10 Top Basecamp Alternatives for Better Project Management

Basecamp has made its name with its distinct flat pricing model, intuitive interface, and real-time team communication and file sharing.

Its shortcomings include limited data sharing between project views, lack of workflow automation, and limited dashboard views.

The lack of Integrated task sequences with clear dependencies, among other reasons, leads users to look for Basecamp alternatives.

After skimming through thousands of customer reviews and testing project management tools, we’ve shortlisted the top 10 contenders against Basecamp.

In this post, we'll cover each tool’s features, pricing, strengths, and drawbacks and help you find the right one that fits your budget and needs.

Why do Users Switch to Basecamp Alternatives?

To its credit, Basecamp shines in two areas.

• Top-notch integrated team communication tools to share updates and keep project-related communication in a single space. 
• Unlimited user access on its premium plan with a flat pricing of $299/month, particularly suitable for large teams.

However, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits for teams who want high-level customization and affordable pricing.

Reason 1: Missing and disconnected dashboard views

In Basecamp, there is no Gantt view and each project and task live in different views. It means it’s not possible to view the same tasks in a different view.

By default, you create a Timeline view of your projects, which shows only the projects, not the individual tasks. For tasks, you need to build to-dos or Kanban boards but these views exist in silos. It's therefore impossible to get a full picture of how tasks are progressing.

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Reason 2: No option to build custom dashboards

Basecamp allows you to stack multiple projects in a single window. 

However, the flexibilty to build a configurable project dashboard with widgets within each project is missing.

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Reason 3: Basecamp doesn’t have automation

There is no built-in workflow automation in Basecamp.

The only way to set up automated workflows is via a third-party app which can be a time-consuming process.

Basecamp’s limited features make it an unsuitable choice for teams looking for a customizable tool to manage multiple projects.

What are the best alternatives to Basecamp?

• SmartSuite: A comprehensive and affordable project management tool with advanced automation.
• Airtable: Building custom dashboards powered by multi-step, conditional task sequences with triggers.
• Bonsai: Client’s project management with built-in time tracking and invoicing.
• Notion: Managing multiple projects with built-in documentation and team collaboration.
• Trello: Task management using Kanban boards with multi-channel communication with task-specific discussions.
• Monday.com: Task and project management across various industries.
• Asana: Task management and tracking project progress with strong integration capabilities.
• Wrike: Work and project management across various vendors.
• Proofhub: Project management at a large scale with high-level team collaboration and reporting.
• Smartsheet: Large database management and in-depth data visualization and trend identification in a spreadsheet-focused interface.

#1: SmartSuite

SmartSuite is a comprehensive project management tool that lets you manage all your projects in a centralized platform with built-in automation and a communication center.

Full disclosure: Even though SmartSuite is our own product, we aim to provide an honest perspective on why SmartSuite is the top ClickUp alternative available.

SmartSuite made it at the top due to its feature-rich affordable pricing plans, automated workflows, and advanced reporting.

Let's see some of SmartSuite's key features that make it the best Basecamp alternative.

Feature #1: Powerful project management

SmartSuite’s project management feature helps you plan, track, and manage simple to complex projects. 

To make the process even easier, you get a plethora of built-in intuitive features to execute your tasks with utmost perfection.

Here’s what all you get within the project management feature:

• Smart task management: Any item field can be a task—a checklist item, comments, or sub-item. With such flexibility, you can easily build a solid task list, and assign it to the right person with a due date and priority status.

• Project phases and milestones: Keep projects organized by building up stepping stones in terms of phases and milestones. Track the milestones or phases through your reporting dashboard and proactively flag issues to keep the ball rolling in the right direction.

• Files And Project Deliverables: Manage and organize all your documents within SmartSuite. You can attach files related to different projects, share feedback with your team, and manage version history all within the context of your work. And, if you want the typical way of sharing files as URLs, add links in each task’s property.

• Time tracking: Monitor and evaluate time completion for different tasks and overall project. Built-in time tracking helps you group time entries together, see estimates, and segment billable and non-billable entries.

Feature #2: Robust reporting capabilities

SmartSuites offers dynamic project analytics with customizable charts and graphs letting you look at a project’s performance and also get detailed task-level information and progress tracking.

The reporting dashboard helps you track the project’s performance, understand resource allocation, and identify slow-moving projects. Based on such insights, you can quickly develop plans to overcome the roadblocks and get the project on track.

