How do you migrate from Harvest to Rize?
A Harvest to Rize migration works best as a parallel switch with a targeted history backfill. Start using Rize for new work first, then import only the Harvest history your team needs for reporting, billing reference, or client continuity.
Most agencies switching from Harvest do not need every old invoice recreated in Rize. Keep Harvest exports or accounting records as the archive, then use Rize as the automatic time tracking layer going forward. This keeps the migration small and gets your team out of manual timers faster.
Why are teams switching from Harvest?
Teams switch from Harvest when manual timers become the weak link in billing accuracy. Harvest is strong for invoices, expenses, and project budgets, but the time data still depends on people remembering to start timers, stop them, choose the right project, and fix mistakes later.
Rize is an automatic time tracker that captures desktop work in the background and categorizes it by client and project. That matters for agencies because the short Slack reply, Figma check, client email, and research tab rarely get logged cleanly in a manual timer.
If your billing workflow is built around Harvest invoices, you can keep that workflow while Rize becomes the source of cleaner time data. See the Rize vs Harvest comparison for the broader feature tradeoffs.
What should you export from Harvest?
Export Harvest time, clients, projects, tasks, and people before you cut over. The Harvest Help Center says administrators can export all company time data from Settings > Import/Export, while people with narrower permissions can export the time data they can access from Reports.
| Harvest export | Where to get it | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed time CSV | Reports > New report > Detailed time | Row-by-row time entries with date, person, client, project, task, notes, and billable status. |
| All time CSV | Settings > Import/Export > Export all time | Full-account export for administrators who need the complete Harvest history. |
| Projects CSV | Projects > Export | Active, budgeted, and archived projects that old entries may reference. |
| Clients CSV | Manage > Clients > Import/Export | Client names and contact records you may want to recreate or archive. |
| Tasks CSV | Manage > Tasks > Export | The task list used for billable reporting and project breakdowns. |
| Team CSV | Team > Export | Active teammates to match against Rize users by email. |
| Invoice and expense exports | Invoices, Reports, or Settings > Import/Export | Archive these outside Rize unless you have a separate accounting migration. |
Use the detailed time report when you need a filtered migration. The Harvest reports guide says Detailed time can be filtered by timeframe, clients, projects, tasks, and team, then exported to CSV or Excel.
How does Harvest data map to Rize?
Harvest clients, projects, tasks, and time entries map cleanly into Rize. The main difference is that Harvest stores time from manual entries, while Rize captures future work automatically and uses reports to show the same client and project rollups.
| Harvest | Rize | Migration note |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Workspace / team | Create the Rize workspace before loading shared data. |
| Client | Client | Preserve exact names so historical reports line up. |
| Project | Project | Keep archived projects if historical entries still reference them. |
| Task | Task / category | Recreate high-value tasks, then let Rize rules and AI handle future categorization. |
| Time entry | Time entry | Import date, duration, notes, billable status, client, project, task, and user email. |
| Billable flag | Billable status | Use this for billing filters and profitability reports. |
| Notes | Title / description | Preserve client-facing context when it explains the work. |
| User | Team member | Match by email before importing historical time. |
| Project code | Project name or notes | Append the code only if your team searches or bills by it. |
| Invoice, payment, expense | Archive or accounting tool | Export for records, but do not treat these as time tracking data. |
Do not import rounded_hours as the source of truth if your Harvest export includes both rounded and actual duration fields. Import actual time whenever possible so Rize reports do not inherit billing-rounding decisions as work history.
What is the safest migration plan?
The safest Harvest migration plan is to move in stages. Cut over new tracking first, then backfill history after your team trusts the Rize workspace.
- Export the Harvest files above before changing team habits.
- Create your Rize workspace, team members, clients, and active projects.
- Install Rize on each Mac or Windows device.
- Connect calendars and project tools so Rize can infer meeting and task context.
- Recreate only the Harvest tasks and labels that still matter for billing.
- Run Harvest and Rize together for one normal work week.
- Compare Harvest and Rize totals by client, project, person, and billable status.
- Backfill historical Harvest time entries if the team needs them inside Rize.
- Stop creating new Harvest timers once reports match your billing workflow.
For a hands-on switcher path and current offer, use the Harvest migration page. For setup details inside Rize, start with categories and tracking rules, then confirm exports in reports and exports.
When should you use the Harvest API?
Use the Harvest API for large accounts, multi-year backfills, or migrations that need repeatable checkpoints. CSV exports are faster for most small teams, but the API gives you a cleaner path when you need to pull clients, projects, task assignments, users, and time entries in dependency order.
The Harvest API v2 documentation lists two rate limits: 100 general API requests per 15 seconds and 100 Reports API requests per 15 minutes. It also says Harvest returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header when the account is throttled, so any scripted migration should pause and resume instead of restarting from scratch.
Load the backfill in this order: clients, projects, tasks, then time entries. Keep a simple ID map from Harvest IDs to Rize IDs so retries do not duplicate records. If you are migrating one person and a few hundred entries, a detailed time CSV is usually enough.
How should you verify the migration?
Verify the migration by matching totals before you cancel Harvest. A clean migration should reconcile at the level you bill from, not just at the grand total.
- Total hours: Compare Harvest and Rize by month or billing period.
- Billable hours: Confirm billable and non-billable splits match your invoice workflow.
- Client and project totals: Check every high-value client, not only the account total.
- Unassigned time: Review entries with missing client, project, task, or teammate.
- Archived projects: Confirm old entries still have the right project context.
- First parallel week: Compare the week when both tools ran side by side.
Treat differences as useful signal. If Rize shows more time than Harvest during the parallel week, inspect the extra sessions before dismissing them. Those are often the short context switches and admin tasks that started the whole switch from Harvest.
What changes after the Harvest switch?
Your team stops creating time records by hand after the Harvest switch. Rize captures work automatically, then asks for review and correction when a client, project, or category needs attention.
That changes the team habit. In Harvest, the daily question is "Did everyone remember to track?" In Rize, the daily question is "Does the captured work have the right client and project?" This is a better operating loop for agencies because it audits real activity instead of reconstructing the day from memory.
Once the team is stable, use tracking profitability to connect billable time, rates, cost, and margin. Harvest was the timer and invoice system. Rize becomes the automatic record of where the work actually went.
FAQ
How do I migrate from Harvest to Rize?
Run Harvest and Rize in parallel for one week, export Harvest clients, projects, tasks, team members, and detailed time CSVs, then import only the history you need into Rize. Most teams keep Harvest as an archive and use Rize for automatic tracking going forward.
Can I import historical Harvest time entries into Rize?
Yes. Historical Harvest time entries can be backfilled from a detailed time CSV or the Harvest API. Use the actual hours, client, project, task, notes, billable status, and user email so Rize reports match the old account.
What Harvest data should not move to Rize?
Invoice PDFs, payment records, estimates, expense receipts, and fixed-fee billing history should stay in Harvest or your accounting system. Rize should become the source for future automatic time capture and billable time reports.
Can Harvest and Rize run at the same time?
Yes. Rize runs in the background and does not interfere with Harvest timers. A one-week parallel run gives the team confidence before you stop asking people to start timers.
What is the fastest Harvest export for a migration?
Use Harvest Settings > Import/Export > Export all time if you are an administrator and need the full account. Use Reports > New report > Detailed time when you need a filtered row-by-row CSV for a date range, client, project, task, or teammate.