Basecamp

4.3 (14,153)
Flexible project management & team communication tool

Overall rating

4.3 /5
(14,153)
Value for Money
4.2/5
Features
4.2/5
Ease of Use
4.3/5
Customer Support
4.3/5

87%
recommended this app
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14153 Reviews

Vikram
Overall rating
  • Industry: Staffing & Recruiting
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

The Best task allocation and monitoring tool available in the market

Reviewed on 24/8/2022

In remote workplaces, it becomes very difficult to monitor and track the progress of your peers or teammates. Basecamp has been a saviour as it helps us not only monitor and allocate tasks but also becomes a source of communication for internal teams to get the work done. We recommend Basecamp to any IT company which has multiple projects and resources to handle.

Pros

Basecamp has been a great tool for our team as all the projects and tasks are allocated by the managers and peers on this platform and then it becomes easy for everyone to keep a track of it. Basecamp provides an easy communication via threads that make it very convenient to use. We at Wise IT inc have been using basecamp as a project management and collaboration tool and love how it makes our lives easier. It also has a mobile app which makes it more easier to keep a check on your phone when you are away from work.

Cons

Basecamp does not have video conferencing option yet which has become a very important feature for companies that are working from home. Apart form this, I have never faced any problem using Basecamp.

Alternatives Considered

Asana

Reasons for Choosing Basecamp

The interface of Basecamp is easier than Asana. Also in terms of features, Basecamp currently leads the market.

Switched From

Asana

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

Pricing and features are better for Basecamp compared to other alternatives available.
Curt
Overall rating
  • Industry: Marketing & Advertising
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Basecamp helps us streamline project/account management and increase our efficiency

Reviewed on 19/11/2020

Overall, we're very happy here at my startup marketing agency, HypeLife Brands, with Basecamp...we've been using it for a VERY long time and haven't looked back or considered anything else really. I think the 37Signals team has done a great job with the product from the beginning.

Pros

The ability to manage a team, often in multiple locales, especially in the days of COVID now, much easier than any other alternative out there.

Cons

Sometimes a conversation for tasks becomes non-linear though Basecamp is setup in a linear fashion, so it can be a bit tricky to manage that without the ability to thread comments, but this is more of an advanced user need I think :-)

Alternatives Considered

Asana

Reasons for Choosing Basecamp

We need a more robust, and hosted option instead of having to maintain and customize a tool to our needs on a local version. Basecamp fit the bill at the time and we haven't had to make a single customization once adopting its workflow.

Switched From

Copper

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

I felt Basecamp was easier and cleaner for me as a project and account manager for our select clients, working on accounts with a sort of "agile within waterfall" hybrid approach to how we work...so Basecamp just fit much better, and I'm a big fan of 37signals' core philosophy too in building businesses, so there was really no competition in the end.
Yan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Transportation/Trucking/Railroad
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Efficient Project Management with Basecamp

Reviewed on 15/5/2023

Overall, my experience with Basecamp has been positive. The simplicity and straightforwardness of Basecamp's interface allowed us to focus on our tasks without getting overwhelmed by unnecessary features. While it may not have all the advanced project planning functionalities, Basecamp excels in providing a user-friendly environment for organizing and tracking projects.

Pros

Basecamp offers a range of features that make project management a breeze. I particularly enjoyed the intuitive interface and ease of use, which allowed my team to quickly get up to speed and start collaborating effectively. The platform's central dashboard provides a clear overview of all ongoing projects, tasks, and deadlines, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.

Cons

One drawback is the absence of a built-in time-tracking feature, which may be essential for organizations that rely heavily on tracking billable hours. Additionally, the software lacks advanced project scheduling capabilities, such as Gantt charts, which could be valuable for teams working on complex, time-sensitive projects.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Games
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 2.0 /10

Nearly great but not quite

Reviewed on 16/7/2018

We felt that the "all in one" nature of the software was great, but beyond our initial tests we found it lacking in adaptability to fitting into the way WE work, (it wants you to wholly adopt their approach and we felt that there was an internal resistance to that development style) - therefore we abandoned the platform and looked for alternatives.

Pros

For years we have been looking for an all in one project and task management system to use with our business. And BaseCamp is so nearly it, it has most of the features you'd expect but presents them in a different way to most other task tracking systems.

