Many companies lose money due to incorrect tracking of employee hours. In fact, according to the American Payroll Association , nearly 75% of U. S. companies are impacted by time theft, where employees get paid for hours they didn’t work. To prevent these losses and ensure accurate reporting, businesses need reliable tracking solutions. That’s why choosing the right software is essential for maintaining an efficient workflow.  

In this comparison, we’ll explore two popular tools—Time Doctor and Harvest—that take very different approaches to time tracking. Time Doctor is built for accountability. It’s widely used by remote teams, business process outsourcing (BPOs), and digital agencies seeking real-time transparency into work habits and productivity. On the flip side, Harvest is ideal for client-focused teams like design studios, consultants, and freelancers who prioritize smooth invoicing, easy expense tracking, and accurate project billing.  

So, which one is better for your business? In this guide, we’ll compare their key features, pricing, and use cases to help you decide which tool fits your workflow best.  

Time Doctor Vs Harvest: At A Glance

Features 

Time Doctor 

Harvest 

Time Tracking 

Manual or automatic tracking with screenshots, and app/web monitoring 

Timer-based or weekly timesheets with invoicing and budget tracking; no monitoring tools 

Mobile App Support 

Tracks time and tasks with idle detection, but lacks invoicing and expense features 

Supports invoicing, expense logging, mileage tracking, and receipt uploads on mobile 

Reporting And Analytics 

Provides real-time productivity insights and behavior data but limited project-level financials 

Offers strong project profitability, budget tracking, and forecasting but no behavior monitoring 

Reminders And Alerts 

Sends real-time distraction and idle alerts, but limited in routine time tracking reminders 

Sends weekly timesheet reminders, budget alerts, and admin nudges; no real-time behavior alerts 

Pricing 

Starts at $8/user/month 

Starts at $13. 75/seat/month 

What Is Time Doctor?

Time Doctor software is a time-tracking and productivity management system designed for teams, freelancers, and businesses. More than 280,000 users rely on it to track tasks, websites, apps, and see exactly how time is spent during the workday.

It’s useful for companies managing distributed or remote teams. SmartBuyGlasses, a global eyewear retailer, used this system to improve visibility, manage schedules, and boost productivity across multiple continents. With more accurate time tracking and attendance monitoring, the company saw team performance increase by 3x. This makes Time Doctor a strong choice for e-commerce, support teams, and hybrid workplaces where accountability and efficiency are critical.

Standout Features Of Time Doctor

  • Employee Monitoring With Screenshots: The system captures screenshots of employees' screens to provide proof of work and monitor activity. It also allows administrators to blur screenshots for privacy purposes
  • Web And App Usage Tracking: It monitors the websites and applications employees use during work hours to help managers identify unproductive activities
  • Inactivity Alerts: Time Doctor sends pop-up notifications when users are inactive for too long or visit unproductive websites, encouraging them to refocus on their assigned work tasks
  • Automated Payroll Management: It integrates directly with payroll systems to automatically send payments based on tracked hours. This means you don’t have to manually move time data from one system to another

Pros And Cons Of Time Doctor

Pros

  • Users can manually edit time logs to include offline work such as meetings or client visits 
  • Its timeline report provides a real-time view of team activity, showing who is online or offline 
  • Enables users to pause tracking for personal moments, making the system feel less intrusive 

Cons 

  • Lacks a built-in feedback feature to collect user input 
  • No option to change app ratings directly from the Web and App Usage page, which slows down the process 

What Is Harvest?

Harvest is a time-tracking and invoicing software designed for freelancers, small teams, and service-based businesses. It helps more than 70,000 companies to track time spent on tasks and projects, manage budgets, and turn billable hours into professional invoices.

Well-known agencies like Social Revolt and AREA 17 use it to manage time and billing across projects—but its real strength lies in how it helps teams stay transparent and efficient. A great example is Dovetail, an Australian startup studio that uses Harvest to track hours across multiple client projects. By integrating it with custom reporting tools, they’ve improved transparency with clients and gained clearer insight into the actual cost of their internal projects. This level of clarity works especially well for creative agencies, consultancies, and startups that juggle multiple clients and rely on accurate time tracking to stay profitable.  

Standout Features Of Harvest

  • Billing And Invoicing: It allows users to turn billable hours and expenses into invoices directly within the platform
  • Expense Tracking: This built-in feature lets you record any money spent while working on a project—right inside the same tool you use for time tracking. Users can log each expense, choose a category (like travel, software, or supplies), attach a receipt if needed, and assign it to the right project or client
  • Bulk Timesheet Entry: The system enables users to enter time manually for an entire week in bulk, making adjustments easier for missed or forgotten entries
  • Project Cost Analysis: It provides insights into project profitability by comparing tracked hours and expenses against revenue generated, giving a clear view of profit margins in real-time

Pros And Cons Of Harvest

Pros

  • Its reporting tools provide detailed productivity insights that help teams identify inefficiencies and improve performance 
  • Sends regular time analysis reports via email, showing how time is spent across projects 
  • It lets users set individual budgets for each project to keep client work within limits 

Cons 

  • No real-time alerts for managers when team members log their time, which makes it harder to monitor the accuracy
  • Harvest shows each start and stop entry separately, even if it's for the same project on the same day, which can clutter timesheets

Time Doctor Vs Harvest: Key Feature Comparison

Time Tracking

    With Time Doctor, you can track time automatically or manually by clicking a button. It also tracks what your employees are doing during work hours—like which websites or apps they’re using—and can take screenshots of their screens. This is especially helpful if your team works remotely or if you manage outsourced employees and need proof of work.

    It also shows alerts when someone is not working for too long or gets distracted by unproductive websites, helping them refocus. However, when it comes to client billing or invoicing, Time Doctor is limited. It does not let you turn tracked time into invoices directly within the platform. Instead, you need to export your time data and use another system to handle invoicing or billing. That’s where Harvest stands out.

