Basecamp: My Cloud Collaboration Toolbox
As one of two administrators, I use Basecamp to support professional, personal and volunteer projects. The range of projects that I've …
Starting at $15 per month per user
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What is Basecamp?
Basecamp 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.
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Popular Features
- Task Management (117)4.949%
- Team Collaboration (117)4.343%
- Document Management (109)3.838%
- Resource Management (98)3.838%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Author, Analyst, Editor, Researcher
Self Employed (Information Services, 1-10 employees)
Pricing
Basecamp Business
$99
Cloud
Per Month [Unlimited Users]
Basecamp Personal
Free
Cloud
Limited Capabilities
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://basecamp.com/pricing
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $15 per month per user
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Basecamp Demo
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Garmin Basecamp demo - Part III
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Garmin Basecamp demo - Part II
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Basecamp - 2-minute Demo
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Garmin Basecamp demo - Part I
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Basecamp Project Management Review
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Product Details
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- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Basecamp?
Basecamp is a web-based project-management tool developed by 37signals in Chicago and launched in 2004. The Ruby on Rails framework was extracted from the Basecamp project.
Basecamp offers features standard to project management platforms, including to-do lists, wiki-style web-based text documents, milestone management, file sharing, time tracking and a calendar, and a messaging system. Mobile accessibility is supported. Notably, it supports unlimited users. It also offers integration with 37signals' own Campfire product, which expands the group messaging functionality of the core platform. Customization, accessibility, and functionality are extended further by the broad range of apps available for free from 3rd parties. A 2-month free trial is available. Pricing is dependent upon space requirements and the number of concurrent projects, not the number of users.
Basecamp offers features standard to project management platforms, including to-do lists, wiki-style web-based text documents, milestone management, file sharing, time tracking and a calendar, and a messaging system. Mobile accessibility is supported. Notably, it supports unlimited users. It also offers integration with 37signals' own Campfire product, which expands the group messaging functionality of the core platform. Customization, accessibility, and functionality are extended further by the broad range of apps available for free from 3rd parties. A 2-month free trial is available. Pricing is dependent upon space requirements and the number of concurrent projects, not the number of users.
Basecamp Integrations
Basecamp Competitors
Basecamp Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Basecamp 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.
Basecamp starts at $15.
Reviewers rate Quotes/estimates highest, with a score of 8.3.
The most common users of Basecamp are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Recommendations
Based on user reviews, here are the three most common recommendations for Basecamp:
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Learn and Utilize Basecamp's Features: Users recommend taking the time to learn about all of Basecamp's features and functions. They suggest getting training or working with someone experienced in Basecamp to fully utilize the platform. This recommendation helps users make the most out of their Basecamp experience.
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Set Up a Standardized System: Many users suggest setting up a system or process that everyone can follow when using Basecamp. This recommendation helps to ensure consistency and streamline project management within teams.
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Consider Other Tools for Advanced Functionalities: While users find Basecamp handy for organizing projects, offering instructions and feedback, some reviewers suggest using a more advanced tool, like Monday.com, for large teams collaborating on projects. They advise evaluating additional functionalities and comparing prices before deciding on Basecamp.
Overall, users recommend considering Basecamp as a low-cost option for small teams with straightforward projects. It is recommended for organizing projects, managing workflows, facilitating team cooperation, linking departments, coordinating tasks, and storing data. However, users caution against using it for purposes other than its intended use and highlight that compared to more advanced tools, it might seem basic and limited in benefits. It is also suggested to stay updated with appropriate titles and efficiently organize projects while using Basecamp. Additionally, Google Drive is recommended for file management purposes.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
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Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Basecamp is a project management software we used for a short time to help collaborations and organizing projects. In my experience, the software was hard to use, not intuitive, was hard to use and confusing for clients, and what finally did it for me was the lack of notifications. It literally did not notify me, teammates, or the client multiple occasions. Finally I said enough - I said this software is costing me clients and money far beyond its value, and stressing all parties out just by using it. I do NOT recommend Basecamp.
