Toggl vs Harvest: Which Is Better for Billing Clients in 2026?

Harvest is the better pick for billing clients. Even its free plan includes invoicing and expense tracking, it supports online payments plus QuickBooks and Xero, and Teams seats cost $9 a month billed annually. Toggl (formerly Toggl Track) wins for teams that want billable rates, profitability reports and capacity planning. Dayflow, our Mac app, keeps a free automatic record of your day but does not send invoices.

Harvest is built to turn tracked hours into an invoice and get it paid, and it includes invoicing and expense tracking even on its free plan. Toggl (formerly Toggl Track) is built around billable rates, profitability and team planning, with the billing features on paid plans. For a deeper look at Toggl on a Mac specifically, see Toggl for Mac compared with Dayflow.

A note before going further: Dayflow, the third option in the tables, is our product. It is a free, open-source Mac app that records the screen at one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write your day into a timeline. It does not send invoices, and this article says so wherever that matters.

The method here is a comparison of vendor documentation as checked on October 4, 2026. Prices and features come from each vendor’s own pages on that date.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	How it tracks	Price	Platforms
Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Freelancers and teams (agencies, software teams, law and accounting firms) that need billing, profitability and capacity data	Manual and real-time timers, timesheets, calendar integrations; vendor also lists automated background tracking in the desktop app	Free for up to 3 users; Starter $9/user/month billed annually or $12 monthly; Premium $16/user/month billed annually or $24 monthly; Enterprise contact vendor	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions
Harvest	Freelancers and professional teams that track, analyze and invoice their time	One-click timers, daily and weekly timesheets, connected calendar	Free (1 seat, 2 projects); Teams $9/seat/month billed annually or $11 monthly; Enterprise $14/seat/month billed annually or $17.50 monthly; Enterprise Plus custom	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions
Dayflow (ours)	Mac users who want an automatic record of what they worked on	One screen frame every 10 seconds; AI writes a timeline	$0, MIT licensed; optional Pro at $20/month	Mac only, macOS 14 or later

Key takeaways

• Harvest is the stronger billing tool. It lists invoicing from tracked time with online payments, expense tracking, and QuickBooks and Xero integrations. Its free plan already includes invoicing.
• Toggl is the stronger team and planning tool. It lists billable rates, team reports, project timelines, tasks and capacity management, and adds profitability reports, approvals and Jira and Asana integrations on Premium.
• Free plans fit different shapes. Toggl’s free plan covers up to 3 users but billable rates need a paid plan. Harvest’s free plan covers one seat and two projects but includes invoicing.
• Entry prices match on annual billing. Both start at $9 per user or seat per month billed annually. On monthly billing, Harvest Teams is $11 and Toggl Starter is $12.
• Dayflow solves a different problem. It records what you did on your Mac so you do not depend on remembering timers. It has no invoicing, team reports or approvals.

What Toggl does better

Small teams can start free. Toggl’s free plan is described as free forever for up to 3 users, with timers, focus mode, calendar integrations, tasks and boards. Harvest’s free plan stops at one seat. A three-person studio can get everyone tracking on Toggl without paying, though the moment you want billable rates attached to that time, you need a paid plan.

Planning lives next to the hours. Toggl now presents itself as one product that combines time tracking with planning: timelines, tasks and capacity management. The vendor describes Toggl Track and Toggl Plan as legacy products still available to existing users. For an agency billing clients on retainers, seeing who has room next week is part of billing well. Harvest’s documented strengths center on tracking, invoicing, expenses and reporting rather than forward planning.

Profitability and approvals on the mid tier. Toggl Premium adds timesheet approvals and profitability reports, plus Jira and Asana integrations. If your team’s tracked time starts in tickets, those integrations matter more than an accounting connection does.

Less dependence on starting a timer. Toggl’s main methods are timers, timesheets and calendar integrations, but the vendor also lists automated background tracking and a timeline in the desktop app. The vendor states it does not take screenshots or record keystrokes. Harvest lists no automatic activity capture.

