Comparison
WaffleInvoice vs Harvest
Harvest is a 19-year-old time tracking tool that grew an invoicing module on top. It's best known for letting agencies and consultancies bill clients straight from tracked hours, with Forecast bolted on for capacity planning. WaffleInvoice is a much newer, much narrower tool: invoicing, payments, recurring billing, estimates, and a client portal - and stops there. This page is for solo consultants, freelancers, and small teams trying to decide which trade-off fits: invoicing-first or time-tracking-first. Where Harvest wins, we will say so plainly.
Quick verdict
Who should pick which?
Pick WaffleInvoice if...
You bill flat-rate, by-the-job, or on retainer. You want branded invoicing with Stripe payments, recurring billing, and SMS reminders - without paying per-user for a time tracker you don't need.
Pick Harvest if...
You bill hourly across multiple team members, you want tracked hours to roll directly into invoices, and you want team-level time reports and project profitability.
Why we built WaffleInvoice
We built WaffleInvoice because a lot of service businesses bill flat-rate, by-the-job, or on retainer - not by tracked hours. For those folks, paying $11/user/month for a time tracker they barely use is poor leverage, and the invoicing inside Harvest is functional but minimal. If your business model genuinely is 'tracked hours billed at an hourly rate,' Harvest's time-to-invoice flow is still hard to beat. If your business model is 'agreed scope, fixed price, recurring billing,' you'll find WaffleInvoice less in the way.
Try WaffleInvoice free — no credit card
See if it fits your workflow in under 5 minutes. Free tier is unlimited invoices, forever.
Create your free account →Side-by-side feature comparison
Where Harvest wins, we say so. Anything else would get penalized by Google and wouldn't help you make a real decision.
| Feature | WaffleInvoice | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free forever (Pro $19/mo) | Free (1 seat, 2 projects) / $11/seat/mo Pro |
| Harvest's free tier caps you at 1 seat and 2 projects. WaffleInvoice's free tier doesn't cap clients, invoices, or seats the same way. | ||
| Free tier | Yes - unlimited invoices, unlimited clients | Yes - 1 seat, 2 active projects |
| Per-user pricing on paid plan | No - flat $19/mo Pro | Yes - $11/seat/mo |
| If you're a team of 3+, the per-seat math gets expensive fast. | ||
| Branded invoices | Yes (no watermark) | Yes |
| Stripe card payments | Yes - Stripe Connect | Yes - Stripe and PayPal |
| Recurring invoices | Yes (Pro tier) | Yes (retainers) |
| Estimates / quotes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS payment reminders | Yes - built in | No - email only |
| Dedicated client portal | Yes - clients see all past invoices and estimates | Pay links per invoice (no unified portal) |
| Setup time | Sign up and send your first invoice in minutes | Longer - tasks, projects, rates, team setup |
| Time tracking | Basic (Pro tier) | Yes - best-in-class, this is their core product |
| Time-to-invoice automation | Manual line items | Yes - tracked hours roll directly into invoices |
| Project profitability reports | No | Yes - budgets, billable rates, margins |
| Team time reports | No - we're not a team time tool | Yes - approvals, timesheets, capacity views |
| Capacity / resource planning | No | Yes - via Harvest Forecast |
| Native mobile time tracking app | Mobile web (PWA) | Yes - iOS and Android apps |
| Expense tracking with receipts | No | Yes - photo receipts, billable expenses on invoices |
Pricing and feature info reflects each vendor's publicly listed plans as of May 2026. Harvest is a trademark of its respective owner. We are not affiliated with Harvest.
Try WaffleInvoice free — no credit card
Free tier is unlimited invoices. Pro is $19/mo and adds recurring billing, Stripe payments, SMS reminders, time tracking, and automation. Cancel any time.