Harvest alternative
A Harvest alternative that ships with the invoicing built in.
Stack Timekeeper lives in your menu bar, tracks time per project with rates and budgets, and turns the week into an invoice your client can pay with one Stripe Checkout button. No platform fee on top of Stripe’s. No per-seat math.
Why teams leave Harvest
One tier, one price — even when your team is small.
Harvest in 2026 is a single paid tier: Pro at $13.75/user/month on the annual plan. There is no Solo plan, no Starter plan, no Lite plan — the free tier is hard-capped at 1 user and 2 projects, which falls over the moment you add a contractor or pick up a third client. A 5-person agency on Harvest Pro pays $825/year. A 10-person agency pays $1,650. Whether you're tracking five hours a week or fifty, the bill is the same. For freelancers and small studios with uneven utilization, that's a tax on simply existing on the platform.
Invoice payments work, but with a markup on top of Stripe.
Harvest Payments is the easy on-ramp to client payments — and it's Stripe under the hood — but Harvest layers its own platform fee on top of Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢. On a $5,000 monthly retainer, that markup is real money over a year. You also can't see the underlying Stripe ledger, can't issue refunds from your own dashboard, and can't apply your existing Stripe discounts or negotiated rates. The convenience of one-click payments shouldn't cost you transparency over your own payment processor.
Reporting depth doesn’t match the price tag.
Harvest's project budget alerts fire at 80%, 90%, and 100% — that's the whole control surface. Time-rounding rules are limited to a few preset increments and can't be applied retroactively. Expense tracking is basic categorical entry without receipt OCR. Several reports that small teams want — utilization by week, capacity-versus-actual, project margin after expenses — require exporting to CSV and rebuilding in a spreadsheet. For the price of a per-seat, single-tier product, you'd expect the reporting to feel more like the dashboard and less like a CSV pipeline.
The desktop tracker is dated, the menu bar is an afterthought.
Harvest's macOS app exists, but it's an Electron wrapper around the web view that hasn't shipped a meaningful UX update in years. The menu-bar tray is small, slow to expand, and forgets which timer was last running across restarts. If you start a timer in the desktop app and then open the web app, the two views can disagree for several seconds. For a tool you interact with dozens of times a day, the seams add friction that compounds — and competitors built the tray-first experience that Harvest now bolts on as a secondary surface.
What Stack Timekeeper does differently
Time → invoice → Stripe Checkout, in one tool.
Track hours in the menu bar all week. On Monday, hit "Generate invoice" — Stack Timekeeper rolls up unbilled time per project, applies your per-project rates, and produces a PDF invoice with a Pay button that opens Stripe Checkout in your client's browser. The Stripe account is yours, connected directly. You pay Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and nothing else — no platform fee, no markup, no middleman. Refunds, disputes, and payouts happen in the Stripe dashboard you already use.
Per-project rates and budgets, set once.
Each project gets its own hourly rate (or fixed fee), an optional budget cap, and a non-billable toggle for internal work. The menu-bar tray shows current week against budget while you're working — a soft indicator at 75%, a sharp one at 100%. Recurring invoices for retainers can be scheduled monthly or biweekly: Timekeeper sends them, takes the Stripe payment, and marks the time entries paid automatically. Set up a project once and the rate lookups, budget alerts, and recurring billing all run themselves.
CSV import — Harvest export goes in cleanly.
Export your Harvest data — Reports → Detailed Time Report → CSV, plus Clients and Projects exports — and drop the files into Stack Timekeeper's import flow. Per-project hours, client records, and rate cards carry over with timestamps preserved. Open invoices in Harvest stay in Harvest until they're paid (Harvest Payments handles the existing Pay buttons), and any new work after the cutover bills through Timekeeper. A typical 18-month Harvest history imports in a couple of minutes.
Bundled with seven other tools — or standalone for $12.
Harvest is one tool: time tracking and invoicing. Stack Timekeeper standalone is $12/month — already cheaper than Harvest Pro per seat. The full Stack bundle is $20/month flat (workspace, not per-user) and includes Timekeeper plus Slate (notes), Stack Sync (scheduling), Stream (screen recording), Scribble (AI meeting notes), Momentum (tasks), Stack Chat, and Speak Bar (dictation). A 5-person agency paying Harvest Pro $825/year drops to Stack at $240/year — $585 saved, 71% reduction — and gets seven more apps in the deal.
