RIP, Harvest(aphyr.com)
431 points by zdw 2 days ago | 138 comments
tl;dr: After Bending Spoons acquired Harvest in 2025, the time-tracking and invoicing service hiked the author's price from $13.32 to $133.98/month by forcing users onto an "enterprise" plan, while the cheaper "flex" alternative tacks on a 2% surcharge atop standard Stripe fees. Customer support has also been replaced by an LLM that spews verbose, unhelpful replies. The author is now hunting for replacement invoicing (and possibly bookkeeping) software and asking for recommendations.
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Similar price-gouging experiences with other SaaS providers confirm the pattern
  • ↑Recommending specific alternative tools like Clockify, Waveapps, or Odoo CE
  • ↑Self-hosted or custom-built replacements are now easy to create, eroding SaaS moats
  • ↑Private equity acquisitions predictably ruin products, creating opportunities for competitors
  • ↑Plain-text/Orgmode solutions are superior to SaaS for billing and productivity