Some other amazing features of SmartSuite’s reporting:

• Private or public reports: Share reports with public access, making it easier to share quick access for everyone involved in the project. If you want to get a granular view of your work, you can build private reports, visible only to you.
• Multi-view reporting: Visualize reporting in different views–-Grid, Card, Kanban, Timeline, Map, Calendar, or Dashboard. You can add as many views as you need to build a visual storyboard for your project’s progress.
• Easy exporting: Access your reports by printing or exporting them as PDF, Excel, Google Sheets, or CSV format.

Feature #3: Advanced workflow automation

SmartSuite’s no-code automation builder is one key area where it shines over Basecamp.

You can put together automation at the task and project levels with its no-code user-friendly builder. You can automate repetitive tasks based on triggers like changing dates, sending notification emails, or updating statuses. 

Let the bots take care of mundane tasks while you focus on more important tasks or catch up with co-workers.

Some core functionalities of SmartSuite’s automation builder:

• Drag-and-drop interface to build simple to complex workflows
• Choose from six pre-defined triggers and 15+ actions or build custom ones
• Integrates with your tool stack including Intercom, Slack, Salesforce, and Hubspot.

SmartSuite Pricing

SmartSuite offers a 14-day free trial and a forever-free plan with access to automation, team collaboration, authentication, and more.

As for the paid plans, there are four options:

• Team: Starts at $12 per user/month, including 8+ dashboard views, 5000 automation runs, time tracking, and collaborative SmartDocs.
• Professional: Starts at $28 per user/month, including two-factor authentication, Gmail & Outlook integrations, and unlimited editors.
• Enterprise: Starts at $35 per user/month, including audit logs, data loss prevention, and 50,000 API calls monthly.
• Signature: Customized plan tailored to your organization’s needs and team size.

How Does SmartSuite Compare to Basecamp?

SmartSuite wins over Basecamp with its feature-packed plans, which include rule-based task assignments, status update automation, and reporting capabilities.

While Basecamp offers integrated team collaboration, the project management capability is limited. SmartSuite fills that gap through an integrated project management dashboard where you can organize multiple tasks, build flexible dashboards, and share quick updates with your team members.

SmartSuite Pros and Cons

✅ Generous free plan with access to advanced features like time tracking and 8+ dashboard views

✅ 200+ project templates ranging from one-off projects to complex cross-team projects

✅ Integrated document and file management

✅ Dynamic dashboards and reporting

✅ Comprehensive automation workflow builder

❌ Only 25 native integrations

#2: Airtable

Best for: Building custom dashboards powered by multi-step, conditional task sequences with triggers.

Similar to: Asana and Smartsheet

Airtable is a project management tool that helps you build and manage large-scale projects with multi-database views (Table, Gantt, Charts, Timeline, etc.) and relational field types.

Compared to Basecamp, Airtable offers a built-in workflow automation builder letting you create multi-step workflows.

Who Is It For?

Creative agencies, small and mid-sized businesses

 Airtable’s Top Features

• Task properties with side comment view: Add subtasks, attach files, and add function fields to automate input in various fields. Each task opens up in a two-column window, letting you see comments from co-workers.
• Automated workflows: Create triggers on every field level to perform actions such as sending emails when a status is changed. You can integrate it with Microsoft & Google Suite, Jira, Salesforce, and Twilio.
• Interface designer: Segregate your project’s tasks into multiple interfaces and share the needful information with the right stakeholders.

Airtable Pricing

You can start using Airtable with its free plan that comes with a single workspace with all basic dashboard views and 100 automation runs/month. 

Airtable offers three pricing plans:

• Team: Starts at $24 per user/month with a 14-day free trial with access to 25,000 automation/month, custom branded forms, and Gantt charts.
• Business: Starts at $45 per user/month, including multi-source syncing and dynamic filtering.
• Enterprise scale: Includes admin reports, enterprise-level integrations, and premium support. Contact sales for a quote.

The starting plan for Airtable ($24 per user/month) is higher than Basecamp's ($15 per user/month), but it compensates with more advanced features like automation and Gantt charts.

Airtable Pros and Cons

✅ High-level customization and flexible dashboards

✅ User-friendly interface with multiple views

✅ Vast project templates gallery

❌ Limited reporting capabilities

❌ Limited team communication

#3. Bonsai

Best for: Client’s project management with built-in time tracking and invoicing

Similar to: Wrike and Monday.com

Bonsai is an all-in-one work management software that lets you manage projects, track billable hours, send invoices, and receive payments.

Compared to Basecamp, Bonsai offers features tailored for freelancers and small-scale agencies who want to manage all aspects of their business in a single platform.

Who Is It For?