Where Harvest still wins
Honest tradeoffs — read this before switching.
QuickBooks Online sync isn’t as deep — yet.
Harvest's QuickBooks Online integration is genuinely best-in-class: invoices, payments, expenses, and timesheets all flow bidirectionally with mature handling of edge cases (voided invoices, partial payments, multi-currency). Timekeeper exports to QuickBooks via CSV and the standard IIF flow, but the deep sync isn't there yet. If your bookkeeper lives in QuickBooks and the Harvest connector is load-bearing for month-end close, evaluate before switching.
No native iOS/Android app yet — web-first on mobile.
Harvest ships polished native iOS and Android apps with offline timer support, push notifications, and Apple Watch complications. Stack Timekeeper's mobile experience is a responsive web app that handles tracking and invoice review well, but doesn't yet match a native app for offline-first behavior or watch integration. If you track time primarily from a phone in spotty connectivity, this matters.
Team-level reporting is lighter for big agencies.
Harvest's reporting suite is built for 20–50-person agencies — utilization by team member, billable-hour leaderboards, role-based views, manager dashboards. Timekeeper is built for the 1–10-person studio shape and the reports reflect that: per-project, per-client, per-week, per-invoice. If you're managing twenty contractors and need granular utilization rollups by department, Harvest's reporting is more mature.
Stack Timekeeper vs Harvest — feature comparison
| Feature | Harvest | Stack Timekeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Menu-bar / tray timer (macOS) | Yes (Electron wrapper) | Yes — native-feel tray, primary surface |
| Per-project hourly rates | Yes | Yes |
| Project budgets + alerts | Fixed thresholds (80/90/100%) | Configurable thresholds + live tray indicator |
| Invoice generation from time | Yes | Yes — one click, PDF + pay link |
| Recurring invoices | Yes | Yes — monthly or biweekly retainers |
| Client payment processor | Harvest Payments (Stripe + markup) | Your own Stripe account, no markup |
| Platform fee on top of Stripe | Yes | None — pay Stripe directly |
| CSV import (from Harvest) | — (it is the source) | Yes — clients, projects, rates, hours |
| QuickBooks Online sync | Best-in-class bidirectional | CSV / IIF export only |
| Native mobile apps | iOS + Android | Responsive web (native planned) |
| Free tier | 1 user, 2 projects | 14-day trial, no project cap |
| Pricing model | $13.75/user/mo (annual) | $12/mo standalone or $20/mo flat bundle |
| Bundled with other tools | No | Yes — 8 apps for $20/mo |
Pricing — at 5 seats per year
Harvest
Harvest Pro @ $13.75/user/mo (annual)
$825 /yr
Stack bundle
Stack bundle @ $20/mo flat (1 workspace, unlimited users)
$240 /yr
Saves $585/yr (71% off)
Migrating from Harvest
- 1
Export your Harvest data.
In Harvest: Reports → Detailed Time Report → CSV (full history). Then Manage → Clients → Export, and Manage → Projects → Export. Three CSVs, downloaded in under a minute.
- 2
Import into Stack Timekeeper.
In Timekeeper: Settings → Import → Harvest. Drop the three CSVs in. The importer matches projects to clients, applies your existing rates, and preserves time-entry timestamps. An 18-month Harvest history imports in 2–3 minutes.
- 3
Connect your Stripe account.
Settings → Payments → Connect Stripe. This is the same Stripe account you already use for any other revenue — Timekeeper never sees the keys directly, just the Stripe Connect handshake. Test with a $1 invoice to yourself before going live.
- 4
Let open Harvest invoices finish out where they are.
Anything already invoiced in Harvest with an unpaid balance: leave it. Clients click the existing pay link, money lands, you’re done. New invoices from the cutover date forward go through Timekeeper. No double-billing, no client confusion.
- 5
Cancel Harvest at next renewal.
Once your last open Harvest invoice is paid (typically 30–60 days), cancel the subscription. Harvest keeps your historical data viewable on the free tier, so reports stay accessible for tax season without paying for a seat you no longer use.
FAQ
Is Stack Timekeeper a true Harvest replacement?+
For freelancers and small studios — yes. Time tracking, per-project rates, budgets, invoicing, recurring retainers, and client payments all map across, and the CSV import handles the bulk of your historical data. The clear gaps are deep QuickBooks Online sync (Timekeeper exports rather than bidirectionally syncs) and native mobile apps (Timekeeper's mobile is responsive web today). For agencies above ~10 people who need granular team utilization reports, Harvest's reporting is also more mature.