- Charge too much
- Fail to notify parties of new communications
- Confuse customers
- Functions are hard for clients to use and collaborate with
- Messages ( including important ones ) were not being received by other parties when we or they would ping each other. We would sit there waiting for each other, while we had often both already responded. Costs time, looks bad, annoying. Was nail in the coffin for us with Basecamp. We paid ahead for the year and I still axed it half way through for ClickUp, which is much much cleaner.
- In my experience, the interface is not intuitive, and is ugly.
- In my opinion, the price is way too high for failing basic proj mgmt app needs
June 17, 2021
Better options out there (for us at least)
We used Basecamp as the project management software of choice from a vendor tasked with the migration/development of our new website. All communication was to be funneled through the app along with any files and assets needed. To my knowledge, no one else on campus is using it. We were using it as a PM tool with a third-party vendor.
- Easy to get started
- easy to add/onboard team members
- web/mobile access
- Horrible user experience
- Messy chat threads
- Was hard to find what the vendor was referencing at times--was the file I need in the messy thread, the files tab, or somewhere else?
We use Basecamp to manage tasks, communication and documents with our clients. Instead of just using email (where things would be easily lost), we create a project for each client to keep projects on track and to have a centralized location where everything related to the project lives. This makes it much easier to find things or reference past communication without having to waste time sifting through past emails.
- 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.
- I wish Basecamp had more view options. For example, it'd be nice to have a built in gantt option like other task management tools have.
- Basecamp does not have the ability to add subtasks to tasks.
- Time tracking is not built into Basecamp. You have to use third-party integrations if you want to add a time tracking feature.
April 08, 2021
Cost-Effective and Feature-Rich
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Basecamp is our core platform for the management of all projects across the business division. It is used by all my delivery teams as well as my clients who are users in multiple departments within the organisation. We also provide access to users from external organisations that are a blend of subcontractors working for us and collaboration clients from other businesses.
The primary role for Basecamp is our unified platform for tracking and progressing work across all our delivery programmes. We wanted to centralise this in a single toolset to ensure all stakeholders have full and clear visibility on all communications, progress and plans. A key driver for this choice of platform is to do away with multiple services that result in disjointed flow, such as email, document repositories and desktop documentation tools.
The primary role for Basecamp is our unified platform for tracking and progressing work across all our delivery programmes. We wanted to centralise this in a single toolset to ensure all stakeholders have full and clear visibility on all communications, progress and plans. A key driver for this choice of platform is to do away with multiple services that result in disjointed flow, such as email, document repositories and desktop documentation tools.
- Ease of use meaning that non-technical users can be onboarded with minimal training required
- Range of features meaning that you can use Basecamp as your core project management platform and don't need to rely on other tools in conjunction
- Good collaborative features to encourage adoption and management of end-to-end process on Basecamp
- Ability to create project & task list templates to speed up new project/task creation
- Reporting is limited; some export facilities to track task progression would help
- The ability to create recurring tasks
January 24, 2020
I love Basecamp
Basecamp is used for a project with different parties to stay connected and share experiences.
- Message board where people can share news or ideas.
- Creates a dashboard suited for your needs.
- Notifications may get a bit excessive if you don't set them right.
- I'm not sure if there's an ability to hold video meetings, that would be really good.
Basecamp is used throughout the whole company. We're aggressively growing and acquiring new properties. We need to keep track of layouts, photos, logos, and more. Basecamp helps us do that. The construction, investments, finance, and marketing teams all have access and it's a great tool for us.
- It's great for collaboration. When we acquire a new property, we need to consolidate all of its digital assets into one space. Multiple departments need to be able to access these assets. We have teams in 12 states and various timezones. Basecamp allows us to work together even though we're hundreds of miles apart.