Self-employed individuals such as consultants freelancers and agencies

Bonsai’s Top Features

• Built-in time tracking: Track billable and non-billable hours and generate timesheets.
• Native invoicing and payments: Create custom invoices to get paid on time. Integrates with Paypal and Stripe letting you receive and manage invoice payments.
• Task management: Outline tasks, assign priorities and deadlines, and manage tasks across clients and projects.
• Reporting: Generate reports like client profitability, project health, profitability forecasts, and time utilization.

Bonsai Pricing

Bonsai offers a limited free plan with view-only access to all its features. The pricing plans come in four tiers with a $10 fee for adding additional users to any of the plans.

• Starter: Starts at $25 per user/month, including tasks and time tracking, CRM, and expense tracking.
• Professional: Starts at $39 per user/month, including custom branding, Quickbook, and Zapier integration. 
• Business: Starts at $79 per user/month, including subcontractor management, and advanced business reporting.
• Scale: Dedicated customer support, custom data import, and advanced integration. Contact sales for a quote.

Bonsai per additional user fee is $10/month which is lower than Basecamp’s price of $15/month.

Bonsai Pros and Cons

✅ Native invoicing feature with multiple payment and payout options

✅ Low per additional user fee, i.e., $10/month.

✅ Offers a suite of tools at a reasonable price to manage freelance clients

❌ Basic workflow automation

❌ Automated expense tracking only works in the US and Canada 

#4. Notion

Best for: Managing multiple projects with built-in documentation and team collaboration

Similar to: Trello and Asana

Notion is a dynamic project management tool that helps you build customizable databases for various projects.

Notion is a strong Basecamp contender for teams who want configurable dashboards, built-in documentation, and team communication tools at affordable pricing.

Who Is It For?

Solopreneurs, freelancers, startups, and small-to-large sized businesses.

Notion’s Top Features

• Multiple field types: You can add as many data fields as you like ranging from relational fields to custom formulas.
• Documentation: Create, store, and manage your documents with 50+ content types including toggle, buttons, images, code blocks, callouts, and videos.
• Native collaboration: Share feedback via comments, loop in stakeholders via @mentions, or share file access easily.

Notion Pricing

Notion offers a generous free plan with access to 10 guest invites, subtasks, and unlimited pages. 

Pick from three pricing plans:

• Plus: Starts at $12 per user/month, including unlimited file uploads, 100 guest invites, custom automation, and a Notion calendar.
• Business: Starts at $18 per user/month, including database export as PDF, 250 guest invites, and SAML Single Sign-On (SSO).
• Enterprise: Dedicated Customer Success Manager, audit logs, workspace analytics. Contact sales for a quote.

Unlike Basecamp, Notion doesn’t offer any free trial. However, Notion’s free plan is feature-packed for solopreneurs and marketing teams.

Notion Pros and Cons

✅ Free plan offers all the tools for teams with a small budget

✅ Synced databases

✅ Highly flexible dashboards with a vast library of templates

❌ Basic automation triggers on the free plan

#5. Trello

Best for: Task management using Kanban boards with high-level team collaboration

Similar to: Notion and Monday.com

With Trello, you can plan, manage, and track your projects using a Kanban board-focused project management tool from Atlassian.

Trello’s ease of use, built-in automation, and low-entry pricing plans make it a strong contender against Basecamp particularly for solopreneurs and small team sizes.

Who Is It For?

Freelancers, solopreneurs, or small-sized businesses.

Trello’s Top Features

• Trello integrations and power-ups: Trello offers 150+ power-ups (mini integrations) such as tracking time, doing calculations, and creating polls. As for the integration, you get 200+ integrations with tools for marketing, productivity tools, and communication.
• Butler automation: Set up rule-based triggers with Trello’s automation bot, Butler. The bot also recommends automation based on your daily task activities.
• Task views: Along with Kanban boards, get a granular picture of your tasks’s progression with the timeline, list, dashboards, and calendar view.

Trello Pricing

Trello offers a free plan with built-in automation, and 10 workspace collaborators. 

You get a 14-day free trial for its three pricing plans:

• Standard: $6 per user/month with unlimited activity log and 250 workspace command runs/month.
• Premium: $12.50 per user/month with unlimited workspace collaborators and built-in automation.
• Enterprise: $17.50 per user/month with 24/7 Enterprise admin support and SAML SSO via Atlassian Access.

Compared to Basecamp ($15 per user/month), Trello’s pricing plans are much cheaper, starting at $6 per user/month, making it a more cost-effective tool.