On the positive side, it's easy to use, friendly to the eye and everything is where it should be. It has some nifty features that you can easily become over-reliant on that aren't present in other management software tools. One recent addition was the Hill Chart where you plot a task on an "planning hill" - in a really visual way. This is totally unique and works well, helping you quickly identify the progress of any given task.

As a project manager, this is a very useful way of seeing where everything currently "is at"

Cons

Onto the Cons: For us, we found that the software was too verbose in its approach, it has a work log system where each user is expected to fill in a diary of what they have done today - sure, this can be switched off in the options, but the regularity of BaseCamp e-mailing you is far too high as a default. By default you're constantly managing e-mails from the system (which is precisely what is is meant to eliminate!)

Once you disable these notifications, we felt that the software starts to lose its impact, our staff started to drift away from it over time and went back to other task tracking methods (such as trello) for different areas of the development. This caused us to reconsider the entire enterprise and look for alternatives, our team just couldn't seem to adopt the (very rigid) way that Basecamp wants you to work.

Pawan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Animation
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Great 🤩

Reviewed on 20/3/2023

Pros

User-friendly interface: Basecamp's interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, making it easy for users to get started and find what they need quickly.Robust collaboration features: Basecamp allows for real-time collaboration among team members, including simultaneous editing of documents and commenting. This feature saves time and streamlines communication.Shared calendar: Basecamp's shared calendar feature allows teams to schedule meetings and deadlines, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and reducing the risk of missed deadlines.To-do lists: Basecamp's to-do lists allow team members to create, assign, and track tasks, ensuring that everyone knows what they need to do and when.File sharing: Basecamp's file-sharing feature allows team members to upload and share files, making it easy to access the information they need.Customizable: Basecamp allows users to customize their experience, including the ability to choose their own color scheme and logo, making it feel like a personalized experience.Mobile app: Basecamp offers a mobile app for both iOS and Android, making it easy for users to stay connected and productive on the go.

Cons

One potential con of Basecamp is that it may not be the best fit for larger, more complex projects with a high degree of detail and customization needs

Michael
Overall rating
  • Industry: Marketing & Advertising
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Basecamp is great for remote teams to track and accomplish recurring projects

Reviewed on 29/10/2022

Been using this for several years, I do like how simple it is to organize and accomplish tasks across the board. I would say, if you're looking for a project management solution for recurring tasks and projects, this is a great fit.

Pros

I really love how it organizes conversations around tasks. Each task has a permanent record of the discussion going on for it, which keeps the discussion focused and organized.

Cons

There are three versions of basecamp, and they don't talk to each other. I have suppliers using all three versions, and I have to log in separately for each.When you have multiple projects, the project updates can be hard to follow--it's not immediately clear which project has which update, I have to read the whole sentence to find what I need. Would like something easier, maybe color coding?

Alternatives Considered

Trello

Reasons for Choosing Basecamp

Trello is great, but it's too open. Needed something more structured.

Switched From

Trello

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

Structure, organization, popular among others in the industry.
Naveena
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Best web design Software

Reviewed on 14/5/2023

im very much satisfied by using this software for about 8 months

Pros

Its simplicity, ease of use, and capacity to centralize communication and collaboration are some of its appealing qualities. Teams can organize projects, share files, and interact in real-time with one another using Basecamp. Even non-technical people may rapidly get started and manage projects thanks to its user-friendly design and intuitive interface.

Cons

No show-stopping feature.and sometimes its hard to use

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Arts & Crafts
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Basecamp user

Reviewed on 15/5/2023

I think improving Project Visibility: Basecamp provides a clear overview of project progress, tasks, and milestones. It helps team members and project stakeholders gain visibility into project status, ensuring everyone is aligned and aware of project updates.

Pros

I think Basecamp's simplicity, task management capabilities, collaboration tools, document management, and user-friendly interface are often highlighted as valuable features. However, the suitability of the product and ease of integration with existing business processes may vary depending on specific needs and requirements. It is recommended to evaluate Basecamp's features and consider a trial or demo to assess its compatibility with your specific business processes.

