The Best Free Basecamp Alternative

What Is Basecamp?

Formerly known as 37signals, Basecamp is one of the pioneers of online tasks and project management. The American company was originally founded by Jason Fried, Carlos Segura, and Ernest Kim in 1999. 

Production of the project management tool officially commenced in 2003 and it was created using Ruby on Rails, a framework that Basecamp had created for internal use. Ruby on Rails ended up being a byproduct of Basecamp and was made into open-source software in 2004.

37signals was renamed Basecamp in 2014. This marked a shift in the overall company strategy which was to now shift all resources into perfecting the project manager.

As a project management software, Basecamp was created as a tool to help users organize projects and collaborate online. Basecamp quickly gained popularity upon release as it was one of the first to offer a new way of collaboration and organization.

With Basecamp, users can manage and track tasks and projects while communicating, all via one software. Basecamp is usually offered as an all-in-one software to help companies get work done. However, Basecamp also prices its product at a premium price when compared to its competitors.

Basecamp is popular with businesses and organizations of all sizes, and is known for its user-friendly interface and helpful features that make project management and collaboration easier and more efficient.

Read our article if you’re interested to learn more about the full history of Basecamp.

Features of Basecamp

Basecamp is a web-based project management and collaboration tool that provides a range of features to help teams manage their work and communicate effectively. Some of the key features of Basecamp include:

1. Task management: Basecamp allows you to create tasks, assign them to team members, set deadlines, and track progress. You can also view task lists and calendars to see what needs to be done and when it's due.
2. Collaboration: Basecamp has a built-in messaging system that allows team members to communicate and share information within the platform. You can also share files, images, and documents with team members, making it easy to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest project information.
3. Document management: Basecamp has a centralized document repository where you can store and organize all your project-related files and documents. This makes it easy to find what you need and ensures that all team members have access to the latest versions.
4. Time tracking: Basecamp has a built-in time tracking feature that allows you to log the time you spend on tasks and projects. This can be useful for invoicing and tracking project progress.
5. Scheduling: Basecamp has a scheduling feature that allows you to create and manage schedules and deadlines for projects. You can also view project schedules in a calendar view, making it easy to see what's coming up and when.
6. Reporting: Basecamp provides a range of reporting features that allow you to track project progress and see how much time has been spent on tasks and projects. You can also generate reports on project milestones, deadlines, and progress.
7. Integrations: Basecamp integrates with a range of other tools and apps, including calendars, email, and time tracking tools, to help you improve your workflow and streamline processes.

Overall, Basecamp is a comprehensive project management tool that provides a range of features to help teams manage their work, communicate effectively, and track progress.

What Is Basecamp Good For?

As a project management tool, Basecamp is best suited for new startups and individuals. Basecamp is usually used by small marketing teams to organize their projects.

Here are some advantages of using Basecamp:

1. Organizing and managing projects: Basecamp offers a range of features that help teams stay organized and on top of their tasks, including the ability to create and assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress on tasks.
2. Collaborating with team members: Basecamp has a range of tools for communication and collaboration, such as real-time chat, discussion forums, and the ability to share files and documents. These tools make it easier for team members to work together and stay in sync.
3. Managing budgets and expenses: Basecamp has a built-in budget tracker that allows teams to track project expenses and stay on budget.
4. Integrating with other tools and services: Basecamp integrates with a range of external services and tools, such as email, calendar, and file storage apps, making it easier to manage your projects and tasks in one place.

Additionally, Basecamp does have some templates available but these are only available after upgrading your plan. In contrast, Taskade has a wide variety of templates for you to use even on a free plan.

However, it probably isn't worth upgrading your plan with Basecamp as there are other productivity tools available in the market that offer more features, for even less.

Overall, Basecamp is a good tool for teams and organizations looking for a central hub for communication and collaboration.

What Are Some Limitations of Basecamp?

Although Basecamp is one of the first project management software to launch in the market, there are a few limitations that users should be aware of.

