Top 31 Basecamp Alternatives for Project Management

Basecamp has been one of the most popular project management software since its inception. It’s been more than thirteen years and people still vouch for its simplicity and collaborative approach to managing projects. Since then, with the changing times and needs of the customers, many project management software entered the management landscape and made a name for themselves.

Is Basecamp The Best Project Management Software? 

A lot of people try Basecamp for project management and collaboration, but then most of them come back looking for Basecamp alternatives that work for their needs. There’s a reason for that.

First, let’s see what made Basecamp so popular: Simple functionality and clean design are the two key qualities that made Basecamp popular across organizations. Initially, this web-based product achieved critical momentum and lots of PR based on the fact that it was simple and elegant to use – Basecamp didn’t try to do everything. Instead, it just focused on doing a few things and it did them well.

It almost seemed like 37 Signals – the makers of Basecamp – clearly understood what project managers and teams needed (at least in the web design industry). It was proven to be the most popular web-based solution for project management and team collaboration.

But clearly, something wasn’t right. If Basecamp was so perfect, you, like most people, wouldn’t have searched for tools and apps like Basecamp.

The truth is, Basecamp is far from perfect. It didn’t do anything different. It just picked and offered features that every other project or team management software was offering. As a result, organizations soon realized the many limitations of Basecamp, including:

• No clarity of clients needs 

• No idea about what campaigns are up next

• No time-tracking feature (only available through third-party integration)

• Doesn’t allow assigning a task to multiple people

• No idea about what others are working on

• No private messages and to-dos

• No online proofing (only available through third-party integration)

and more. In all, with Basecamp, project managers and teams have limited visibility and they lose real insights.

Luckily, there’s still hope. There are Basecamp project management alternatives (free and paid) that offer far more compelling features and really meet your needs. Read on if you want to check out some of the best Basecamp alternatives for your business/team in 2019.

Best Basecamp Alternatives for Your Business

All the project management tools listed below are absolutely worth a look if you are looking for an alternative to Basecamp. They come with a bouquet of powerful features and an easy-to-use interface. Without much ado, let’s take a look at these Basecamp alternatives and competitors for project management.

1. ProofHub

The first tool in the list is ProofHub, leading project management and collaboration tool for professionals who want all their project management miseries to end. Remember the time when you needed too many tools and apps to run a business or a project successfully – well, ProofHub is the kind of advanced tool that is designed to put an end to such traditional business practices.

It’s an all-in-one project management software that comes packed with many scalable features to match your growing business needs. The idea behind this tool is pretty straightforward and intuitive – it aims to help project managers, decision makers, and remote teams communicate better and manage every aspect of the project with greater efficiency. So far, the tool is successfully accomplishing what it aimed for by powering 85000+ small groups and large businesses across the globe, including some big names like Netflix, Google, Disney, NASA, Nike, Pinterest, TripAdvisor, and Taco Bell.

In addition to a long list of intuitive features, ProofHub also provides integration popular team collaboration and business productivity tools like Google Calendar, iCal, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Plus, the platform shows compatibility with any devices and operating systems, including iOS, Android, and Windows. That means ProofHub makes it incredibly easy for you (and your team) to effectively manage multiple projects/tasks simultaneously – no matter whether you’re sitting together in the same office or a thousand miles away from each other.

Why is ProofHub one of the best alternatives to Basecamp? Let’s find out.

 ProofHub vs Basecamp – Which one is better?

• Basecamp has a major drawback in regard to collaborative capabilities. In contrast, ProofHub offers an array of features that make workplace collaboration smart and easy. It makes team and client conversations quicker with one-on-one and Group Chats. Plus, it allows you to create discussion topics and have all your discussions at one place instead of having to go back and forth in lengthy email threads.

• ProofHub’s Gantt Chart Software allows project teams to plan and visualize the many aspects of a project in a timeline view. In ProofHub, teams can add tasks, assign them to one or multiple people, set task dependencies, and even adjust schedules as work changes. While on the contrary, Basecamp doesn’t even offer Gantt charts.

• In ProofHub, project managers get the ultimate advantage. They can decide who does, sees, and manages what with ProofHub’s Custom Roles functionality. It makes it a lot easier for managers to control what actions members (team and client) of that project can perform and what sections or files they can access as per their work and responsibilities – which Basecamp doesn’t.

• Unlike Basecamp, Proofhub allows its users to schedule events, tasks, and milestones at one place using ProofHub Calendar. They can set reminders for important dates, see recurring events and tasks, check the project milestones set for a month, or the tasks for the same day with just a few clicks.

• ProofHub enables you  to track time and maintain Timesheets while you work on task/tasks while Basecamp fails to provide this basic functionality. It does offer 3rd party extensions to fill the gap but it’s no good.
• Just like time tracking, Basecamp also offers 3rd party extensions for proofing files and sharing feedback online. ProofHub, on the other hand has a dedicated inbuild Online Proofing tool. ProofHub streamlines the review/approval process by bringing everyone in one place to collaborate and share feedback on files in real-time.  

Price: ProofHub’s Essential plan starts at $45/month (if billed annually) and Its Ultimate Control plan starts at $89 /month (billed annually) – Heavy discounts on subscriptions for non-profits!

2. Scoro

Scoro is an end-to-end business management software solution for professionals and creative services that help them to streamline work and eliminate routine tasks. It combines project planning, time-tracking, and invoicing into one platform, and that’s what makes Scoro a great alternative to Basecamp.

Main features:

• Schedule work and assign tasks
• Manage project portfolio effectively
• Track the actual and the billable time
• Powerful reporting and beautiful dashboard

Price: Scoro’s Premium plan is for $33/user/month.