Cons

I think Integration with existing business processes can vary depending on the specific tools and processes in place. While Basecamp provides APIs and integrations with popular third-party applications, some users may find that further customization or specific integrations are required to align with their existing workflows. Integration challenges can vary depending on the complexity of the existing processes and the availability of integrations with the required tools.

adil
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Basecamp support

Reviewed on 16/5/2023

it's helping for the daily business

Pros

the support on organization can help for the business

Cons

agronomy should be reviewed

Piyush
Overall rating
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Best Project Management tool for Remote work

Reviewed on 12/5/2023

Pros

Very easy to use and best tool for managing remote projects and collaboration. Loaded with many useful features.

Cons

There is nothing to dislike about as such.

Shannon
Overall rating
  • Industry: Marketing & Advertising
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Feature Rich and Effective for Project Management

Reviewed on 25/1/2021

I signed up for Basecamp to work within a client's Basecamp processes, and now I use it to manage most everything that I work on in collaboration with others. It makes a lot of sense and is intuitive once you accustom to how the projects and to-do lists work.

Pros

The ability to add clients to a project and hide them from information within the project is SO handy. We use that feature a lot for internal to-dos and managing the client without them seeing behind-the-scenes.

Cons

To-do lists are pretty basic. You can assign to a person and add a date, but if you are used to feature-rich todo lists (embedded images, color coding, sub-checklists in a to-do, etc) then you will be disappointed. And although I find the "me" tab easy and intuitive, when we add new members to a project they almost universally struggle in the first weeks to really use Basecamp to its highest functionality.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Broadcast Media
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Basecamp is the best all user portal!

Reviewed on 16/1/2020

Our team has always been collaborative but with Basecamp used as a tool, we have been able to increase our collaborative spirit. In addition, we have been able to accomplish projects and tasks faster because it gives us a way to share which piece we are working on and thus eliminating duplication.

Pros

I love Basecamp! I think it is a great software for keeping tabs on projects and people you work with. It is a collaborative space for users to update each other on what parts of the project they are working on or finishing up. It gives our team the balance needed to ensure no one is working on the same thing or on overlapping projects. It has been a huge asset and we have all loved watching the progression of projects and campaigns we are working on. It has many settings so you can really set it up based on how your team would best thrive.

Cons

One con is that this product could easily turn into a micromanaging tool for bad managers and leaders. When utilized properly it will do wonders for your team but if overused it could be a huge pain point and stressor for employees. They allow an option to have your team give a daily summary of their tasks and I could easily see that going wrong if used by the wrong manager.

Alternatives Considered

OneDrive

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

I have previously used OneDrive and I think it could have been a great tool for our team but Basecamp is just better structured. OneDrive has limitless possibilities I think and Basecamp has a more structured layout that makes it easier for me as a supervisor to control and shape to best fit my team.
Sridhar
Overall rating
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10

Decent project management tool for small teams!

Reviewed on 24/11/2020

We started Basecamp in v2 and still using it for smaller internal projects. Basecamp does a lot good when you are working with smaller simple focused projects which are run individually.

Most of our clients are now demanding to be in Slack or MS Teams as part of collaboration so we have to move to newer tools and apps as required by clients.

As part of 2020/2021 vision, we are now targeting to move all our artifacts and teams to Slack or MS Teams and service most of our collaboration/discussion/file sharing

Pros

The most important and stand out feature of the product is the fixed pricing. Its use all you can and no per user seating billing makes it absolutely a product for internal smaller teams.

We have used this product for little over 2 years now and is used by various teams inside the company.

With basic features like tasks, calendar, file sharing, we found it relatively smaller projects which does not involve too many requirement changes or too much of pre-start documentation required.

Cons

Handling large multiple projects, tracking each project activities, and above all tracking individual contractors work/ timesheet tracking has been a pain point with this product for us.

Check-ins work great for a product company but since ours is a technology services projects where work really has to be tracked and detailed at most levels has been a challenge for us.

Most of our clients are already on or they prefer/recommend apps from slack and MS Teams and demand to use basecamp in their ecosystem is not very in demand for us.