Basecamp lacks features that are commonly found in its competitors. For example, Taskade offers customizable project views, customizable templates, and also free unlimited chat and video calls within your project. Basecamp however only has isolated project views and card-based templates without a built-in video call function.

Here are some other common pain points for users of Basecamp:

• Messy Chat. Basecamp’s chat is rather messy, especially with long threads of back-and-forth exchanges.
• Features Are Basic. Basecamp has fairly basic features when compared to other modern-day project management tools.
• No Timer. There is no built-in timer in Basecamp. The timer feature is only available via integrations.
• No Tags and Labels. Basecamp does not have tags and labels to help you organize your work.
• No task dependencies. Although there are integrations that you can rely on to set this up, Basecamp does not have a built-in feature to support task dependencies.

Also, Basecamp lacks a function to help you toggle between different project dashboards. This means that it will be a hassle for you to switch between projects if you’re working on multiple things simultaneously.

Furthermore, Basecamp comes with only one pricing plan which is expensive. Basecamp’s competitors offer similar or more features at competitive prices.

Basecamp Pricing

Basecamp has a very simple pricing structure. There’s a free version of the software, and also a paid version which comes at a standard monthly fee.

Also, Basecamp is free for all teachers and students. Nonprofit organizations enjoy a 10% discount from Basecamp’s paid subscription.

Basecamp Free Plan

Basecamp’s Free plan allows you to have up to 3 separate projects. Your plan will also support up to 20 users with 1GB of total storage. This should suffice for individuals or new startups. 

Basecamp Business Plan

Basecamp’s Business plan unlocks all of its features and gives you access to the company HQ and unlimited users. You’ll also be able to give clients restricted access to certain documents and projects to help with your business functions.

If you want to effectively organize and run your business on Basecamp, then you should consider this plan.

However, Basecamp’s Business plan starts at a flat fee of $99 per month. Basecamp's pricing plan is rather steep compared to other project managers which offer the same or even more features for less.

What Is Taskade?

Taskade is an online productivity and collaboration tool that was founded by John Xie, Dionis Loire, and Stan Chang in 2017. The Y Combinator-backed startup aims to help remote teams and individuals get work done faster and smarter.

Taskade is where remote teams get work done. With Taskade, you can organize projects and tasks, change between multiple project views, automate repetitive workflows, collaborate via built-in video chat with your team, and more, via an all-in-one unified workspace. 

Get a headstart on your projects and find a suitable structure for your notes via Taskade’s versatile collection of templates. Simply choose from a wide variety of templates and add them to your projects to get started instantly!

Taskade is a supercharged productivity app that both individuals and teams can use to collaborate on projects in real-time.

Taskade is the best free Basecamp alternative. Get started instantly for free today.

Key Features of Taskade

• Project Views. Visualize your projects in several different ways. Cycle between the List, Mind Map, Org Chart, and Board views to work the way you want. 

  • List View. This is the default view on Taskade. Create new lists here.
  • Board View. This view lets you work horizontally like a Kanban board. Visualize your workflow and tasks in this full-width view.
  • Mind Map View. This view lets you work in a horizontal tree-structured manner and map out what you have in mind.
  • Action View. Work in table view and stay organized with your task due dates, and more.
  • Org Chart View. Break down larger tasks into smaller ones to help you get things done.

• Zoom In, Zoom Out. Get a bird’s-eye view of the workflow by zooming out on all project views, or zoom in to focus on a specific area.
• Fold/Unfold. Fold (collapse) a parent task/bullet element to hide its subtasks. Indent outline elements with ⌨️ Tab and unfold lists with ⌨️ Shift+Tab.
• Real-time Communication. Chat and video conference with your team while collaborating in real-time on the same page. 
• 500+ Templates. Choose from 500+ templates across 26 categories to improve your productivity and workflows. Customize existing templates or create new ones across your workspaces.
• Multi-Select. Select and format multiple blocks or bulk assign them as tasks to other team members. You can also copy, paste, or indent selected blocks.

