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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Basecamp

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ABasecamp is a web-based project-management tool. Basecamp offers features standard to project management platforms, as well as mobile accessibility, unlimited users, and 3rd party integrations. Basecamp is priced by space requirements and concurrent projects.

    $15

    per month per user

    Planview AgilePlace

    Score7.5 out of 10
    N/AAgilePlace is a project management solution built around flexibility, data-driven analytics, and workflow automation. The software was acquired by Planview in December 2017 to expand that company's capabilities.

    $19

    per user, per month

    Smartsheet

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ASmartsheet is an online project management and collaboration tool. It includes automated alerts, instantaneous updating and sharing across team members, resource management, nested tasks organized in a hierarchy, a Gantt chart view, exportable and automated reports, and integration with email.

    $12

    per month per user (up to 10 users)

    Pricing
    BasecampPlanview AgilePlaceSmartsheet
    Editions & Modules
    Basecamp Plus
    $15
    per month per user
    Basecamp Pro Unlimited
    $299
    per month (billed annually)
    Basecamp Free
    Free
    Limited Capabilities
    Teams
    $19
    per user, per month
    Scaled Teams
    $29
    per user, per month
    Custom
    Contact Sales for Quote
    per user, per month
    Pro
    $12
    per month per user (up to 10 users)
    Business
    $24
    per month per user (3 user minimum)
    Enterprise
    Contact Sales
    Advanced Work Management
    Contact Sales
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BasecampPlanview AgilePlaceSmartsheet
    Free Trial
    YesYesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—All editions include unlimited boards.A discount is offered for annual billing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    BasecampPlanview AgilePlaceSmartsheet
    Considered Multiple Products
    37signals
    Chose Basecamp
    Pretty good, but [Basecamp] has its drawbacks. Honestly I find the interface non-intuitive and sometimes have trouble figuring out how to change the status of a task. Perhaps it has something to do with the way it was originally set up by the admin, but I'm not sure. I liked …
    Incentivized
    Chose Basecamp
    We liked Basecamp as it was initially free to use for 30 days. Further, there were some interns in our project who used the product at their university.There were videos available on how to set up and use the product. For us, it was the convenience of setting it up and hit the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Basecamp
    Basecamp is more intuitive, easier to use, and honestly, more fun!
    Incentivized
    Chose Basecamp
    All of them can be used regularly and we used them before. But we chose Basecamp because it's simple to use and setup. And our company is small sized organization and we don't have to use big software to track and manage our projects. I recommend Basecamp for an individual user …
    Incentivized
    Chose Basecamp
    Basecamp is a very basic tool. There are pros and cons to this. I think other tools like Trello have much more to offer, and many more features. But this could be an issue for organizations looking for an easy-to-use tool. It really depends on the need of the company and the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Basecamp
    We use a product called SmartSheet here for some collaboration. It's really easy to use, in an Excel document, deadlines etc... are all visible.

