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TrackingTime vs Harvest: Best Time Tracking Software in 2026?

by | Last updated Jul 19, 2026

Winner
harvest logo
4.2
  • Timer or Manual Time Entries
  • Invoicing Built In
  • Budget Monitoring Per Project
  • Asana, Trello & Basecamp
  • Free Plan for Solo Users
  • Multi-Currency Invoices
  • Paid Plans from $11/seat/month
Runner Up
trackingtime
3.9
  • AutoTrack Logs Activity for You
  • Attendance Tracking Included
  • 30+ Integrations
  • Built-In Task Manager
  • Free Plan for 3 Users
  • Timesheets and Time Reports
  • Paid Plans from $3.75/month

⚡ Quick Verdict:

  • Pricing: TrackingTime starts at $3.75/month per user. Harvest starts at $11/seat/month, with a free plan.
  • Best for: TrackingTime suits remote teams that need attendance tracking. Harvest suits freelancers who invoice clients.
  • Key difference: Harvest pairs time tracking with expense tracking and billing. TrackingTime adds task management and automatic time entries.
  • Our pick: Harvest, rated 4.2 against 3.9, because it turns billable hours into client invoices without extra tools.
TrackingTime vs Harvest Comparison

Two tools promise the same thing here.

Both want to be the place where your team logs hours.

But one is built to bill clients.

The other is built to manage projects and people.

That single split decides which one fits your week.

Overview

This TrackingTime vs Harvest comparison covers pricing, features, reporting, and ease of use.

It also shows who each time tracking tool works best for.

Our sources include published specs, documentation, and review sites like G2.

Our writers also spent hands-on time inside both apps.

Those notes appear in the “What Our Team Noticed” sections below.

What is TrackingTime?

TrackingTime is an all in one solution for time tracking and productivity.

It helps teams track hours, manage projects, and automate payroll tasks.

The platform bundles online timesheets, attendance tracking, and project dashboards.

You also get scheduling, time reports, and over 30 integrations.

Hybrid and remote teams use it to keep everyone on the same page.

Agencies, freelancers, and small and medium sized businesses use it too.

TrackingTime Homepage

TrackingTime

⭐ 3.9/5 | 💰 From $3.75/month

A flexible time tracker with a built-in task manager. Track time from the web app, desktop apps, or mobile apps. Free plan covers up to three users.

TrackingTime Pricing

Here is what TrackingTime costs in 2026.

PlanPriceBest For
Starter$3.75/monthSolo users and basic features
Pro$5.75/monthProductive teams that need detailed reports
Business$10/monthManagers who need advanced reporting

Pricing verified July 2026.

TrackingTime Pricing

Free trial: Yes. A 14-day free trial opens every Pro plan feature.

Money-back guarantee: None published. The free plan and trial act as the safety net.

📌 Note: The free plan supports up to three users, unlimited projects, and basic time tracking. It is a real option for a two-person studio, not just a demo.

⚠️ Pricing conflict: Our data sheet lists Starter at $3.75/month, while public research notes a $5.75 per user entry price when billed annually. Check the checkout page before you sign up, since monthly and annual rates differ.

Key Benefits of TrackingTime

Here is what makes TrackingTime worth a look:

  • Three ways to track time: Use a one-click timer, manual time entries, or AutoTrack. AutoTrack logs activity so unrecorded work does not slip away.
  • Powerful task manager: Create projects, organize tasks, and prioritize tasks in one place. You can break complex tasks into smaller steps with a due date.
  • Attendance tracking: Timecards are generated automatically from captured time entries, so working hours need no re-typing.
  • Detailed timesheets and time reports: The reporting module uses charts, patterns, and colors that stay visually appealing.
  • Live team view: Managers see who is working on what, spot bottlenecks early, and rebalance workloads.
  • Reminders that stick: Automated notifications ensure people start a timer or finish a timesheet on time.
  • Works with other apps: It connects to Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Microsoft Teams.
TrackingTime Top Benefits

