The Best Harvest Time Tracking Alternatives for Consulting Teams

Many consulting teams start with Harvest for time tracking. It’s simple, clean, and easy to adopt. But once you need more than just timesheets—like project visibility, planned vs. actual tracking, or better staffing visibility—those limits start to show.

If you’re evaluating Harvest time tracking alternatives, this guide outlines what to look for, what to avoid, and how to choose a tool that supports operational performance, not just data entry.

When Harvest Falls Short for Consulting Teams

Harvest works well for basic time tracking, but consulting teams often need more operational depth. Here’s where Harvest tends to fall short:

• No link between time tracking and resource planning
  Most teams end up planning in spreadsheets, disconnected from delivery data.
• No place to manage consultants’ skills
  Matching the right people to the right projects becomes manual and inefficient.
• No visibility into forecasted workloads or tentative capacity
• Limited reporting for utilization and profitability
• Lack of enterprise-level settings for larger, matrix organizations

These gaps create operational blind spots. If you're managing multiple projects, variable billable rates, and a growing team, they add friction at scale.

What to Look for in a Time Tracking Alternative

Before jumping to a new tool, it helps to define what your consulting team actually needs. Here’s a checklist of essentials:

1. Planned vs. Actual Tracking

You should be able to compare what was scoped with what actually happened—at both the project and individual level. This helps you spot revenue leak, and get better at planning your time, so your team is able to maximize utilization while not burning out.

2. Integrated Project Staffing

Time tracking should align with how you staff your team. Look for tools that connect planned hours to actual capacity and make staffing decisions easier. It's also a whole lot simpler for the whole company to have one tool vs. having to juggle with multiple ones.

3. Utilization and Performance Reporting

Consulting teams need clear views of billable vs. non-billable hours, capacity, and delivery against plan. Often times consulting firms only look at past utilization data, a good platform combines both time tracking data, and a forward-looking utilization forecast.

4. CRM, HRIS, and finance Integrations

The more connected your tool is to the rest of your tech stack, the less manual effort is needed to maintain it. In order to run your company's business efficiently, your tech stack needs to be integrated.

5. Organizational Controls and Flexibility

For teams operating across multiple regions or business units, look for support for working hours, public holidays, and role-based permissions.

Best Harvest Time Tracking Alternatives

Several platforms offer strong time tracking features, each with its own angle. Here’s how they compare based on real consulting needs like resource planning, utilization tracking, and integration with CRM or staffing workflows.

Operating.app

Operating is a professional services automation platform designed to replace multiple disconnected tools. Built by former consultants, it brings together time tracking, resource planning, CRM integration, and consultant skill management.

Best for: Consulting teams that want a purpose-built, all-in-one platform without the complexity or cost of legacy PSA software.

Strengths:

• Planned vs. actual hours tracking
• CRM integration to forecast tentative capacity
• Consultant skill management and matching
• Enterprise-ready: working hours, holidays, locations, teams
• Simple UX, great REST API, affordable pricing

Limitations

• Purpose-built for consulting, might fall short for internal teams for some scheduling features
• No within a day-level calendar-like scheduling typical for creative agencies and companies with splintered allocations within one week

Operating stands out for consulting-focused capabilities typically missing in generalist tools, while staying lean enough for smaller teams.

Float

Float is known for its clean, intuitive interface and visual scheduling. It’s popular with creative teams and agencies who need drag-and-drop scheduling and quick overviews of who’s working on what.

Best for: Small to mid-sized teams focused on visual planning and calendar-style scheduling.

Strengths:

• Intuitive scheduling UI
• Easy onboarding and adoption
• Helpful for short-term task visibility

Limitations for consulting:

• Lacks CRM or sales pipeline integration
• No invoicing or deeper financial workflows
• No support for enterprise settings like multi-site orgs or capacity planning by role/skills

Kantata (formerly Mavenlink)

Kantata is a full-scale PSA platform offering project management, time tracking, and financial controls. It’s a mature solution used by large consulting and professional services firms.

Best for: Enterprises with structured PMOs and finance-led operations.

Strengths:

• Extensive PSA features
• Financial management and margin tracking
• Time, expense, and invoicing workflows in one place

Limitations:

• Steep learning curve
• Higher cost and overhead
• Can be overkill for smaller or mid-market firms

Forecast

Forecast focuses on AI-assisted project planning, budgeting, and resource management. It aims to help teams predict project outcomes and resource availability.

Best for: Teams prioritizing predictive planning over granular time tracking.

Strengths:

• Forecasting and workload prediction tools
• Broad project visibility
• Planning features tied to budgets and deliverables

Limitations:

• Higher price point for full feature access
• CRM and staffing integration options are limited
• Time tracking is functional but less detailed

Toggl Track

Toggl Track is a lightweight time tracking app with a clean UI and browser extension support. It's often used by freelancers, startups, and small teams.

Best for: Teams that only need basic time tracking without planning or reporting layers.

Strengths:

• Fast, user-friendly interface
• Great for individual contributors
• Easy to use across devices

Limitations:

• No resource planning or staffing views
• Limited reporting depth
• No connection to project forecasts or CRM data

ClickTime

ClickTime is a long-established timesheet platform with robust reporting, audit trails, and compliance support. It's often chosen for its reliability and administrative features.

Best for: Organizations that prioritize structured time tracking and compliance over planning.

Strengths:

• Mature product with reliable timesheets
• Strong audit and compliance features
• Useful for grant- or cost-center-based time tracking

Limitations:

• Dated interface
• Not built for collaborative project planning
• Minimal CRM or sales integration

Runn

Runn offers a strong mix of time tracking and resource planning features. It’s gaining traction among smaller agencies and growing firms.

Best for: Teams that want integrated planning and time tracking in a modern UI.

Strengths:

• Solid resource planning features
• Good visibility into future workloads
• Modern UX and simple team scheduling

Limitations:

• No built-in CRM or sales forecasting tools
• Lacks invoicing or financial tracking modules

Final Thoughts: Choose the Right Tool for How Your Team Works

There’s no shortage of Harvest time tracking alternatives. The best choice depends on what you need beyond just logging hours.

If you're running a consulting team, and you need to plan, staff, and track work in a way that reflects real client delivery, Operating is built specifically for that.

• If you're after visual scheduling and simplicity, Float is a strong option, also for non-consulting teams.
• If you're managing enterprise workflows with strict financial controls, Kantata delivers depth and project management features—at a cost.
• If you're building forecasts and want predictive planning, Forecast offers that lens.
• If you only need lightweight tracking, Toggl Track gets the job done.
• If you need a solid resource management and time tracking tool, Runn might be your choice.

From all of the alternatives, Operating gives you planned vs. actual tracking, CRM-based capacity forecasting, skill-based staffing, and enterprise settings in a clean interface. And it brings together what other tools spread across multiple platforms without the heavyweight setup or enterprise pricing. If you're ready to move beyond Harvest and build a smarter, more connected way of working, Operating is worth exploring.

Book a time to have a chat here if you're interested, and we can evaluate if Operating.app would be a good fit.