Using time tracking software can help improve productivity, payroll accuracy, and revenue. However, if selected without carefully considering its features, it could be a waste of money. 

Time Doctor and Harvest are two popular time tracking software that offer similar solutions, making it challenging for businesses to choose between them. Time Doctor relies on rigorous employee monitoring and activity tracking, while Harvest offers strong invoicing capabilities along with time tracking features. 

In this Time Doctor vs Harvest comparison, we will break down their features in detail to help you choose the right platform for tracking employee time and streamlining human resources (HR) tasks. 

Time Doctor Vs Harvest: At A Glance

Features

Time Doctor 

Harvest 

Time Tracking 

Comprehensive dashboards and work-life balance metrics 

Timesheet Approvals and built-in timers 

Reporting And Analytics 

Unusual Activity Report and Poor Time Use Report

Custom reports and project budgets 

Integrations 

Integrates with 60+ software, including Asana, Deel, and Avaza

Offers 50+ integrations, including Basecamp, Slack, and Trello 

Pricing 

Offers four pricing plans starting from $8/user/month, plus a 14-day free trial 

Offers three plans, with the basic one being offered for free, plus a 30-day free trial 

User Interface 

It has an easy-to-use interface, although new users can find it a bit overwhelming 

Comes with an intuitive interface for easy navigation but is a bit old when compared to modern alternatives 

What Is Time Doctor?

Time Doctor is a powerful time tracking and employee monitoring tool that also offers efficient reporting and analytics capabilities. The software is designed to help employers track employee activity and is really helpful in managing remote teams. Organizations can use it to ensure accurate and transparent time tracking, helping them complete projects within deadlines. 

Unique Features Of Time Doctor 

  • Mouse Tracker: Monitors mouse movement to identify when an employee is not working
  • Screenshots: Takes screenshots of employees screens, helping managers see what apps and sites they are accessing
  • Inactivity Alerts: Allows administrators to send notifications to distracted employees, ensuring they are focused on work
  • Screen Recording: Allows managers to gain insights into how an employee uses their device, helping them track irrelevant activities and identify time-intensive tasks

Pros And Cons Of Time Doctor 

Pros: 

  • It notifies managers when an employee accesses a website that’s not allowed during office hours 
  • Users can choose to track time for the whole shift or individual tasks and projects 
  • Tracks employee activity effectively and can be turned off when they are using a device for personal use 

Cons: 

  • Sometimes, the activity bar turns on automatically, which can be a bit frustrating 
  • Users cannot change the frequency of pop-up questions that employees get for progress tracking 

What Is Harvest?

Harvest software is a time management and invoicing software that helps organizations be more productive. It offers a range of tools, such as time sheets, reminders, and mobile apps, to help businesses reach maximum efficiency. The software stands out as it allows businesses to accept and make payments using integrations like PayPal software and Stripe. 

Unique Features Of Harvest 

  • Activity Log: Allows managers to review all the time entries and changes made within timesheets
  • Team Billable Rates: Enables managers to set rates for internal and external teams, helping businesses prevent overspending
  • Invoicing: Helps businesses generate invoices based on expenses, employee worked hours, and project rates
  • Expense Tracking: Helps track project expenses, including travel, supplies, and materials costs

Pros And Cons Of Harvest 

Pros: 

  • Shows how much time each employee spends working on a client’s project, allowing businesses to charge customers fairly 
  • Integrations with third-party communication and project management tools are smooth, helping administrators streamline tasks 
  • Reports are comprehensive, allowing users to make data-backed decisions and optimize productivity 

Cons: 

  • Expense section is overly simple and lacks multicurrency support 
  • Creating an invoice requires returning to the main page instead of using the same page 

Time Doctor Vs Harvest – Key Features Comparison

Time Tracking

Time Doctor offers a comprehensive dashboard that allows employers to track various metrics, including idle minutes, idle seconds, productive time, and mobile time. It enables managers to see which employees are working and which aren't, allowing organizations to get the most out of their workforce. Employers can also get insights into attendance, employee breaks, and leaves, giving them a better understanding of their workforce.

The platform also offers work-life balance metrics, ensuring decision-makers have access to relevant data, helping them create employee-friendly policies.

Furthermore, employees can easily submit time approvals while managers can approve them from their end. This helps administrators keep track of worked hours in real time, resulting in an accurate payroll.