What Our Team Noticed

Our writer set up a TrackingTime workspace and ran it for several days of client work. Here is what stood out from that hands-on time:

TrackingTime Personal Experience

TrackingTime Pros & Cons

✅ Pros
  • Free plan covers up to three users and unlimited projects
  • AutoTrack compares logged hours against real desktop activity
  • Task management, project reports, and time tracking sit in one app
  • Cheaper entry price than Harvest for paid seats
❌ Cons
  • Interface choices steepen the curve for first time users
  • The mobile app needs an internet connection to work
  • Time off management must be switched on manually
  • Compliance features are thin for strict labor laws

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 a timer instead.

It runs in a browser, on a desktop app, and on your phone.

The design is minimal, so the learning curve stays short.

Harvest then turns billable time into client invoices you can send online.

That mix of tracking, expense tracking, and billing is the whole pitch.

Here is a closer look at the app before we compare features.

Harvest Time Tracking Tutorial 2025 (How to Track your time like a PRO!)

🏆 Winner: Harvest

⭐ 4.2/5 | 💰 From $11/seat/month

Track time and invoice clients from one account. Time and expenses flow straight into client invoices. A free plan covers one solo user.

Harvest Pricing

Here is what a Harvest account costs in 2026.

PlanPriceBest For
Free$0/seat/monthOne freelancer with basic reporting
Pro$11/seat/monthTeams that bill clients every week
Premium$14/seat/monthManagers who need cost rates and deeper insights

Pricing verified July 2026.

Harvest Pricing

Free trial: Yes. The 30-day Pro plan trial opens every feature and asks for no card.

Money-back guarantee: None published. Downgrade to the free plan any time instead.

📌 Note: Harvest charges per seat, so cost grows with each team member you add. A five-person studio pays five times the seat price.

⚠️ Pricing conflict: Our data sheet lists the Pro plan at $11/seat/month, while older research lists $12 per user. Confirm the current rate at checkout before you sign up.

Key Benefits of Harvest

Here is what makes Harvest the stronger pick for most billing work:

  • Track time your way: Start timers and stop timers from the desktop, phone, or browser. Manual entry works when you forget.
  • Invoices from tracked hours: Harvest builds invoices from timesheets and expenses, so you send invoices in minutes and get paid faster.
  • Expense tracking with receipts: Log expenses, attach receipts, and file them under specific projects or specific tasks.
  • Budget monitoring: Visual reports show project health and how much budget remains before you overspend.
  • Billable and non billable hours: Split them per project, so accurate billing never mixes the two.
  • Multi-currency support: Invoice clients abroad without a second invoicing tool.
  • Tracking inside other tools: Time is captured from Asana, Trello, and Basecamp with just a click.
Harvest Top Benefits

Here is the app itself, so you can judge the layout before signing up.

Harvest Homepage

What Our Team Noticed

Our writer created a Harvest account and used it across two client projects for a week. Here is what stood out:

Harvest Personal Experience

Harvest Pros & Cons

✅ Pros
  • Clean interface with a short learning curve for new users
  • Invoices are generated from tracked hours and logged expenses
  • Reports cover project budgets, staff hours, and project health
  • Multiple currencies suit clients in other countries
  • Free plan lets a solo freelancer start tracking time at no cost
❌ Cons
  • Per-seat pricing gets costly for larger teams
  • No payroll service or payroll integration
  • The interface looks dated and has no monthly calendar view
  • Advanced project management and team scheduling stay basic

Feature Comparison

Both apps sit on most lists of the best time tracking tools. The differences show up once you look at what happens after the timer stops.