    That's one of the big problems with Basecamp; the deliverables and deadlines are not always completely visible, it takes some …
    Planview
    Chose Planview AgilePlace
    While LeanKit was not designed for project and task management, we selected it because of its collaborative nature as a project and task management platform for our marketing team. It was also selected because our engineering and product management teams were using Leankit. We …
    Incentivized
    Smartsheet
    Chose Smartsheet
    We use Basecamp for our day-to-day in-house operations, but need a more "rigid" structure (spreadsheet) for managing projects with clients. Everything is in one place in Smartsheet and clients are able to find and use it easily.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    The dynamic nature of SmartSheet can do the same things as the other tools I've used (Trello, Asana, Basecamp, etc.), but you are not locked into a single methodology or format. You have the flexibility to create the type of project tracking tool that works best for your …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    Basecamp was a little too complex compared to Spreadsheet. Part of Basecamp's issue is that it tries to be many things to many people. Smartsheet first and foremost is a project management tool. It doesn't pretend to be anything else. Sometimes I wonder if Basecamp is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    We used the SmartSheet free trial and were deeply impressed. Microsoft Excel sitting on a mail server and database with automatic Gantt Charts was our dream. We could track expected vs. actual time to complete a task, view bottlenecks, and identify time savings visually. Base…
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    I actually use Basecamp in conjunction with Smartsheet. Smartsheet is where we store the real time project plan and Basecamp is where we have discussions that do not belong on a specific row of the sheet (as many of them don't). We also house project documents that do not …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    I definitely prefer Smartsheet to Basecamp. Its more advanced, the product design is better, and the notification system and ability to comment and attach documents has been extremely useful for my organization.
    Chose Smartsheet
    Smartsheet is a dedicated project management tool that is built on spread sheet principles. When compared to Microsoft's own offering, Smartsheet came out on top in some areas like dedicated project management features vs having to build custom features to Microsoft 365. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    Smartsheet is a unique data and project management collaboration tool that sets itself apart from its competitors. Teams have the ability to create extremely customized dashboards that have data flowing to and from multiple worksheets and workspaces. Smartsheet has the ability …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    I liked Smartsheet for the ease of use and simplicity. Having a view in Gantt chart is great and very helpful. Being able to invite multiple people and have everyone collaborate was useful. It made my life as a manager of projects much much easier and saved me a lot of time …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    Our design and dev team really enjoyed the look, feel, and flow of monday. However, from a project management and timeline approach I found it to be overwhelming and cumbersome. I needed a tool that could easily be replicable and client facing.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    Smartsheet is so much easier to use than any other product. Because of how much it resembles and Excel spreadsheet, end users can pick it up and begin using it with very little to no training. The cost is also significantly less than the alternatives. Being a cloud solution …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    I have used Microsoft Project, Basecamp, OmniPlan and Excel to organize projects. Smartsheet, by far, is my favorite. Although Smartsheet is not quite as detailed with Gantt charts as Microsoft Project and OmniPlan, it is much more user friendly. Smartsheet also has the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartsheet
    I was attempting to do all I've described with Google Sheets & SharePoint. Google Sheets didn't have all the functionality we needed. SharePoint was too difficult to set up and doesn't work well with Mac users. None of the solutions I listed could match Smartsheet's versatility …
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    89%
    Would buy again
    50 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    90%
    Would buy again
    62 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    58 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    86%
    Happy with the feature set
    48 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    88%
    Happy with the feature set
    61 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    47 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    42 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    51 Answers
    Features
    BasecampPlanview AgilePlaceSmartsheet
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Basecamp and Planview AgilePlace and Smartsheet
    Feature
    Basecamp
    8.9
    124 Ratings
    15% above category average
    Planview AgilePlace
    7.4
    25 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Smartsheet
    9.1
    129 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Task Management9.1123 Ratings10.025 Ratings9.8126 Ratings
    Resource Management9.3103 Ratings9.921 Ratings10.0108 Ratings
    Gantt Charts7.243 Ratings10.014 Ratings9.0109 Ratings
    Scheduling8.899 Ratings9.919 Ratings9.8111 Ratings
    Workflow Automation9.372 Ratings00 Ratings9.2100 Ratings
