the guide to what time tracking software does.

How to Choose the Right Harvest Alternative for Your Team

The right tool depends on which specific gap Harvest left open for your team. These are the clearest decision criteria:

Choose TimeLive if:

• You need DCAA, SOX, or Section 508 compliance for government contracts or federal work
• You want on-premise deployment with full data control
• You need expense tracking with multi-level approval workflows connected to client invoicing
• You want flat, predictable pricing that does not scale with project or invoice volume
• You serve legal, accounting, or agency clients requiring billable hour precision and audit trails

Choose Clockify if:

• Harvest pricing was the primary trigger and your workflow fits standard time tracking and invoicing
• You need timesheet approval workflows at the lowest possible per-seat cost
• Your team uses shared devices and needs kiosk clock-in
• You want a large browser extension library for tracking inside PM tools

Choose Toggl Track if:

• You are a freelancer who used Harvest primarily for the timer and handled invoicing elsewhere
• Your team values privacy and does not want any monitoring or surveillance features
• Simplicity and interface quality matter more than feature depth

Choose MyHours if:

• You have more than one seat but are not ready to commit to per-seat pricing
• You need billable hour tracking across unlimited clients at zero cost
• You are a freelancer managing 5 to 20 clients needing clean per-client reports

Choose Timely if:

• Incomplete timesheets are costing your agency real revenue on billing day
• Your team works across too many apps and contexts to track manually
• Privacy is a priority and employer-style monitoring is not acceptable to your team

Choose TimeCamp if:

• You need automatic tracking without Timely’s premium price
• Budget management per project is a core operational requirement
• You want an unlimited free plan before committing to any paid tier

Choose Everhour if:

• Your team runs everything inside Asana, Jira, Basecamp, or ClickUp
• Harvest felt disconnected from your actual project management workflow
• Real-time budget burn visibility inside your PM tool is the primary requirement

Choose Hubstaff if:

• You manage field workers across physical locations and need GPS verification
• Location-based clock-in and route tracking are operational requirements
• You need payroll to run directly from approved timesheets

Choose Apploye if:

• You are consolidating Harvest plus other tools into one platform on a tight budget
• You want optional monitoring that can be configured per team or project
• Your team is 10 people or under and you want to stay on a free tier longer

How to Migrate Off Harvest Without Losing Data or Billing Gaps

Before cancelling your Harvest account, export everything. Time entries, invoices, client records, and expense data are all downloadable as CSV files from the Reports section in Harvest. Download all of it and store it outside Harvest before the account closes. Once an account is cancelled, access to historical data is not guaranteed.

• Export all time entries from Reports filtered to your full account history
• Export all invoices including paid and unpaid status
• Export client and project lists with their associated rates
• Export expense records if you have been tracking expenses in Harvest

The cleanest migration timing is the end of a billing cycle. Close out all open time entries, send all outstanding invoices, and collect on any open balances before switching. Starting fresh in your new tool at the beginning of a new month prevents the confusion of splitting active projects across two platforms mid-cycle. Run both tools in parallel for one full billing cycle before fully cancelling Harvest. The overlap costs one extra month of Harvest but eliminates the risk of billing gaps or lost hours during the transition. For a detailed guide on moving to TimeLive specifically, see the TimeLive vs Harvest comparison which includes step-by-step migration notes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Harvest so expensive now?

Harvest was acquired by Bending Spoons in mid-2025. The pricing model changed from a flat per-seat rate to a two-layer structure: a base per-seat charge plus usage-based fees that apply once your account exceeds included thresholds for active projects, clients, tasks, and invoices. Teams with growing workloads see their bills increase at renewal even with the same headcount, because the usage layer scales with account activity. Some accounts reported increases of 600 percent or more at their first renewal under the new model.

What is the best free alternative to Harvest?

For teams of up to 5 people, TimeLive offers the most complete free tier: 3 users, 3 projects, and full access to time tracking, attendance, and billing features including invoicing at no cost. For unlimited users and unlimited projects with basic time tracking, MyHours and TimeCamp both offer genuinely unlimited free plans. Apploye is free for up to 10 users and includes screenshots and project management. The right choice depends on whether you need invoicing (TimeLive), unlimited seats (MyHours or TimeCamp), or optional monitoring (Apploye) on the free tier.

Which Harvest alternative has the best invoicing?

TimeLive is the only tool on this list that includes invoicing free on all plans, including the free tier. For teams that need online payment collection built into the invoice, Harvest itself still does this better than most alternatives. Among the alternatives, Clockify offers invoicing on Standard, and MyHours and TimeCamp both offer it on paid plans. Everhour includes invoicing on the Team plan with strong project profitability reporting attached.

Does any Harvest alternative offer on-premise deployment?

Yes. TimeLive is the only tool on this list with a full on-premise deployment option. This is a requirement for government contractors, healthcare organizations, legal firms with client data requirements, and businesses operating under data residency regulations. The cloud and on-premise versions are both in full production with complete feature parity. See the DCAA timekeeping requirements guide for a breakdown of compliance requirements and how on-premise deployment supports them.

Which Harvest alternative is best for agencies?

For agencies needing the full time-to-invoice workflow with expense management and approval chains, TimeLive covers the complete cycle at the lowest cost per module. For agencies that primarily need clean time tracking with strong budget visibility inside existing PM tools, Everhour is the better fit. For agencies on a tight budget wanting to consolidate multiple tools into one platform, Apploye offers the most features per dollar. For agencies where incomplete timesheets are the primary billing problem, Timely’s automatic capture addresses the root cause rather than adding a better timer to the same behavioural problem.

Is Harvest still worth using in 2026?

For solo freelancers on the free plan (1 seat, 2 projects) who primarily need time tracking and clean invoicing, Harvest remains functional and the free tier is not affected by the usage-based model. For teams of 5 or more people with active project portfolios, the new pricing model creates unpredictability at renewal that is difficult to forecast. The tools on this list all offer flatter, more readable pricing for comparable or greater feature sets. The decision depends on whether the feature gaps that drove teams away from Harvest were primarily invoicing-related or whether they extend to project management, expense workflows, compliance, or deployment control.

The Bottom Line

Harvest’s pricing change was the trigger for most teams starting this search. But the deeper question is not just which tool is cheaper. It is which tool closes the gaps Harvest was not built to address. For teams with compliance requirements, expense approval workflows, or a need for on-premise control, TimeLive is the most complete replacement. For teams whose sole concern is predictable per-seat pricing for time tracking and invoicing, Clockify resolves that immediately. For freelancers, MyHours’ unlimited free plan is the most room to operate before any financial commitment.

Every tool on this list was selected because it solves a real problem better than the others in its category. The right choice is the one that matches your specific operational gap, not the one with the best marketing copy.