Compare
Navbatly vs a spreadsheet and Harvest for retainer work
Many agencies track retainers with time in Harvest and the hours, requests and client report in a spreadsheet. Navbatly puts the requests, the hours and the report in one place. Here is how they differ, from Harvest's own pages, read on 28 October 2026.
Side by side
| Navbatly | A spreadsheet and Harvest | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Talk to us about plans. | Harvest Free: 1 seat and 2 projects. Teams from $9 per seat a month billed annually ($11 monthly), plus usage charges on Flex billing (pricing). The spreadsheet is what you already pay for. |
| Client requests | A no-login request link per client; each request becomes a ticket under the client's contract. | Harvest has no request intake or tickets, so requests live in email and the spreadsheet. |
| A ticket inbox per team, and every email about one ticket replies to that ticket's own address, so the client's answer lands on it. Emails about several tickets, the report and the pause notice reply to the team. | Requests and the client's answers stay in your mailbox, copied into the spreadsheet by hand. | |
| Monthly allowance | A monthly allowance with rollover up to a cap and an overage policy, counted in the month the time was worked. | Hour budgets can reset monthly to 0%; the help centre describes no rollover or overage (docs). The spreadsheet does the rest by hand. |
| Time | Logged on the ticket as client contact or delivery; each entry included, billable or no charge. | Timers and timesheets, with billable and non-billable hours. Strong at time tracking. |
| Client report | A plain-English monthly report of work and hours, by email or the client's link. | Shared reports go to people in the Harvest account (Enterprise); clients see invoices (docs). The report itself is built in the spreadsheet. |
| Response targets | A first-response target per priority, with a warning and an overdue notice. | None. Harvest is not a help desk. |
| What the client owes | Client actions with days waited, reminders and target dates. | None in Harvest; a column in the spreadsheet, if anyone keeps it. |
| AI assistant | An MCP server with sign-in, included. | Harvest's MCP server with sign-in, for time, budgets and draft invoices (docs). |
Facts about Harvest come from its own pricing page and help centre, read on 28 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars and change; check the linked pages. Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected].
Where Harvest and a spreadsheet are ahead
Harvest invoices and takes payments, holds retainer funds against invoices, reports on profitability and utilisation, and has desktop and mobile timers. A spreadsheet can be shaped to any agreement you write.
Which to choose
Keep Harvest if invoicing and payments are the heart of it and requests are few. Navbatly doesn't send invoices; it exports hours and time entries as CSV for whatever does.
Choose Navbatly when the spreadsheet has become the support desk: requests, hours left, rollover and the monthly report, rebuilt by hand each month. See retainer hours and client reports.
Retire the retainer spreadsheet
Create a team, add a client and their support plan, and let the report build itself.