Harvest

May 8, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, Hosted software, Productivity

What is it?

Harvest: Online time tracking and reporting application.

Who makes it?

Iridesco, Inc.

Why is it the killerest?

I've been looking for something like Harvest for years. 

As a freelancer I keep track of my time religiously, but the available tools are either bloated desktop-based uber-business apps or worthlessly oversimplified calculators.  I didn't want something that just let me record my time - any piece of paper could do that.  I wanted something that would actually calculate my time for me.  I just wanted to clock in and clock out and let the computer do the calculations.  Harvest does all this and much more with a fun and intuitive interface.

I can set up multiple projects and tasks and use it for billing clients.  I love the multi-user feature which allows me to have employees and subcontractors keep track of their own hours and submit them to me for approval.  I can even send reminders when they forget.

The reporting section is perfect for invoice time.  I can see at a glance how many hours each person worked on a particular project or task.  The application is designed well and the AJAX is handled beautifully throughout the application.  It's actually fun to track your time!

I've kissed my desktop applications goodbye.  Hello Harvest!

What could be improved?

Harvest is very young.  The developers are hard at work on feature additions, but there is definitely still room for improvement.  I've submitted my feature requests and gotten the impression that they actually want to hear from their customers and are actively working to make the application what their users want it to be.

How much does it cost?

$5-60/month + free account

Rating?

Reviewed by Timothy Gray

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There's http://progressmeter.com pending for release since the last yeat. All I need is to add a payment processor and finish the desktop client (no time for that absolutely).