Harvest vs TradesTimer

What Harvest is

A manual time-tracking and invoicing platform designed for agencies and professional-service teams that bill clients by the hour.

Best for: Agencies and professional-service teams who need integrated invoicing, detailed project reporting, and manual time entry for desk-based or client-facing work.

Pricing at a glance

Where Harvest is strong

• Integrated invoicing and project reporting
• Robust manual time tracking for professional service billing

Where Harvest falls short for trades

• Requires manual timer starts and stops for every task, which is difficult when moving between active jobsites
• Requires manual entry for travel, as it lacks automatic GPS-based mileage logging for trips between locations

Why I built a Harvest alternative

Harvest is polished agency software — timers, projects, invoices — built for people whose work happens in a browser. The trades version of 'billable hours' is different: it's physical presence at addresses, and the record of it shouldn't depend on remembering software while you're on a roof.

I lost paper-notebook hours the same way desk workers lose timer hours: by being busy with the actual work. The fix in the trades isn't a better timer, it's capturing presence automatically — which is the entire product here, free.

— Ryder, founder of TradesTimer. Years on the tools across framing, fencing, roofing, concrete, drywall, and painting, plus the back office of an electrical contractor — orders, invoices, and yes, the time tracking.

What TradesTimer does differently

• Automatic detection of jobsites and driving trips via background GPS without manual input
• Automatic mileage log generation for tax purposes without needing to track trips manually

The verdict

Harvest is a powerful tool for agencies needing integrated invoicing and manual time tracking. However, for solo tradespeople moving between physical locations, TradesTimer offers an automated alternative that tracks jobsites and mileage via GPS without the need for manual timers.

Page last verified 2026-06-08. If Harvest has changed pricing or features since then and this page is stale, email support@tradestimer.com and we'll fix it.