Alternatives Considered

Todoist, Trello and Asana

Reasons for Choosing Basecamp

Trello was adopted well by most of our clients and we proposed to use the Trello boards for projects. But the fact is that we don't always use Agile strictly in "services" industry. As in all services companies, we find ourselves always racing against time, hence the boards will not always reflect correct effort, time or estimation. Hence we made a switch from Trello to Basecamp as it offered client portal which can be shared and we can add clients and wanted more collaboration

Switched From

Trello

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

The number #1 was obviously fixed price of the product and not per seat basis. We found value in collaboration and getting things done with smaller teams and smaller projects. We can easily add clients and share only data that we need.
Paul
Overall rating
  • Industry: Arts & Crafts
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

I always come back to Basecamp

Reviewed on 30/7/2021

We have three sites. What Basecamp has provided is the unification of messages and tasks across all sites. It has added transparency that is invaluable to all of our team. We can keep important documents. Onboarding videos and other useful information. No more scraps of paper or post-it notes on peoples desks. It provides real accountability for everyone on the team. So simple to use which means 100% user adoption. Everyone loves Basecamp and we have tried every PM software out there. Basecamp is the best in the business!

Pros

When you first start using basecamp, two things strike you the most. It’s clean super tight interface and the lack of some common functions. I see both of these things as a positive. This might seem odd but you soon realise that the makers at Basecamp are uncompromising in their relentless pursuit of keeping you efficient. No bloat. No complication. These all adds up to adoption by the whole team. Which for me is the most important thing. You can have a perfect project management system, but if no one uses it. It’s useless. Basecamp’s gets everything on the same page.

Cons

I would love the app to give you persistent reminders for tasks! Snooze for 5 mins etc.

Alternatives Considered

monday.com

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

It had everything we needed and nothing we didn't.
Christopher
Overall rating
  • Industry: Real Estate
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Gather around the fire, Basecamp is here!

Reviewed on 7/8/2019

Basecamp felt fun to use and really made us feel that we were optimizing our workflows in terms of assigning tasks and work flows.

Pros

Basecamp's user interface has changed over the years and has become for easier for clients and client facing individuals. Basecamp became a part of a sales pitch in terms of giving access to clients to a platform where we were accessible and there to help them.

Cons

Basecamp has a lot of bells and whistles that are not immediately apparent. We did have to do a little digging under the hood in order to take advantage of some key features!

Alternatives Considered

Scoro, Hive and Asana

Reasons for Choosing Basecamp

Basecamp was an easier platform for us to engage clients and keep everyone on the same page! Trello felt a little outdated in terms of having swim lanes for each task.

Switched From

Trello

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

Basecamp's friendly user interface and accessible onboarding features made it easier for users at my previous organization to adopt the platform. I would recommend this to any budding business who wants to manage workloads/workflows and keep their client engaged and excited about the service being provided!
Terrance
Overall rating
  • Industry: Management Consulting
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Recommended - Use it daily

Reviewed on 20/7/2020

We use Basecamp almost on a daily basis. It is fantastic for managing our team and different partners. Our operations side has also been thrilled with the lists that Basecamp provides. Makes it easy for managers to see what has been completed

Pros

Basecamp is well suited for project management. I've used Trello historically but it never had the same degree of functionality. I love the fact that I can have lists, easily collaborate with others and make it almost like a task force that I can assign to various people on our tea.m
It was easy enough to implement and also great if you need to hit the ground running since the learning curve is virtually non existant.

Cons

I use Basecamp 2 and the part I like least about the software is that within the cards itself, I can't @person to provide updates. I can assign various cards to specific people but can't call out specific individuals in those cards.

Alternatives Considered

Trello

Reasons for Choosing Basecamp

Features and functionality. Trello is great if you like the kanban approach but we needed something that had more features.

Switched From

Trello

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

Trello is limited to kanban boards. We needed to have different views and basecamp was able to provide that at a cost that we could afford.
Kate
Overall rating
  • Industry: Internet
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Easy, Affordable Project Management for Your Entire Team

Reviewed on 16/8/2019

Since we started using Basecamp, our project intake process has become much more organized and it's way easier to see what everyone has on their plate. It's also helped us get approval from key stakeholders since everyone at every step of every project has to-dos assigned to them. I also love the integrations. We sync with Everhour so we can keep track of exactly how long it takes to complete each step of each project, which has helped us become more efficient and also see where we're spending our time.

Pros

I love how intuitive Basecamp is to use and how easy it is to keep track of upcoming projects and set priorities. I'm new to project management and it's been so easy to set up every project and teach new employees how to navigate the system. You can set different projects for different teams and even invite clients to view projects. Plus, you don't have a limited number of seats so everyone in our organization can access it without us needing to purchase anything additional.