Harvest offers detailed, easy-to-use timesheets that help organizations track billable hours. Its timesheet approval feature allows managers to review all the submitted time entries, ensuring fairness and transparency in the process.

These timesheets also come with built-in timers that employees or managers can use to track time for specific tasks. This tracked time is then recorded within the timesheet, eliminating the need to use an external timer and then manually import the data.

Furthermore, the platform syncs with an organizations calendar, ensuring there's a record of how time was utilized on a given day or for a project.

Winner: It's a tie as both software programs offer distinct features along with basic time tracking capabilities, making them suitable for different use cases.

Reporting And Analytics

Time Doctor offers a number of reports to help managers gain insights into their team productivity. Users get access to payroll reports, timeline reports, hours tracked reports, internet connectivity reports, and more.

It also offers a unique Unusual Activity Report's which tracks mouse clicks and keyboard strokes, letting managers know what their employees are doing. The poor time use report is another useful report that is extremely helpful for evaluating productivity for freelancers and remote teams.

All these reports can be conveniently sorted and exported, helping managers showcase workforce performance to upper management.

Harvest allows employers to create comprehensive reports for individual teams and projects. These reports can be tailored for each department and provide in-depth data on how much time employees are spending on each activity and assignment.

The platform enables managers to create and save custom reports and visualize metrics like team capacity and output. This capability allows managers to see which employees are working at full capacity and which are not, empowering them to assist struggling employees. The platform clearly displays billable and non-billable hours, ensuring payroll is calculated without any errors.

Additionally, it offers tools for projects to track internal costs, allocate project budgets, and set budget alerts to prevent overspending. These solutions help companies meet project deadlines while staying within the budget.

Winner: Time Doctor wins as it offers a range of reporting features, including some unique reports like unusual activity report and poor time report.

Integrations

Time Doctor supports integrations with over 60 third-party applications for payments, project management, communication, and more. These integrations include ADP, Asana, Avaza, Deel, and more. Organizations can leverage these to enhance the platform’s performance and extend its capabilities.

Harvest offers 50+ integrations with popular applications and software. Users can choose these third-party solutions for specific functionalities like productivity, finance, payments, and project management. Some of the supported integrations include Trello software, Slack software, Basecamp software, Asana, PayPal, and Stripe.

Winner: Time Doctor wins by a slight margin as it offers integrations with 60+ applications.

Pricing

Time Doctor offers four pricing plans, including Basic, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise. These plans are designed for teams with different requirements and offer features like screenshots, timesheets, and time approvals. Users can get a 14-day free trial to test its features. The pricing plans are as follows:

  • Basic - $8/user/month
  • Standard - $14/user/month
  • Premium - $20/user/month
  • Enterprise - Custom pricing

Harvest offers three pricing plans, including Free, Pro, and Premium, and offers features like team reporting, time tracking, and invoicing. The vendor offers a 30-day free trial, allowing businesses to implement and test the platform in their workflows. Following are the plans along with their prices:

  • Free - $0/month
  • Pro - $13.75/per seat/month
  • Premium - $17.50/per seat/month
Winner: Harvest wins this round as it offers a free plan and a 30-day free trial.

User Interface

Time Doctor is renowned for its simple user interface, making tracking employee time a breeze. Users have praised its easy-to-use features that allow managers to seamlessly transition between projects when tracking time and productivity.

However, some users feel that its interface is a bit cumbersome, especially for people who haven't used time tracking software before.

Harvest is widely praised for its intuitive interface, allowing users to easily navigate to the desired sections. It makes it easy to use even for non-technical users, allowing them to track billable time and generate invoices without any difficulty.

That said, some users find the interface a bit old when compared to modern alternatives in the market.

Winner: it’s a tie as both platforms have intuitive user interfaces, with very few users finding them complex.

Final Verdict – Which HR Software Is Better?

Both Time Doctor and Harvest are great tools for tracking employee time and automating HR tasks. However, their unique features make them suitable for solving different business needs. 

Time Doctor is ideal for tracking time and employee monitoring, as it offers tools like screen recording and screenshots. It is a good choice if you require your teams to perform at their full capacity, like in the BPO and call center industry. 

Harvest, on the other hand, equips businesses with invoicing and payment features along with strong time tracking features. This can be a good option for you if you need to track billable hours and handle payments without switching between platforms. 

In the end, the choice depends on what functionalities you need and what your business model is. We highly recommend onboarding a professional consultant, as well as company stakeholders, before making the final decision.