- We recently updated our website, turning it into a huge corporate site with several microsites. When building this out, Basecamp was an essential tool working with external agencies. They would upload new wireframes and we could make comments and suggestions.
- It's a great project management tool. When you're working with internal and external stakeholders on multiple projects, Basecamp allows all of us to stay on target and work together.
- Bulk download of files.
- Upload files larger than 10GB.
- Easier UX. The layout can be confusing, especially to those who are new to the platform.
July 09, 2018
Great organizational tool for a project management
This platform is a great organizational tool that helps you create and assign projects within a range of coworkers. You choose who to include in a task or assignment. We use it mainly for projects to keep an organized way of working during the time of execution. This tool is used all along the company, sometimes it's spread through 5 or more departments, and it surely helps keep and track each assignment to be delivered on time.
- It organizes task in a project, by assigning a task to people involved
- Very simple and easy to use, no extended training is needed if you have basic computer skills
- It tracks dates, tasks and future assignments by reminding the person involved to complete or work on a task
- A great feature that helps a lot is the instant messaging
- Notifications are repetitive even when a task has been completed
- You cannot create an additional task to a sub task in a project
- Design might be a little updated in the area of the dashboard, could be more interactive
April 04, 2017
Basecamp is better when doing it with others.
Basecamp is used as an external collaboration tool set for working on small to medium sized projects with external vendors as well as internal controls to ensure the project is within scope and on schedule. One of the important factors that Basecamp can provide is to allow the use of communication and collaboration that can take out most time wasted in meetings and sometimes all remove the need for a meeting. Meetings are however still integral to kick off or engaging in very critical functions such as; resolving immediate issues, elaborating on complex topics or problems. However, much of that can be recorded or accomplished within Basecamp.
- Ability to login without the use of a password, as in, input your email address and a link will be sent to your mailbox to access the site. This improves usability and lower resources needed to administer lost or forgotten passwords or user account management.
- Promotion of success within Basecamp through applauds really helps stimulate positive feedback when a milestone is met, or someone completes a minor task to a major task.
- Free use of messaging on the message board and daily feedback from the site on activity from the previous day to all participants which helps streamline the communication and reporting to all rather than one person collecting reports or reliance on a few to report back.
- Latest Activity gives a nice timeline view of the activities occurred throughout the lifespan of a campfire or within the Basecamp instance itself.
- Samepage really has a better collaboration messaging system with channels and integration with other systems.
- There is some functionality with linking google docs but would like to see better integration with a more wide range of applications or office suite products since we mostly use this for working with external vendors that use a vast range of products as well.
- To Do lists are great, but would like to see better linkage to the messages, schedules and files. Sort of an overly complex request to a very simple process.
April 27, 2016
Basecamp Meets Higher Ed at UCF
We use Basecamp on projects and ongoing work at the Center for Distributed Learning for communication, collaboration, and to break down tasks into component To Do items. We find that the To Do lists provide a simple "eyeball" method for judging the completeness of tasks.
Our organization consists of various functional teams that are not required to Basecamp. Its use is completely optional but judging by the number of projects currently using it (43), our teams find it a valuable tool.
Some of the projects we are involved in tend to be long-term, slow progress efforts. It would be quite difficult to stay in touch with them without having a record of the goals, desired outcomes, and activity toward those goals. Basecamp solves this problem for us.
- For us the strength of Basecamp is the To Do list. To Do lists help us in three ways: 1) They help us document how work breaks down into component subtasks; 2) They provide a simple means of tracking work (eyeball method); 3) After the work is complete, the To Do list along with all the comments and notes attached to it provides a means to help predict the level of effort for similar tasks that may need to be done in the future.
- I personally use To Do lists frequently when reviewing media for online courses like software demonstrations, videos, stills, and any other content that might be included in the course. Each error, be it a typo, flaw, or design issue is documented a single line item. The To Do item is the assigned to a team member to be addressed. Basecamp notifies them via email. These completed lists provide us with a kind of measure of the initial quality of our alpha-level work.
