Are you having a hard time deciding between Hubstaff and Harvest? Both are great tools and share some features, but they also have many differences you should know about before deciding.
Depending on your industry, the size of your company, and the type of business you run, one might be better suited for you than the other. Find out how these two apps differ and learn which one is the best fit for you.
Watch: Comparing Hubstaff and Harvest side-by-side
Which one is better?
Hubstaff and Harvest offer similar ways of tracking time and generating timesheets. Both tools provide detailed reports and invoicing. The main difference between these two apps is that Hubstaff provides more advanced features for businesses that want to take advantage of productivity, location tracking, payroll, and employee scheduling.
Understanding which app is a better option for your business depends on your specific needs and circumstances.
Let’s look at the most essential features in more detail by comparing Hubstaff and Harvest side by side.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Time tracking | Automatic and manual | Automatic and manual |
Timesheets | Yes | Yes |
Apps | Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Chrome | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chrome |
Detailed reports | Yes | Yes |
Invoicing | Yes | Yes |
Productivity measurement | Yes | No |
Location tracking | Yes | No |
Project budgets | Yes | Yes |
Shift scheduling | Yes | No |
Attendance tracking | Yes | No |
Payroll management | Yes | No |
Time tracking features
Hubstaff
Hubstaff allows you to track time by quickly starting and stopping the app’s timer or adding time entries manually. It has lightweight apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. You can also track time using the Hubstaff web app and the Chrome extension.
Hubstaff works really well in helping us track time on projects and helping us to allocate resources accordingly.
You can set reminders for your team to start tracking at a specific time or nudge someone if they go idle. In Hubstaff, you can edit time entries manually and approve timesheets with a single click. Once you’ve tracked time, Hubstaff generates timesheets automatically.
There’s also the option of tracking work breaks and time off.
Time tracking is available across all products — Hubstaff Time, Hubstaff Desk, and Hubstaff Field — with some slight differences.
Hubstaff Field allows for location-based time tracking that auto-starts and stops based on geofenced Job sites. We’ll get into this more in the Location tracking section. Hubstaff Desk offers productivity measurement along with time tracking, which we’ll discuss in the upcoming sections.
Because of this, Hubstaff is trusted by a variety of businesses for accurate time tracking: remote teams, e-commerce companies, and digital agencies, as well as field teams such as cleaning, construction, and landscaping businesses.
Harvest
With Harvest, you can track time using a timer or fill out a timesheet manually. There are options to track time to specific tasks, add notes to time entries, and track time off and work breaks.
You can also set up the software to send you and your team reminders, so no one forgets to track time.
Harvest tracks my time with the click of a button. I select the project and hit go. Then I stop the timer when the work is complete.
Harvest has desktop and mobile time tracking apps and supports most major operating systems (except Linux).
The app is best suited for freelancers and agencies such as those in creative services or web development and IT.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Automatic time tracking | Yes | Yes |
Timesheets | Yes | Yes |
Time off tracking | Yes | Yes |
Work breaks | Yes | Yes |
Time tracking reminders | Yes | Yes |
Idle time reminders | Yes | No |
Windows app | Yes | Yes |
Mac app | Yes | Yes |
Android app | Yes | Yes |
iOS app | Yes | Yes |
Linux app | Yes | No |
Chrome extension | Yes | Yes |
Manual time entries | Yes | Yes |
Unlimited To dos | Yes | Yes |
Reporting features
Hubstaff
Hubstaff offers detailed and highly customizable time reports that you can filter by:
Day
Week
Month
Team member
Project
Client
We bill by the minute and run reports for payroll and client billing through Hubstaff. It meets our needs incredibly well for this and we haven't found a time yet where it hasn't worked.
You can use Hubstaff’s reports to understand how much time specific tasks take and how much budget has been spent. With Hubstaff Desk, you can dig into which apps and websites team members use during work hours.
