Harvest
Paymo
| Feature | Paymo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $10.8/mo | Free / from $5.9/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | agencies, consultants, freelancers, professional-services | freelancers, small-businesses, agencies, consultants |
| Founded | 2006 | 2008 |
| Time Tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Expense Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Project Budgets | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reports | ✓ | ✗ |
| Team Capacity | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Project Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Resource Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| Kanban Boards | ✗ | ✓ |
| Gantt Charts | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Harvest Pros
- Integrated invoicing from tracked time
- Project budget tracking with alerts
- Excellent reporting for team utilization
- Simple one-click timer interface
✗ Harvest Cons
- Limited project management features
- Only one project on free plan
- No built-in scheduling or resource planning
✓ Paymo Pros
- All-in-one project and time tool
- Built-in invoicing
- Resource scheduling
- Good free plan
✗ Paymo Cons
- Limited advanced features
- Reporting could be deeper
- Mobile app less polished
The Verdict
Harvest is built for agencies and consultants, with a focus on time-tracking and invoicing. Paymo targets freelancers and small businesses and leads with time-tracking and project-management.
Pricing is close: Paymo starts at $5.9/mo versus $10.8/mo for Harvest — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Harvest offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Paymo takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Both tools are a solid fit for agencies, consultants, freelancers — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.