The All-In-One Toolkit for Working Remotely
Basecamp is project management by 37signals (DHH). Trustpilot: 3.2/5 from 22 reviews. Complaints: charged full amount on day 1 of trial, limited updates, 6 months wait for refund. Famous for flat-rate pricing.
Patterns extracted from real user feedback — not raw reviews.
Basecamp lacks advanced features like time tracking, which can be a deal-breaker for agencies and teams that bill clients. While Pro Unlimited has a timesheet feature, the basic plan lacks this entirely. Teams needing detailed time tracking must use third-party integrations.
Basecamp does not offer Gantt charts or timeline views for project visualization. Teams needing to see project timelines, critical paths, or visual scheduling must look elsewhere. This is a fundamental gap for project management.
You cannot easily set up task dependencies where Task B can only start after Task A is complete. This complicates larger, interdependent work streams. Teams with complex projects find this a significant limitation for proper scheduling.
Many users find Basecamp's interface 'clunky and outdated, making navigation less intuitive than modern project management tools.' The tool 'needs to update its interface to a modern design.' It lacks latest features like charts and AI which makes it feel dated for the price.
Basecamp's reporting is insufficient. It's not designed to track workload capacity, measure detailed time spent on tasks, or create complex custom reports on project metrics. Staff relies on other tools for deep operational analytics.
A key issue is that Basecamp lacks many ways to customize project work. Users report that since the platform offers just the basics, they struggle to alter it to suit their projects. This can limit team flexibility and adaptability for specific workflows.
For teams following agile development practices, Basecamp does not support essential agile features like a comprehensive roadmap system or detailed task statuses. Users report 'it is hard to manage proper agile development because it lacks main features to support such.'
The fact that a notification badge cannot be attached to the app icon on desktop is frustrating. The mobile app notifies of messages, but this functionality is not available for desktop. This causes many within companies to miss when messages are waiting.
Compared to platforms like Monday.com, Basecamp has very few integration options, limiting team collaboration with other tools. The overall platform has very limited integrations with other tools in your tech stack.
Customer service is described as 'not good' on lower tiers. Only Pro Unlimited ($299/month) includes 24/7 priority support and 1:1 onboarding. Basic plan users are limited to tutorials, knowledge base, and ticketing systems.
Simple and intuitive to learn
Basecamp is one of a handful of tools that can be labeled as easy-to-learn, intuitive, and developed using common sense. New users can be productive quickly without extensive training. The opinionated simplicity is deliberate.
Flat-rate unlimited users pricing
Basecamp Pro Unlimited at $299/month includes unlimited users - one of the few products with an all-inclusive, unlimited users package for one fixed, capped price. You can add 1000 users and still pay $299/month total. No per-seat pricing anxiety.
Reduces information overload
Basecamp addresses information overload and digital noise by organizing communication into dedicated tools: discussions on Message Board, chats in Campfire, and tasks in To-dos. Much easier to locate relevant information without sifting through endless emails or chat threads.
All core features in every plan
Every paid plan includes the same feature set - you pay for team size, not to unlock features. No hidden 'premium' tiers or upsell paths. Cost predictability is the real differentiator. All project tools (to-do lists, message boards, schedules, docs, file sharing, chat) are included.
Stable, profitable, long-running company
37signals has been running Basecamp since 2004 - one of the longest-running SaaS products. The company is profitable, self-funded, and known for sustainable business practices. No VC pressure to chase growth or exit. Created Ruby on Rails.
Users: Per user
Storage: 500GB
Limitations: Per-user pricing removes the flat-rate advantage, limited storage, basic support only
Users: Unlimited users
Storage: 5TB
Limitations: Still lacks advanced PM features (Gantt, dependencies, agile support) that competitors offer at lower prices
Large teams wanting predictable pricing
Pro Unlimited at $299/month for unlimited users is exceptional value for large teams. A 100-person team pays $2.99/user/month vs $7-15+ per user elsewhere. The flat rate provides budget certainty.