There are also attendance and location reports that allow you to see when team members enter and leave Job sites and whether they abandon, miss, or are late to their shifts.
Hubstaff’s time off report helps you see each team member's time off balance, while payroll reports enable you to understand how much you're paying your team members. You can also create custom reports and download them in multiple formats.
Additionally, Hubstaff gives you the option of scheduling reports to be delivered to clients or stakeholders.
Harvest
Harvest can generate reports that show project progress and hours spent per week, as well as your remaining project budget. You can review both individual and team workload and capacity.
This gives you insight into the hours spent on each task and project, which allows you to understand total costs and profitability. It also enables you to understand your team’s capacity and find out how much time specific tasks take to complete.
Harvest makes it easy to report time spent and set limits on projects.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Customizable reports | Yes | Yes |
App & website reports | Yes | No |
Project budget reports | Yes | Yes |
Attendance reports | Yes | No |
Location reports | Yes | No |
Time off reports | Yes | No |
Payroll reports | Yes | No |
Detailed productivity reports | Yes | No |
Invoicing features
Hubstaff
With Hubstaff, you can use time entries and timesheets to generate invoices automatically. It supports PDF, HTML, and email invoices. Auto-generate line items by selecting the timeframe, team members, and projects.
You can see when clients view an invoice and record full or partial payments. Hubstaff integrates with popular accounting software such as QuickBooks and FreshBooks to help simplify your bookkeeping and accounting.
I use Hubstaff daily to track my clients, tasks, and invoices. They're always there to help and very easy to work with. 100% recommended for any virtual workers.
Harvest
Harvest has similar functionality. The app lets you easily turn timesheets and expenses into invoices. You can send invoices via email or export them in PDF and HTML formats.
The app allows you to accept payments from clients and customers with the help of Stripe and PayPal integrations. You can also see an overview of open and paid invoices.
Harvest is a super-simple app which manages all our client payments and invoices, and integrates with Stripe for a seamless payment process.
Set up automated reminders to make sure clients don’t forget to pay you. The app integrates with Xero and QuickBooks to help you streamline accounting.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Generate invoices from timesheets | Yes | Yes |
Email, PDF, and HTML invoices | Yes | Yes |
See when clients view an invoice | Yes | No |
Accounting software integrations | QuickBooks, FreshBooks | QuickBooks, Xero |
Productivity measurement & activity monitoring features
Hubstaff
Time tracking is only one piece of the work management puzzle.
For remote teams, time tracking on its own won’t demonstrate if the right priorities are getting attention. That’s what Hubstaff Desk aims to accomplish with its productivity features.
Hubstaff Desk allows you to spot productivity trends and keep an eye out for changes thanks to activity levels. The feature itself is based on keyboard and mouse movement to give you an overview of average productivity.
When a team member is moving the mouse or typing on the keyboard, the app labels them as active. If Hubstaff doesn't detect activity, it labels the user inactive. It then calculates an activity rate out of 100 based on activity over a ten-minute period.
Note: Hubstaff does not and would not log keystrokes.
You can set productivity goals based on activity level to motivate your team members. They’ll then get achievement emails congratulating them when they achieve high or sustained productivity rates over time.
Additionally, Hubstaff Desk can recap the apps and URLs used, which can help you identify time-wasting activities.
You can also set up optional automated screenshots to be able to see task and project progress without interrupting team members. This feature can be customized on a per-user basis to capture once, twice, or three times per ten minutes or turned off completely.
Hubstaff tracks all our employees' hours and activity levels, and takes 3 screenshots every 10 minutes so you can look more carefully into your employees' performance if necessary.
Harvest
At the time of writing, Harvest doesn’t have productivity measurement and activity monitoring features.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Productivity features | Yes | No |
Achievement badges | Yes | No |
Activity levels | Yes | No |
Optional screenshots | Yes | No |
App and URLs | Yes | No |
Location tracking features
Hubstaff
Hubstaff Field’s location tracking features allow you to start and stop tracking time automatically when team members enter or leave a Job site. Using geofenced time tracking, you can also limit time tracking to Job sites to prevent inaccurate time cards.