    Team Collaboration9.6123 Ratings00 Ratings10.0122 Ratings
    Support for Agile Methodology9.751 Ratings9.320 Ratings8.981 Ratings
    Support for Waterfall Methodology8.748 Ratings4.014 Ratings9.079 Ratings
    Document Management9.6115 Ratings6.57 Ratings9.2101 Ratings
    Email integration8.1101 Ratings7.319 Ratings9.0100 Ratings
    Mobile Access8.6100 Ratings2.114 Ratings8.096 Ratings
    Timesheet Tracking9.148 Ratings6.44 Ratings9.762 Ratings
    Change request and Case Management9.558 Ratings7.29 Ratings8.169 Ratings
    Budget and Expense Management8.442 Ratings00 Ratings8.075 Ratings
    Visual planning tools00 Ratings7.39 Ratings00 Ratings
    Professional Services Automation
    Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Basecamp and Planview AgilePlace and Smartsheet
    Feature
    Basecamp
    8.0
    42 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Planview AgilePlace
    -
    Ratings
    Smartsheet
    7.9
    66 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Quotes/estimates10.030 Ratings00 Ratings8.144 Ratings
    Invoicing10.026 Ratings00 Ratings7.537 Ratings
    Project & financial reporting8.034 Ratings00 Ratings8.760 Ratings
    Integration with accounting software4.028 Ratings00 Ratings7.332 Ratings
    Agile Development
    Comparison of Agile Development features of Basecamp and Planview AgilePlace and Smartsheet
    Feature
    Basecamp
    -
    Ratings
    Planview AgilePlace
    8.8
    8 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Smartsheet
    -
    Ratings
    DevOps Tool Integrations00 Ratings8.15 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dependencies and Blockers00 Ratings9.68 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    BasecampPlanview AgilePlaceSmartsheet
    Small Businesses
    Any.do
    Score8 out of 10
    monday dev
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Any.do
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    KanbanFlow
    Score7.3 out of 10
    IBM Targetprocess
    Score8.5 out of 10
    KanbanFlow
    Score7.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Microsoft To Do
    Score7.9 out of 10
    IBM Cloud Continuous Delivery
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Microsoft To Do
    Score7.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    BasecampPlanview AgilePlaceSmartsheet
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.9
    (150 ratings)
    10.0
    (31 ratings)
    9.3
    (146 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (26 ratings)
    8.6
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (24 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (20 ratings)
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    9.2
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    8.3
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (4 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (28 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.1
    (45 ratings)
    Online Training
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.7
    (4 ratings)
    7.7
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.3
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.3
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BasecampPlanview AgilePlaceSmartsheet
    Likelihood to Recommend
    37signals
    Basecamp is a wonderful tool for teams of varying degrees of technical knowledge, teams managing lots of different types of "agifall" and waterfall projects, and teams that are remotely distributed. It's probably less useful for more strictly agile-focused development teams, compared to other more flexible software applications like Jira and Asana.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Planview
    This tool enables the visual management needed in many offshore teams to easily and quickly see the pending work, work in progress and completed work.For teams that work with a waterfall methodology and do not have AGILE internalized, I believe there are other solutions from Planview or other providers.
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    Smartsheet shines for collaboration. When you have multiple people involved with planning events Smartsheet makes it easy to share and collaborate. For instance, multiple people can be in Smartsheet working at the same time. Also setting permissions for exactly those who need to know is quite easy with Smartsheet. For data analytics and general spreadsheet purposes Excel is better but for project management and event planning Smartsheet is superior
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    37signals
    • Task management - It is very easy to add, organize and discuss tasks within Basecamp's interface.
    • The "Campfire" function is great for communicating when you just have a quick question for someone on the team.
    • Notifications - Basecamp lets you decide how often and about what you'd like to be notified. The ability to respond to messages in Basecamp directly via email saves a lot of time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Planview
    • Visual kanban board that is easy to customize as the team's needs change
    • Real time collaboration allowing teams working remotely to stay up to date on current status
    • Allows versatility for how a team needs to capture details on the work at hand by utilizing card icons, card types and custom data points
    • Card scoring is easy to setup and provides the team the ability to set values to better prioritize their backlog
    • Ability to add card automation to take out some of the repetitive manual actions
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    • Its hard to overstate the value of familiarity. Being able to use a tool that has some familiarity takes away the time needed to train and orient employees on a new tool and allows an organization to hit the ground running.