FeatureTrackingTimeHarvest
Starting Price$3.75/month$11/seat/month
Free Plan✅ Up to 3 users✅ 1 seat
Automatic Time Tracking✅ AutoTrack
Attendance Tracking
Task Management❌ Basic only
Invoicing Tool✅ Deeper
Expense Tracking
Budget Monitoring✅ Deeper
Offline Use✅ Desktop app
Best ForRemote teams tracking workFreelancers who invoice clients

1. Time Tracking and Timers

TrackingTime: You get three ways to track time. Use a one-click timer, add manual time entries, or let AutoTrack record desktop activity for you. AutoTrack then compares logged hours against real activity, which exposes gaps you never noticed.

TrackingTime Automated Time Tracking

Harvest: You start timers and stop timers from a browser tab, a desktop app, or your phone. Time lands to the nearest minute, and every entry can carry a note about the work. There is no automatic capture, so a forgotten timer stays forgotten.

Harvest Time Tracker

⚠️ Warning: Neither tool uses facial recognition or a kiosk clock-in. If you need biometric attendance, look elsewhere.

2. Attendance Tracking and Time Off

TrackingTime: Attendance tracking is a core module here. Timecards build themselves from captured time entries, so working hours need no second pass. Time off management exists, but a team member has to switch it on first.

TrackingTime Attendance Tracking

Harvest: Harvest handles time off and holidays, but it is not an attendance system. There are no clock-in records or shift rules. For payroll-grade attendance you would pair it with another tool.

Harvest Time-Off Management

3. Project Management and Task Organization

TrackingTime: The project manager doubles as a powerful task manager. You create projects, organize tasks, prioritize tasks, and set a due date on each one. Task comments keep all the conversations attached to the work instead of scattered in chat.

TrackingTime Project Manager

Harvest: Harvest keeps project management features light on purpose. You get projects, tasks, and people assigned to them, and that is roughly it. There is no kanban board, no file sharing, and no to do list beyond simple task names.

Harvest Project Manager

⚠️ Warning: If you already run Asana or Trello, a second task manager can duplicate work. Pick the tool that fits the gap you actually have.

4. Reporting and Analytics

TrackingTime: Detailed timesheets feed customizable time reports by client, project, and task. The reporting module leans on charts and colors, which looks good but can overwhelm first time users. The Pace Report shows whether the team is meeting daily goals, and performance reports export in a click.

TrackingTime Timesheets

Harvest: Harvest’s reporting is quieter and more focused on money. Visual reports show time spent per person, per client, and per project, plus what is left in each budget. Harvest data exports cleanly when your accountant wants the raw time data.

Harvest Reports & Analytics

Finding: TrackingTime wins on in depth time analytics and team reporting. Harvest wins on time based reporting that ends in an invoice.

5. Project Progress and Budget Monitoring

TrackingTime: You can set time budgets per project and compare estimated against actual hours in real time. That makes it easy to track progress and refine your next estimate. Managers also get a live view of who is on which task right now.

TrackingTime Project Progress Tracking

Harvest: Budget monitoring is the stronger half of Harvest. Reports tell you how much budget is gone and how much time remains across different projects. Cost rates on the Premium plan turn hours into internal cost, not just revenue.

Harvest Budget Monitoring

6. Invoicing and Client Billing

TrackingTime: You can create and brand an invoice from tracked hours. It covers the basics for a small agency that bills monthly. There is no expense tracking behind it, so materials and travel need a separate record.

TrackingTime Invoices

Harvest: This is where Harvest pulls ahead. Client invoices build from timesheets and expenses together, with tax lines, item descriptions, and your logo. Online payment links help you get paid faster, and reminders chase late payers so you stop doing it by hand.

Harvest Invoice Tracker

Finding: If your goal is to track time and invoice clients in one place, Harvest is the more complete invoicing tool.

7. Integrations with Other Apps

TrackingTime: Over 30 integrations cover Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Microsoft Teams. Google Calendar events can become time entries, which saves a lot of typing. A browser extension puts a timer inside the tools your team already opens.

TrackingTime Integrations with Other Apps

Harvest: Harvest connects to Asana, Trello, Basecamp, Google Calendar, and accounting software like QuickBooks. Developers can log hours against GitHub issues and pull requests. Setup takes a few minutes for most other apps.

