Harvest vs tickbit: a comparison for Indian agencies billing globally

For over a decade, Harvest has been the default time-tracking pick for small agencies. That changed in 2025.

After Bending Spoons acquired Harvest, many long-time customers reported surprise renewal bills tied to a new usage-based pricing model. Public complaints on forums and social platforms have described jumps from roughly $12/month to over $1,900/month on renewal, depending on seat count and historical usage. Whether your own bill changed or not, the shift has sent a lot of teams back to the market.

This post is for Indian agencies in that market. It's a side-by-side comparison of Harvest and tickbit across five things that actually decide the call: who each tool is built for, pricing, features, what each side does better, and how migration works. No hype, no ranking-bait. Read it, compare your own situation, and pick the one that fits.

Who each tool is built for

Harvest

Harvest is a time-tracking and invoicing tool built in the United States, aimed primarily at small teams and freelancers in North America and Europe. It has a clean timer, solid timesheets, a reliable invoicing flow, and a broad integration catalog. The design philosophy is simplicity: track time, send invoices, get paid. For a five-person design studio in Brooklyn billing in USD, it's an obvious fit.

tickbit

tickbit is a time-tracking, invoicing, and profitability platform built in India by Affiniq, aimed at service agencies and freelancers billing foreign clients in USD, EUR, GBP, or AED. The design philosophy is different: time tracking and invoicing are the baseline, and the product is built around a real problem those tools don't address, which is that team cost sits in rupees while revenue sits in foreign currencies. Pricing is in INR, billing runs through Razorpay, and the profitability dashboard is native.

Both tools have a valid audience. They just aren't the same audience.

Pricing side by side

Harvest's published pricing is $12/user/month on monthly billing, or $10.80/user/month on annual. That's the sticker price. The complication is the 2025 usage-based renewal model, which has produced the widely reported cases of bills jumping from ~$12/month to ~$1,900/month on renewal for teams whose historical usage crossed new thresholds. Treat this as a reported phenomenon that has affected some customers, not a blanket claim about every plan.

tickbit pricing, for reference:

• Free — ₹0, 2 users, 3 projects, 3 invoices/month

• Starter — ₹199/user/month (₹159/user/month on annual)

• Pro — ₹499/user/month (₹399/user/month on annual)

• Business — Contact sales (500 users, SSO, API, custom branding)

Comparing like-for-like at published rates:

INR conversions at ~₹84/USD. Pricing varies by plan, billing frequency, and renewal terms; check each vendor's current pricing page for figures tied to your specific situation.

One factor the table doesn't show: payment method. Harvest bills in USD. Indian teams paying a USD subscription on an Indian card typically absorb 3–5% in FX markup and foreign transaction fees on every bill. tickbit bills in INR via Razorpay and accepts UPI, cards, and net banking. Zero FX markup, zero foreign transaction fees.

Feature comparison

A few of these rows deserve a closer look.

Multi-currency invoicing with GST export declaration. If you bill a US client in USD from India, your CA needs the invoice to carry the "Export of Services — Zero Rated under GST" declaration. Harvest will invoice in USD, but the declaration isn't native. tickbit generates invoices in USD, EUR, GBP, or AED with the declaration printed automatically. Small thing on paper, meaningful at tax time.

Profitability dashboard. This is the structural difference between the two tools. Suppose you invoice a US client $3,000 for a project. Your team logs 120 hours on it. At a ₹1,500/hour loaded internal cost, that's ₹1,80,000 out the door. At ₹84/USD, the invoice is ₹2,52,000 in. Real margin: 28%. Harvest reports hours against budget. It doesn't convert the hours to INR cost, doesn't convert the invoice to INR revenue, and doesn't compute the margin. tickbit does all three, live, per project and per client.

Client portal. tickbit gives each invoice a public link. Your client opens it, sees the invoice and your payment details (bank, SWIFT, Wise, Payoneer, UPI), and pays. No account, no login, no password reset emails. Harvest's flows often require the client to interact with their system directly, which adds friction for foreign clients who just want to wire money and move on.

Trust-based tracking. Neither tool does screenshot capture, GPS tracking, or keystroke logging. For tickbit this is deliberate: the product is built for modern agencies that treat their people as professionals, not assembly-line workers. If you want surveillance software, both tools are the wrong call.

What Harvest does better

Being honest about this is the point.

Harvest has native iOS and Android apps that have been around for years and are well-polished. If your team tracks time primarily from phones, that's a real advantage today. tickbit runs on mobile browsers; a native app is not currently on the roadmap.

Harvest's integration catalog is deeper. Zapier, Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Slack, Xero, QuickBooks, and a long tail of connectors that a mature product accumulates over a decade. If your finance operation is tightly coupled to Xero or QuickBooks, or your project management lives in Asana or Basecamp, Harvest fits into that stack with less friction. tickbit has no direct accounting integrations today.

Harvest has a longer track record and a larger installed base. That brings stability, community knowledge, and a bigger pool of hires who've used it before.

If mobile-first tracking or deep accounting integration is non-negotiable for you right now, Harvest is likely the better call.

When tickbit is the right choice

tickbit is the better fit if some combination of these is true:

• You're an Indian agency or freelancer billing foreign clients in USD, EUR, GBP, or AED

• You need real profitability reporting that accounts for INR cost against foreign revenue

• You want invoicing with GST export declarations and multi-currency handling built in

• You want to pay in INR via Razorpay or UPI without FX markup on your own bill

• You want a client portal where foreign clients pay without creating accounts

• Your Harvest renewal has become hard to justify

If most of those describe your situation, the comparison stops being close.

Migrating from Harvest

Harvest exports time entries, projects, and clients as CSV files from the Reports section. tickbit is building a CSV importer for Harvest's standard export format. Until it's live, contact hello@tickbit.in for current migration options.

Frequently asked questions

Can I export my data out of Harvest easily? Yes. Harvest supports CSV export of time entries, clients, and projects from the Reports section. These are standard formats that any modern tool can work with. Export your data before cancelling your Harvest subscription — keep local copies even if you're not planning to switch tools.

Is tickbit reliable enough to run a business on? tickbit runs on dedicated infrastructure with daily backups. As with any newer product, the honest answer is: track record is shorter than Harvest's. Teams evaluating tickbit often start with a small pilot — one or two projects — before migrating fully, which is a reasonable way to de-risk any tool switch.

What happens to my data if I cancel tickbit? You can export your time entries, invoices, and client list as CSV before cancelling. tickbit does not hold data hostage. Subscriptions cancel through the billing settings without a retention call.

Does tickbit work for clients in Europe or the Middle East, not just the US? Yes. tickbit supports invoicing in USD, EUR, GBP, and AED natively, with the "Export of Services — Zero Rated under GST" declaration applied automatically. Payment details on the client portal accept SWIFT, Wise, Payoneer, and direct bank wire — the methods European and Gulf clients actually use.

Final verdict

Harvest is a mature tool with broad integration support, polished native mobile apps, and a workflow that suits small teams in the US or Europe running simple time-and-bill operations. For that buyer, it remains a reasonable choice.

tickbit is built for a different buyer: Indian agencies and freelancers billing foreign clients, who need native multi-currency handling, profitability reporting that reconciles INR cost against USD/EUR/GBP revenue, GST-ready export invoicing, and pricing that doesn't carry FX markup. For that buyer, tickbit is the stronger fit, and the gap widens as the team grows and the number of foreign clients goes up.

Compare your own numbers before deciding. See pricing and start a free account at tickbit.in.