Top 6 Harvest Alternatives (Paid & Free) Review for 2026

The best Harvest alternatives in 2026 are Productive, Hubstaff, Wrike, Everhour, Clockify, and QuickBooks Time.

In case you need a quick overview with jump links, scan the list below (each replacement has a descriptive tag and a “free option” remark). If you already know your deal-breakers, we have a comparison table (what buyers want to know).

If you are switching from a standalone time tracker, buyers usually care about three things: whether the tool replaces extra apps, whether you get budget and profit visibility while work is running, and whether billing is easier.

We built this list for small business owners, services teams, professional service teams, and product businesses who want clear tradeoffs, not vague descriptions and feature lists.

For each tool, we reviewed repeated themes in user reviews on trusted software review sites like G2 and Capterra.

We also used Reddit and YouTube to sanity-check switching experiences and day-to-day workflows, without treating them as feature proof.

Finally, we cross-checked key claims, including customization options, plan limits, approval workflows, and seamless integrations, against vendor documentation so the article reflects what the tools actually support, without adding administrative overhead.

If a standalone time tracker is only one part of your stack, Productive is a strong upgrade. It brings time tracking, project delivery, resourcing, budgets, and billing into one system, so you do not have to stitch together data from separate tools.

Teams usually switch when they need answers while work is still running. Are we on budget? Are we profitable? Who is actually available? Productive is built around those questions, not just logging hours.

Productive’s Time Tracking helps teams capture billable and non-billable time without turning it into an admin chore. Compared to a standalone tracker, it also gives you stronger visibility into time-related metrics and project costs.

You can view integrated time data for employees and contractors in the Company time tab.

These controls are useful when time data feeds budgets, profitability, and invoices.

With Productive’s Project Management, time isn’t tracked in a separate tool. Teams can track progress in the same place they plan work and collaborate.

Productive’s users can:

You can switch between multiple project views, including List, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, Workload, Calendar, and more.

Read the rest of Karla’s story of gaining more control over projects with Productive.

There are also Docs for shared documentation. Productive’s AI features are available directly from pages to help create and format content.

Harvest does not include scheduling or utilization views, so teams often add another tool. With Productive, Resource Planning is connected to projects, budgets, and tracked time, so planning reflects reality.

You can schedule work, manage availability, and review utilization in one place. Time off is also included in the Resource Planner.

Productive supports HRIS integrations, so you can sync time-off types and related data from tools such as Breathe, BambooHR, Rippling, Humaans, and more.

Another useful option is Forecasting. By combining scheduling and budgeting data, it can help you predict budget burn, revenue, and margins so you can spot risk early.

Productive connects delivery data to financials, which helps when you are running fixed-fee projects or retainers.

With Productive’s Budgeting, you can set up and track budgets and profitability across projects or at a higher level. You can also split complex projects into multiple budgets, such as design, development, and maintenance phases.

With Reporting, you can build reports from live timesheets and budgets. You can use preset templates or create custom views, including a utilization report, budget burn, and profitability by project.

Instead of finding out after the project ends, Productive helps you monitor budget burn and profitability as work progresses.

With Billing, you can create brand-friendly invoices, review invoice history, and track what is pending. For retainers and fixed-fee work, Productive supports recurring budgets and connects billing back to tracked work.

Productive also includes accounting integrations with Xero and QuickBooks.

Productive’s integrations include Slack, Google Calendar, and Outlook for scheduling and updates, Xero and QuickBooks Online for accounting, BambooHR, Breathe, and Personio for HRM, Jira and Memtime for tracking time, and more.

Productive integrates directly with most of these tools, so you can reduce manual exports and imports.

You can go for a free 14-day trial before you decide to check out a paid plan.

Hubstaff is a work-hours tracker that allows users to log time, manage projects, and monitor employee productivity. A cool feature is the ability to track time on desktop, web, and mobile apps, which makes it easy to stay productive even if you’re on the go. 

In case you want to learn more about keeping your team productive, you might want to check our different list of the best time management tools and techniques.

All in all, Hubstaff is a fair choice for teams looking for Harvest alternatives. If monitoring raises privacy concerns for your team, you may want a lighter tracker. You have all the basic features and integrations that’ll make your day-to-day project management easier.

Users like Hubstaff because of its easy-to-use interface and helpful customer support. Some customers complain about occasional glitches in the software and difficulties with payroll integration. 

Wrike is a work management platform that supports time logs and billing rates for projects. The software is known for its intuitive user interface, customizable workflows, and lots of integrations.

Wrike allows users to keep track of time spent on tasks, create reports, and set up billing rates for each project. 

