Harvest is a polished time-tracking and invoicing tool sold as a subscription. AetherTime is a desktop app you buy once that covers the same ground — timer, tasks, invoices, reports — and keeps your data local.
Harvest is close to AetherTime in what it does: time tracking and invoicing for people who bill by the hour. It is cloud-based and priced per user per month, with a free tier for very small use and paid plans above it.
AetherTime does that same core job as a one-time purchase, offline, with your data on your own machine. It also adds estimates and proposals, and configurable rounding including legal 6-minute increments, all in the base price.
| AetherTime | Harvest | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $99 one-time | $9–$17.50/mo, per user |
| Over 3 years, one user | About $99 | About $324–$630 |
| Works offline | ✓ | ✗ |
| Runs from a USB drive, no install | ✓ | ✗ |
| Data stays on your machine | ✓ | ✗ (vendor cloud) |
| Invoicing included | ✓ | ✓ (higher tier) |
| Estimates and proposals | ✓ | ✗ |
| 6-minute legal increments | ✓ | ✗ |
| No account needed | ✓ | ✗ |
| Team collaboration in the cloud | Basic shared file (1–2 editors) | ✓ |
Harvest pricing and features as of August 2026, from public vendor pages; check their site for the current numbers. AetherTime details from our own pricing, which includes every feature in every license.
Choose Harvest if you want a cloud tool with strong team features and do not mind the monthly per-user cost.
Choose AetherTime if you are a solo practitioner or a very small firm that wants the same outcome — accurate hours, a clean invoice — for a one-time price, offline, with your records staying yours. Legal users should note the 6-minute rounding, which Harvest does not offer.
For solo users and very small firms, yes. It covers time tracking, invoicing, and reports for a one-time price instead of a monthly per-user fee, and adds estimates and 6-minute legal rounding. For teams that need cloud collaboration, Harvest is the better fit.
AetherTime is $99 once for Solo or $199 once for Pro. Harvest is roughly $9–$17.50 per user per month, so a single user passes the AetherTime price within about three to six months.
They could be, but there is little reason to. Both cover the same workflow, and AetherTime keeps the data local rather than syncing to a cloud service.
Private beta is open. Email us for a free copy before launch — no account, no credit card, no data sent anywhere.
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