In this honest Basecamp review, I’ll go over the platform in detail, including its features, usability, security, integrations, and even customer support.
TL;DR
- Range of features: 7/10. Basecamp offers an integrated team chat, automatic check-ins, and advanced visualization tools but lacks native time-tracking and automation capabilities.
- User interface and usability: 9/10. Customers of the platform agree that the software is easy to set up and use.
- Security measures: 8/10. Basecamp has a good range of security measures, including firewalls and physical security with 99.99% historical uptime.
- Integrations: 8/10. Basecamp offers a comprehensive range of integrations with a variety of productivity platforms – but not as many native integrations as other alternatives on the market.
- Customer support: 8/10. The platform offers excellent customer service to its customers, as most of its users seem to be satisfied with the service they’ve been provided with.
- Pricing model: 9/10. Basecamp offers a generous freemium plan and its Pro Unlimited plan is not based on user seats, unlike alternatives on the market.
Average rating: 8.1/10.
Basecamp Overview
Basecamp is a visual task management platform designed for ease of use that helps team leaders get a bird’s eye view of their projects.
The software lets you communicate through a built-in messaging option, manage tasks through your calendar, and track task progress through visual graphs.
I think of Basecamp as ideal for simplifying task management and cross-department communication between teams.
➡️ Since the purpose of this guide is to review Basecamp in-depth, I’ll be providing my unbiased ratings on the platform’s features, interface, security, integrations, and customer support.
Let’s dive deeper into the software’s features: 👇
Basecamp’s Core Features
Advanced Visualization Tools
Basecamp offers Lineup, Mission Control, and Hill Charts as visual tools to help teams see how projects are standing.
The platform’s different visualization tools help leaders notice progress at a glance and see the direction of the project.
Integrated Team Chat
Unlike tools like Asana, Basecamp offers built-in team communication – the ‘’Hey!’’ menu.
The ‘’Hey!’’ menu aggregates your team’s notifications and lets you add ‘’Pings’’ (direct messages).
You can also kick off ad hoc 1:1 chats or chats in small groups with your team to eliminate the need to have Slack.
Automatic Check-Ins
Automatic check-ins are scheduled questions to your teams to reduce the need for status meetings.
These check-ins can go out to your team on a regular basis and you can send them out on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
I think of this feature as pretty good for keeping your team up-to-date while also helping your team members learn more about each other’s jobs.
Rating: 7/10.
Basecamp is not a traditional project management platform as it offers integrated team chat functionality with unique visualization tools.
However, the platform does not offer Gantt views and each project and it’s not possible to view the same tasks in a different view.
With the platform, by default, you create a Timeline view of your projects, which only shows the projects, not the individual tasks.
For tasks, you need to build to-dos or Kanban boards but these views exist in silos.
‘’Task management is different in each view (for example, Gantt view, List view, Table view, etc.). For example, in the list view, you can select multiple tasks and change their status at the same time, but in the Gantt view, you cannot do this. There are countless examples of this annoying aspect.’’ – G2 Review.
What’s more, Basecamp has no option to build custom dashboards, which can put off Enterprise clients. There’s also no time tracking and sub-tasks.
‘’Lack of basic features like: Gantt views, subtasks, time tracking, and lack of visibility over several projects at a macro level. Having to use other additional integrations to fulfil standard project management needs. Poor customization options for user access/privileges.’’ – G2 Review.
Lastly, what I found is that Basecamp does not offer automation capabilities. The only way to set up automated workflows is via third-party apps which can be a time-consuming process.
Basecamp’s Interface: Is It Easy To Use?
Basecamp offers an intuitive and easy-to-use interface that helps you get an overview of:
- Your message board and group chat with all communication with team members and clients.
- Your to-do list, separated by phases.
- Docs and files.
- Schedule, where you can look at your meetings for the day.
- Progress bar where you can see outstanding tasks and project progress.
Getting started with the platform is also relatively easy, you can start by choosing Basecamp’s starter templates and get up and running in minutes.
Customers of the platform agree that the platform is easy to use since everything is in one place and information is easy to find.
‘’I love that every tool I use is all in one place. I love having our information centralized and easy to find. I love that I can search for whatever I'm looking for and it comes up; the search works! Once we signed up, it was so easy to get up and running and get everyone on the same page.’’ – G2 Review.
Rating: 9/10.