See the routes your crew takes to get to a Job site. This gives you the opportunity to optimize job routes and provide accurate ETAs to clients.
That’s not all that geofencing can do. Get notifications when team members are late, miss, or abandon a shift. There’s also the option to set up reminders to notify team members to start tracking their time when they enter a Job site.
You can create and edit multiple Job sites, schedule work orders, assign team members to jobs, and get real-time updates from a live map view.
Hubstaff Field is all about making it easier to manage your crew and jobs, and this set of location features delivers on that.
Any businesses with mobile or field teams can benefit from these features, including construction companies, lawn care and landscaping, cleaning services, HVAC, and more.
Harvest
At the moment of writing, Harvest doesn’t have location tracking features.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Automatic time tracking based on location | Yes | No |
Geofenced time tracking | Yes | No |
Job routes | Yes | No |
Work orders | Yes | No |
Real-time job progress updates | Yes | No |
Live map view | Yes | No |
Location-based reminders to track time | Yes | No |
Project budgeting features
Hubstaff
Hubstaff lets you set project budgets based on hours, bill rate, and pay rate. You can also set up notifications that will alert you when you’re at risk of going over budget. This allows you to make adjustments in real-time and make sure your team can complete the project within budget.
Hubstaff is easy to use and provides the comprehensive reporting needed for tracking employee contributions and accurate job costing.
Harvest
With Harvest, you can set a project budget based on:
Total project hours
Total project fees
Fees per task
Hours per task
Hours per person
The app also gives you an easy way to view the remaining budget for each project.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Set project budgets | Yes | Yes |
Budget notifications | Yes | No |
Scheduling features
Hubstaff
With Hubstaff, you can plan and schedule shifts and track attendance. It also allows you to set weekly hour limits for individual team members.
Hubstaff’s scheduling feature makes it easy for team members to see their next shift, regardless of the device they use. And, it’s available for any Hubstaff product.
Hubstaff Field takes it further by allowing you to create Work orders and jobs and schedule them for your team. All of the information they need about the project is in one place, and they’ll know exactly where to be and when.
Harvest
At the moment, Harvest doesn’t offer scheduling features.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Shift scheduling | Yes | No |
Shift notifications | Yes | No |
Attendance tracking | Yes | No |
Weekly hour limits | Yes | No |
Work orders and jobs | Yes | No |
Payroll management features
Harvest
Harvest doesn’t have payroll management features at the moment.
Hubstaff
You can use Hubstaff’s timesheets to pay team members manually or automatically. The software allows you to set pay rates for each team member and choose between fixed and hourly rates.
You can also set up custom pay periods and pay your team weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Before sending payments, you can review and approve timesheets for an extra layer of control.
Hubstaff gives you the option to pay your team members directly through the app, thanks to integrations with PayPal, Payoneer, Wise, and Bitwage. You also have the option to export payroll data for manual processing.
| Feature | Hubstaff | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
Automated payroll | Yes | No |
Custom pay rates | Fixed or hourly | No |
Custom pay periods | Weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly | No |
Payroll integrations | PayPal, Payoneer, Wise, and Bitwage | No |
Hubstaff vs. Harvest:
Which one is right for you?
While Hubstaff and Harvest offer similar time tracking and reporting features, Harvest lacks a number of features that are necessary for field or mobile teams. These include geofencing, location tracking, routes, and shift scheduling.
Along with these features, Hubstaff also offers businesses a way to pay their team members through the app. This is crucial for businesses looking to streamline payroll and workforce management.
So, which one should you use? If you’re a freelancer or a small agency, and you don’t need any extra features, Harvest should cover most of your time tracking needs.
Anyone else, especially remote and field teams, should opt for Hubstaff. It offers all the features these types of teams need to become and stay productive.
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