Trello Pros and Cons

✅ User-friendly and intuitive dashboard

✅ Ease of use across various devices

✅ Built-in automation

❌ Lack of seamless working across multiple boards

❌ Need third-party integrations (paid)

❌ Limited user control

#6. Monday.com

Best for: Task and project management across various industries

Similar to: Smartsheets and Wrike

Monday.com is a robust project management software that helps you track, manage, plan, and organize multiple projects.

Monday.com wins over Basecamp with its huge marketplace of integrations and power-ups along with high-level customization.

Who Is It For?

All sizes and industries.

Monday.com's Top Features

• Custom widgets: Monday.com offers 80+ widgets through integrations with apps such as videos, calendars, clocks, images, etc., giving you the flexibility to build project dashboards.
• Column properties: Choose from over 50 basic to advanced column fields such as status + timeline field, country, or dependencies.
• Automation: Set up no-code workflow automation to get rid of repetitive tasks and share quick updates with your team members.

Monday.com Pricing

Monday.com offers a free plan for up to 2 users. 

Monday.com pricing plans are based on minimum user seats of 3 and come in four tiers:

• Basic: Starts at $17 per user/month, including Kanban board view, unlimited free viewers, and unlimited boards.
• Standard: Starts at $20 per user/month, including 250 automated actions/month, 3+ dashboard views, and Zoom integration.
• Pro: Starts at $32 per user/month, including all five dashboard views, time tracking, and 2-factor authentication.
• Enterprise: Includes dedicated customer success manager, cross-project analytics, and resource allocation insights. Contact sales for a quote.

Monday.com Pros and Cons

✅ Advanced reporting and analysis

✅ Over 50 database field types

✅ 200+ dashboard templates

❌ Requires a minimum team size to buy or upgrade plan

❌ Automation available only on high-tier plans

#7: Asana

Best for: Task management and tracking project progress with  strong integration capabilities

Similar to: Trello and Monday.com

Asana is a project management tool that stands out with its automation and portfolio feature that helps you plan, track, and manage various projects.

If you want to streamline your projects with automated workflows, Asana is an excellent alternative to Basecamp.

Who Is It For?

Creative agencies, small and medium-sized businesses.

Asana's Top Features

• Automation bundles: If you use repetitive automation, package them in automation bundles and apply them to multiple projects at once.
• Goal tracking: Create goals and attach multiple projects to a single goal. As the tasks move across different stages, the goal-tracking dashboard updates automatically.
• Portfolios: Organize and track multiple projects in a centralized dashboard. Customize each dashboard with widgets and multiple dashboard views.

Asana Pricing

Asana offers a free plan for up to 10 users. You can choose from four pricing plans.

• Starters: Starts at $13.49 per user/month, with up to 500 teammates collaboration and workflow builder.
• Advanced: Starts at $30.49 per user/month, with 25,000 automation per month, scaled security, advanced reporting, and goal tracking.
• Enterprise: Advanced integrations, unlimited seats, custom branding, and premium support. Contact sales for a quote.
• Enterprise+: Audit log API, HIPAA compliance, and data loss prevention integrations. Contact sales for a quote.

All Asana plans come with built-in AI features.

Asana’s starting plan is head to head with Basecamp’s but comes with native automation and Gantt view along with a 30-day free trial.

Asana Pros and Cons

✅ Easy to create subtasks and assign dependencies 

✅ Advanced automated workflow builder that runs on tasks and subtasks level

✅ 270+ native integrations

❌ Basic reporting

❌Might get expensive for smaller teams

#8: Wrike

Best for: Work management to manage projects across various vendors

Similar to: Smartsheet and Monday.com

Wrike is a project management tool that helps you collaborate across teams, manage projects, brainstorm ideas, and achieve goals.

Wrike is an affordable solution over Basecamp for large enterprise-level teams that juggle multiple projects at once and need built-in cross-team communication functionality.

Who Is It For?

Agencies and enterprise-level businesses.

Wrike’s Top Features

• Advanced reporting: Build custom reports to visualize your project’s performance, resource allocation, and budgetary spending. For each report, you can add widgets or integrate with analytics tools like PowerBi and Tableau.
• My productivity dashboard: A dedicated space that shows all the updates related to tasks and projects such as upcoming due dates, tasks’s progress, and new tasks assigned.
• Native Budgeting: Estimate and track financials across all your projects in one place and in real time.
• Workload tracking: Track team members’ workload through a visual sheet and identify the overallocation and underallocation of tasks.

Wrike Pricing

Wrike offers a free plan with features like email integration, custom work view, and enterprise-grade security. 

