⚡ Quick Verdict:
- Pricing: Harvest starts free, then $11/seat/month. Memtime starts at $11/user/month with no free plan.
- Best for: Harvest suits people who bill clients and send invoices. Memtime suits people who forget to start timers.
- Key difference: Harvest is an invoicing tool with a timer. Memtime is an automatic time tracker with no billing.
- Our pick: Harvest, because it covers time and expenses plus client invoices in one account.
Most freelancers pick a time tracking tool for one reason.
They want to get paid faster for the hours they already worked.
Harvest and Memtime both solve that problem from opposite ends.
Harvest turns billable hours into client invoices.
Memtime records what you did so you never lose billable time again.
Overview
This Memtime vs Harvest comparison covers pricing, features, reporting, and ease of use.
We also break down which team each tool fits best.
Our sources include published specs, the vendor websites, and public user reviews.
Our writers also spent hands-on time with both apps.
Those notes appear in the “What Our Team Noticed” sections below.
What is Harvest?
Harvest is a time tracking and invoicing tool for freelancers and small teams.
You can log hours into a timesheet or start timers from any browser.
The desktop app and phone app both feed the same Harvest account.
It also handles expense tracking, so receipts sit next to time entries.
Most users pick it to bill clients without rebuilding a spreadsheet each week.
Here is a closer look at how the software works day to day.
🏆 Winner: Harvest
Track time, log expenses, and send invoices from one account. The free plan lets you start tracking time today.
Harvest Pricing
Harvest charges per seat. Here is what each plan costs in 2026.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/seat/month | Solo freelancers testing time tracking |
| Pro | $11/seat/month | Teams that invoice clients monthly |
| Premium | $14/seat/month | Managers who need advanced reporting |
Pricing verified July 2026.
Free trial: Yes. The Pro plan has a 30-day free trial with no credit card required.
Money-back guarantee: None advertised. The free plan works as an open-ended trial instead.
📌 Note: The free plan covers one seat and two projects. Paid seats unlock unlimited projects, cost rates, and budget monitoring.
⚠️ Pricing conflict flagged: Some sources list the Pro plan at $12/user/month. Our verified data lists $11/seat/month. Check the checkout page before you sign up.
Key Benefits of Harvest
Here is what makes Harvest worth a look:
- Two ways to track: Type hours into a timesheet or start timers on desktop, phone, or browser. Both methods feed the same time tracking data.
- Invoicing built in: Harvest turns billable hours into client invoices you can send in just a click. Clients pay online, so you get paid faster.
- Expense tracking: Log expenses, attach receipts, and file them under specific projects. Time and expenses land on the same invoice.
- Budget monitoring: Visual reports show how much budget is left and how project progress compares to the plan.
- Wide integrations: Asana, Basecamp, Trello, and Google Calendar connect in minutes. Your team can track time from other tools they already open daily.
- Multi-currency support: Invoice clients abroad without manual conversion. Useful for consultants with overseas accounts.
- Fast support: Live chat replies quickly, and paid plans add phone support for billing questions.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer ran a real client project through Harvest for a full month. Here is what stood out from that hands-on time:
Harvest Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Free plan covers basic time tracking and reporting at no cost
- Turns tracked hours and expenses into invoices automatically
- Clean interface with a short learning curve for new users
- Integrates with Asana, Trello, and Basecamp for tracking inside other tools
- Supports multiple currencies for international clients
❌ Cons
- Per-seat pricing gets expensive for larger teams
- No payroll services or payroll integrations
- Interface looks dated and lacks a monthly calendar view
- Time tracking stays manual, so forgotten timers create gaps
What is Memtime?
Memtime is an automatic time tracker for people who bill by the hour.
It records every program you open while you work.
Memtime runs quietly in the background and memorizes your time in programs.
Nothing uploads to a server, since it stores activity data offline on your device.
Many people feel manual time tracking sucks, and that complaint is the whole pitch here.
The short walkthrough below shows how Memtime rebuilds a workday.
Runner Up: Memtime
Automatic recording of every app and file you touch. The 14-day free trial needs no credit card.
