Basecamp vs. Harvest

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Basecamp
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Basecamp is a web-based project-management tool. Basecamp offers features standard to project management platforms, as well as mobile accessibility, unlimited users, and 3rd party integrations. Basecamp is priced by space requirements and concurrent projects.
$15
per month per user
Harvest
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Harvest is used to track time, gain insights from past projects, and get paid for work. Dedicated apps and integrations with popular tools like Asana and Slack allow Harvest to fit into a team’s workflow. A selection of visual reports are offered to keep projects running smoothly and an organization's team supported. Harvest also helps to turn a team’s tracked time and expenses into professional nvoices and collect payment quickly with integrated online payments.
$13.75
per month per seat
Pricing
BasecampHarvest
Editions & Modules
Basecamp Plus
$15
per month per user
Basecamp Pro Unlimited
$299
per month (billed annually)
Basecamp Free
Free
Limited Capabilities
Harvest Pro
$13.75
per month per seat
Harvest Premium
$17.50
per month per seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BasecampHarvest
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details20% discount for annual billing on Pro and Premium plans.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BasecampHarvest
Considered Both Products
Basecamp
Chose Basecamp
Asana has a free tier that has fewer features than Basecamp, so we opted for Basecamp for the additional ways we could use it. The Kanban board style in Asana is nice, but the document repository, chat features, recurring templates, etc. were selling points for Basecamp. It …
Chose Basecamp
I love both of these other products and would use them specifically for my own personal use or in other situations but hands down, I believe that Basecamp offers better flexibility and ease of use for an organization that has never used a project management tool before. …
Harvest
Chose Harvest
Basecamp, we used to have Basecamp. But Harvest+Asana made our decision making easier. We tried with Wrike but the user interface is not aseasy as is looks. Harvest has our problems resolved by now with simple steps that make this tool work for us. Other tools that could help …
Chose Harvest
Harvest is a bit more robust and offers additional related options such as invoicing (which Clockify does not have) though most people invoice through another system anyway.
Chose Harvest
Everhour is just very rudimentary and ugly. It did the okay for time tracking and basic reports — but it wasn’t very intuitive and could’ve been a lot more elegant. You couldn’t edit other users time or make corrections it was just a data pull and that was it.

