Relentify Timesheets vs Harvest: Time Tracking and Billing Compared

Harvest has been a favourite among agencies, consultancies, and professional services firms since 2006. Its combination of time tracking, expense tracking, and invoicing makes it a natural choice for project-based businesses that bill clients by the hour.

But Harvest is designed for a specific type of business. If you manage a workforce of shift workers, need GPS-verified timesheets, or must comply with UK employment regulations, Harvest's project-billing focus may not serve your needs.

Relentify Timesheets is built for workforce management. Here is how the two platforms compare.

Pricing

| Plan | Relentify Timesheets | Harvest | |------|---------------------|---------| | Free tier | Yes (up to 5 workers) | Yes (1 user, 2 projects) | | Paid plan | From £3/worker/month | $10.80/seat/month (~£8.50) | | Annual pricing | Yes (discount) | Yes |

Harvest is nearly three times the cost per user compared to Relentify Timesheets. For a 15-person team, the annual difference is meaningful:

Relentify: £540-£900/year
Harvest: £1,530/year

Harvest's free tier is very limited — one user and two projects. It is effectively a personal demo rather than a usable tier for a team. Relentify's free tier supports up to 5 workers with full features.

Purpose comparison

| Focus area | Relentify Timesheets | Harvest | |------------|---------------------|---------| | Primary purpose | Workforce timesheets | Project time + billing | | Target user | Operations managers | Project managers | | Time model | Clock in/out | Timer + manual entry | | Billing | No (payroll export) | Yes (invoicing built-in) | | Expense tracking | No | Yes | | Client management | No | Yes |

Harvest is a project-economics tool: track time, track expenses, invoice clients, and understand project profitability. Relentify Timesheets is a labour-management tool: track shifts, verify attendance, manage breaks, and export to payroll.

Feature comparison

| Feature | Relentify Timesheets | Harvest | |---------|---------------------|---------| | Clock in/out | Yes | No (timer model) | | Timer tracking | No | Yes | | GPS verification | Yes | No | | Photo verification | Yes | No | | Geofencing | Yes | No | | Shift scheduling | Yes | No | | Break tracking | Automatic (rule-based) | Manual | | Overtime calculations | Automatic (UK rules) | Basic | | Timesheet approval | Multi-level workflow | Basic approval | | Leave management | Yes | No | | Project tracking | Basic | Yes (core) | | Expense tracking | No | Yes | | Invoicing | No | Yes | | Budget tracking | No | Yes (per project) | | Compliance | UK WTR built-in | No |

The feature sets barely overlap. Harvest does things Relentify does not (invoicing, expenses, budgets), and Relentify does things Harvest does not (GPS, scheduling, compliance, photo verification).

Time tracking models

Harvest uses a timer and manual entry model. You start a timer against a project and task, or manually enter hours after the fact. This suits consultants and agency staff who work on multiple projects throughout the day and need to categorise every hour.

Relentify Timesheets uses a clock-in/clock-out model. Workers arrive at a site, clock in with GPS verification, work their shift, and clock out. The system records the precise start and end time. This suits hourly workers, field staff, and employees who work set shifts.

The timer model assumes workers are self-directed and honest about their time allocation. The clock-in model verifies attendance and provides objective records.

Invoicing and billing

This is Harvest's unique strength. The platform generates professional invoices directly from tracked time and expenses. You can set hourly rates per team member, per project, or per task, and convert tracked time into client invoices with a few clicks.

Relentify Timesheets does not include invoicing. Its output is payroll-ready timesheet data — hours worked, overtime, breaks, and leave — exported for processing in your payroll system.

If your primary need is billing clients for project time, Harvest's integrated invoicing is valuable. If your primary need is paying employees accurately, Relentify's payroll-focused output is more appropriate.

Budget and profitability

Harvest tracks project budgets and alerts you when a project approaches its budget limit. You can see in real-time whether a project is profitable, over budget, or at risk. This is valuable for agencies and consultancies managing multiple client engagements.

Relentify Timesheets tracks labour costs by worker, shift, and site. You can see how much a site costs to staff, identify overtime hotspots, and forecast labour expenses. This is valuable for operations managers controlling workforce costs.

| Budget/cost feature | Relentify Timesheets | Harvest | |---------------------|---------------------|---------| | Project budgets | No | Yes | | Cost per site | Yes | No | | Cost per worker | Yes | Yes (per person) | | Overtime cost tracking | Yes | Basic | | Budget alerts | No | Yes | | Profitability analysis | Labour cost focused | Project profit focused |

Reporting

| Report | Relentify Timesheets | Harvest | |--------|---------------------|---------| | Hours per worker | Yes | Yes (per person) | | Hours per project | Basic | Yes (detailed) | | Labour costs per site | Yes | No | | Project profitability | No | Yes | | Overtime analysis | Detailed | Basic | | Attendance patterns | Yes | No | | Compliance reports | Yes | No | | Expense reports | No | Yes | | Uninvoiced time | No | Yes |

Team management

| Team feature | Relentify Timesheets | Harvest | |--------------|---------------------|---------| | Manager approval | Multi-level workflow | Basic | | Shift scheduling | Yes | No | | Availability management | Yes | No | | Multi-site | Yes | No (multi-project) | | Worker performance | Yes | Yes (utilisation) | | Disputed timesheets | Yes | No | | Leave tracking | Yes | No |

Integrations

Harvest integrates with project management tools (Asana, Trello, Basecamp), accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks), and Slack. Its integration focus reflects its project-management audience.

Relentify Timesheets integrates with payroll systems and Relentify's business software suite. The focus is on getting timesheet data into payroll accurately.

Who should choose which?

Choose Relentify Timesheets if:

You manage hourly workers who clock in and out of shifts
GPS and photo verification matter for your business
UK Working Time Regulations compliance is required
Shift scheduling is part of your workflow
Your primary output is payroll data, not client invoices

Choose Harvest if:

You run a project-based business billing clients by the hour
Integrated invoicing from tracked time is important
You need expense tracking alongside time tracking
Project budgets and profitability analysis are key metrics
Your team self-directs their time across projects

The bottom line

Harvest and Relentify Timesheets are built for fundamentally different businesses. Harvest is for project-based firms that invoice clients. Relentify Timesheets is for shift-based businesses that pay employees.

If you are trying to use Harvest to manage a workforce of hourly workers, you are using the wrong tool. It will not give you GPS verification, shift scheduling, break compliance, or the approval workflows your operations team needs.

Relentify Timesheets is purpose-built for workforce management at a lower cost per worker. Choose the tool that matches your actual business model.

Try Relentify Timesheets free — built for workforce management, not project billing.