Memtime Pricing
Memtime charges per user. There is no free plan on this side.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $11/user/month | Solo users who want automatic time tracking |
| Connect | $17/user/month | Users syncing to project software |
| Premium | $23/user/month | Teams needing customizable reporting |
| Enterprise | Contact for Pricing | Large firms with custom rollout needs |
Pricing verified July 2026.
Free trial: Yes. Memtime offers a 14-day free trial without credit card information.
Money-back guarantee: Not advertised. The trial period is the safety net.
📌 Note: Integrations sit on the Connect tier and above. Basic gives you the automatic time tracker and the activity timeline only.
⚠️ Warning: Memtime has no free tier. Compare the trial against Harvest’s free plan before you commit a company card.
Key Benefits of Memtime
Here is where Memtime helps most:
- Automated recording: Memtime automatically records your time in programs while you work. That cuts missed time entries to almost zero.
- Activity timeline: The visual timeline can be viewed in 1- to 60-minute intervals. You rebuild the day instead of guessing at work hours.
- Granular billable time: Time is tracked in small increments. Law firms use Memtime to reconstruct the day in 6-minute intervals.
- Privacy first: No one, including managers or staff, can access the raw data. That makes it a non-intrusive alternative to employee monitoring.
- 100+ integrations: Jira, Asana, and other project management and professional services automation tools connect directly.
- Automated timesheet reports: Memtime generates timesheet reports and saves hours of administrative work each month.
- Import and export: You can move your time data in and out freely, and categorize entries by project automatically.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer installed Memtime on two machines and left it running for several weeks. Here is what came out of that:
Memtime Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Automatic capture removes the habit of starting and stopping timers
- Data stays on your device, so privacy stays intact
- Recovers billable hours lost to manual tracking errors
- Rated “Great” by users on Trustpilot
❌ Cons
- No invoicing, so you still need a separate invoicing tool
- No free plan and no expense tracking
- Integrations require the Connect tier or higher
- Desktop-first design, with no full browser tracker
Feature Comparison
These two tools overlap less than the category name suggests. The table below sums up the gap, then we walk through ten areas in detail.
| Feature | Harvest | Memtime |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $0 (Free plan) | $11/user/month |
| Free Plan | ✅ | ❌ |
| Automatic Time Tracking | ❌ | ✅ |
| Invoicing | ✅ | ❌ |
| Expense Tracking | ✅ | ❌ |
| Budget Monitoring | ✅ | ❌ |
| Offline Data Storage | ❌ | ✅ |
| Team Scheduling | ✅ | ❌ |
| Best For | Billing clients | Capturing every minute |
1. Time Tracking Approach
Harvest: You start timers and stop timers yourself, or type hours straight into a weekly timesheet. Both paths work from the desktop app, phone, or browser. The tradeoff is simple: manual time tracking only records what you remember to log.
Memtime: There is no button to press. Automatic time tracking captures every document, browser tab, and website you touch across multiple devices. That automation is how Memtime delivers accurate time tracking without daily time tracking habits.
2. Time Entries and Increments
Harvest: Time is tracked to the nearest minute, and you can categorize each entry by client or project. Notes and descriptions attach to every row, which keeps client invoices readable later.
Memtime: Legal professionals track work in strict 6-minute increments for accurate billing. You drag blocks from the activity timeline into projects and tasks, which converts raw activity into clean time entries.
3. Invoicing and Client Billing
Harvest: This is the clear gap. Harvest generates invoices from recorded timesheets and expenses, then lets you send invoices for online payment. Customizable templates handle tax calculations and branding, so you can bill clients and get paid faster.
Memtime: No invoicing exists. You export time data to an invoicing tool or accounting app and build the bill there. For firms already running billing software, that split is fine.
4. Reporting and Insights
Harvest: Harvest’s reporting covers staff reports, project health, and time based reporting across different projects. Managers get insights into billable hours versus non billable hours, plus time spent per client, in one view. Premium adds advanced reporting for finance teams.
