Tyme vs. Harvest – The Apps Compared

Harvest has been a fixture in time tracking for years. It combines time tracking, invoicing, and payment tracking in a single interface – and has won over a lot of freelancers and small agencies. In 2025, Harvest was acquired by Bending Spoons, and prices have been rising steadily since.

Tyme is a fully featured Harvest alternative – especially for anyone working in the Apple ecosystem or on mixed teams. Not as an all-in-one platform, but as a tool that does time tracking exceptionally well and connects to the invoicing tools you’re already using.

What Tyme and Harvest Have in Common

Both tools let you log hours against projects and tasks, keep budgets in check, and export clean reports. Both work for solo freelancers and teams alike. And both have a loyal user base: Harvest since 2006, Tyme since 2013.

Where They Differ

Time Tracking and App Experience

Harvest is primarily browser-based, with a lightweight Electron desktop app for starting and stopping timers and a mobile client. Tyme is built from the ground up as a native app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, with a web version (currently in beta) that will make Tyme fully platform-independent soon.

The timer runs from the menu bar – no need to open the app. On iPhone, it can start automatically via geofencing when you arrive at your workplace. On Apple Watch, it runs independently from your phone.

If you work in the Apple ecosystem, you’ll notice the difference. Tyme starts automatically, reminds you at the beginning of your workday and at lunchtime. Reminders and a useful timeout feature make it nearly impossible to forget to track. Everything syncs automatically, calendar entries can be matched directly, and Siri shortcuts and widgets make access faster than any browser tab.

In Detail

Billing and Invoicing

Harvest has a clear advantage here: create invoices, send them, and track payments directly via Stripe or PayPal – no external tool needed. That’s a genuine plus if you want time tracking and invoicing under one roof.

Tyme focuses on excellent time tracking and pairs with the invoicing tools you prefer. Tracked hours can be exported directly to a range of invoicing tools, or integrated into automated workflows via n8n or Zapier.

Which Invoicing Tool Fits Your Workflow?

Tyme connects directly with tools for the DACH region and internationally. All supported tools are e-invoice compliant. You can find details on our recommendations – sevdesk, Lexware Office, GrandTotal, Billomat, WISO MeinBüro, and FreshBooks – here:

→ Tyme recommends: Invoicing tools

Budgets and Project Control

Both tools offer per-project budgets, due dates, time reports, and non-billable time. Tyme also shows utilization and overtime at a glance, for individual team members or the whole team.

Teams

Both Harvest and Tyme offer team features with roles and user permissions. Team members without a Mac can already log time through the Tyme web app – the full cross-platform version is in active development.

Support

When you have a question about Tyme, you’re writing directly to the development team – Lars and Margit, the people who built Tyme and work on it every day. Replies come quickly. Feature requests often make it into real updates. That shows in the reviews: users consistently praise support as outstanding. At Harvest, support now runs through a corporate structure.

AI Assistants and Automation

Tyme supports the Model Context Protocol – MCP for short. This open standard lets AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor talk directly to apps. You can ask your AI assistant how many hours your team logged on a specific project – and it reads the answer live from Tyme. Create time entries, query budgets, generate reports, surface irregularities: all without opening the app. For anyone integrating AI into their workflow, this is a direct channel into their time tracking.

Development

Tyme gets regular real updates – not cosmetic patches, but features that actually change how you work day to day. New Apple system features get picked up quickly and integrated thoughtfully: widgets, Shortcuts, Watch complications, Liquid Glass – Tyme keeps pace with the Apple ecosystem. Many ideas come directly from user conversations. Send a feature request and you might see your idea in an update a few weeks later.

Privacy, Data Ownership, and Compliance

Tyme stores data in a GDPR-compliant way in its own cloud – or alternatively in Apple’s iCloud. Harvest stores everything on its own servers, which have been under new ownership since the Bending Spoons acquisition. For anyone who cares about data sovereignty and GDPR-compliant storage, that’s a meaningful difference.

Pricing

Tyme starts at €4.99 per user per month (annual plan) and includes Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and web. There’s a 14-day free trial before any commitment.

Switching From Harvest to Tyme

Tyme has its own Harvest importer. Projects, tasks, and time entries transfer directly. You pick up in Tyme right where you left off in Harvest.

→ How to switch from Harvest to Tyme

Who Should Choose Tyme

Tyme is the better Harvest alternative if you or your team work primarily on Apple devices and want an app that feels like a natural part of the system. If you already use a separate tool for invoicing. If design and a well-considered interface matter to you. And if you don’t want to pay for features you’ll never use.

Harvest remains the better choice if time tracking and invoicing with integrated payment tracking absolutely need to live in one app – or if your team works on non-Apple systems and has no preference for an invoicing tool yet.

What Users Say

Tyme has over 50,000 satisfied users – many of them for years, some since version one in 2013. The reviews read unusually personally. Users don’t just say the app works; they say time tracking stopped feeling like a chore. An app that’s actually enjoyable to use. That’s rare.

Apple has recommended Tyme publicly multiple times – in categories like "Be a Better Freelancer", "Elevate Your Time Management", and "Apps We Love Right Now". What Harvest has in market recognition, Tyme has built in long-term user loyalty. Read reviews → App Store ★ 4.7

Also Worth Reading:

→ How to switch from Harvest to Tyme

→ Tyme recommends: Invoicing tools

→ All Tyme plugins