• Customize Sub-Tasks. Customize the format of your sub-tasks at individual levels. Choose from headings, numbered lists, shapes, and more.
• Recurring Tasks. Add due dates with start and end times to tasks within your project and set them to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly.
• Move Tasks. Move and copy selected tasks to other projects across any workspace. You’ll receive a pop-up notification on completion.
• User Roles & Permissions. Manage collaborators and assign user roles/editing privileges (Owner, Admin, Editor, Checker, Viewer).

• Sort Tasks. Sort sub-tasks/children elements by completed/uncompleted stats or the due date. Task sorting can be accessed from a convenient pop-up menu.
• Search. Search within projects or globally across workspaces and subspaces. Instantly browse and jump between projects anywhere in the Taskade.
• Keyboard Shortcuts. Navigate projects, create content blocks, reorder elements, and complete tasks using a set of handy keyboard shortcuts.

• Team Calendar. Aggregate all tasks and projects in a shared calendar. The Taskade calendar integrates with Google (two-way), Apple, and Outlook. 
• Reorder Tasks. Lists in Taskade aren’t set in stone. Reorder tasks and find them a new home with intuitive drag-and-drop mechanics.
• Project History. See all the changes made by you and other collaborators. Click on the entries to navigate to the edited items within the project.
• Version History. Taskade saves snapshots of your project so that you can restore a previous version of your project with a single click.

• Export and Print. You can export your projects as plain text or markdown files. Attach them to emails, presentations, or for print.

• Cloud File Upload. Share files directly from Google Drive, Dropbox, Instagram, and Box in your projects with our integrations.
• Breakdown Larger Tasks. Organize your thoughts with Taskade’s unlimited hierarchy to break down large projects into tasks.
• Quick Search. Use CMD / CTRL + K to jump between any projects within Taskade web and apps.

For an exhaustive list of Taskade’s features, click here.

Taskade Pros

• Free-forever plan is loaded with features
• Real-time collaboration within the same project 
• Free built-in video call and chat function in each project
• Customizable templates to give you a headstart
• Work and chat in the same window, in the same app
• Frequent updates based on user/your feedback and suggestions
• Tabbed workflow for working with multiple Projects

Taskade Cons

• No Gantt view (yet)

Taskade Pricing

Taskade Free 

• Single workspace with 5 active projects and 250 tasks per month
• 5 team members included with unlimited project sharing
• 5,000 AI words per month
• Access to 500+ free templates

Taskade Pro – From $19/month

• 2 workspaces with unlimited projects for every team and client
• 20 team members included for a flat monthly price
• 50,000 AI words per month

Taskade Business – From $49/month

• 10 workspaces with unlimited projects for every team and client
• 50 team members included for a flat monthly price
• 250,000 AI words per month
• Zapier integration

Taskade Ultimate – From $99/month

• Unlimited workspaces for your teams, clients, and organization
• 100 team members included for a flat monthly price
• Unlimited AI words per month
• Secure and simplify access with Single Sign On (SSO) through OKTA, Google, Azure, and more

Click here for more information.

Is Taskade Right for You?

Taskade can be used by individuals and teams working from anywhere. Use Taskade individually or collaborate with your team for weekly agendas, team meetings, note-taking, project management, product roadmaps, and more. 

Make use of customizable board views to visualize your projects into digestible smaller tasks. Multiple board views are available even on Taskade’s free plan, allowing you to get more work done the smarter way. 

If time is of the essence, you can use Taskade's built-in timer feature to make sure that you don't spend too much time on certain tasks.

Collaborate with your team in real-time with free and unlimited chat and video conferencing available on every project. Automatic syncing ensures that your data is always up to date across devices.

Our customizable templates are available even with our free plan. Find the perfect template to help you get started with your project, and customize it to fit your needs!

Taskade is the simplest way to create task lists, checklists, and workflows. Manage projects and get more work done the simple way with Taskade.

Taskade is the best free Basecamp alternative. Try Taskade for free today.