Harvest vs VA Growth Suite
Harvest adds invoicing on top of time tracking, but pricing scales painfully with clients and it has no portal.
| Feature | Harvest | VA Growth Suite |
|---|---|---|
| Time tracking with running timer | ||
| Multi-client dashboard | ||
| PDF invoice generation | ||
| Branded client portal | ||
| Kanban task board per client | ||
| Starts at $0 (free plan) | ||
| No per-user pricing | ||
| Built for VAs specifically | ||
| Starting price | $12/user/mo | $0 free, $19/mo paid |
Harvest — strengths
- Tracks time, generates invoices, and accepts payments
- Integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and Stripe
- Solid team reporting
Harvest — limits for VAs
- $12/user/mo means $36/mo for a VA with 1 VA and 2 subcontractors
- No client portal — clients can't see task progress
- Invoice templates feel dated and hard to brand
Our honest take
Harvest is built for agencies, not solo VAs. VA Growth Suite gives you the same invoicing + time tracking, plus a portal and task board, at a flat rate.
When Harvest is the right choice
If you're already on Harvest and it's working, don't switch just to save a few dollars. But if you're just starting out as a VA — or you're paying for Harvest plus a second tool for invoicing or a client portal — we built VA Growth Suite to replace that stack.
When VA Growth Suite wins
- You're a solo VA or small agency (not a 20-person design studio)
- You need time tracking and invoicing and a client portal
- Flat pricing matters more than deep workflow automation
- You want to get set up in 5 minutes, not 5 days
What you actually use Harvest for
Harvest is the tool VAs pick when they want time tracking and invoicing in one app and are willing to pay for the polish. The typical flow: start a timer against a project, accumulate hours through the week, then click 'Create invoice from time' and send a Stripe-payable PDF. It earns its place for agencies with three or four billable staff. For a solo VA, you're paying $12 per seat for two features you use heavily and a dozen team-collaboration features you never open.
Moving from Harvest to VA Growth Suite
Harvest exports clients, projects, time entries, and invoices via the Reports section (CSV) or the official API (JSON). The cleanest path: export your client list and active time entries, recreate the clients in VA Growth Suite, then upload the time CSV. Past invoices stay in Harvest as a read-only archive — pull PDFs of anything your accountant needs before cancelling. Your Stripe account moves with you, so payment links keep working without your clients noticing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Harvest free?
Harvest doesn't offer a free plan. The cheapest paid tier starts at $12/user/mo. VA Growth Suite, by contrast, is free for up to 2 clients with no time limit and no credit card.
Can I import my data from Harvest into VA Growth Suite?
Yes. Harvest supports CSV per report + full JSON via REST API, which covers the migration cleanly. Most VAs move clients and the last 90 days of time entries in under an hour. Older records can stay in Harvest as a read-only archive.
What does VA Growth Suite do that Harvest doesn't?
VA Growth Suite bundles time tracking, multi-client invoicing in multiple currencies, a branded client portal, and a per-client kanban task board into one app — at a flat $19/mo for 50 clients, with no per-user pricing. Harvest typically requires you to combine it with at least one other tool to cover that workflow.
Why does VA Growth Suite charge $19/mo instead of per-user pricing like Harvest?
Per-user pricing punishes VAs the moment they add a subcontractor or VA partner. Flat pricing means a two-person VA team pays the same as a solo VA — $19/mo for up to 50 clients. It's the model that makes sense for the way VAs actually grow.
Try VA Growth Suite free — no Harvest required
Up to 2 clients free, forever. Move your workflow over in under 10 minutes.
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