Cons

There are too many places to communicate within Basecamp so it's important that you have a clear process. You can comment on an overall project thread, a group and in each individual to-do so sometimes it's hard to tell where a comment is located. However, it does show you which to-dos have comments within them and there are easy-access notifications at the top of your screen at all times so as long as comments are recent, they're easy to find.

Alternatives Considered

Trello, Wrike and Asana

Reasons for Switching to Basecamp

We did free trials of each option and Basecamp was the easiest to use and the most intuitive. We were all comfortable using it and thought it would be the best option for us as the company grew since we could add people to the team easily.
Evan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Nonprofit Organisation Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Unburden your Inbox!

Reviewed on 27/1/2021

I encourage you and your team at least test this system. If you find yourself sorting through constant emails to find where you left off on a project- this is for you! For our team, this dissipates stress in the workplace and I have found it permit clearer communication across departments, providing for an amplified experience when teams meet in person- more productive meetings.

Pros

As a non-profit end-user, there are multiple projects I will have on my plate on any given day. In 2020 alone, I was managing the implementation of database training, following-up with Q&A from my colleagues while also navigating new tech integrations for our CRM. With so many moving parts coupled with a shift to heavy remote work, Basecamp provided an ease in transition, permitting us to keep pace with our current systems so that we would not lose the full measure of impact we have on providing aid to at-risk children during the pandemic. In short- less clutter in your standard email inbox and rapid collaboration within secure channels.

Cons

You do not have the ability to archive content, which can make sorting difficult if you are use to this dynamic in say Gmail.

Daniel
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Basecamp - for small and (some) medium-sized projects

Reviewed on 15/1/2021

I use Basecamp to manage part of my projects. It helps me to keep in better connection with my clients and the members of the team.

I think it is well suited for small and maybe medium-sized projects. It’s reliable and effective at keeping everything organized as long as your teams will have less than 20 members.

But if you’re taking into consideration to use Basecamp, you must also evaluate the complexity of the project and the need of communication between members.

Sometimes the conversation will become hard to follow because everything is put together, and after a while it’s difficult to keep track of it.

We also use the document management and sharing feature to organize project files. Number of emails between team members and/or client dropped after starting using Basecamp.

In fact, you can use Basecamp entirely as a communication platform to organize and keep in touch with your clients. Basecamp consolidates all messages with the client in one place. If the projects are for external clients you can add them to your project and choose only certain resources that they can have access to.

Pros

Basecamp has a very easy to use and intuitive interface. Managing and supervising projects is clean and efficient.
It allows us to share only certain resources with the client.
Groups allow team members to collaborate and share resources.
Members can communicate real-time with the chat or direct messages(pings) or by posting on messages board.
I can dismiss questions or responses if inadequate for the group.
We’re able to set a responsible and set deadlines for tasks.
I can quickly see the tasks we still need to do.
I like how I can have all communication with the client in one place. We don’t need to communicate by emails so often.
Calendar will tell us the time spent and the deadline of the projects.
You can define project hierarchies to break down projects and make them more manageable.
Sometimes I need to share something with a person who’s not on the team; for this I can create a public share link.
We can use templates to speed up the creation of similar projects.

Cons

There is no plan between Free and Business (99USD/month).
Grouping and following longer discussions is not that easy.
I would like to have the possibility to delete files in bulk.
The calendar is just basic, it lacks many features like exporting or syncing with external apps/tools.
I think there are too many email notifications.
I would like to correct or edit online an already uploaded document.
If you want to change the design after your company branding, don't expect that from Basecamp.
I miss a standard feature to prioritize the tasks so we can drop out our custom conventions.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Defense & Space
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Using Basecamp has totally changed the way my organization is ran

Reviewed on 10/7/2018

Mostly it saved me tons of time. Everyone can easily see who is doing what without sending so many annoying emails and attending wasteful meetings.

Pros

The three things I love most are the ease of use, how nice it looks, and how useful it is.

Basecamp is super simple. It's easy to learn and it allows you to keep all the data you need in easy to navigate locations. There's no searching through folder after folder and file after file for the data you need and the status you want to update. No more needing a bookmark bar full of websites to rummage through.

More direct or analytical people may not care (or think they care) about how nice the tools they're using look, but believe me... If you want to get your entire company on board with a NEW product you're going to want it to look good. For better or worse that goes a very long way toward getting people to want to use a product no matter how useful it is.

