Instead of Harvest
Stop renting Harvest. Own your time billing.
We build your version around how your team logs hours, bills clients and watches margin, bring your Harvest history across, and run it for you. Everyone who logs time can use it, with no charge per person.
Harvest Teams is US$11 a seat a month, or US$108 a seat a year paid up front. Profitability reports, timesheet approvals and unlimited custom reports need Enterprise, at US$17.50 a seat a month or US$168 a seat a year.
- check_circleYour data in a database you own
- check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
- check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA
What you are paying for
Most of a Harvest bill is the seat count
An hour of work is one record: who, what, how long, billable or not. Harvest prices the screens around those records per person, per month, per plan. Prices below are in US dollars from Harvest's own pricing page.
A seat for everyone who logs an hour
Teams is US$11 a seat a month, which is US$132 a seat over a year. The contractor who logs four hours a week costs the same seat as the person billing forty.
The lower rate means paying a year up front
Teams drops to US$108 a seat a year when you pay annually. Every seat is committed for the year, whether that person stays or not.
The profit numbers sit on Enterprise
Profitability reporting, timesheet approvals and unlimited custom reports are Enterprise only, at US$17.50 a seat a month (US$210 a seat a year) or US$168 a seat a year paid annually. Every seat moves up, not only the people who read the reports.
Four custom reports, then an upgrade
The free plan and Teams allow up to four saved custom reports. "Which fixed fee jobs earned under our target rate once design time is counted" has to fit inside those four or wait for Enterprise.
A free plan you cannot run on
One seat and two projects. Enough to see that it works, never enough to bill a real month with.
Usage charges on top of the seats
Harvest's pricing page says additional invoices, projects, clients and tasks are billed on what you use, on both paid plans. The bill moves with your work as well as your headcount.
What you get instead
Billing you can ask questions of
Timesheets
Ask where the week went
Your hours are plain records in your own database, so any question about them gets an answer, not only the ones with a chart.
- check Hours by day, by person against capacity, and by project
- check The billable share of the week, and who is below it
- check Who has not filled in a timesheet for five days
- check Any question you can phrase, not the four saved reports a plan allows
Unbilled work
It tells you what to invoice
Ask once and it lists every hour and expense that is billable and not yet on an invoice, ranked by money and by age, then drafts the invoice.
- check Billable work not yet invoiced, oldest and biggest first
- check Expenses in the same list, so nothing gets missed
- check A draft invoice built from the entries, grouped by task and rate
- check A covering note written from the project history. Nothing sends without you
Project margin
What the job actually earned
Every entry carries a bill rate and a cost rate, so the margin is arithmetic. Harvest keeps profitability reporting for Enterprise.
- check Hours and value against the budget, per project
- check What the work cost, and the margin left over
- check Effective rate per hour worked, per project and per person
- check Fixed fee jobs measured against the hours they used
Your data
A database you own
Your history stays with your business, and your accountant can look through it without a login to anyone else's system.
- check One database for the whole team, with no per-person fee
- check Your Harvest time history brought across in one step
- check Plain records any reporting tool can read
- check Open source, so there is no vendor to leave
Make it yours
Design your own Harvest replacement
Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Harvest. Try it here, and we build the real one.
2. What it runs
3. Make it fit
4. Your colour
Answered from your own database
Good morning. Here is what needs you today.
We build it from the open-source base, bring your Harvest data across and run it for you.
Switching
How to switch from Harvest
The move comes down to one export out of Harvest, one import command into the new database, and a short stretch of running both side by side before you cancel the Harvest plan.
- 1
Export your data from Harvest
Pull the detailed time report from Harvest as CSV. That single file carries clients, projects, tasks, people, hours, notes and rates. If you also want expenses and invoice history to come across, export those from Harvest too, in whatever format your account allows (usually CSV or Excel). Check Harvest's own export settings if you are unsure what your plan permits.