Basecamp’s interface is definitely one of the platform’s strengths. Everything that leaders and employees need to know is in one place and easily accessible.
Basecamp’s Security Measures
Basecamp offers Enterprise-grade security for its customers, including (but not limited to):
- Encryption: All data in transit uses HTTPS, and uploaded files are encrypted at rest. Backups are encrypted using GPG.
- Physical security: Servers are protected by biometric locks, round-the-clock surveillance, and restricted access to authorized personnel only.
- Infrastructure: Basecamp uses firewalls, regularly updates security patches, and maintains a dedicated, monitored network.
- Redundancy: All major systems, including power supplies and internet connections, operate with full redundancy to ensure uptime.
- Admin Pro Pack: Your admins will get greater control over access and permissions.
The platform also claims to be working with security researchers to audit their code and infrastructure and that their systems are set up by experienced security professionals.
Source: UpGuard.
Rating: 8/10.
Basecamp offers a good range of security measures, including firewalls and physical security with 99.99% historical uptime.
➡️ Despite this, I decided to give the platform’s security an 8 and not 9 since UpGuard has rated its security measures as B, while some of its competitors are ranked as an A.
Basecamp’s Integrations
Basecamp offers a good range of native integrations, including:
- Mobile and desktop apps, such as Ply and Monkedo.
- Time tracking, invoicing, and accounting platforms, such as AssessTeam, Clockify, and Toggl.
- Reporting, charts, and planning tools like AgencyDots, Bridge24, and Numerics.
- Software development integrations, such as Instabug and Honeybadger.
- Contracts and proposal apps, such as Nusii and Proposify.
Rating: 8/10.
Basecamp offers a comprehensive range of integrations with a variety of productivity platforms.
However, when compared to alternatives on the market, Basecamp does not offer as many native integrations.
‘’The integration of the platform with other useful and reliable platforms is too limited which has decreased its functionality up to a certain limit.’’ – G2 Review.
Basecamp’s Customer Support
Basecamp offers 24/7/365 customer support to support its customers even on their Basecamp Plus plan.
Enterprise customers can also expect Basecamp’s personalized onboarding with their team.
Customers of the platform are generally satisfied with Basecamp’s customer support, describing it as great.
‘’Customer support has always been great. We use the software on a daily basis for items that would normally have been done with pen and paper.’’ – G2 Review.
Rating: 8/10.
Basecamp offers good customer service to its customers, as the majority of its user base seems to be satisfied with the service they’ve been provided with – with the usual exceptions.
Basecamp’s Pricing Model: Does It Provide A Good Value For Money?
Basecamp offers a free version that lets you run one project at a time with 1 GB of storage space.
To access the platform’s advanced project management features, you’d have to be on one of their two paid plans:
- Plus: Starts at $15/month/seat, and adds unlimited projects, 500 GB storage for files & documents and guest invites.
- Pro Unlimited: $299/month fixed price for unlimited seats, which adds 5 TB of storage space, Admin Pro Pack upgrade, Timesheet upgrade, and personal onboarding.
Rating: 9/10.
Basecamp’s pricing structure stood out to me with its generous freemium plan (1GB storage space is a lot) and Pro Unlimited plan that is not based on user seats.
However, Basecamp’s Plus Plan starts at $15/month when billed monthly, which is considerably more expensive than project management tools like ClickUp.
Nonetheless, customers of the platform are satisfied with its affordability.
‘’The cheap monthly price of this application is my favorite part because my business cannot afford expensive software like this.’’ – G2 Review.
How Does Basecamp Compare To Alternatives On The Market?
Check out our comprehensive Asana review to learn more about the platform and see if it’s the right fit for your organization.
What Are Customers Saying About Basecamp?
Throughout this article, I’ve been showing you a glimpse of the customers’ opinions on Basecamp – but let’s dive deeper.
TL;DR: Customers of Basecamp are satisfied with its intuitive user interface, customer support and how it builds transparency across teams, but some users are not happy with the fact that there are no time-tracking capabilities or Kanban support.
What users love:
- Basecamp can be a ‘’one-stop shop’’ to store policies, procedures, and lists of tasks to finish.
- The platform cuts down siloes and creates transparency across teams.
- Good customer support.
‘’Basecamp does a great job of making it easy for others to complete tasks and network. It significantly cuts down on meeting time and creates transparency where silos often exist in a manufacturing and production environment. Implementation is straightforward. Customer support has always been great. We use the software on a daily basis for items that would normally have been done with pen and paper.’’ – G2 Review.