Memtime: Automated timesheet reports show time usage per app and per client. Because the source is automated recording rather than manual entries, you get accurate data without chasing anyone for a timesheet.
5. Integrations
Harvest: Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Google Calendar connect in a few minutes. A team member can track time from those other tools without switching platforms, which keeps harvest data tied to the right task.
Memtime: Over 100 project management and professional services automation tools connect, including Jira and Asana. Developers who log work against pull requests can map that activity to the matching ticket.
6. Project Management and Timelines
Harvest: Light project management sits on top of the tracker. You set cost rates, assign specific tasks, and watch project progress against project estimates. It will not replace dedicated project software.
Memtime: Project time tracking here means feeding clean numbers into whatever tool you already use. Teams reviewing project timelines get real figures instead of rounded guesses, which helps them meet project deadlines.
7. Budget Monitoring and Scope Creep
Harvest: Budget monitoring is native. Alerts tell you how much budget remains and how much time a project has burned, which is the fastest way to spot scope creep before it eats the margin.
Memtime: Customizable reports show where the extra work went across different tasks. That detail helps you avoid scope creep on the next contract, though you set the budget rules elsewhere.
⚠️ Warning: Memtime records activity but does not enforce budget caps. If you need hard limits on client work, pair it with a billing tool or choose Harvest.
8. Team Scheduling and Capacity Planning
Harvest: Scheduling and capacity planning live inside the same account. Managers assign upcoming work, compare planned hours to tracked hours, and rebalance before anyone burns out.
Memtime: There is no scheduling layer. Remote teams use the exported numbers to plan capacity in another system, so staff stay focused while the app records rather than assigns.
9. Privacy, Time Off, and Data Control
Harvest: Time-off management tracks leave alongside work hours, and admins control who sees what. Data lives in the cloud, which is convenient for a distributed company but not private by design.
Memtime: Raw activity never leaves the machine. Employees keep control of what gets shared, and no manager can pull the underlying log. That design separates it from employee monitoring software.
10. Pricing & Cost
Here are the plans side by side.
| Tier | Harvest | Memtime |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/seat/month | ❌ None |
| Entry | Pro: $11/seat/month | Basic: $11/user/month |
| Mid | Premium: $14/seat/month | Connect: $17/user/month |
| Top | ❌ None | Premium: $23/user/month |
| Custom | ❌ None | Enterprise: Contact for Pricing |
Harvest: The free plan is the real hook. Entry pricing matches Memtime at $11, but that seat also buys invoicing and expense tracking. Ceiling price stays at $14.
Memtime: You pay $17 before integrations unlock, and $23 for the full reporting set. That is steep unless recovered billable time covers the difference, which for hourly firms it often does.
Different Scenarios
| If You Need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| To track time and invoice clients | Harvest | Billing is built in |
| Zero-effort capture | Memtime | Records without a timer |
| A free plan | Harvest | Only free option here |
| Offline data privacy | Memtime | Nothing leaves the device |
| Expense tracking | Harvest | Receipts attach to projects |
| 6-minute legal billing | Memtime | Granular increments |
💰 Your Budget
Harvest lets you sign up and start tracking time at $0. Memtime needs paid seats from day fifteen, so calculate how much time you actually recover.
🔌 Your Tech Stack
Already running Jira or Asana? Memtime maps clients project data straight into those tickets. If your stack is Trello plus accounting software, Harvest fits more naturally.
📝 Your Working Style
People who switch between many small jobs lose the most to forgotten timers. If starting timers feels time consuming, the automatic route wins.
🎓 Your Experience Level
Both apps have a user friendly interface and short onboarding. Harvest is easier for a beginner because the workflow ends at a finished invoice.
🆓 Free Trials and Demos
Run Harvest’s 30-day Pro trial and Memtime’s 14-day free trial in the same week. Track one real client on each and compare the totals.
🛟 Support Options
Harvest replies quickly through live chat and adds phone support for billing questions. Memtime leans on email and documentation on its website.
Switching Guide
Already using one of them? Here is what changes.