    • Smartsheet covers most of the basics of a project management tool, the usual tasks, milestones and project viewing options.
    • For data viewing, you get multiple data viewing options including a calendar view (good for marketing teams and those who work around scheduling), Kanban, Gaant etc
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    37signals
    • High Learning Curve. It's true that it can be easy to use, but to use well and effectively takes some time to learn. It's recommended to have an agreed-upon system in your team of what tools to use and when.
    • Notification Overload. If people aren't careful they could send a notification to everyone when only a couple people were meant to be prompted. And since emails are sent by default, you could have your mailbox overloaded with unnecessary updates. This is where it takes a bit of training in your team to have an agreed-upon system.
    • Lack of organization with Archived Projects. I will often need to reference an archived project to make a new one, but there is only a list of archived projects in alphabetical order, with no way to organize by archive date, or even search.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Planview
    • Ability to add more than 1 visual cue to the card. We use custom icons and sometimes more than 1 is appropriate but you have to choose which is most important since only 1 can be applied.
    • Better visibility to board access from the user administration screens. Currently have to run 1-2 reports to see this information. Would like to be able to click on a user within Configure Users and see what boards they have access to quickly.
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    • Smartsheet set up is similar to Excel, yet when you upload an Excel file, things like conditional formatting are lost. Smartsheet has its own conditional formatting, and you have to reinstate the rules. It would be great if those would apply automatically once a file is uploaded
    • Some Smartsheet management and access rules can take some tweaking to work properly. This may be a case of offering more info to admins so they can apply these better and with more efficiency
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    37signals
    When I bring new people onto a project, it's immediately obvious how to use Basecamp. I don't have to worry about teaching them the features or walking them through it, it's just incredibly user-friendly. For this reason, I'll continue to renew my subscription even as new people are brought onto production jobs or the client changes.
    Read full review
    Planview
    we are happy with the tool and the service and continuos improvement of the tool so there is no need yet to change to another one.
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    It definitely meets our needs as far as organizing and archiving our tasks and files. As we train more staff to view it, I see opportunities for more improvement, which I am sure this program can handle. I look forward to seeing continued improvement from Smartsheet on their capabilities and functionality.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    37signals
    It is easy to use, even for clients who have no experience with the platform. It can only get a little cumbersome to ensure that a client can't see certain documents you might want to keep in the Docs & Files folders. And sometimes, getting a client to actually use an unfamiliar platform can be a challenge.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Planview
    LeanKit isn't the best designed Kanban system I've seen, but overall it's pretty usable. The boards I've used are pretty complex, so it can be difficult to find things. I found that searching and filtering for specific cards was somewhat of a challenge. Dragging a card from one lane to another is kind of a fun way to get things done though.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    Smartsheet is very easy to learn. However, while I have been able to pick it easily, Microsoft Excel and Project super users that I have trained on Smartsheet get bogged down in the differences and can find it frustrating. Explaining the differences ahead of time and why Smartsheet is being chosen instead of a different software seems to counteract those reactions
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    37signals
    I've never experienced downtime while using Basecamp, or been unable to access it when I needed it. That's not to say they've never had downtime, but I've been lucky enough not to encounter any, and I work odd hours, including late nights when maintenance is often undertaken.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Planview
    Not experienced any outage
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    37signals
    No answers on this topic
    Planview
    Larger boards take longer to load
    Incentivized
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    Smartsheet
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    37signals
    For the many reasons I've given, Basecamp is a very strong program. There are a few features I can imagine that might make it even better, but I don't have a basis for comparison to be able to say that there is definitely a better one out there. I've noticed that Basecamp has evolved a bit from the time I started using it until now, so that makes me think that the producer of this program values it and believes in continuous improvement. If you could use the features offered by Basecamp, I would think you could use it with confidence.
    Incentivized
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    Planview
    Every time I have reached out to the AgilePlace support team I have received a timely response in addition to professional & personal feedback. Their consultants are knowledgeable and the management team is happy to jump in and help when needed.