Harvest Integrations

8. Desktop, Browser, and Mobile Access

TrackingTime: The web app, desktop apps, and mobile apps all sync to the same account, and the mobile apps are free on Google Play and the Apple App Store. The catch is offline work. Without an internet connection the app stops, which hurts crews on remote job sites.

TrackingTime Browser Extension

Harvest: The desktop app keeps a timer running in the menu bar and holds entries until you reconnect. A search bar makes finding an old entry quick rather than time consuming. The look is dated, but access is never confusing.

9. Scheduling, Support, and Team Capacity

TrackingTime: Automated reminders and notifications ensure timesheets get filled before Friday. Support runs through a knowledgebase, email, and live chat, with limited hours. There is no phone support on any plan.

TrackingTime Time-Off Management

Harvest: Team scheduling is basic, and there is no capacity planner built in. Support replies quickly through live chat, and the help centre is well organised. Neither product leans on artificial intelligence to guess your hours for you.

Harvest Team Scheduling

10. Pricing & Cost

Let’s compare the plans side by side.

Plan LevelTrackingTimeHarvest
FreeUp to 3 usersFree: $0/seat/month
Entry paidStarter: $3.75/monthPro: $11/seat/month
Mid paidPro: $5.75/monthPremium: $14/seat/month
Top paidBusiness: $10/month

TrackingTime: Even the Business tier costs less per person than Harvest’s entry plan. For a ten-person team that gap is real money each month. Neither vendor offers unlimited users, so budgets still scale with headcount.

Harvest: You pay more per seat and get billing that replaces a separate invoicing app. For a freelancer who bills weekly, that trade is usually worth it. For a large team that only needs hours logged, it is not.

💡 Pro Tip: Count your seats first. Price differences that look small per user get loud once a team crosses five people.

Different Scenarios

If You Need…ChooseWhy
To bill clients from tracked hoursHarvestInvoices built from time and expenses
The lowest price per seatTrackingTimeStarts at $3.75/month
Attendance trackingTrackingTimeAutomatic timecards
Expense tracking with receiptsHarvestReceipts attach to projects
A task manager inside the trackerTrackingTimeTasks, comments, due dates
Offline loggingHarvestDesktop app holds entries

💰 Your Budget

TrackingTime costs less per person on every tier. Harvest costs more but removes the need for a second billing app.

🔌 Your Tech Stack

Both connect to Asana, Trello, and Basecamp. Harvest goes further into accounting software, while TrackingTime goes further into chat and calendar tools.

📝 Your Billing Style

Hourly work with client invoices points to Harvest. Fixed retainers where you only measure productivity point to TrackingTime.

🎓 Your Experience Level

Harvest is easier on day one thanks to a plain layout. TrackingTime asks for a short setup before it starts to boost productivity.

🆓 Free Trials and Demos

Harvest gives 30 days on Pro with no card. TrackingTime gives 14 days, plus a free plan you can sit on afterwards.

🛟 Support Options

Both rely on email, live chat, and help docs. Neither offers a phone line, so urgent issues wait for a reply.

Switching Guide

Already on one of these? Here is what changes when you move.

🔄 Switching from TrackingTime to Harvest?

✅ What you’ll gain:

  • Invoicing that pulls billable hours and expenses together
  • Receipt capture and multi-currency billing
  • A desktop app that keeps working without wifi

❌ What you’ll lose:

  • AutoTrack and automatic activity capture
  • Attendance tracking and automatic timecards
  • Task comments and priority-based tasks tracking

📋 How to switch:

  1. Export your time tracking data as CSV from the reports screen
  2. Create a Harvest account and rebuild clients and projects
  3. Import the CSV, then check rates before your first invoice
🔄 Switching from Harvest to TrackingTime?