- I like to refer to Basecamp as "Project Management Lite". Basecamp plays that role well and needs little improvement if used as a project accessory and not as a formal management tool. If I were to wish for one thing it would be that there be some sort of native reporting tool that would help in understanding the level of effort for tasks. I have investigated a few of the third party tools powered by the Basecamp API but have not been satisfied with any so far.
- For our needs here at the University of Central Florida it would be nice to have expanded options for managing user roles that include a wider range of "Super Powers" as Basecamp calls them.
- If you have certain projects that contain sensitive data or other information that must remain totally under your own control then you should probably avoid Basecamp since it is hosted entirely on their facilities.
September 30, 2015
Getting Organized and Keeping On Task with Basecamp
As a freelancer serving a variety of clients, I needed a way to organize each project. After looking at different options, I settled on Basecamp for several reasons. First, is has a tiered pricing structure that will allow my business to grow when needed. Second, it helps prevent the dreaded lost/buried email problem. When you're corresponding with over a dozen different clients in any one week, it can be impossible to keep tabs on the important emails even with a convoluted system of folders and starred items. Basecamp keeps everything organized and in one place. Third, it allows me to set deadlines that are integrated with my calendar, so I get notifications on my phone when items are due. Finally, the document storage and ability to have comment threads attached to documents is extremely useful. I can post draft design options and the client can give feedback in the same spot, rather than needing to refer to an email attachment or download from remote storage.
- I really enjoy the ability to pick and choose which participants of a particular Basecamp will get each conversation thread and reply.
- The To-Do list feature is one of the most useful that I've found anywhere, with the big plus that I can subscribe to the feed from my Google calendar.
- While this feature is only for Gmail users, I'm a big fan of the new "View on Basecamp" button that appears in the preview of every email from Basecamp. That way I don't even need to open the email, I can just click the link and reply directly on the thread itself.
- Many of my clients enjoy the ability to reply to threads via email, rather than needing to login to their Basecamp account just to send a quick response.
- Basecamp's search feature could use some filtering. For example, I should be able to just search files or to-do lists.
- I wish that the main projects page had more information about each project, specifically what date it started, how many people are in the project, and if there are any upcoming deadlines. While you can find this information currently, it's in several different areas. The start date in particular is a pain to find.
- For projects with a lot of files, I would appreciate a feature that allowed sorting them into categories or some sort of hierarchical grouping. Currently they are all together with the most recently-discussed files appearing first and older ones one another page.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
On our team we use Basecamp when designing new products or features. Designers will post comps and the team will provide feedback. Not a very taxing process, but Basecamp handles it well. All interested parties are internal so everyone sees the whole conversation. I'm only every really in the Projects view.
- Provide a central location to provide feedback
- Notify team members of updates to a project
- Add new team members
- Add new comps
- I have none. For my simple use case it is more than enough
March 05, 2015
Basecamp - Online Project Management Colloboration
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We've setup the sandbox environment and have experimented with the use of it for our Project Management teams internally; and, then with the ability to share it with external clients. During our sandbox testing, it allowed us to replace the use of Microsoft Project locally and allowed us to review and communicate on projects remotely as we do not have Microsoft Project Server in place.
- Resource Management/Planning
- Mobile Device Support
- Team Communication & Task Assignments
- Ongoing Support & Training
- While there is an impressive list of third party integrations, some of the tools we use were not represented.
- Would like to see electronic document signing capabilities.
December 12, 2014
Basecamp all the way!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Basecamp is the heart of our company. We use it for all of our projects and cases. We use it to get our work orders entered into the system, then we create the project, then we implement a template per project. From there we tailor the tickets to the products that we provide. It holds all company communication and we track all advances in our projects.