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    I give this rating because it fills a niche in the market. MS Project scares many away from proper task management but there are limited tools our there, especially cloud-based that are mobile-friendly. Smartsheet fills this market gap, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. IT is not fair to compare it to MS Project, but fairer to see what gaps it fills.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    37signals
    Decide the process before implementation - i.e. when it's due 8/9 does that mean 8am, noon, 5pm, 11:59pm? Check your to-do list frequently Set-up templates - just not with the dates (they can be funky)
    Read full review
    Planview
    Very easy.
    Incentivized
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    Smartsheet
    It's absolutely paramount to take a few minutes to actually play with the software. It's nearly impossible to do anything wrong or make a mistake which cannot be fixed easily. Under the help menu is Live Training option. After you familiarize yourself with the commands, watch the live training for some in depth understanding of how to make the software fit your needs perfectly.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    37signals
    Pretty good, but [Basecamp] has its drawbacks. Honestly I find the interface non-intuitive and sometimes have trouble figuring out how to change the status of a task. Perhaps it has something to do with the way it was originally set up by the admin, but I'm not sure. I liked Jira's drag and drop obvious functionality, but the project management side of the software was lacking. Smartsheet has excellent project management functionality, but the task management isn't as good.
    Incentivized
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    Planview
    Originally, we had evaluated two other tools next to Planview LeanKit: Kanbantool and Kanbanflow. The latter was a close contestant for productive use, as it was also very customizable and a joy to work with and look at. It also had lower user fees and a mobile integration. In the end, we picked Planview LeanKit because of several reasons: Aesthetics: The look was much more clean and professional. Reporting: It was obvious from the start that we could use Planview LeanKit as a tool for improvement. API: We needed to integrate the Kanban into our central systems and Planview LeanKit API was (and still is) a way to do it. Card Headers: This sounds like a simple thing, but the headers above the titles fit our work perfectly and looked perfect, which helped the decision.
    Incentivized
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    Smartsheet
    Jira and Redmine are much more robust and technologically advanced project management solutions. I enjoy using either when managing a very large project. However, I prefer to use Smartsheet for my smaller to medium sized projects. As for Google Drive - I would say that Google sheets and Smartsheet are almost identical in my opinion when it comes to functionality. Personally I prefer to manage smaller projects via Google Drive, but it is a personal preference!
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    37signals
    No answers on this topic
    Planview
    Good use cases for small/large teams
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smartsheet
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    37signals
    • It has saved me time when having to get the same message out to multiple restaurants
    • It has helped us make smarter operational decisions because we can all collaborate on an answer in a shorter amount of time (instead of calling a meeting!!!)
    • The calendar function allows us to plot out our marketing agenda for the month and add/change it together as needed. The chef will post his recipe, the managers will cost it out, the social media manager will post pictures on it, and ultimately we will get that information out on an info sheet to the staff by printing the page.
    Incentivized
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    Planview
    • LeanKit has made it easier for new employees to understand other employees' roles in the company by seeing their workload.
    • It makes it clear who is responsible for what project so that there is more accountability at our company.
    • It helps our project manager schedule new projects in a way that we all can see.
    Incentivized
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    Smartsheet
    • This has really opened up collaboration across teams. A lot less working in silos.
    • It hasn't fully replaced any one tool so it means having to go to another place. Hopefully, we can eliminate a tool or two in the next six months.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Planview AgilePlace Screenshots

    Screenshot of Real-Time Analytics: Utilize board health metrics involving bottlenecks, WIP, and throughput to guide the optimization of workflows, improve velocity, and better prioritize efforts for more predictable delivery. Lean and Agile metrics can be used to assess team performance and promote continuous improvement.Screenshot of PI Planning: Offers enterprise Kanban boards to visualize the work of teams regardless of the methodologies they apply or workflows they follow, and insights into progress and create opportunities for better alignment.Screenshot of Dependency Visualization and Management: Surfaces risks to plans resulting from cross-team dependency conflicts, blockers, and capacity constraints, and helps drive proactive measures to enable teams to deliver on time.Screenshot of Team Planning and Coordination: Boards can be used to breakdown work, build and manage plans, and execute against strategy to deliver more value to customers, faster.