Teams prioritizing simplicity over features
Basecamp is deliberately simple. If your team finds other tools overwhelming and just needs basic project organization with to-dos, messages, files, and chat, Basecamp's opinionated approach reduces decision fatigue.
Remote teams needing async communication hub
Basecamp's structure (Message Boards, Campfire chat, check-ins) is designed for async remote work. 37signals literally wrote the book on remote work. If reducing meeting culture is a priority, Basecamp supports that philosophy.
Remote teams valuing async work
Designed for calm, async communication. No real-time pressure, automatic check-ins, and clear project boundaries. Great for distributed teams.
Marketing teams
Good for async communication and simple projects. But lacks visual campaign views, content calendars, and automation that marketing teams need.
Teams needing advanced project management
Basecamp lacks Gantt charts, task dependencies, timeline views, and agile features. Teams with complex, interdependent projects will be frustrated by missing functionality. Consider Monday.com, Asana, or Jira instead.
Agencies billing clients by hours
The basic plan has no time tracking. Even Pro Unlimited's timesheet is basic. Agencies needing detailed billable hours tracking should consider tools with robust time tracking like Harvest or ClickUp.
Agile/Scrum development teams
Basecamp doesn't support agile features like sprints, velocity tracking, or kanban boards. Users report it's 'hard to manage proper agile development.' Engineering teams should consider Linear, Jira, or Shortcut.
Teams needing extensive integrations
Basecamp has very few integrations compared to competitors. If your workflow depends on connecting many tools, Monday.com, Asana, or ClickUp offer much larger ecosystems.
Engineering teams
No sprint planning, no Git integration, no technical workflows. Basecamp is intentionally simple - too simple for software development needs.
Common buyer's remorse scenarios reported by users.
Teams chose Basecamp for simplicity then realized they needed to visualize project timelines. Without Gantt charts or timeline views, they couldn't communicate schedules to stakeholders effectively and had to supplement with other tools.
Teams with interdependent work streams discovered they couldn't link tasks. Managing which tasks must complete before others start became a manual tracking nightmare, defeating the purpose of project management software.
Agencies or consultancies realized too late that basic plan lacks time tracking. Even Pro Unlimited's timesheet is basic. Adding third-party time tracking increased costs and complexity beyond what they expected.
What felt refreshingly simple with 5 people became limiting with 30. The lack of advanced features, reporting, and customization that didn't matter early on became pain points as operations grew more complex.
Scenarios where this product tends to fail users.
Client or leadership asks for a project timeline showing which tasks depend on others. Basecamp can't produce this view. Teams must create separate presentations or adopt additional tools to communicate project schedules.
Basic plan has no time tracking. Team discovers they need separate time tracking software, increasing tool sprawl and costs. What seemed like simple pricing becomes complex with add-ons.
Team decides to implement Scrum or Kanban but discovers Basecamp has no sprint support, kanban boards, or velocity tracking. The tool that was 'good enough' now actively hinders the new methodology.
Team needs Basecamp to connect with CRM, accounting, or other business tools but finds the integration ecosystem is very limited compared to competitors. Manual data entry becomes necessary.
Monday.com
Teams wanting visual project management, extensive integrations, and automations switch to Monday.com. It offers the customization and features Basecamp lacks, though at higher per-user cost.
Trello
Teams wanting visual kanban boards for simple project tracking consider Trello. It's similarly simple but offers board-based visualization Basecamp lacks.
Asana
Teams needing more structure switch to Asana. Gain: timeline views, dependencies, workload management. Trade-off: more complex, per-seat pricing.
ClickUp
Teams wanting more features switch to ClickUp. Gain: docs, whiteboards, goals, multiple views. Trade-off: overwhelming UI, learning curve.
Notion
Teams wanting flexibility switch to Notion. Gain: customizable workspaces, databases. Trade-off: less structured project management.