AI features. Toggl lists Toggl AI for natural-language questions about workspace data and admin tasks, an MCP server, and an AI Task Creator. Harvest lists no AI features. For billing, the practical use is asking which client took the most hours last month without building a report by hand.

What Harvest does better

Invoices are the product, not an add-on. Harvest lists invoicing from tracked time with online payments. You track hours against a project, then bill those hours to the client and let them pay online. For a freelancer, that closes the loop between work and getting paid inside one tool.

Invoicing is free to start. Harvest’s free plan, aimed at individual freelancers, includes time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking for one seat and two projects. A freelancer with one or two ongoing clients can bill from Harvest without paying anything.

Expenses ride along with hours. Harvest lists expense tracking, which matters when you pass through costs like software, travel or contractor fees to a client. In the Toggl facts checked, expense tracking is not listed; see the vendor’s pricing page to confirm what each Toggl plan includes.

Accounting integrations. Harvest connects to QuickBooks and Xero. If your bookkeeping runs through either, billed time and payments can flow into your books instead of being retyped.

Cheaper at comparable tiers on monthly billing. Harvest Teams is $11 per seat billed monthly against Toggl Starter’s $12. One tier up, Harvest Enterprise (profitability reporting and timesheet approvals) is $14 billed annually or $17.50 monthly, against Toggl Premium (profitability reports and approvals) at $16 annually or $24 monthly. The feature sets are not identical, so compare the specific features you need.

Easier trial. Both offer 30 days. Harvest states no credit card is required; Toggl’s trial applies to its paid plans.

Two housekeeping notes. Harvest’s site footer reads “Bending Spoons Operations S.p.A.”, so Harvest is now owned by Bending Spoons. And the pricing page names the paid plans Teams and Enterprise while its FAQ still refers to “pro” and “premium”, so older guides may use different plan names.

Head-to-head table

Capability	Toggl	Harvest	Dayflow (ours)
Automatic capture	Vendor lists automated background tracking and a timeline in the desktop app; no screenshots or keystrokes	None listed	Yes, one screen frame every 10 seconds, turned into a timeline
Timers and timesheets	Manual and real-time timers, timesheets, calendar integrations	One-click timers, daily and weekly timesheets, calendar	Records automatically instead of using timers
Invoicing and billable rates	Billable rates on paid plans; invoicing not listed in the facts checked, see the vendor’s pricing page	Invoicing from tracked time with online payments, including free plan	No
Team reports and approvals	Team reports; approvals and profitability on Premium	Team reporting; approvals and profitability on Enterprise	No team reports or payroll approvals
Website blocking	Not listed (free plan includes a focus mode)	Not listed	No
AI summaries	Toggl AI, MCP server, AI Task Creator	None listed	AI writes your day into a timeline; can run locally
Data location	Cloud, synced across web, desktop and mobile	Cloud, with desktop and mobile apps	Recordings and timeline stored on your Mac
Free tier	Up to 3 users, free forever	1 seat, 2 projects, includes invoicing and expenses	Full app at $0
Platforms	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions	Mac only, macOS 14+
Open source	No	No	Yes, MIT

Pricing compared: how much does each cost per year?

Plan	Toggl	Harvest	Dayflow (ours)
Free	$0, up to 3 users	$0, 1 seat and 2 projects	$0, full app
Entry paid	Starter: $9/user/month billed annually, $12 billed monthly	Teams: $9/seat/month billed annually ($108/year), $11 billed monthly	Pro: $20/month
Mid tier	Premium: $16/user/month billed annually, $24 billed monthly	Enterprise: $14/seat/month billed annually ($168/year), $17.50 billed monthly	None
Top tier	Enterprise: contact vendor	Enterprise Plus: custom pricing	None
Trial	30 days on paid plans	30 days, no credit card	Not applicable

Here is what one person billing clients pays per year. On Harvest, a freelancer with no more than two projects pays $0 and can still send invoices. Add a third project and the Teams plan costs $108 a year billed annually, or $132 a year at $11 a month. If you want profitability reporting, Enterprise is $168 a year billed annually or $210 a year billed monthly.