There are five paid plans with a 14-day free trial:

• Team: Start at $9.80 per user/month, including custom workflows, 20 free collaborators, and unlimited request forms.
• Business: Start at $24.80 per user/month, includes up to 200 users, Adobe Creative Cloud Extensions, and nested projects.
• Enterprise: Unlimited users with customizable data analysis tools and third-party integrations. Contact sales to get a quote.
• Pinnacle: Native integration with PowerBi, locked spaces, and budgeting features. Contact sales for a quote.

Compared to Basecamp, Wrike offers feature-rich plans at a cheaper price starting at only $9.80 per user/month.

Wrike Pros and Cons

✅ 400+ integrations

✅ Generous free plan with unlimited users

✅ Library of customizable project dashboard templates

❌ Steep learning curve due to overwhelming features

❌ Native budgeting only available for pinnacle plan users

#9: Proofhub

Best for: Project management at a large scale with high-level team collaboration and reporting

Similar to: Wrike and Monday.com

Who Is It For?

Medium to large-scale businesses who care about collaboration.

Proofhub’s Top Features

• Reporting: Dedicated space to view and customize reports including resource utilization, time logged, project status, and task completion.
• Team collaboration: Start a discussion on a project or task level, review files and share feedback, engage in 1:1 or group conversation, brainstorm ideas and organize notes, and post announcements.
• Workflow automation: Build custom automation on the task and project level through a set of pre-defined triggers and actions.

Proofhub Pricing

Proofhub offers flat pricing divided into three tiers:

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• Small team: $89/month for 10 users, including time tracking, custom fields, and Gantt chart.
• Large team: $153/month for 100 users, including workflow automation, priority support, and API access.
• Large team plus: $310/month for unlimited users and projects.

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You can get access to all three plans on a 14-day free trial.

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Both Basecamp and Proofhub offer a flat pricing model. But, compared to Basecamp, Proofhub’s pricing is much more affordable with access to more features.

Proofhub Pros and Cons

✅ Integrated collaboration tools 

✅ Full control over client access to the dashboard with custom roles 

❌ Fixed pricing might be expensive for teams who only need limited number of users

#10: Smartsheet

Best for: Large database management and advanced analysis in a spreadsheet-focused interface

Similar to: Proofhub and Airtable

Smartsheet is an advanced enterprise-level project management software that helps you manage projects in a spreadsheet-focused interface with Gantt and Timeline view.

Compared to Basecamp, Smartsheet’s dashboards and interface are much more customizable and intuitive, especially for teams managing multiple projects at once.

Who Is It For?

Enterprise-level teams who want more control over data visualization and management

Smartsheet’s Top Features

• Formula and functions: Perform simple to complex analysis of your database using built-in logic, data, text, and date functions.
• Customizable dashboards: Build dynamic dashboards with widgets and prebuilt themes to present a holistic performance of various projects.
• Automation workflow: Build no-code automation with triggers and actions to get rid of mundane tasks. Send upcoming deadline reminders, request signatures through integration with DocuSign, or perform calculations.

Smartsheet Pricing

Smartsheet offers three paid plans:

• Pro: Starts at $12 per member/month, includes private sheets creation and unlimited form access.
• Business: Starts at $24 per member/month, includes unlimited automated workflows, and requires at least 3 users.
• Enterprise: Unlimited storage and enterprise plan manager. Contact sales for a quote.

Smartsheet offers a low-entry pricing tier compared to Basecamp along with the same free trial duration of 30 days.

Smartsheet Pros and Cons

✅ User-defined fields, views, and process automation

✅ Huge library of built-in dashboard themes and templates

✅ Drag-and-drop project dashboard builder

❌ Steep learning curve for spreadsheet novices

❌ Basic field types

❌ Dashboards and sheets don’t get updated in real time. There is usually a 1-minute delay

Next Steps: Pick Your Project Management Tool

To narrow down your search for a project management tool keep your goals and budgets at the core. Then, factor in the people who’ll be using the tool daily and others who’ll have limited access.

All the tools discussed can fit in certain categories. If you have a large budget and need unlimited seats go with Smartsheet or Proofhub. If you’re a small team or run a one-person business, Trello or Bonsai would be the ideal choice.

But, if you want an all-in-one platform for task tracking, team collaboration, and project analytics that adapts to your team’s needs and fits your pocket, SmartSuite is your best bet. 

With SmartSuite, you get to

• Manage a variety of projects in an intuitive interface,
• Streamline processes with dynamic automation, 
• Improve team collaboration with native communication tools, and
• Monitor project’s performance in dynamic dashboards.

Take SmartSuite for a spin or schedule a demo to talk to our sales team.