Which brings me to my next point: it's useful! This software has honestly saved us SO much time because we now get to avoid so many status update meetings. I personally only had to attend one status meeting each week and build the slideshow for it, but that alone saved me personally three hours. The rest of our organization spends who knows how many going through those things and Basecamp has fiercely cut back on those. It's awesome.

Cons

The only con I can really come up with is a people issue and not a software issue. No matter how simple, useful, and well designed a piece of software or website is, far too many people are just going to try and ignore it so they don't have to learn something new. Fortunately Basecamp is nice and easy enough that it wasn't a huge problem.

Kristen
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Basecamp Has Helped Us Organize the Chaos

Reviewed on 31/3/2020

Our marketing team was the first to implement Basecamp, and, eventually, the benefits to project management were so evident that most of our company uses the platform—from R&D to technical support. The application is quite intuitive, requires very little training for use, and offers multiple ways to communicate: private messaging, group chat, and message boards. The integration Basecamp offers with Google is also seamless.

Tip: Once your teams are established, setting communication expectations for each tool is a necessary step to achieving a high efficiency.

Pros

The integrations that Basecamp provides make communication for cross-departmental projects quick and effective. The integration we use the most is the support of Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar. Within Google Drive, the folder system makes it often difficult to find documents, but Basecamp allows not only Google Docs and Google Sheets to be linked to, but conversations about that specific document to take place in one place. This makes it easy to hand off documents and files to another department, route items to our publication team, or to request feedback from partners.

As an original user from Basecamp 1, there have been so many improvements to the second and third editions. Basecamp certainly does an excellent job listening to its users.

Cons

The only change in version 3 that I am disappointed with is the elimination of the built-in calendar. What used to be "Events" with an interactive project calendar became the "Schedule." The Events interactive project calendar functioned a lot like a Google Calendar, which allowed someone to see all touch points on the calendar itself. The "Schedule" is mostly a list of upcoming events. However, the benefits of the folder systems, the access to resources, and the task assignments outweighs this issue. Plus, if you are a new user to Basecamp 3, you won't even be aware that anything is missing.

Maryellen
Overall rating
  • Industry: Nonprofit Organisation Management
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

For managing details and timelines for complex projects

Reviewed on 13/2/2019

I am a fundraiser, and often - OFTEN - have several big fundraising projects in preparation at the same time. Before Basecamp, it was a nightmare to keep all of the details for each event separate and clear, without dropping the ball on some important responsibilities. Unfortunately, failing to take care of an important detail on any of these events can be devastating, so I could barely sleep because of the stress of worrying about where I was on each project. Also, since I often use some of the same vendors (caterers, tent rental, hotel space) it was hard to remember if I had talked to them about each individual event, and had all of my facts straight for each individual event. Basecamp makes it possible to track each and every event carefully, set up connecting emails to keep everyone informed, and makes it very easy to set deadlines, timers, and reminders for every important goal and part of the event. It took an entire weekend to set up all of the lists, timelines, and connections needed within Basecamp for the eight complex fundraising events I had on my calendar when I first set up in Basecamp. But after that weekend, I slept better than I had in months because everything was organized, I could see in a few seconds exactly what was on my "To-do" list for each day, each week, and up until the day or the event, as well as what I was waiting for from anyone else. This program is certainly an expense. But it gave me incredible peace of mind.

Pros

It is so well integrated. For example, taking one action will also notify several team members who need to know about that action without me having to send numerous emails. The software makes it possible to track several or many projects with dozens of people without losing a step or forgetting anything.

Cons

A bit of a learning curve to get started, but technical support is good, and the program quickly becomes intuitive.

The other members of your team - not only your staff, but your client - must also be willing to learn Basecamp. On the other hand, once they do, they will love it - and you!

Bryce
Overall rating
  • Industry: Recreational Facilities & Services
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Best Bang for the Buck

Reviewed on 3/2/2021

Our team has been better at communicating with one another and collaborating on ideas. It has connected the team and made it easier to know what everyone is working on without it feeling like big brother is watching what you do.

Pros

I love how I pay a yearly fee and I can have unlimited users, projects, files, due dates, etc. We looked into other software and no one could match the ease of use and affordability for a city government on a budget. I love how you can search by keyword and find what you need, I love the chatting option between employees and I love how you can create projects and assignments with ease.

Cons

I wish you could integrate your google calendar with this software.