On Toggl, billable rates require a paid plan, so the free tier does not cover billing on its own. Starter is $108 a year billed annually or $144 a year billed monthly; check the vendor’s pricing page to confirm Starter includes the billing features you need. Premium, where profitability reports and approvals live, is $192 a year billed annually or $288 a year billed monthly.

Dayflow is $0. If you choose Dayflow Pro to have cloud analysis handled for you, that is $240 a year at $20 a month. Running a local model or your own provider avoids the Pro fee, though your own provider charges its own rates. Details are on Dayflow’s pricing page.

For the narrow job of a solo freelancer sending invoices, Harvest is the cheapest fit: free up to two projects, and $108 a year after that.

When to choose Toggl over Harvest?

Pick Toggl if:

• You run a small team and billing is one part of a bigger picture. Billable rates, team reports, capacity management and project timelines in one place suit agencies and professional services firms.
• Your work starts in Jira or Asana. Those integrations come with Premium.
• You want help remembering to track. The vendor lists automated background tracking and a timeline in the desktop app, without screenshots or keystroke recording.
• You want AI over your workspace data. Toggl AI answers natural-language questions about your hours, and the MCP server lets other AI tools reach that data.
• Up to three people need free timers. The free plan covers them, as long as billable rates can wait.

When to choose Harvest over Toggl?

Pick Harvest if:

• The invoice is the point. You want tracked hours to become an invoice the client can pay online.
• You are a freelancer with one or two clients. The free plan covers one seat and two projects, with invoicing and expenses included.
• You pass costs through to clients. Expense tracking sits alongside time.
• Your books are in QuickBooks or Xero. The integrations keep billed time and payments out of manual re-entry.
• You want the lower monthly price. Teams at $11 billed monthly undercuts Toggl Starter at $12, and Enterprise at $17.50 undercuts Toggl Premium at $24.

Where both fall short: what do Toggl and Harvest miss?

Both tools bill what you record, and both mostly depend on you recording it. Harvest’s methods are timers, timesheets and a calendar. Toggl adds automated background tracking in its desktop app, which narrows the gap, but its core is still timers and manual entry. When you forget to start a timer at 9:40 and remember at noon, the invoice is only as accurate as your memory of the morning.

Both are also cloud services. Your hours, clients and rates live on the vendor’s servers and sync across devices. For billing, that is usually what you want. For a full record of everything on your screen, you may not want that in the cloud at all.

On a Mac, Dayflow covers the memory gap. It records one frame every 10 seconds and has AI write a timeline of what you worked on, stored on your Mac. With Local AI, a model runs on your Mac through Ollama or LM Studio, so screenshot analysis stays on-device. If you use your own cloud provider or Dayflow Pro, selected screenshots leave the Mac; under the privacy policy, Pro deletes screenshots after processing and may retain Activity Data for sync. The trade-offs are spelled out in local and cloud processing.

The practical setup for billing is to pair them. Keep Harvest or Toggl as the system of record for rates and invoices, and use Dayflow to check what actually happened before you submit hours. You can export a date range as Markdown from Settings and reconcile it against your timesheet; the steps are in export your work history, and a Mac timesheet without manual entry walks through the habit. One caution: AI summaries can miss or misinterpret work, so check the timeline before any of it reaches a client invoice.

If you want a wider view of automatic and timer-based options, the best time tracker for Mac roundup covers more tools.

Where Dayflow is the wrong pick

For billing clients, Dayflow is the wrong primary tool in most cases, and it is better to be plain about that:

• You need to send invoices. Dayflow has no invoicing, payments or expenses. Harvest wins.
• You run a team. Dayflow has no team reports, billable rates, timesheet approvals or payroll approvals. Toggl wins for team rates, planning and profitability; Harvest wins if the team’s main job is invoicing.
• You work on Windows, mobile or the web. Dayflow is Mac only and needs macOS 14 or later. Toggl and Harvest both run on web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and browser extensions.
• You or your client do not want screen recording. Dayflow works by recording the screen. Toggl states it takes no screenshots and records no keystrokes, so it is the better choice here. Our view on that trade-off is in time tracking without surveillance.
• You want website blocking. Dayflow does not block sites, and neither tool in this comparison lists it.

