Harvest vs Paymo

Harvest

• Agencies and consultancies that bill clients for tracked hours
• Solo freelancers with up to 2 active projects, on the free plan
• Teams that sync invoices and payments to QuickBooks Online or Xero

Paymo

• Freelancers billing clients for tracked time, on the single-user plans
• Agencies and consultancies that track time and invoice from one tool
• Teams that want resource scheduling and leave planning beside their projects

Harvest

• The free plan is limited to 1 seat and 2 projects.
• Paid prices are shown as starting prices: the pricing page says additional invoices, projects, clients and tasks are billed based on use.
• Timesheet approvals, profitability reporting and SAML-based SSO need the Enterprise plan.
• No Linux desktop app is listed, and scheduling needs the separately billed Harvest Forecast.

Paymo

• Free and Solo are limited to 1 user, with 2 and 5 projects respectively. Adding teammates means moving to Plus or Pro.
• Gantt charts, task dependencies, team scheduling, timesheet approvals and leave management are on the Pro plan only.
• Integrations and API access start at the Plus plan.
• Monthly billing costs more: $9.9, $15.9 and $23.9 against $5.9, $10.9 and $16.9 on annual billing.

Harvest

Timers and timesheets

One-click timers, daily and weekly timesheets and calendar imports in the browser, desktop and mobile apps, with automated reminders to submit time.

Invoicing and online payments

Invoices are generated from the tracked time and expenses already in the account, and clients can pay them through the PayPal and Stripe integrations.

Expense tracking

Receipts and reimbursable costs are logged alongside time, so they can be added to the same client invoice.

Budgets and reports

Project budgets update as time is logged. Team capacity and utilization reports start on Teams, and profitability reporting is limited to Enterprise.

Approvals and audit trail

Enterprise adds timesheet approval before hours are billed, an activity log of every time entry and edit, and the option to require notes on entries.

Harvest Forecast

A companion scheduling and capacity planning tool that connects to Harvest. It is billed separately at $5 per person a month on annual billing.

Paymo

Time tracking

Time is logged with a stopwatch, as intervals or in bulk. The Paymo Track desktop app can also record time spent in desktop apps automatically and includes a Pomodoro mode.

Task views

The task list view is on every plan. Calendar and Kanban views start on Solo, the spreadsheet view and cross-project Meta Kanban on Plus, and the Gantt chart on Pro.

Invoicing, estimates and expenses

Timesheet data can be turned into invoices, which are unlimited on every plan. Estimates, expenses and recurring invoices are added on Plus.

Team scheduling and leave

The Pro plan adds employee scheduling, a workload view, automatic ghost bookings and employee leave management.

Project profitability and templates

From the Plus plan, projects can be created from templates and their profitability tracked. Flat-rate and retainer project types start on Solo.

File proofing and versioning

Files can be reviewed and versioned inside Paymo from the Plus plan, which also raises storage to 50 GB.

Harvest

• Free$0

  1 seat and 2 projects, with time tracking, invoicing, expense tracking, project estimates and basic reports.

• Teams$9

  per seat / month, billed annually ($11 billed monthly)

  Unlimited seats, billable and cost rates, team capacity reporting, CSV import, and accounting and payment integrations. Listed as a starting price.

• Enterprise$14

  per seat / month, billed annually ($17.50 billed monthly)

  Adds unlimited custom reports, profitability reporting, timesheet approvals, an activity log, SAML-based SSO and required notes.

• Enterprise PlusCustom

  Adds custom integrations, product customization, a dedicated customer success manager, assisted data migration and white labelling.

Paymo

• Free$0

  1 user, 1 client and 2 projects with unlimited tasks, time tracking and invoices, the task list view and 1 GB of storage.

• Solo$5.9

  per month, billed annually ($9.9 billed monthly)

  1 user, 3 clients and 5 projects. Adds calendar and Kanban task views, flat-rate and retainer projects, guest access, in-app support and 5 GB of storage.

• Plus$10.9

  per user / month, billed annually ($15.9 billed monthly)

  Unlimited users, clients and projects. Adds spreadsheet view, recurring tasks, timesheet reports, estimates, expenses, proofing, integrations, API access and 50 GB.

• Pro$16.9

  per user / month, billed annually ($23.9 billed monthly)

  Adds Gantt charts, task dependencies, employee scheduling and workload, timesheet approvals, leave management, priority support and 500 GB of storage.

Harvest

• Annual discount

  20% off when paying for the year up front

  Harvest's pricing FAQ states a 20% discount for yearly payment. Enterprise is listed at $14 per seat a month annually against $17.50 monthly, and Teams at $9 against $11.

Paymo

• Annual discount

  Up to 40% off with annual billing

  Paymo's pricing FAQ puts the saving from yearly payment at up to 40%. Solo is $5.9 instead of $9.9 a month, Plus $10.9 instead of $15.9 and Pro $16.9 instead of $23.9 per user.

• Other savings

  Reduced first 3 months on monthly plans

  A Summer Special Offer gives new customers on monthly billing up to 40% off for the first three months: $5.9 Solo, $10.9 Plus and $16.9 Pro. The page shows no end date.

• Education

  Half price for schools and universities

  Paymo offers universities, colleges and schools its plans at half price. The offer is activated by contacting the company after signing up and cannot be combined with other promotions.