Harvest Finance
score
Fees: Performance fee on harvested yield
Harvest suits users comfortable with its history who want straightforward auto-farming. The key caveat is a documented major exploit and heavy past reliance on emissions. This is not financial advice.
What Harvest Finance is
Harvest Finance is a multichain auto-farming protocol launched in 2020 that deposits your assets into DeFi farms and automatically harvests and compounds the rewards. Its user experience is deliberately simple, deposit and let the vault do the work, and its FARM token uses a buyback model that links protocol revenue back to the token.
How it scores
This is a lower-rated entry, and the criteria show why. Fees are its best mark at 7/10 and transparency reaches 6.5, but security sits at just 5, with track record 5.5 and yield sustainability 5.5. Much of its historical yield leaned on token incentives rather than durable fee income, and its relevance has faded from the 2020-2021 peak.
Costs
Harvest charges a performance fee on the yield it harvests, with no management fee on principal, which is why fees rate reasonably at 7/10. On cost alone it is competitive; the concerns lie elsewhere.
The key caveat
The defining issue is security history: Harvest suffered a flash-loan exploit of roughly $24M in October 2020, a serious event that remains a lasting reputational mark and weighs heavily on its 5/10 security score. Combined with diminished TVL and past emission reliance, this is the central reason for our cautious verdict.
Who it's for
Harvest is best suited to users who are already familiar with its history and want a straightforward auto-farming experience with eyes open to that record. Anyone prioritizing the strongest security reputation will likely prefer a higher-rated aggregator. This is not financial advice.
Overall 5.8 / 10 — the weighted average of the criteria above. How we score →
- + Established multichain auto-farming with a range of vaults
- + Simple deposit-and-compound user experience
- + FARM buyback model links protocol revenue to token
- − Suffered a ~$24M flash-loan exploit in October 2020, a lasting reputational mark
- − Much of the yield historically leaned on token incentives
- − Reduced relevance and TVL compared with its 2020-2021 peak
Is Harvest Finance safe?
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Its security is the weakest part of our rating at 5/10, largely because of a roughly $24M flash-loan exploit in October 2020. That history is a lasting caveat you should weigh carefully before depositing.
What are Harvest Finance's fees?
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Harvest charges a performance fee on the yield it harvests and no management fee on principal. On cost alone it is competitive, which is why fees score 7/10.
What happened to Harvest Finance?
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In October 2020 it suffered a flash-loan exploit of around $24M, and its TVL and relevance have since faded well below its 2020-2021 peak. Both factors shape our cautious rating.
Is Harvest Finance a good yield aggregator?
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We rate it 5.9 overall. The auto-farming experience is simple and fees are fair, but a serious exploit history and past reliance on emissions hold it back.
What is the FARM token?
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FARM is Harvest's native token, tied to the protocol through a buyback model that links protocol revenue back to the token. It does not remove the underlying yield or security risks.