Where Dayflow does earn a place is beside one of these tools, for the person who keeps losing track of what they did and wants to remember what they worked on before billing it.

The bottom line

For billing clients, Harvest is the better choice. Invoicing with online payments, expense tracking and QuickBooks and Xero integrations are its core, and a freelancer with two or fewer projects gets all of that for $0.

Toggl is the better choice when billing is part of running a team: billable rates, team reports, capacity planning, profitability on Premium, and AI over your workspace data. It also leans less on remembering timers, thanks to background tracking in its desktop app.

Dayflow, our app, does not compete for the invoice. It is a free, open-source record of your Mac workday that helps you get the hours right before you put them on one.

Frequently asked questions

Is Harvest better than Toggl for invoicing clients?

For sending invoices, yes. Harvest lists invoicing from tracked time with online payments as a core feature, and its free plan includes invoicing and expense tracking for one seat and two projects. Toggl's documented strengths for billing are billable rates, team reports and, on Premium, profitability reports. If the invoice itself is the job, Harvest is the more direct fit.

Can I bill clients from Toggl's free plan?

Not with billable rates. Toggl's free plan is free forever for up to 3 users and includes timers, focus mode, calendar integrations, tasks and boards, but billable rates require a paid plan. Starter costs $9 per user per month billed annually or $12 billed monthly. Profitability reports and timesheet approvals sit on Premium at $16 per user per month billed annually.

How much does Harvest cost per year for one freelancer?

Harvest is $0 if one seat and two projects are enough. Past that, the Teams plan is $108 per seat per year billed annually, or $11 a month ($132 a year) billed monthly. Enterprise, which adds profitability reporting and timesheet approvals, is $168 per seat per year billed annually or $17.50 a month billed monthly. Prices are listed in USD as starting prices.

Who owns Harvest now?

The Harvest website footer reads 'Bending Spoons Operations S.p.A.', so Harvest is now owned by Bending Spoons. The current pricing page names the paid plans Teams and Enterprise, while its pricing FAQ still refers to 'pro' and 'premium' plans. If you are comparing older reviews, expect the plan names to differ from what you see on the site today.

Did Toggl Track change its name?

Yes. Toggl's product is now presented simply as Toggl, combining time tracking with planning, and toggl.com/track redirects to toggl.com. The vendor describes Toggl Track and Toggl Plan as legacy products that remain available to existing users. Pricing for the combined product runs from a free plan through Starter, Premium and a contact-sales Enterprise tier.

Does Toggl or Harvest track time automatically?

Toggl comes closer. Its main methods are manual and real-time timers, timesheets and calendar integrations, but the vendor also lists automated background tracking and a timeline in the desktop app, and says it does not take screenshots or record keystrokes. Harvest uses one-click timers, daily and weekly timesheets, or a connected calendar, with no automatic activity capture listed.

Can Dayflow replace Harvest for billing clients?

No, and Harvest is the better tool for that job. Dayflow does not create invoices, track expenses, take payments or connect to accounting software. Harvest does all of those from tracked time. Dayflow is useful next to a billing tool on a Mac: it records what you actually worked on, so you can fill or check a Harvest timesheet before invoicing.

Do Toggl and Harvest have AI features?

Toggl does. It lists Toggl AI for natural-language questions about workspace data and admin tasks, an MCP server, and an AI Task Creator. Harvest lists no AI features on the pages checked. Dayflow uses AI differently: it reads screen captures and writes your day as a timeline, with the option to run that analysis on your Mac through Ollama or LM Studio.

Is Dayflow free?

Yes. Dayflow is $0 and MIT licensed, with the source code public on GitHub. It runs on macOS 14 or later. An optional Dayflow Pro plan costs $20 a month and handles cloud analysis for you. You can instead run a local model on your Mac or connect your own AI provider, whose charges and terms then apply.