🔄 Switching from Harvest to Memtime?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Automatic time capture with no timer discipline required
- Local storage, so raw activity never reaches a server
- Six-minute increments for legal and consulting billing
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Invoicing and online client payments
- Expense tracking with receipt uploads
- The free plan and team scheduling
📋 How to switch:
- Export your time entries and project list from Harvest as CSV
- Install Memtime on each desktop and start the 14-day trial
- Import projects, then pick an invoicing tool to replace the billing side
🔄 Switching from Memtime to Harvest?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Invoices generated from tracked time and expenses
- Budget alerts and staff capacity views
- A free tier plus multi-currency billing
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Automatic background recording of every app
- Offline-only data storage
- The reconstructable daily activity timeline
📋 How to switch:
- Export your Memtime time data before the licence lapses
- Create a Harvest account and rebuild your client and project list
- Import the CSV, set cost rates, then connect Google Calendar and Asana
What Our Review Didn’t Cover
This comparison focused on freelancers, agencies, and small teams. We did not test enterprise rollouts, custom Memtime contracts, or payroll workflows. Our notes reflect the July 2026 versions of both apps. If you manage fifty or more employees, your priorities will differ from ours.
Final Verdict
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing | Harvest |
| 🚀 Core Tracking | Memtime |
| 🧾 Invoicing | Harvest |
| 🎯 Data Accuracy | Memtime |
| 👶 Ease of Use | Harvest |
| 🔌 Integrations | Memtime |
| 📊 Budget Control | Harvest |
| 🏆 Overall Winner | Harvest |
🏆 WINNER: HARVEST
Harvest wins 4 out of 7 categories.
Best for: Freelancers billing hourly, agencies tracking budgets, small teams that need one account for time and expenses.
Harvest wins because it finishes the job. Tracked hours become client invoices, and the free plan means you can determine whether it fits before paying anything.
Memtime is stronger at the recording layer. Nothing else here captures work this accurately or keeps the data this private.
Choose Memtime if lost minutes cost you more than the extra software. Law firms and IT consultancies fall into that group.
For everyone else, Harvest is the better place to start. It is the simpler way to manage projects, bill accurately, and deliver results without adding a second tool.
More of Harvest Compared
Here is how Harvest measures up against other trackers:
Harvest vs Clockify
Harvest wins on: Invoice design and online payments, expense receipts tied to projects, faster live chat replies
Clockify wins on: Unlimited users on its free tier, kiosk clock-in mode, lower cost at scale
Harvest vs Toggl
Harvest wins on: End-to-end billing, expense logging, time-off tracking for staff
Toggl wins on: Snappier timer widgets, idle-time prompts, a more modern reporting layout
Harvest vs Time Doctor
Harvest wins on: Client-facing invoices, lighter footprint on staff, simpler setup
Time Doctor wins on: Screenshot capture, distraction alerts, payroll-style attendance reports
More of Memtime Compared
Here is how Memtime lines up against its closest rivals:
Memtime wins on: No hardware needed, offline-only storage, 6-minute legal increments
Timeular wins on: Physical tracking dice, lower entry price, tidier mobile app
Memtime wins on: Passive capture with no timer, private local data, richer daily timeline
Clockify wins on: Free forever tier, built-in invoicing, browser-based access anywhere
Memtime wins on: No surveillance angle, data only the user can read, calmer rollout with staff
Time Doctor wins on: Manager dashboards, payroll integrations, activity scoring for large teams
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Harvest app used for?
It is a time tracking and invoicing tool. Freelancers and teams log hours, record expenses, monitor budgets, and send client invoices from one account.
How does Memtime work?
It runs in the background and records every program you open. You then drag those blocks from the timeline into projects to create time entries.
Is Memtime free?
No. There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card needed, but paid plans start at $11 per user each month afterwards.
Does Harvest track your screen?
No. It records the hours you log and nothing else. There are no screenshots and no mouse movement capture, so staff privacy stays intact.
What is the best time tracking tool for billing clients?
Harvest, for most small teams. It converts logged hours and expenses into invoices directly, while Memtime needs a separate billing app to finish the job.
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