- Organizes projects into tickets for fast research
- The search option is great to look through all client projects
- Simple structure, very streamlined
- Very customizable
- I'd like to see an option where multiple people could have multiple dates assigned to them on the same to do ticket, one person assigned at a time on a ticket can slow down the process when multiple people need to touch the ticket.
- I don't like that there's not a central catalog of projects. You have to be invited to everything, I'll miss some projects because someone didn't invite me. Not sure if that's just my company setting or all Basecamp systems.
- Can there be a notice when a third party invited person is looking at ticket, be nice to have statuses of when someone has clicked on to the ticket.
December 12, 2014
I'm a huge fan of Basecamp
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Bascamp across the different departments in our organization. It's been a great tool to keep the different departments in sync while still allowing segmented conversations.
- It allows a "not email" place where a team can collaborate on to-do's, file sharing, and conversations. Threads can be archived to keep the conversation moving along.
- It integrates with email allowing non technical users to simply reply to a Basecamp notification to stay involved.
- Basecamp integrates with other third party services well. Embedding videos or sharing cloud files is easy and useful.
- While Basecamp is geared towards conversation, I'd like to see tools for converting conversations into actionable items (i.e. assigning tickets with priority).
January 14, 2014
Dominic's Basecamp Review
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Basecamp was used to house all of our project files and track our progress. Basecamp also helped to facilitate communication amongst team members during the project. We were able to track the progress of individual task completion which gave us a good idea of overall project progress. Basecamp was instrumental for project management in that way and helping to prevent timeline creep. It's also really helpful to have all of your project files in one place where all team members can edit or create.
- Poject management - users are able to track the progress of smaller, critical tasks as opposed to just overall project progress. This added level of granularity helps to prevent timeline creep and helps to keep things on track, or at least lets users know when a project is starting to come off the rails.
- File storage - Users are able to store, edit, and share documents much like with Google Docs. Having a cloud storage solution such as base camp helps teammates be aware of each others work/progress and also eliminates the possibility of lost data due to team hardware failure.
- Facilitate team discussion - base camp provides teammates with the ability to discuss their project. Communication is often a key ingredient to project success so this is a very helpful feature.
- I would like to see seamless integration with Google docs. I personally use Google docs a lot and most of my colleagues and friends do the same. I think that Google's offerings are far superior to Basecamp's native Whiteboard.
- Better integration between calendar and base camp would help
- Some way to document optional or hazy start dates for milestones (Gantt charts maybe?)
April 09, 2013
Robust but a bit clunky compared to newer entrants.
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- If you need a rather robust way to manage to-do lists that have multiple responsible parties, Basecamp is great.
- The conversation/commenting system (especially with attached documents) is fairly clunky and tends to create more confusion among teams who do not share the same physical office.
February 06, 2013
Excellent, intuitive product.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Basecamp is excellent at delivering a lightweight and highly usable system for managing a variety of projects. It is intuitive, stable and optimized for web and email collaboration.
- It is very easy to include external customers/collaborators and they rarely required training or hand-holding to figure out how to jump in and participate in the project.
- Multiple connectors are available to integrate third party solutions into your Basecamp experience such as Freshbooks for invoicing.
- A well documented API allows more sophisticated organizations to write creative integrations.
- Basecamp's strength is also its weakness. The lack of a clear point of view on how you are "supposed" to use the system can leave project managers who prefer the rigidity of more sophisticated systems frustrated.
- You may find certain features that you "assume" should be part of a project management tool missing entirely. This is again, reflective of a strong sense that they are giving you only the tools and functionality which *they* consider absolutely necessary.
January 14, 2013
Reliable and affordable.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- We use Basecamp to support processes between our integrated marketing team and an in-house creative team, as well as internal end external freelancers.
- Because Basecamp is web based, the service is easy to access.
- Basecamp allows us to monitor progress on projects, manage assets and ensure only the right people are included on a project.
- The app could benefit from a better mobile interface. Certain components could also benefit from better integration with third party services like Box, Dropbox and Photoshop.