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Basecamp Review
This simple, easy-to-use project management app provides great team-buildling and communication features for task-based projects but may not be suitable for managing more complex work.
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Expert Analyst & Reviewer
UPDATED
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Basecamp
| Total Rating | 4.5 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Good |
| Features | Fair |
| Customer Service | Good |
| Integrations | Fair |
| User Reviews | Good |
Number Of Projects Available
3-UnlimitedPricing
$0-$99/monthBusiness Size
Small-Medium BusinessesTable of Contents
Basecamp At A Glance
- Project and task management software
- Browser, desktop, and mobile app
- Free plan and flat-rate unlimited plan available
- Best for small to midsize businesses
- No built-in time tracking, budgeting, or accounting features
Pros
- Intuitive user interface
- Free plan available
- One monthly flat rate
- Unlimited users and projects in business plan
- Desktop and mobile app available
Cons
- Limited built-in features
- Limited number of third-party integrations
- Limited price range
What Is Basecamp?
Basecamp is a cloud-based project management software designed to be an all-in-one solution for small teams. Instead of using different apps for chatting, file management, and scheduling, Basecamp offers all of this in one place at an affordable price.
Basecamp is very easy to start building projects, scheduling tasks, and tracking progress. A simple pricing structure that does not depend on a specific number of users is also a refreshing feature among project management software. However, you won’t find any budgeting, accounting, or reporting features built into Basecamp.
Basecamp Pricing
Basecamp is subscription-based software. There is one free plan and one paid plan. The paid plan gives you an unlimited number of users and projects for one flat monthly fee. Pay for a year upfront, and you get a 15% discount on your subscription.
Basecamp is free for teachers and students. Nonprofits get a 10% discount.
Incredibly, if you cancel your plan before the year is up, Basecamp will refund you for the remaining time you didn’t use the software. This is the first time I have ever seen a software offer a prorated refund on its annual plan. I am impressed.
Basecamp provides a free 30-day trial of the Business plan, which they will extend if needed. There is no credit card or personal information required (aside from your email.)
Basecamp Personal
Basecamp Personal costs $0/month and includes:
- Three projects
- 20 users
- 1GB storage
- Message board
- Project to-do lists
- Task assignees and due dates
- Hill charts, which allow you to visually track where a project is
- Event scheduling and calendar sync (Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal)
- Team & private chat
- New document creation
- File import and management (Google, Dropbox, OneDrive, Adobe, etc.)
- Running activity list and email updates (if you want them)
- Flagged overdue tasks
- Automatic recurring check-ins
- Two-factor authentication
- Mobile, desktop, and web-based applications
- Email forwarding
- Customer support
Basecamp Business
Basecamp Business costs $99/month and includes everything in the Basecamp Personal plan, plus:
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited users, clients, and contractors
- 500GB storage space
- Company intranet
- Team collaboration
- Individual teams/departments within an organization
- Project templates
- Advanced client access (with permissions)
- Priority support
Extra Basecamp Costs & Fees
If you want features for things like time tracking, invoices, accounting, and reporting, you can expect to pay extra for third-party app integrations. Most start at $6/month and, for enterprise-level plans, can run up to $400/month.
Honestly, the price isn’t worth it for larger businesses. They would have to pay for a number of add-on integrations, which defeats the purpose of the “all-in-one solution” Basecamp is supposed to be.
Is Basecamp Easy To Use?
Basecamp is project management software at its most basic level. Basecamp makes it easy to access teams, projects, and company-wide news on your home page. Moreover, Basecamp’s core features, such as to-do lists and message boards, are intuitive to use.
When you first sign up for the software, you get access to a guided tour of the program, although the interface is so simple that I doubt it is really necessary.
Basecamp Features
Basecamp is essentially task management software. With Basecamp, you can create projects and teams, assign tasks, and track a project’s progress. On the Business plan, you can invite clients to individual teams and projects, so for task management software, Basecamp does its job well.
However, if you are looking for project management software with more complex job costing, budgeting, accounting, and payroll features, you should look elsewhere.
Project & Task Management
Basecamp has an interesting way for you to manage projects and tasks. Perhaps the most useful aspect of task management is the “hill chart”, which is the lifespan of a project.
The idea behind this particular visual is that some tasks are more difficult and time-consuming than others. When someone completes an easy task, they move the dot up the hill a little. When someone completes a more difficult task, they move the dot a lot. This is a more qualitative approach to task management than quantitative.
Aside from hill charts, you can:
- Use Basecamp’s project setup helper to quickly build a project space by answering a few general questions
- Invite team members to projects
- Invite clients to projects (Business plan only)
- Create several to-do lists, with tasks nested in them
- Assign team members to tasks
- Assign due dates for specific tasks
- Subscribe to a to-do list and get notified whenever someone posts a comment there
- View project to-dos as cards instead of lists
- Attach files to projects and to-do lists
- Filter assignments by person
- View assignments added and assignments checked off in one place
- Enable or disable daily project updates
- Archive completed and incomplete projects so your team can revisit them if necessary
- View a project-wide timeline (new feature being rolled out slowly)
- Change notification settings to keep distractions to a minimum
- Add working hours to create a work-life balance
Team Management
Basecamp puts communication features at the forefront of their software, which is why there are so many team management features. For example, you can:
- Invite an unlimited number of users to projects (Business plan only)
- Send team and/or project invitations to an unlimited number of clients (Business plan only)
- Notify others when a task is complete as soon as you check it off on the to-do list
- Ask automated daily check-in questions
- Ping someone in a private chat
- Speak to the entire team or project group with a message board
- Chat about casual or random things in the “campfire” chat; this helps team members build a sense of connection over more than just work
- Integrate with Slack and Google Workspace
- Invite team members and clients to events
- Change teams and projects to public or private
- Add administrative access and define user roles
- Forward emails directly into Basecamp
Reporting
Basecamp has very basic reporting features. You can generate a report listing tasks, team members, to-do lists, shared files, email forwards, etc. for any and all current and archived projects.
