Published October 15, 2026 · By the Sheaf team
Harvest’s new pricing, explained
This year a lot of small teams opened their Harvest renewal and found a much bigger bill than last year. Here’s what changed, how the new pricing works, and what you can do before your own renewal comes around.
What happened
Harvest was bought by Bending Spoons, the company that also owns Evernote, WeTransfer and Vimeo. Bending Spoons’ own filing with the SEC says the deal for Iridesco, Harvest’s company, closed on July 31, 2025 (SEC filing).
Through 2026, Harvest moved to a new pricing model that adds usage fees on top of the per-seat price. Many customers only noticed when their annual plan renewed. The change was covered by Subscription Insider, Silicon UK and the BBC, and discussed at length on Hacker News.
Harvest’s plans today
As listed on Harvest’s pricing page on October 15, 2026:
| Plan | Per seat, billed yearly | Per seat, billed monthly | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 seat and 2 projects |
| Teams | $9 a month | $11 a month | Unlimited seats, team reports, billable and cost rates, integrations |
| Enterprise | $14 a month | $17.50 a month | Adds profitability reports, timesheet approvals, activity log, SSO, custom exports |
| Enterprise Plus | Custom quote | White labelling, assisted migration, a dedicated contact | |
The catch is the line under the plans: extra invoices, projects, clients and tasks are “billed based on usage”. The page doesn’t say how much.
How the usage part works
Harvest’s help article on pricing plans explains that Teams and Enterprise are billed one of two ways:
- Flex: the seat price, plus usage charges based on the previous billing period. Usage counts active projects, active clients, active tasks and invoicing. Only items with time tracked in that period count.
- Unlimited: the seat price plus a fixed usage fee, so the bill doesn’t move with your usage.
Some other details from the same article:
- Each plan includes some usage for free. Harvest doesn’t publish how much, or the price per extra project, client or task.
- For new accounts, usage charges start at the second paid renewal.
- Accounts that upgraded before November 7, 2024 may still be on older “legacy” plans.
- After a trial, checkout defaults to Enterprise, billed yearly.
The free plan also got tighter. It’s one person and two active projects, with no logo on invoices and no data import, and you can’t email invoices or export them as PDFs unless you connect Stripe (Harvest help).
What customers reported paying
These are numbers customers shared with the press. Your bill depends on your own usage, so treat them as examples, not a forecast.
| Who | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| A UK consultancy | About $130 a month | $2,110 a month (later offered $1,309 a month if paid upfront) |
| A US customer | $2,800 a year | $23,000 a year |
| A 7-person team | $69 a month | $821.50 a month |
Sources: Subscription Insider and Silicon UK, citing customer accounts and BBC reporting. Bending Spoons told reporters its prices are in line with comparable products.
Who gets hit hardest
Because usage counts active projects, clients and tasks, the jump depends less on team size and more on how your work is split up. You’re most exposed if you:
- Work with many small clients, rather than a few big ones
- Open a new project for every job, sprint or month
- Use lots of tasks to categorize time
- Send a lot of invoices
A freelancer or a five-person studio with 30 active clients can end up paying more than a 40-person team with five big accounts.
What to do before your renewal
- Find your renewal date and whether you’re billed yearly or monthly. Seats can’t be removed mid-cycle.
- Count how many projects, clients and tasks had time tracked last billing period. That’s roughly what Flex will charge for.
- Ask Harvest for a written quote for both Flex and Unlimited, and ask whether you’re on a legacy plan.
- Export your data now, whatever you decide. It’s easier while you still have full access.
- Compare with a couple of alternatives that charge a flat price per person.
- Don’t commit to another year until you know what the year will cost.
Staying is a fine answer too
If Harvest’s quote works for you, there’s no need to move. Harvest is a mature product with native apps, card payments on invoices and accounting integrations. Some customers were offered a lower price for paying upfront, so it’s worth asking. Switching tools takes time, and that time has a cost.
How Sheaf prices
We built Sheaf for teams who liked how Harvest worked but not the new bill. Sheaf is free during beta. After that it will be a flat price per person, with no fees per project, client or invoice, and at least 30 days’ notice by email before anyone is charged. We haven’t announced the price yet, and we say that plainly on our pricing page. Sheaf can import your whole Harvest account in one click, so trying it costs you very little.
Try Sheaf free Switching from Harvest
Questions
Did Harvest raise its prices?
Who owns Harvest now?
What is the difference between Flex and Unlimited?
Is there still a free Harvest plan?
Related guides
- How to export all your data from HarvestEvery way to get your data out of Harvest: the admin exports, report CSVs, invoice PDFs and the API. Plus what the CSV files don’t keep, and a simple backup checklist.
- Harvest alternatives for small agenciesToggl Track, Clockify, Everhour, Productive, Paymo and Sheaf compared for small agencies leaving Harvest: prices, invoicing, budgets, and which ones import from Harvest.
Harvest is a trademark of its owner; Sheaf is not affiliated with it. Prices and terms as published by Harvest on October 15, 2026, and may change.