An In-Depth Basecamp Review for 2024

In this Basecamp review, we explore a unique project workflow and management tool’s USPs (and flaws), it’s pricing, core features, and how it compares to leading rivals. While it has features others don’t, it lacks functionality that could be a dealbreaker for some. It’s not the best choice for everyone.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Basecamp Pricing
2. Basecamp Features
3. Basecamp Integrations
4. Basecamp Customer Reviews
5. What is Basecamp Good for?
6. Basecamp vs Top Competitors
7. How We Test Project Management Tools
8. How to Choose the Best Project Management Solution
9. FAQs
10. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Basecamp Pricing
2. Basecamp Features
3. Basecamp Integrations
Show Full Guide
4. Basecamp Customer Reviews
5. What is Basecamp Good for?
6. Basecamp vs Top Competitors
7. How We Test Project Management Tools
8. How to Choose the Best Project Management Solution
9. FAQs
10. References

Basecamp Pricing

Unlike Basecamp competitors, this tool only has two plans, and the jump in price is quite high. Here are your options compared:

Basecamp Features

Basecamp is one of the best project management software solutions, but it really depends on your needs and budget. Here are some of the unique features we found noteworthy during our Basecamp review.

Automatic Check-Ins

Did you know that an average of 23 hours a week are spent on meetings? That’s nearly a full day clock rotation wasted instead of being productive on more important tasks.

Basecamp does regular check-ins with your team instead of scheduling daily stand-up meetings. You can ask a very simple question such as “What did you do today?” at the end of their shift.

You can schedule it to daily, weekly, or monthly, and choose which team you are sending the check-ins to — their responses will all be in a centralized location. Will they forget these check-ins?

Basecamp lets you send automated notifications to each team member. We also found it was quite interactive, as you can comment on each of their answers.

This feature saves a significant amount of time and helps improve transparency across your organization. It’s also a feature that’s unique to Basecamp.

Hill Charts

Hill Charts aren’t typical line charts. They’re like milestones or Gantt charts but much clearer and more precise, giving teams a good overview of where each project stands.

It’s very different from your typical progress report, too. Basecamp designed this to streamline all projects’ progress instead of just relying on your To-Do List.

A dot (representing the project) is manually placed, which is the main drawback of this, but it’s efficient for identifying any roadblocks early.

As a project manager, you can also add multiple projects (dots) to track within the same Hill Chart, moving each one manually to represent the progress.

Everyone can view the chart so that they can see if your project is moving or not, and you can even add annotations so that everyone is aware of what’s happening.

Pings and Heys

With Basecamp’s Pings and Heys, you won’t need a third-party messaging app anymore. Think of it like a combination of Google Chat and Slack.

Heys is like a general chat or a broadcast channel that’s similar to Slack, wherein you can create channels for a specific client or project and use @mention to notify a specific individual.

It has read receipts so that you’d know if anyone missed your message. It has threads for a more structured discussion, too, and you can also format your message in any way you want.

Pings, on the other hand, is for direct messaging, but it doesn’t stop there. Like Google Chat, you can even create a message and turn it into an actionable task.

To-Do’s

Basecamp’s To-Do’s is the platform’s bread and butter. The simplicity of it is why users love Basecamp. Same with their pricing, it’s a no-frill task manager integrated into your projects.

The dynamic drag-and-drop functionality makes it easier to prioritize and move tasks from each list. You can assign users, map due dates, and create “sub-tasks” for more complex projects.

You may think that those are just basic features, but that’s where they shine. You don’t have to fill in multiple fields, create custom settings, or even manage dependencies.

One of the main issues of some other project management apps is the clutter, which results in overlooked tasks and missed deadlines. That said, Basecamp’s To-Do’s is like a double-edged sword.

You get the simplicity but not the extensive customization that other software, like Monday or ClickUp, offers.

Basecamp Integrations

As mentioned above, while Basecamp lacks more advanced tools compared to other software, like ClickUp‘s AI and Jira‘s scrum views, it offers powerful integrations.

Basecamp has over 80 external app integrations called “Doors”. The most notable apps on their list are Zapier, Trello, Harvest, GitHub, Figma, Hubspot, Zendesk, and Freshbooks.

It’s very easy to set up; just select the app you want to use, and there will be step-by-step instructions you can follow. Unfortunately, some apps aren’t yet listed, such as Power BI, Salesforce, and ServiceNow.

