Harvest vs Hubstaff
Side-by-side total cost of ownership: subscription fees, labor, hidden costs, and AI alternatives.
Published pricing
The subscription is only part of the cost.
| Harvest | Hubstaff | |
|---|---|---|
| Published rate | $9/seat/mo | $10/seat/mo |
What the invoice doesn't show
Harvest
Both paid tiers now carry usage-based billing on top of the seat price — 'additional invoices, projects, clients, and tasks are billed based on what you use.' The help center admits each plan has a free usage allowance, but the thresholds and per-unit overage rates are published nowhere.
Legacy plans (accounts upgraded before November 7, 2024) are being migrated to the new billing system in batches; Harvest states the move cannot be delayed and cannot be reversed once made.
Harvest was acquired by Bending Spoons (owner of Evernote, WeTransfer, Vimeo) in July 2025, and the pricing page no longer describes what long-tenured accounts are actually billed — a 14-year customer reported a proposed jump from ~$168/year to over $19,000/year.
The public ladder itself steps +56%: Teams $9/seat annual to Enterprise $14/seat, gating profitability reporting, timesheet approvals, SSO, and the audit log.
Hubstaff
Every paid plan has a 2-seat minimum, and the card prices are annual-toggle rates ('2 months free') — monthly-billing prices are not printed on the plan cards at all.
The lower tiers rebuild the higher ones through add-ons: Insights $2.50, Tasks $2.50, extra screenshots $2.50, 6-year data retention $1.67, silent app $2.50 per seat/mo. A Starter seat with three add-ons costs more than a Team seat.
Team to Enterprise is +150% ($10 to $25/seat, annual-only billing) — the gates are HIPAA, SOC-2 Type II, SSO, SCIM, silent tracking, and locations, so regulated teams pay 2.5x on every seat.
Support is metered too: Starter's email SLA is 2 business days, and VIP support runs $29-59/mo per organization on top of seat fees. Removed seats earn no prorated refunds.
What teams are switching to
Replacing Harvest
Solidtime
Solo free (cloud), Professional EUR 8/user/mo billed annually, self-hosted $0
Open-source time tracking (AGPL) with timers, timesheets, invoicing, and a self-host option that removes the per-seat meter entirely. The tool departing Harvest customers actually name in migration threads. Not AI-automatic — the savings story is open source and no usage fees.
Toggl Track
Free; Starter $9/seat/mo; Premium $14 first year then $18/seat/mo
The free plan carries calendar auto-tracking, keyword-triggered tracking, idle detection, and 100+ browser-extension integrations — automation that is rules-based rather than AI, but included at $0. Paid tiers add billable rates and reporting from $9/seat.
Clockify
Free; Basic $3.99, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, Enterprise $11.99 per seat/mo billed annually
The category's price floor: a free tier that includes the automatic tracker, and a paid ladder from $3.99/seat. Standard ($5.49/seat annual) covers invoicing and QuickBooks payroll/billing sync — the two features that usually justify far pricier incumbents.
Replacing Hubstaff
Clockify
Free; Basic $3.99, Standard $5.49, Pro $7.99, Enterprise $11.99 per seat/mo billed annually
The category's price floor: a free tier that includes the automatic tracker, and a paid ladder from $3.99/seat. Standard ($5.49/seat annual) covers invoicing and QuickBooks payroll/billing sync — the two features that usually justify far pricier incumbents.
Toggl Track
Free; Starter $9/seat/mo; Premium $14 first year then $18/seat/mo
The free plan carries calendar auto-tracking, keyword-triggered tracking, idle detection, and 100+ browser-extension integrations — automation that is rules-based rather than AI, but included at $0. Paid tiers add billable rates and reporting from $9/seat.
Solidtime
Solo free (cloud), Professional EUR 8/user/mo billed annually, self-hosted $0
Open-source time tracking (AGPL) with timers, timesheets, invoicing, and a self-host option that removes the per-seat meter entirely. The tool departing Harvest customers actually name in migration threads. Not AI-automatic — the savings story is open source and no usage fees.
StackCut doesn't sell or recommend any of these tools. We show them for context. The decision is yours.
Total Cost of Ownership
Subscription fees plus labor and error costs, modeled at $50/hr loaded rate (BLS ECEC). Both vendors are costed at the same team size so the two columns can be compared directly.
| Cost Component | Harvest | Hubstaff |
|---|---|---|
| Annual subscription | $1,080 | $1,200 |
| Labor cost | $9,000 | $9,000 |
| Error & rework cost | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| Total Cost of Ownership | $13,080/yr | $13,200/yr |
| Est. AI alternative | $1,940/yr | $1,940/yr |
Labor rate based on BLS ECEC June 2025 ($45.65/hr private industry total compensation, rounded to $50). Your actual numbers depend on team size, role mix, and usage. Run it with your own data.
Which one fits your team?
Both Harvest and Hubstaff cost more than their published pricing suggests. The right choice depends on your team size and how you weigh each tool's trade-offs.
Harvest starts at $9/seat/mo , but watch for Both paid tiers now carry usage-based billing on top of the seat price — 'additional invoices, projects, clients, and tasks are billed based on what you use.' The help center admits each plan has a free usage allowance, but the thresholds and per-unit overage rates are published nowhere.
Hubstaff starts at $10/seat/mo , but watch for Every paid plan has a 2-seat minimum, and the card prices are annual-toggle rates ('2 months free') — monthly-billing prices are not printed on the plan cards at all.
An AI-native alternative may replace the workflow at a fraction of the TCO.
See all SaaS cost comparisonsBrowse alternatives for every tool
FAQ
Harvest vs Hubstaff: quick answers
Is Harvest or Hubstaff cheaper?
On total cost of ownership, Harvest runs about $13,080/year (10-person team) versus $13,200/year for Hubstaff (10-person team) once labor and hidden costs are counted, not just the published subscription. Adjust the inputs to your own team to compare them directly.
What can replace Harvest or Hubstaff?
Harvest is often replaced by Solidtime and Toggl Track; Hubstaff by Clockify and Toggl Track. StackCut shows the cost case for each AI-first alternative without taking referral fees.
What are the hidden costs of Harvest and Hubstaff?
Harvest: Both paid tiers now carry usage-based billing on top of the seat price — 'additional invoices, projects, clients, and tasks are billed based on what you use.' The help center admits each plan has a free usage allowance, but the thresholds and per-unit overage rates are published nowhere. Hubstaff: Every paid plan has a 2-seat minimum, and the card prices are annual-toggle rates ('2 months free') — monthly-billing prices are not printed on the plan cards at all.
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