✅ What you’ll gain:

  • A lower seat price across every tier
  • Attendance tracking and performance analytics in one app
  • A task manager with comments, priorities, and deadlines

❌ What you’ll lose:

  • Expense tracking with attached receipts
  • Deeper invoicing and online payment links
  • Offline entries when the connection drops

📋 How to switch:

  1. Export timesheets and invoices from your Harvest reports
  2. Sign up for TrackingTime and invite each team member
  3. Rebuild projects, then start tracking time the same week

What Our Review Didn’t Cover

This comparison focused on freelancers, agencies, and small teams. We did not test payroll exports at scale, custom API work, or how either platform holds up past a hundred seats. Screenshot monitoring and strict labor-law compliance also sit outside what we checked. If you manage a field crew with poor signal, test offline behaviour yourself before you commit.

Final Verdict

CategoryWinner
💰 PricingTrackingTime
⏱️ Time TrackingTrackingTime
🧾 InvoicingHarvest
💵 Expenses and BudgetsHarvest
📊 ReportingHarvest
👶 Ease of UseHarvest
🔌 IntegrationsTie
🏆 Overall WinnerHarvest

🏆 WINNER: HARVEST

Harvest wins 4 of 7 categories and holds a 4.2 rating against 3.9.

Best for: freelancers, client-billing agencies, and small studios that need accurate billing without extra software

These two products chase different jobs. Harvest exists to turn hours into money, and it does that with less friction than anything else at this price.

TrackingTime exists to show managers where the week actually went. Its attendance tracking, task work, and automatic capture give more insights into effort than Harvest ever tries to.

Pick TrackingTime if you run great projects with a distributed team and never send an invoice. Pick Harvest if getting paid is the point.

More of TrackingTime Compared

Here is how TrackingTime holds up against other time tracking software:

TrackingTime vs Clockify

TrackingTime wins on: AutoTrack activity capture, built-in task comments, cleaner attendance timecards

Clockify wins on: a free tier with no seat cap, kiosk mode for shared devices, simpler onboarding for first-week users

TrackingTime vs Toggl

TrackingTime wins on: project and task structure, attendance records, lower price per seat

Toggl wins on: faster one-tap start, idle detection prompts, an interface that stays out of the way

TrackingTime vs Time Doctor

TrackingTime wins on: lighter monitoring, friendlier pricing for small teams, reporting features that read as project data

Time Doctor wins on: screenshot monitoring, distraction alerts, payroll tools that suit outsourced staff

More of Harvest Compared

Here is how Harvest stacks up against its closest rivals:

Harvest vs Clockify

Harvest wins on: invoicing depth, expense receipts, budget alerts that fire before a project runs over

Clockify wins on: unlimited free seats, kiosk clock-ins, a bigger set of free reports

Harvest vs Toggl

Harvest wins on: invoicing and payments, expense logging, accounting connections such as QuickBooks

Toggl wins on: quicker daily logging, richer planning boards, a free tier that suits solo users better

Harvest vs Memtime

Harvest wins on: client billing, team-wide budgets, reports built for managers rather than individuals

Memtime wins on: fully automatic capture, offline-first desktop recording, privacy since data stays local

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the Harvest app cost?

Harvest has three tiers: Free at $0 per seat, Pro at $11 per seat monthly, and Premium at $14 per seat monthly. Confirm rates at checkout.

Is TrackingTime free?

Yes, there is a free plan for up to three users with unlimited projects and basic features. Paid tiers start at $3.75 monthly per person.

Is harvest time tracking good?

It is strong for billing work. Entries are accurate to the minute, and reports connect hours to budgets. It is weaker for attendance and deep project planning.

Does Harvest track your screen?

No. There are no screenshots and no mouse-movement logging. Hours come from timers or manual entries, so employees stay in control of what gets recorded.

What is the best free time tracking software?

For one freelancer, the Harvest free seat is incredibly convenient. For a trio effortlessly keeping track of shared work, TrackingTime’s three-user free plan wins.

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