80+ is still a world away from many rivals, too, as we saw in our ClickUp review, for example, which offers 1,000+ integrations, as does Asana.

That said, unlike most, with Basecamp, you get all integrations regardless of the plan. Whether the number and available integration options are a plus or a downfall depends on your specific needs.

Basecamp Customer Reviews

Basecamp reviews indicate that the majority of users are mostly happy with the tool. For example, it’s rated 4.1/5 on G2 (from 5,000+ reviews) and 7.9/10 on TrustRadius.

The platform has amassed over 75,000 users, so what do most love and hate about Basecamp? For starters, usability is a key praise you’ll find across review sites, including Reddit, for example.

It’s a no-frills solution, and many commend it for this — however, on the opposite spectrum, some Basecamp reviews highlight how it lacks functionality and customization.

Among the praise is also Basecamp’s easy collaboration (both with internal and external users), as is the fact that the app is continuously improved and experiences zero outages.

Besides limited functionality and customization, the lack of pricing plans and the jump in price is another flaw some highlight on popular review sites, especially as the plans don’t differ much.

What is Basecamp Good for?

Being one of the best online project management tools, Basecamp caters to a lot of remote teams. It’s cloud-based, so you don’t have to install anything and don’t need an IT expert to set it up.

Also, by providing a huge amount of storage, Basecamp is perfectly suited for creative teams—like graphic designers or website developers, who can easily share files within this system.

As a no-frills solution, it’s also an ideal pick for non-profits and educational institutions, for example — if you only need to onboard a maximum of 15 users, that is.

However, if you need automation, advanced reporting, and even time tracking and more customization capabilities, then Basecamp isn’t the ideal choice.

It’s also not the best choice for agile teams as this framework isn’t supported. If you’re still on the fence or you want to consider other options, keep reading, as we’ll explore the best alternatives below.

Basecamp vs Top Competitors

With the market expected to reach $6.54 billion in 2024, there’s no shortage of options. Here’s a head-to-head comparison outlining the main ways it compares to the best Basecamp alternatives:

Basecamp vs Asana

Asana is ideal for any team, whereas Basecamp’s starter plan is suited for small businesses and the higher-end plan for large businesses — with not much wiggle room in between.

Asana does have a learning curve, though, whereas Basecamp is pretty easy to use. That said, unlike Asana, Basecamp does lack templates, automations, custom fields, and time tracking.

Basecamp also only offers a free trial, whereas Asana offers a free plan (In fact, Asana is easily one of the best free project management tools).

Although Asana is more expensive than some rivals, it’s cheaper than Basecamp, too, starting at just $10.99/user/month, and it offers more options for scaling at a cheaper price than Basecamp.

Recommended Read: Our Full Asana Review

Basecamp vs Trello

Both Trello and Basecamp are known for providing excellent visualizations when it comes to reporting. Trello is popular with its Kanban boards that are used to manage tasks and projects.

But Basecamp also has this; it’s called “Card List.” It offers the same Kanban board style, and it connects directly to your Hill Charts. Both are also known for their simplicity.

That said, Trello offers more customization, automation, and cheaper scalable pricing plans to choose from. It even offers Gantt, table, dashboard, and map views.

Overall, it really depends on your specific needs and, importantly, your budget.

Read More: An In-Depth Trello Review for 2024

Basecamp vs Monday

Both Basecamp and Monday offer intuitive user interfaces, but Monday is hard to beat in this respect — it also offers far more customization and pricing plans for scaling.

Monday also has a great free plan, something that Basecamp lacks altogether, and although time tracking is only on the Pro plan, this is still an option with Monday.

Overall, having used both tools, we’d recommend Monday over Basecamp in terms of scalability, affordability, usability, and functionality.

We’d recommend trying both free versions of these tools to test them for yourself before deciding. You can get a good overview of the tool in our review on Monday, too.

Recommended Read: A Full Monday.com Review

How We Test Project Management Tools

For over a decade now, our team has been one of the most established voices on all things tech. We ensure that we provide clear and unbiased reviews on all the latest and best products.

We gather our information by personally testing these services ourselves and combining this data with other real-user feedback to ensure we’re offering a good overview of what you can expect.

Our testing period covers its usability across apps, hands-on experience with the features (including integrations), and even checking the reliability of the support and online documentation.

How to Choose the Best Project Management Solution

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to managing projects. Here are some of the most important things to consider before deciding on the best project management app:

FAQs