‘’Having a "one-stop shop" to be able to store policies, procedures, lists of tasks to finish (to-do's) & also being able to message each other without using multiple systems helps us to be more efficient. Being able to move quickly helps us address our customer & business needs quickly as well.’’ – G2 Review.
Common complaints:
- There are times when the platform slows down when it comes to large projects.
- No Kanban or Agile support.
- No time-tracking capabilities.
‘’Although it has been great and error-free when we work on very large projects with many real-time updates, sometimes you notice that the platform slows down a bit. It hasn't slowed us down, but optimizing it for those cases would be ideal.’’ – G2 Review.
Verdict: Is Basecamp Really Worth It?
So far, I've rated Basecamp:
- Range of features: 7/10.
- User interface and usability: 9/10.
- Security measures: 8/10.
- Integrations: 8/10.
- Customer support: 8/10.
- Pricing model: 9/10.
Which gives Basecamp an average rating of 8.1/10 for me.
To summarize:
Basecamp is ideal if you:
✅ Operate in a small team and are looking for a generous freemium plan with up to 1 GB of storage space.
✅ Would prefer a clean, distraction-free interface that promotes focus for your team.
✅ Are looking for a platform that is good for cross-department communications alongside internal tasks.
Basecamp isn't the best option if you:
❌ Need more integration options, as some of Basecamp’s alternatives offer.
❌ Are working on complex projects that require detailed task dependencies.
❌ Require no-code automation capabilities.
Looking For A Basecamp Alternative?
Despite Basecamp’s intuitive user interface, affordable pricing structure and collaboration functionality – some users are concerned about the tool’s lack of native time-tracking capabilities, project views, and lack of built-in automations.
The additional problem is that I’ve noticed companies paying for too many separate tools as tools like Basecamp do not have enough built-in functionality.
Even though Basecamp removes the need for collaboration tools like Slack, you’d need a separate tool for time-tracking and setting up automations.
Across the Basecamp alternatives on the market, SmartSuite (that’s us) offers an affordable, easy-to-use, and feature-packed project management solution.
- Our software offers better task management capabilities through 40+ fields, including a linked records field – which I’ve found to be ideal for IT project management.
- SmartSuite has built-in team collaboration tools like email integration, whiteboards, and a member directory.
- We are not adding to the noise of other project management tools. Our platform aims to create one unified no-code platform that runs the entire operation, from project management to process automation to real-time collaboration.
Let’s look at some key features that make SmartSuite the best Basecamp alternative in 2025: 👇
#1: Plan, Track & Manage Simple & Complex Projects
SmartSuite’s project management features help teams plan, track, and manage multiple projects at scale.
To simplify the process, you will get numerous built-in intuitive features to execute your tasks perfectly.
💡 Interested in how other leaders are using SmartSuite? You can check out our video walkthrough:
Here are the features that teams love the most about SmartSuite’s platform:
- Smart task management: You can turn any item field into a task—a checklist item, comments, or sub-item. It is possible to easily build a solid task list and assign it to the right person with a due date and priority status.
- Project phases and milestones: Having milestones ensures your project stays on track and moves towards the objective. With SmartSuite, you can set them, monitor through your reporting dashboard, and flag issues.
- Files and project deliverables: Manage and organize all your documents. You can attach project-related files, share feedback with your team, and manage version history, all within your work context.
💡 SmartSuite supports formats like PDF, GIF, CSV, PNG, and MP4 and integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and Microsoft OneDrive, making adding files to your team’s workflows easy.
You can add images directly in SmartSuite by connecting your social media and Unsplash accounts.
- Native time tracking: Monitor and evaluate task and project completion times. Built-in tracking helps group time entries see estimates and segment billable and non-billable entries.
#2. Integrated Team Collaboration
Similar to Basecamp, our platform focuses on facilitating integrated communication with less contextual switching.
SmartSuite’s comprehensive team collaboration feature is replete with tools to ensure team members get real-time updates, share feedback or approvals, and keep external clients updated.
Some key features that boost a team’s productivity include:
- Comments to task conversion: You can convert any comment into an action item within a record or a field within a record.
Also, your management team can assign these tasks to team members and track their progress in real-time.