Basecamp puts all the information together for you. Then, you download the report as a zip file and extract the individual files. The individual files themselves are in HTML format.
Basecamp Customer Service
Basecamp offers free email and contact ticket support. A team member will respond to your request within a few hours. Support is available 24/7 on Monday through Friday, and from 9AM to 6PM Central Time on weekends.
Customers rate Basecamp’s customer support very highly, praising the responsiveness of customer support representatives.
Basecamp Integrations
Basecamp currently has 70 integrations, which is a decent amount. However, many of the integrations are in niche areas like software development, and there is a significant lack of affordable project management apps for things like time tracking and invoicing.
Luckily, Basecamp has a Zapier integration, which allows you to connect Basecamp to over 3,000 other apps.
Basecamp User Reviews
Basecamp is well-loved, there’s no doubt about it. Most people who have used it for any length of time develop a strong, life-long affinity for Basecamp in all its iterations.
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Here are a few of users’ least favorite aspects of Basecamp:
- Limited built-in feature set
- Huge price gap
- Not enough integrations
- Too many communication options (campfires, message boards, pings, and comments)
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Beloved features include:
- Affordable pricing
- Intuitive design
- Everything in one place
- Client accessibility
Is Basecamp Secure?
Basecamp, like most cloud-based programs, takes numerous security precautions to protect user privacy and information. Basecamp’s security features include:
- HTTPS encryption
- PCI compliant billing
- Data security through multiple server redundancies and data backups
- Advanced physical security at data centers
- Frequent infrastructure updates and infrastructure
- Constant security testing for vulnerabilities
- Bounty programs to incentivize third parties to test for software vulnerabilities
- A security response system for when users of the program identify vulnerabilities
Is Basecamp Worth It?
Basecamp is a fantastic project management tool for teams that do not need to track billable hours, monitor costs and revenue, or do any in-depth project reporting. Nonprofits, teams collaborating on creative projects, and groups working on specific projects may really enjoy Basecamp. It’s also great for teams with digital final deliverables, as you can integrate Basecamp with apps like Github and Adobe for free.
If you’re looking for straightforward project and task management software that everyone can get on board with, and that clients can easily access, Basecamp could be exactly what you need.
However, if you want a scalable solution like Basecamp but need more budgeting, time tracking, resource management, integrations, or general reporting features, check out LiquidPlanner, ProWorkflow, or Zoho Projects reviews. You might find what you need with one of these project management solutions.
Basecamp FAQs
Nicolette Kier
Expert Analyst & Reviewer
As a small business owner, contributing writer Nicolette Kier has been sharing her knowledge on all things related to freelancing and eCommerce since 2019. She earned a BS in Physics and a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh.
View Nicolette Kier's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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Organization Name: Dare Devil Display LLC
“Warning” Basecamp give all rights to the person who sets it up. If the business owner is not named the “Owner of the Account”, they are at the mercy of the IT guy. Without a court order, BC will pander to the employee/subcontractor over the business owner. I wasn’t that happy with BC to begin with, but it is project management software that the IT guy suggested and now, maybe I know why, with this type of misguided policy. BC is very much designed to create and promote ransomware type situations. No telling what else is in their fine print, if they are setup to be this blatantly biased toward the employee and against the owner. You would think common (not so common anymore) sense would dictate the one who pays, is the rightful owner. Business owners, switch while you can. IT people – New revenue stream, set up business on BC for free, then hold them hostage until they pay. Thanks Basecamp, you’re swell!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thank you for the review and overview. I do contract work for a not-for-profit, and when they discovered the organizations they serve were using BaseCamp3, they joined as well. Right now, we are struggling to manage documents in BaseCamp3. Documents can be seen only as icons not files in a list, and we are having difficulty moving documents around from folder to folder or into subfolders if needed. There is a linking to Google documents, so perhaps the management of documents is really meant to be for projects only, while using Google Docs for storing files in a more flexible and complete file storage solution. As always, great reviews from Merchant Maverick.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Miss Titterington,Our team is currently looking for a project management solution. The reviews you have written are thorough and really helpful. I thank you and wish you a great day.Daniel
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I have a small software company and work on different projects and different items everyday. After using basecamp for few months we moved to SPM Live (https://www.spmlive.com). It is a smart and simple tool. The All Projects page and Time Line are the key of this software.
Problem with basecamp is that you don’t have item wise track in it, I can not see how many items are done/in progress/pending
SPM Live (https://www.spmlive.com) highly recommended.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thank you so much for this comprehensive review. My real estate team is shopping for a management system and have had a few recommendations for Basecamp. I appreciate your thoroughness in presenting all the features, pros & cons, and testimonials!Sincerely,Dawn
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.