Open air is even …
Chose Harvest
I looked at many different products at the time, but I liked the way the timesheet and job list worked best on Harvest, the others were trying to be too cool, or too complex.
Features
BasecampHarvest
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Basecamp
8.9
124 Ratings
14% above category average
Harvest
-
Ratings
Task Management9.3123 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management9.1103 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts6.743 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling8.599 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation8.672 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration9.7123 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology9.351 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology8.748 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management9.6115 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration8.4101 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access8.8100 Ratings00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking9.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management9.458 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management8.342 Ratings00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Basecamp
8.0
42 Ratings
3% above category average
Harvest
-
Ratings
Quotes/estimates10.030 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing10.026 Ratings00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting8.034 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software4.028 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BasecampHarvest
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 8.9 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InEight
InEight
Score 8.4 out of 10
TimeClock Plus
TimeClock Plus
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
InEight
InEight
Score 8.4 out of 10
Zoho People
Zoho People
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BasecampHarvest
Likelihood to Recommend
9.8
(150 ratings)
9.4
(51 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(26 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.3
(20 ratings)
9.2
(5 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(28 ratings)
8.4
(18 ratings)
Online Training
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BasecampHarvest
Likelihood to Recommend
37 Signals
Basecamp is a wonderful tool for teams of varying degrees of technical knowledge, teams managing lots of different types of "agifall" and waterfall projects, and teams that are remotely distributed. It's probably less useful for more strictly agile-focused development teams, compared to other more flexible software applications like Jira and Asana.
Read full review
Harvest
Harvest is ideally suited for a variety of scenarios, particularly in the realms of freelance or consulting work, where accurate hour tracking for billing is crucial. It excels in small to medium businesses managing team projects, allowing for effective resource allocation and time management across multiple concurrent projects. For budgeting and forecasting, Harvest provides valuable data, aiding in accurately estimating the duration and cost of future projects based on past data. It's also highly beneficial for remote or distributed teams, thanks to its cloud-based platform that facilitates seamless coordination. Additionally, its detailed reporting features enhance client transparency, fostering trust through clear communication of time spent on projects. However, Harvest may be less suitable for larger enterprises with complex integration needs or specialized industries requiring more niche features. Small startups or individuals on tight budgets might find the cost challenging, especially if they don't fully utilize all its features. Lastly, for those needing only basic time tracking, simpler or free tools might be more appropriate, making Harvest an unnecessary expenditure for basic needs.
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Pros
37 Signals
  • Task management - It is very easy to add, organize and discuss tasks within Basecamp's interface.
  • The "Campfire" function is great for communicating when you just have a quick question for someone on the team.
  • Notifications - Basecamp lets you decide how often and about what you'd like to be notified. The ability to respond to messages in Basecamp directly via email saves a lot of time.
Read full review
Harvest
  • Offers several options on using the tool, for example, you can use the app on your phone, the app for desktop, or simply have the website open.
  • The timer integrates with other platforms. For example, our team uses Asana as our project management tool. Now, in real-time, I can know which projects my team is working on and whether we're implementing good time management strategies to meet our goals.
  • The summary break downs are wonderful! You can view an individual's hours as well as project hours. There are even notifications you could receive when your team is getting close to reaching the allotted time for a client's project.
Read full review
Cons
37 Signals
  • High Learning Curve. It's true that it can be easy to use, but to use well and effectively takes some time to learn. It's recommended to have an agreed-upon system in your team of what tools to use and when.
  • Notification Overload. If people aren't careful they could send a notification to everyone when only a couple people were meant to be prompted. And since emails are sent by default, you could have your mailbox overloaded with unnecessary updates. This is where it takes a bit of training in your team to have an agreed-upon system.
  • Lack of organization with Archived Projects. I will often need to reference an archived project to make a new one, but there is only a list of archived projects in alphabetical order, with no way to organize by archive date, or even search.
Read full review
Harvest
  • I’m still trying to figure out how tasks best associate to a specific project. There’s a couple different places to edit that and I’m a little confused as to best practice.
  • Does not integrate into basecamp which is our project management system
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Likelihood to Renew
37 Signals
When I bring new people onto a project, it's immediately obvious how to use Basecamp. I don't have to worry about teaching them the features or walking them through it, it's just incredibly user-friendly. For this reason, I'll continue to renew my subscription even as new people are brought onto production jobs or the client changes.
Read full review
Harvest
No answers on this topic
Usability
37 Signals
It is easy to use, even for clients who have no experience with the platform. It can only get a little cumbersome to ensure that a client can't see certain documents you might want to keep in the Docs & Files folders. And sometimes, getting a client to actually use an unfamiliar platform can be a challenge.
Read full review
Harvest
Again, just a minor compatibility issues using with other platforms such as Basecamp, but it does do everything promised. The only downfall we have found is having to create a job in both platforms and then connecting them later vs being able to create a project once and having them automatically connect.
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Reliability and Availability
37 Signals
I've never experienced downtime while using Basecamp, or been unable to access it when I needed it. That's not to say they've never had downtime, but I've been lucky enough not to encounter any, and I work odd hours, including late nights when maintenance is often undertaken.
Read full review
Harvest
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
37 Signals
For the many reasons I've given, Basecamp is a very strong program. There are a few features I can imagine that might make it even better, but I don't have a basis for comparison to be able to say that there is definitely a better one out there. I've noticed that Basecamp has evolved a bit from the time I started using it until now, so that makes me think that the producer of this program values it and believes in continuous improvement. If you could use the features offered by Basecamp, I would think you could use it with confidence.
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Harvest
They're very responsive and do their best to answer whatever questions we've had. Sometimes, the question or request we've made is for a feature that doesn't yet exist, however in most cases those features have been built later and did eventually address our need.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
37 Signals
Decide the process before implementation - i.e. when it's due 8/9 does that mean 8am, noon, 5pm, 11:59pm? Check your to-do list frequently Set-up templates - just not with the dates (they can be funky)
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Harvest
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
37 Signals
Pretty good, but [Basecamp] has its drawbacks. Honestly I find the interface non-intuitive and sometimes have trouble figuring out how to change the status of a task. Perhaps it has something to do with the way it was originally set up by the admin, but I'm not sure. I liked Jira's drag and drop obvious functionality, but the project management side of the software was lacking. Smartsheet has excellent project management functionality, but the task management isn't as good.
Read full review
Harvest
Harvest is significantly better than Jira. I think Jira's is not originally intended to be used as a time logging/management system, but we had been previously using it as that. It was much clunkier, and many employees had a difficult time using it as a user interface goes. Harvest is much more user friendly and has simplified the daily time-logging process for everyone in our office
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Return on Investment
37 Signals
  • It has saved me time when having to get the same message out to multiple restaurants
  • It has helped us make smarter operational decisions because we can all collaborate on an answer in a shorter amount of time (instead of calling a meeting!!!)
  • The calendar function allows us to plot out our marketing agenda for the month and add/change it together as needed. The chef will post his recipe, the managers will cost it out, the social media manager will post pictures on it, and ultimately we will get that information out on an info sheet to the staff by printing the page.
Read full review
Harvest
  • Harvest has improved our payment schedules. Since we switched, we get paid for projects much sooner.
  • Harvest has saved us a ton of time with payroll. We are able to track our users time and pay them appropriately based on their billable hours.
  • Harvest is becoming a lifesaver around tax time. The reporting features have allowed us to pull reports for our tax accountant.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Harvest Screenshots

Screenshot of the time tracking experience in HarvestScreenshot of project progress tracking, with budgets and costsScreenshot of team capacity trackingScreenshot of a visualization displaying where a team's time is goingScreenshot of Harvest invoicing, that turns tracked time and expenses into invoices so users can get paid online