Wrike is a solid Harvest replacement that offers many of the same features. Customers like the flexibility for various types of teams and the intuitive user interface.

However, users have mentioned issues with customer support response times and the steep learning curve for new users.

Additionally, Wrike only offers budgeting as part of its most advanced pricing tier. Compare Wrike and Teamwork to Productive, where budgeting is available in all of the plans.

Everhour is a simple Harvest alternative for logging hours, with budgeting features that integrates with popular project tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira. The tracking tool allows users to track time on tasks, set up budgets, and create custom reports. 

Everhour is a good Harvest alternative option since it allows employees to track hours across projects and tasks. Customers are generally happy with the project management software integration and time tracking, but some users mention occasional glitches in the software and difficulty setting up certain features.

Clockify is a work-hours tracking tool that offers a variety of features for businesses of all sizes. If you’re looking for a free-first tracker, Clockify is among the most popular options. 

Regarding Clockify’s paid tiers- its users can track time on tasks, set up budgets, and create custom reports. Additionally, Clockify offers features for invoicing, team management, and productivity monitoring. It also has a basic free version.

Clockify is a good option because the basic time tracking features are free, so if you’re just getting started it’s nice to have the option to try out a tool for free. Customers like its user-friendly interface, time tracking and reporting features.

Other customers have complained about limited customization options for certain features and a lack of project management functionality.

QuickBooks Time is a cloud-based tool for logging work hours that’s designed for teams using QuickBooks Online.

This Harvest alternative allows users to log time on tasks, set up budgets, and create custom reports. Additionally, QuickBooks Time offers features for team management, scheduling, and productivity monitoring.

QuickBooks is generally one of the best Harvest alternatives when it comes to tracking work time and billing, since it integrates so well with QuickBooks.

Still, customers have complained about its lack of automation features and difficulty with navigation and organization of data.

If you want to learn more about accounting software, we have a detailed comparison of Netsuite vs QuickBooks.

Teams look for a Harvest alternative because reporting feels too basic, key admin fields (like PO numbers) are missing, edits to logged time are harder to audit, and the overall value can feel weak for the price once you move beyond the free plan.

On top of that, a lot of teams are now exploring alternatives because of the recent price increase and the way it was communicated.

In early 2026, a wave of users reported surprise renewal changes. The common theme was not just the size of the increase, but the lack of clarity.

Some people say they received an email notice that their account would be moved to a higher tier automatically at renewal, with costs jumping from a low monthly fee to thousands per month.

Others describe a new usage-based model where the bill can rise based on things like projects, tasks, clients, invoices, or invoiced volume, and that the triggers were not obvious from the pricing page.

Several users say the renewal email was the first time they saw the real number. One wrote:

In case you’re curious about what other users have to say, read the rest of the price increase Reddit discussion.

If you’re done with alternatives browsing, but you still need some help with the final choice, stick with this article.

FYI, you run a services team, check out our shortlist about agency software for tracking time.

Choose a Harvest replacement by validating workflow fit, financial visibility, and rollout risk before you migrate any data. The next step is making sure the tool works for your real workflows, not just in a demo.

Start with these checks, in order:

1. List your non-negotiables. Decide what must be built-in: approval workflows, project budgets, invoicing capabilities, utilization reporting, tracking of employee availability, capacity scheduling, a time-off management feature, plus granular permissions and tracking permissions for who can log, edit, and approve time.

2. Confirm your core workflows. If you rely on Kanban boards, Gantt charts, recurring tasks, and task dependencies, make sure the tool supports them the way your team actually works.

3. Test the money path. Create one sample project and verify budget burn, billable vs. non-billable hours, expense logging, and invoice output. If you bill retainers or fixed-fee projects, confirm recurring budgets and overage handling.

4. Check reporting depth. Make sure you can produce a utilization report plus project profitability and billing status without exporting to spreadsheets, and that stakeholders have access to reports, including sites usage reports when you need them.

5. Decide on capture style. Choose between manual timers and logs, or automatic time tracking (for example, app and website based capture) if your team needs it.

6. Run a short pilot. Have a small group log a week of real work and compare totals, invoices, and reports before you cut over fully.

Use this checklist to move off your current tracker without losing data, breaking billing, or confusing the team.

Yes, for most teams it is.

Most tools on this list offer better value once you factor in what they replace. If you only need a lightweight tracker, pick one that keeps billing simple. If you want fewer tools and cleaner numbers, all-in-one platforms like Productive connect projects, budgets, capacity, and billing in one place.

If you want to see what that looks like for your workflow, you can book a demo today.