- Member’s Directory: Your leadership team will get a complete list of all your team members in a single dedicated space and get access to information such as their department, position, location, timezone, etc.
To find the right member/s, you can use grouping or filtering options without manually scrolling through the list.
- Email integration: Integrating your email account with SmartSuite and sending and receiving emails within your workspace so you do not have to switch.
And the best part? SmartSuite offers an intuitive mobile app that lets you stay in touch with co-workers on the go.
#3. Flexible Automation Builder
SmartSuite offers automation starting from its free plan, unlike Basecamp.
However, SmartSuite’s automation builder is much more user-friendly and lets you automate actions across workspaces—on a task or overall project level.
It gives you more power to automate and build processes that handle recurring tasks such as status updates or follow-up emails.
The automation builder offers no-code functionality to build simple one-liner sequences or multi-step flows through triggers, conditions, and actions.
Your team can choose the prebuilt actions or integrate SmartSuite with email, file storage, messaging, or SMS platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Suite, Slack, and Calendars to build custom actions.
You can, for example, authorize your account by selecting the Gmail integration action, specify your email addresses, and customize your message.
This email will be sent when the trigger and its conditions are met.
#4: Comprehensive Project Reporting
Our platform has a dynamic project analytics tool with customizable charts and graphs.
The reporting dashboard helps your team track project performance, understand resource allocation, and identify slow-moving projects.
Based on that information, your leadership team can quickly develop plans to overcome roadblocks and get the project back on track.
You can visualize reporting in Grid, Card, Kanban, Timeline, Map, Calendar, or Dashboard views – unlike Basecamp.
It is possible to add as many as needed to build a visual storyboard for your project’s progress.
To share reports with your stakeholders or clients, you can make the report public and share the necessary access.
SmartSuite Pricing
Similar to Basecamp, SmartSuite offers a generous free plan.
SmartSuite’s free plan gives you access to 250+ automation actions, team collaboration, multi-dashboard views, and more.
There are four paid plans with a 14-day free trial:
- Team: Starts at $10/user per month, including Gantt charts, timeline views, 5000 automation runs, and time tracking.
- Professional: Starts at $25/user per month and adds two-factor authentication, Gmail & Outlook integrations, and unlimited editors.
- Enterprise: Starts at $35/user/month and includes access to audit logs, data loss prevention, and 50,000 monthly API calls.
- Signature: A customized plan tailored to your organization’s needs and team size with no predefined limits.
Get Started with SmartSuite For Free Today
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.
Our platform wins over Basecamp with its feature-packed plans, which include rule-based task assignments, status update automation, and reporting capabilities.
I feel like an all-in-one project management solution is non-negotiable for managing more complex projects in 2025.
Organizations should be looking for all-in-one project management solutions that have built-in team communication, reporting and collaboration features so they wouldn’t have to rely on third-party integrations that are adding to their costs.
SmartSuite’s platform helps you tackle this by offering just the right customization and a library of 200+ project management templates to get your projects up and running.
Here’s what's in it for your team when you try SmartSuite:
- Access to a generous free plan with features including multi-board views (Kanban, Chart, Map, Timeline, Card, and Calendar), 100 automation/month, and 40+ field types, including formula and linked record fields.
- No-code automation builder to set up to 500,000 trigger/action workflows.
- Built-in productivity tools, including time tracking, status tracking, and checklists.
- Team collaboration and planning tools such as whiteboards and SmartSuite docs.
- Resource management across projects and teams.
- 40+ field types, including the option to add your custom fields.
Sign up for a free plan to test the water or get a 14-day free trial to explore all its amazing features.
Or, if you’d like to talk to our team of experts, schedule a demo.
Read More
- 10 Best Project Management Tools For Remote Teams In 2025: A comprehensive article if you’re looking for a project management software for your remote team.
- Airtable Review: Is It Worth It in 2025? Find out if Airtable is the right project management platform for your needs with our detailed review.
- ClickUp Review: Is It Worth It In 2025? We dive deeper into ClickUp’s features and pricing model.
- 10 Best Client Management Software In 2025: Are you working with B2B clients? If yes, check this guide out to find the best client management tools in 2025.
- 10 Best Healthcare Project Management Tools in 2025: Learn more about the best healthcare project management platforms on the market.
- 10 Best Project Management Software for Construction in 2025: Find out what platforms are construction companies using to manage their tasks.