Alternatives Considered

When I Work and WhenToWork

Reasons for Choosing Basecamp

Cost

Switched From

Slack
Tamara
Overall rating
  • Industry: Public Relations & Communications
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Basecamp - Great for young people, not user friendly for older generations

Reviewed on 18/8/2020

I had to give a presentation on Toastmaster's Pathways and navigating to and through Basecamp and I realized we are not utilizing a lot of the great features Basecamp offers. Again, a lot of the members I've spoken with (both local and international) all say the same thing, that it's confusing to navigate through, the look of the website changed and the headers are confusing. The word Basecamp didn't sit well with a lot of people, but after searching this on YouTube I figured out that Toastmaster's didn't do a good job of explaining what is Basecamp and what the purpose of Basecamp is. If they had chosen to use words or headers like, "Account" that would sound more familiar it would've helped with getting to know the layout. Also, finding materials is still a bit of a maze, but again, that's the organizations lack of set-up and not really Basecamp's fault. With Basecamp all of the learning materials that used to be in booklets were now transferred to the computer and had live video demonstrations, organized power points and links to more resources beyond what is written on the page; it definitely enhanced our learning but also overwhelmed us because there were almost too many resources available in every language you can think of in different parts of the site. Now that I know that Basecamp is a project management software I can help others learn about it and utilize it to the fullest extent.

Pros

I use this software for my Toastmaster's Club and it has a lot of great features that aren't being utilized because of the confusion of maneuvering through it. I can: leave feedback or ask for feedback from other members, track my progress via pie charts, access multimedia learning materials easily, store documents related to my project for historic record or for easy recall.

Cons

Toastmaster's is an world renown organization that has a very even mix of younger and older or retired members; the oldest member in my club is 92 years old. As of June this year, everyone was required to get a Pathways account and log into their Base Camp. I am one of the younger members (39 years old) and even I didn't find Basecamp to be clear cut or intuitive and was frustrated. It got so bad, that the area directors asked every club to nominate a Toastmaster's Pathways or Base Camp "Ambassador" that they can refer people to when they needed help. We had a virtual conference recently and there was an intro class on how to use Pathways/Base Camp and everyone was clearly confused and it didn't make sense to them. There were too many steps to get to the login pages and to get to the actual base camp. Also, the word base camp was not explained to everyone. I think we were looking for something like, "Account" which is equivalent to going to your base camp. I believe the roll out of this new website and way of tracking our progress was poor and has cause a lot of frustration, discouragement and even loss of membership for our older members.

Tara
Overall rating
  • Industry: Internet
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Basecamp is excellent for client management tasks that involve multiple departments.

Reviewed on 4/4/2018

The main benefit of Basecamp is the ability to assign out specific tasks to specific individuals and with a due date. As a full-service digital marketing company, we benefit greatly from the software's overall project/client-focused design. Basecamp helps my medium-sized company to know which members of each department on working on a client. With the due date feature, users can indicate time-sensitive or priority matters. This feature is optional, which allows our company to distinguish between short term tasks and long term goals. Basecamp's design is checklist-oriented. Checklists appeal greatly to our more meticulous employees, but also encourages the more Type B employees to focus their ideas into timely and measurable tasks. The newest upgrade to Basecamp 3 introduced the Campfire feature which is ideal for internal projects, a benefit that was missing from the previous version. This aspect of the software is perfect for intra-department non-client work. For example, the account management team uses this feature to collaborate on building a new template for our client presentations. Overall, Basecamp allows my company to achieve large-scale goals by breaking them down into distinct tasks.

Pros

I work on the client-facing side of a medium-sized digital marketing services company. I love that Basecamp aligns perfectly with our multi-client firm. The latest upgrade to Basecamp 3 expanded the product's utility. Basecamp's design allows my coworkers and me to assign and manage tasks across departments. The new Campfire feature expands Basecamp's utility to include internal project management in addition to the main benefit of organizing client work. This feature allows for a more casual flow of ideas for projects that my team is working on as a group.

Cons

I dislike that Basecamp does not allow the user to know the workload of another coworker. For example, if I need a small change to be made to a website, I would assign that task to a member of our design team. They are very busy and sometimes that task can get backlogged if the recipient has a long list of assignments to complete. Additionally, when assigning out new clients, it is important to see which of my team members has the extra hours in their schedule to handle a new account.