- 2
Run the import command
From the free version, import your Harvest data by pointing it at the time, expenses and invoice files you exported. The import matches entries on their own content, so running it again does not create duplicates if something needs redoing. Sample files in Harvest's export shape are included if you want to check the format first.
- 3
Check what came across
Time, notes, rates, clients, projects, tasks and people should all be in the records after the import. Budgets, approvals and timers do not carry over, since Harvest and this tool handle them differently. The guide spells out exactly what needs setting by hand, so go through that list before you treat the import as done.
- 4
Run both systems together briefly
Keep logging time and drafting invoices in both Harvest and the new database for a short stretch. Compare the timesheet, unbilled work and invoice totals against what Harvest shows for the same period. This is where you catch a missed project, a rate that did not map, or a client name that split into two records.
- 5
Turn off Harvest
Once the numbers line up and everyone is logging time through the new commands instead, cancel the Harvest subscription. There are no seats to remove and no per-user cleanup, since the whole team already shares one database with no per-seat fee attached to it.
Where the real effort goes
The import handles the mechanical part. The real work is deciding which of your own fields, rate rules and approval habits actually need to exist in the new database, and how much history is worth bringing over versus starting clean from today. That decision takes judgment about your business, not just a command. Enterprise DNA does this mapping and migration for you when they install and run it as part of Omni.
Not ready for a call?
Get your Harvest switch plan by email
We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off Harvest, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.
Sent. Check your inbox.
Your Harvest switch plan is on its way.
Rather talk it through? Book a call arrow_forwardThree ways to own it
Do it yourself, have it customised, or have it run for you
Open source
Do it yourself
Free, open source
- 1 Clone the repo and run npm install
- 2 Run npm run demo, then open the folder in Claude Code and type /timesheet
- 3 Export the detailed time report from Harvest as CSV and run the import
- 4 Point it at a shared database when your team needs it
Built around your business
We customise it
One setup fee, then a retainer for ongoing work
- check Your rates, fee types, retainers and month end routine
- check Your Harvest history mapped across and checked against your hour totals
- check The budgets and approvals Harvest does not export, set up for you
- check Your accounting system connected, and a simple screen if the team wants one
Omni by Enterprise DNA
We run it for you
One setup fee, then a retainer
- check Installed with access and backups set up
- check Timesheet reminders, the unbilled list and the invoice run prepared for you
- check Kept working as your team, clients and rates change
- check Run through Omni by Enterprise DNA, beside the rest of your business
Questions
Instead of Harvest, answered
Is this cheaper than Harvest? expand_more
The free version has no licence fee; hosting, your Claude subscription and your time are separate. Harvest's bill is seats times plan, every month, plus usage on invoices, projects, clients and tasks, so the gap grows with the team. We look at your actual Harvest invoice before recommending anything, and if staying is the better call we say so.
What happens to my Harvest history? expand_more
Export the detailed time report from Harvest as a spreadsheet file and it comes across in one step: clients, projects, tasks, people, hours, notes and rates. Bringing it in again does not create duplicates. Budgets, approvals and timers do not come out of Harvest, so we set those up by hand as part of the switch.
How do people log time without a timer? expand_more
In one sentence, such as: log Kauri intake, 2h15, conflict check screens. Durations take any shape you would say out loud, and most timesheets are filled in after the fact anyway. If your team relies on a running timer, we build one into your version.
Does it send invoices and talk to my accounting system? expand_more
The free version builds the invoice from the hours and drafts a covering note, then you send it yourself. When we build your version, sending invoices and connecting to your accounting system are part of the setup.
Can my whole team use it? expand_more
Yes. Everyone works from the same shared database, and adding a person adds no fee. Who can see rates, margins and other people's hours is set up for your team when we build your version.
Bring your Harvest invoice to a 30-minute review
Spend 30 minutes with Sam. Bring your Harvest invoice, your plan and how many seats you pay for. We will work out what you pay in a year, what your team actually uses, and what your own time billing would look like. If staying on Harvest is the better call, we will say so.
Time Billing for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.
Done paying for Harvest?
Book a 30-minute Harvest bill review