Harvest vs Invoice Ninja Comparison 2026
Harvest starts with a timer: track hours against a project and turn them into an invoice with the rate already applied, free for one seat and two projects. Invoice Ninja starts with the invoice itself, quotes, recurring bills and a long list of payment gateways, free for up to five clients with no time limit, and it can be self-hosted since the code is open source. Pick Harvest if hourly billing is the business. Pick Invoice Ninja if the job is sending invoices without tracking time against them.
Time tracking that turns into an invoice
Open-source invoicing, free for 5 clients
At a glance
- Harvest starts cheaper, at $9.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Harvest | Invoice Ninja | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $9 | From $14 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | 30 days | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Harvest
Time tracking that turns into an invoice
Harvest counts hours against a project and then bills them, which removes the worst half hour of any freelance month: reading a timesheet back and typing it into an invoice. Expenses and receipts attach to the same project. The free plan covers one person and two projects, and for a solo creator that is often where it stops.
Our note
Harvest is the pick when the hours are the invoice. If work is billed as a fixed project fee, Moxie or Bonsai cover more of the job for similar money and the time tracking is the smaller part of what you need.
Only on this side
- Covers project management
Invoice Ninja
Open-source invoicing, free for 5 clients
Invoice Ninja issues invoices, quotes and recurring bills, takes payment through a long list of gateways, and gives the whole thing away for up to five clients with no time limit and no invoice cap. The application is open source, so anybody who would rather hold their own data can run it on their own server instead of paying for the hosted version. Paying lifts the client limit and adds the branding and automation a business wants. Five clients is the ceiling that decides it, and it arrives sooner than most people expect.
Why people weigh these two
- Invoice Ninja instead of Harvest
- Invoice Ninja is open-source invoicing free for up to 5 clients, from $14 a month beyond that, for billing flat amounts rather than tracked hours.
- Harvest instead of Invoice Ninja
- Harvest starts from time tracking and turns tracked hours into an invoice, with a free tier and plans from $9, a fit when hourly billing drives the paperwork.
Which one should you pick
Pick Harvest if you bill by the hour and the gap between a timesheet and an invoice is costing you money. The free plan covers one seat and two projects with time tracking, invoicing and expenses all present, and Teams at $9 a seat a month lifts those caps after a 30-day trial that takes no card.
Pick Invoice Ninja if time tracking is not the point and the real question is how many clients you can bill for free. Five clients cost nothing, forever, with unlimited invoicing, quotes and recurring bills, and Pro at $14 a month lifts that ceiling and adds branding and automation. Being open source, it can run on your own server instead of a hosted plan, which matters if you would rather not put client financials on somebody else's.
Common questions
- Which one has the more generous free plan?
- It depends on what limits you first. Harvest's free plan caps at one seat and two projects but tracks time. Invoice Ninja's caps at five clients with no project or invoice limit, but has no time tracking against those invoices.
- Does Invoice Ninja track time like Harvest does?
- It is not built around that. Invoice Ninja's features are invoices, quotes, recurring bills and payment gateways. Harvest exists specifically to turn tracked hours into an invoice with the rate already applied.
- Can I run either one on my own server?
- Invoice Ninja, yes: it is open source and can be self-hosted instead of paying for the hosted version. Harvest has no self-hosted option; it is a hosted product only, free for one seat and two projects.
- Which one is cheaper for a freelancer with a handful of clients?
- If billing is by the hour, Harvest's free plan covers one seat and two projects at no cost. If billing is simpler invoices with no time tracking, Invoice Ninja's free plan covers five clients with unlimited invoicing, which often stretches further for a small practice.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.