    Harvest also lets you track time using timers or by filling out a weekly timesheet. But unlike Time Doctor, Harvest is not focused on employee monitoring. It doesn’t take screenshots, track websites, or detect idle time in the same way. Instead, it’s designed to make project tracking and billing easier.

    You can track how much time is spent on a specific project or client, and once the work is done, you can create an invoice directly from the time and expenses you logged. This makes Harvest more useful for teams that bill clients regularly or need to track budgets. It also has built-in features like timesheet approvals, budget alerts, and detailed reports, helping project managers stay on track.

Winner: It’s a tie. If you need time tracking with accountability, Time Doctor is the better fit. But if your workflow revolves around projects, budgets, and invoicing, Harvest is the way to go.

Mobile App Support

Time Doctor’s mobile app is mainly focused on tracking time and tasks. It lets users log hours and assign them to specific tasks, which is helpful for managers who want a clear picture of how time is being spent. It also includes idle time detection, which alerts employees if they have been inactive for too long. However, the app is limited when it comes to anything beyond time tracking. It doesn’t support invoicing, expense logging, or receipt uploads, which means you can’t use it for client billing or financial monitoring on the go.

On the other hand, Harvest’s mobile app goes well beyond time tracking. It allows users to log expenses, capture receipt photos, and track mileage—making it easier to manage reimbursable costs while working off-site. You can also create and send invoices, check which ones are paid or pending, and even record payments directly from your phone. For team managers, Harvest’s app provides quick insights into how much time the team is logging, what projects they’re working on, and how billable time is distributed.

Winner: Harvest wins this round because its mobile app does more than just track time—it supports invoicing, expense logging, and on-the-go financial management.

Reporting And Analytics

Time Doctor is heavily focused on workforce analytics — it's built for managers who need to see what their teams are doing throughout the day. You get real-time data on which apps and websites employees are using, how long they're active, and even keyboard and mouse activity to track focus. These metrics can be incredibly useful if you're managing a remote team, or an outsourced group, or if you're trying to catch workflow bottlenecks early.

You can also set performance alerts and monitor work-life balance trends to spot potential burnout. But here’s the limitation: Time Doctor doesn’t tell you much about project profitability. It doesn’t calculate how much a project is costing you, how close you are to budget limits, or if your billable hours are keeping your business sustainable. If your decisions rely on those numbers, you’ll find this side of Time Doctor a bit underwhelming.

This is exactly where Harvest pulls ahead. While it doesn’t show what your team is doing minute-by-minute, it does an excellent job of helping you understand the financial performance of your projects. It turns tracked time into project-level reports, so you can easily see how much of your budget has been used, compare billable vs. non-billable hours, and measure profitability per project or client. It’s not just about time—it’s about how that time translates into cost and revenue.

Harvest also gives you team capacity reports so you can tell who’s overbooked, underutilized, or at risk of burnout—not based on behavior data but based on real workloads. Plus, you can build custom reports, analyze past project performance, and use those insights for better project forecasting and planning.

Winner: This round is a tie. Time Doctor helps managers stay on top of daily work patterns, whereas Harvest delivers stronger insights into project profitability.

Reminders And Alerts

Time Doctor focuses on keeping people productive in the moment. It sends distraction alerts if someone visits a non-work website, and shows idle time pop-ups when there's no activity, nudging the user to refocus. Managers can also get real-time email alerts if someone misses a shift or adds manual time. These are helpful if you're managing remote teams and want immediate visibility. But it’s limited in routine time tracking nudges—there’s no built-in system to remind users to start tracking or submit timesheets regularly.

Harvest, in contrast, doesn’t monitor activity—but it handles time-tracking reminders much better. It sends automatic weekly reminders, lets admins send manual nudges, and even allows individuals to set daily tracking alerts. It also sends budget alerts when project costs are nearing limits. While it doesn’t give real-time behavioral feedback like Time Doctor, it’s great for teams that rely on accurate timesheets and budget control.

Winner: Time Doctor takes the lead for teams that need real-time accountability. Its instant distraction alerts and idle time pop-ups actively keep users focused.

Pricing

Time Doctor offers budget-friendly pricing, giving users access to time tracking, productivity insights, and integrations. A 14-day free trial is available, allowing users to explore all features with no credit card required. The plans are:

  • Basic: $8/user/month
  • Standard: $14/user/month
  • Premium: $20/user/month
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing

Harvest provides straightforward pricing with options tailored to both individuals and teams. A 30-day free trial is available across all plans—no credit card is required. The plans are:

  • Free: $0/month (Limited to 1 seat and 2 projects)
  • Pro: $13. 75/seat/month
  • Premium: $17. 50/seat/month
Winner: Harvest has a generous free plan for solo users, which Time Doctor doesn’t offer. However, for teams, Time Doctor’s entry-level plan is more affordable. Therefore, this section ends in a tie.

Final Verdict: Which One Wins?

With a score of 1:1 and three key areas ending in a tie, Time Doctor and Harvest each excel in different ways—making this a closely matched comparison.  

Time Doctor is your go-to if real-time accountability is your top priority. It’s ideal for remote teams, outsourcing setups, or managers who need visibility into daily work patterns, productivity levels, and immediate behavior alerts. It’s more about who’s doing what, when, and ensuring people stay focused during work hours.  

Harvest, meanwhile, is purpose-built for project-based businesses that care about profitability, billing, and budgeting. It may not track your team's every click, but it delivers powerful financial insights and time-to-money reporting that help keep projects profitable and clients billed accurately.  

If neither tool fully covers your needs, consider Hubstaff software —it strikes a practical balance between time tracking, light monitoring, and built-in payroll support.