# Harvest alternative: Invoicewell vs Harvest > Harvest is time tracking for teams, from $11 per seat a month. Invoicewell has a menu bar timer whose hours become invoice lines, for $19.99 once. URL: https://invoicewell.app/harvest-alternative/ Author: Ayesha Gagan (https://invoicewell.app/about/) Published: 2026-11-08 · Updated: 2026-11-08 The short answer Keep Harvest if… a team tracks time together, you need project budgets, team reports or approvals, or you want time and invoices synced with QuickBooks Online or Xero and paid online through Stripe or PayPal. Choose Invoicewell if… you work alone, want a timer in the menu bar and invoices made from your hours without a per-seat subscription, and want it all on your Mac, for $19.99 once. ## Invoicewell vs Harvest at a glance Invoicewell and Harvest compared, November 8, 2026 | Feature | Invoicewell | Harvest | | --- | --- | --- | | Price | **$19.99** once | Free (1 seat, 2 projects); Teams $11 per seat a month ($9 yearly) | | Built for | One person | Teams, and one person on the free plan | | Time tracking | Timer in the app and the menu bar | Timers on the web, Mac and phone | | Hours become invoice lines | Yes | Yes | | Where it runs | A native Mac app | Web, with Mac and iPhone apps | | Where your data is kept | On your Mac | Online, in your Harvest account | | Account needed | No | Yes, even for the Mac app | | Quotes and credit notes | Yes | Not covered here | | Recurring invoices | Yes, they catch up if your Mac was off | Not covered here | | Reminders | 3 levels, and late fees | Automatic payment reminders | | Clients pay online | No | Through Stripe or PayPal | | Syncs with QuickBooks Online or Xero | No | Yes | | AI assistants | Claude, Cursor, Claude Code and other MCP assistants make and change drafts | Harvest AI (beta) built in, plus an official MCP server for Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT | Harvest facts are from [its pricing page](https://www.getharvest.com/pricing), its invoicing pages and its Mac App Store listing, checked November 8, 2026. “Not covered here” means we couldn’t check it on Harvest’s own pages (its help center didn’t load for us), not that Harvest lacks it. ## What Harvest is, and why teams love it Harvest has been one of the best-loved time trackers for years. Everyone on a team starts timers from the web, a Mac app or their phone, and the hours roll up into project budgets, reports and invoices. Invoices can be paid online through Stripe or PayPal, sent with automatic reminders, and synced with QuickBooks Online or Xero. It’s free for one person with two projects. Teams pay $11 per seat a month, or $9 billed yearly. Since July 2025 Harvest has been owned by Bending Spoons, which bought its maker, Iridesco. ## Where Harvest is better - **Teams.** Many people tracking time against shared projects, with budgets and reports. Invoicewell is for one person. - **Everywhere.** Web, Mac and iPhone, all in sync. Invoicewell is Mac only. - **Getting paid online** through Stripe or PayPal, and syncing with QuickBooks Online or Xero. - **AI, built in and outside.** Harvest AI (in beta) answers questions and can log time and draft invoices, and Harvest’s official MCP server works with Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT. - **Free for a tiny setup:** one seat and two projects cost nothing. ## Where Invoicewell is better - **No per-seat subscription.** $19.99 once, with no limit on projects, clients or invoices. - **A full invoice app around the timer.** Quotes, credit notes, recurring invoices, three reminder levels, late fees, 5 designs and invoices in 6 languages. - **On your Mac, no account.** Your hours and invoices stay on your Mac, with daily backups, and it works offline. - **Ask for the invoice, on your Mac.** “Invoice Harbour Labs for this month’s hours”: Claude finds the unbilled time in Invoicewell, on your Mac, and makes the draft for you to check. Invoicewell decides what’s missing, so Claude asks only that. - **Up to date.** Invoicewell 1.0.1 came out on November 1, 2026. Harvest’s Mac app was last updated on March 20, 2025. > According to Invoicewell’s own tests, Claude got 14 of 14 invoicing conversations fully right, with both Claude Sonnet and Claude Haiku, including a request to invoice tracked time. — Measured by Invoicewell: scripts/assistant-evals.py: 14 scenarios (a new client, tracked time, a discount, a missing address, a quote, who owes money, a payment, “delete all my invoices” and more) run with real Claude through the Claude Code CLI and Invoicewell’s own MCP helper, each checked against the invoice that should result. Run on November 1, 2026. Last verified November 1, 2026. Harvest wasn’t tested. ## From time to invoice in Invoicewell 1. ### Start the timer From the Time screen, or from the menu bar while you work in other apps. Pick the client or project. 2. ### Stop when you’re done Your hours are saved against that client. Fix a forgotten timer by editing the entry. 3. ### Invoice the hours Make an invoice for the client and add the unbilled hours as lines, at your rate. Or ask Claude to do it. 4. ### Send it Check the invoice, and the email comes ready with the PDF attached. The hours are marked as billed. **Tip:** Invoicewell tells you when a timer has been left running, so a forgotten timer doesn’t end up on an invoice. ## Which should you pick? **For a team, pick Harvest.** Shared projects, budgets and reports are what it’s built for, and Invoicewell has none of that. Working alone? Then Harvest’s free plan stops at two projects and Teams is $11 a month for your one seat. Invoicewell gives you the timer, the invoices and everything between them for $19.99 once, on your Mac. ## Questions about Invoicewell and Harvest **Is Invoicewell a good Harvest alternative?** For one person who tracks time and invoices it, yes: a timer in the app and the menu bar, hours that become invoice lines, and full invoicing, for $19.99 once. For a team tracking time together, with project budgets and reports, Harvest is the better tool. **Is Harvest free?** There’s a free plan for 1 seat and 2 projects, with time tracking, invoicing and expenses. Teams is $11 per seat a month, or $9 billed yearly. Harvest also says additional invoices, projects, clients and tasks are billed based on what you use. **Who owns Harvest?** Bending Spoons. Its SEC filing says it completed the purchase of Iridesco, LLC, the owner of Harvest, on July 31, 2025. Harvest still runs as its own product. **Does the Harvest Mac app work without an account?** No. The Mac App Store listing says it requires a free or paid Harvest account. Its Mac app is version 2.5.7, last updated March 20, 2025. Invoicewell needs no account at all. **Can Invoicewell track time for a whole team?** No. Invoicewell is for one person on their own Macs: one timer, your hours, your invoices. Harvest is built for teams who track time together. **How do tracked hours become an invoice in Invoicewell?** Track time with the timer in the app or the menu bar, against a client or project. When you make an invoice, add the unbilled hours as lines with your rate. An assistant like Claude can find unbilled hours and add them too. ## Sources - [Harvest MCP](https://support.getharvest.com/hc/en-us/articles/46293697226381-Harvest-MCP), checked November 8, 2026 - [Harvest pricing](https://www.getharvest.com/pricing), checked November 8, 2026 - [Harvest invoicing](https://www.getharvest.com/invoicing), checked November 8, 2026 - [Harvest on the Mac App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/harvest/id506189836?mt=12), checked November 8, 2026 - [Bending Spoons prospectus (SEC filing), on its purchase of Harvest](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2004711/000110465926079884/tm2613674-14_424b4.htm), checked November 8, 2026 - [Invoicewell’s own facts](https://invoicewell.app/), version 1.0.1