How does payment processing actually work?+
You connect your own Stripe account via Stripe Connect. When a client clicks Pay on an invoice, Stripe Checkout opens, they pay, and the funds land in your Stripe balance on Stripe's normal payout schedule. Stack takes no cut — you pay Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ and that's it. Refunds, disputes, and payout configuration all happen in your Stripe dashboard, exactly like they would for any other Stripe-powered business.
What about recurring invoices for retainers?+
Set a project to recurring billing — monthly or biweekly — pick the day, and Timekeeper generates and emails the invoice on schedule. If the client has Stripe-saved card on file from a previous payment, it can charge automatically; otherwise the invoice arrives with a Pay button. Time entries logged against the project during the period are auto-attached to the next invoice, so you don't double-bill or forget hours.
Can I keep using Harvest for a while during the transition?+
Yes, and we recommend it for at least one billing cycle. Run Timekeeper in parallel for the first month: track time in Timekeeper, but keep paying for Harvest Pro until the last open Harvest invoice is collected. Once that last invoice clears, cancel Harvest. The CSV import is non-destructive on the Harvest side — you can re-export and re-import any time during the overlap if something doesn't look right.
Does Timekeeper sync with QuickBooks Online?+
Today, via CSV and IIF export — the standard accounting on-ramps that any QuickBooks-using bookkeeper recognizes. Bidirectional Stripe-style sync isn't yet built. If your accountant uses QuickBooks Online and reconciles invoices and payments daily, this is the single biggest gap to evaluate. We're working on a deeper integration; if it's a blocker for you, tell us and we'll share the timeline.
What if I'm a solo freelancer — is the bundle worth it?+
Timekeeper standalone is $12/month — cheaper than Harvest Pro for one person. The Stack bundle is $20/month, only $8 more, and adds Slate (notes), Stack Sync (booking page for new clients), Stream (screen recordings for client check-ins), Scribble (AI meeting notes for kickoff calls), Momentum (project tasks), Stack Chat, and Speak Bar. Most freelancers we talk to use at least three of those. The math usually works out.
How are time-rounding rules handled?+
You can apply rounding rules per project (nearest 5/10/15/30 minutes) or globally, and you can re-apply rules retroactively when invoicing — Harvest doesn't let you do that retroactive pass. Rounding is a display layer over the raw timestamps, so you can always export the unrounded data for an audit, then invoice the rounded version. This matters for clients with strict billing standards (legal, agency retainers).
How does Timekeeper compare to Toggl or Clockify?+
Toggl is excellent at time tracking but treats invoicing as a side feature; Clockify's free tier is generous but invoicing requires the paid plan and Stripe payments aren't first-class. Timekeeper's bet is that the time-to-invoice-to-payment loop deserves to live in one tool with no platform fees on top of Stripe. If invoicing and payment collection aren't part of your workflow, Toggl or Clockify free might be enough; if they are, Timekeeper is built around that loop.
Verdict
If you're a freelancer or small studio using Harvest today mainly for the time-to-invoice-to-payment loop, Stack Timekeeper is built squarely for you. The CSV import takes care of the historical data, your own Stripe account replaces Harvest Payments without the markup, and recurring invoices, per-project budgets, and the menu-bar tracker all match feature-for-feature with the parts of Harvest you actually use. The honest exceptions are real. If your bookkeeper depends on Harvest's QuickBooks Online bidirectional sync to close the books each month, switching today would create friction — Timekeeper exports to QuickBooks but doesn't yet sync back. If you track time primarily from a phone in flaky connectivity, Harvest's native iOS app outperforms our responsive web today. And if you're a 20+ person agency that runs on team-level utilization dashboards, Harvest's reporting is more mature for that shape of team. For everyone else — and that's the majority of Harvest users we talk to: solo freelancers, two-person studios, agencies up to about ten people who pay $825 to $1,650 a year and use maybe a third of the feature surface — Stack Timekeeper at $12 standalone or $20 for the full bundle is the obvious move. Run the importer, connect Stripe, send a test invoice to yourself. You can be off Harvest before your next billing cycle.
Ready to switch?
Try Stack — all 8 apps for $20/mo flat.
Stack Timekeeper is one of eight bundled apps. No per-seat fees. Cancel anytime.