3. Workzone

#3 in the list of Basecamp alternatives is Workzone. Workzone is a reliable web-based project management tool that has made a name for itself as one of the most powerful and easy-to-use online project management software. It is trusted by popular brands like Adidas, Verizon, Wells Fargo to name a few.

Main features:

• Project dashboards give visibility across the organization
• Share files securely in the cloud
• Advanced reporting features
• World-class customer support

Price: It offers three plans: Team, Professional, Enterprise. You can request pricing on the website.

4. Huddle

The next one in the list of Basecamp alternatives is Huddle. Huddle is an industry-leading collaboration software that offers secure collaboration for teams, enterprises, and various government organizations. What distinguishes it from Basecamp is whether you’re working on an internal project or collaborating with clients, Huddle can be easily customized for an ‘on-brand’ experience.

Main features:

• Simple and secure document collaboration
• Create, control, and manage work
• Track progress easily
• Integrates with many third-party applications

Price: Huddle plans start from $10/user/month.

5. JIRA

JIRA is a strong Basecamp alternative developed by Atlassian. Various software development, project management, and agile teams use this tool to plan and track projects.

Main features:

• Prioritize and discuss work with full visibility
• Choose a workflow or create your own
• Fosters real-time collaboration

Price: Small Teams plan is available for $10/month.

6. ClickUp

It won’t be wrong to say that ClickUp is the most beautiful alternative to Basecamp that provides an intuitive way to get more done. Whether you are a developer, manager, or anyone getting things done, there is a perfect view for you in the tool.

Main features:

• Create custom statuses
• Beautiful multitask toolbar
• Offers 500+ integrations

Price: Available for free (100 MB storage and unlimited projects) and $5/user/month (unlimited storage and projects).

7. Mavenlink

Mavenlink is a modern software platform designed for service professionals. It helps you deliver effortlessly by offering more connectivity, transparency, and a boost in your performance with its advanced features.

Main features:

• Gain visibility of all projects across your portfolio
• Advanced analytics and a powerful business intelligence engine
• Simple and intuitive interface

Price: Teams plan for $19/user/month

8. LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner is one of those Basecamp alternatives that are known to provide a better way to plan and execute work. Interestingly, it offers a responsive approach to project management by treating projects as living and evolving constructs.

Main features:

• Project plans are built on priorities
• Project schedules automatically predict finish dates
• Data and statuses are accessible in real-time
• Instantly visualize the impact of resource availability

Price: Professional plan is available for $45/user/month

9. Workfront

#9 in the list of Basecamp alternatives in Workfront. It is a cloud-based work management tool widely used by marketing and IT teams to manage projects in one place. This web platform combines project management software, intelligent work automation, and in-context collaboration to empower teams to do their best work.

Main features:

• Manage projects in one collaborative system
• Customized dashboards and advanced reporting
• Focuses on real-time visibility
• Easily integrable with other apps

Price: Pricing not listed but reviewers say plans start from $480/year.

10. TeamGantt

For all those who live and swear by Gantt charts, TeamGantt is the best alternative to Basecamp in the market. You can plan and manage projects with this super-easy software. Inviting team members, co-workers, clients to view and edit your Gantt chart is simple and fun!

Main features:

• Fast drag-and-drop scheduling
• Intuitive, beautiful, and easy-to-use interface
• Effective resource-management
• Smart time-tracking and reporting

Price: Standard plan for $7.90/user/month

11. Podio

Podio is a cloud-based collaboration service that was founded in 2009 and acquired by Citrix in 2012. Podio supplies a web-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, data in project management. It boasts clients like that of Volvo, Deloitte, Sony, NFL to name a few.

Main features:

• Intuitive interface
• Automated workflows and personal dashboards
• Rigorous security standards
• Full customization and integrated chat

Price: Basic plan starts from $9/user/month.

12. FunctionFox

If you are a creative professional and looking for an amazing Basecamp alternative then FunctionFox is the tool for you. It is a project management and time-tracking software that is simple to set up, easy-to-use, and trusted by creative professionals around the world.

Main features:

• Customizable dashboards
• Connect to real-time data with interactive charts
• Estimated budgets with actual figures to keep projects on track

Price: Classic plan starts from $35/month.

13. Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is an effective project management software and Basecamp competitor that helps you get started quickly and execute projects with an absolute ease. Streamline project, resource, and portfolio management with Microsoft Project & Portfolio Management. Integrated planning tools help you keep track of projects and stay organized.

Main features:

• Easy project planning
• Streamlined projects and resources
• Track status and collaborate from virtually anywhere

Price: Project Online Essentials starts at $7.15/user/month.

Read on: Most Powerful Microsoft Project Alternatives

14. Teamwork

Teamwork is an effective Basecamp project management alternative that provides world-class solutions to streamline your business. Believe it or not, Teamwork is loved by 40,000 creative teams, agencies, and enterprise businesses.

Main features:

• Real-time status updates
• Impressive invoice-tracking
• Advanced privacy and permission options
• Available on the iOS, Android, Google Chrome, and the Web

Price: Premium plan starts at $15/user/month.

15. Clarizen

It is a project management software that lets you manage work, automate processes and collaborate across the enterprise—all from a single, intuitive solution. All in all, it is a great Basecamp competitor that gets everyone connected.

Main features:

• Configurable workflows
• Real-time visibility
• Dynamic reports and dashboards
• Flexible interface

Price: Enterprise and unlimited edition both require quotes for your organization.

16. Zoho projects

Zoho projects seem like a nice option if you’re looking for a free online project management software that lets you create and manage your projects effectively. By allowing you to plan, track, and collaborate, it makes project management as easy as it can be.

Main features:

• Plan projects with ease
• Get in-depth insights with Gantt charts
• Promotes seamless collaboration
• Integrate with apps such as Zapier, Slack, Dropbox etc

Price: Standard plan available for $20/month.

Read on: Zoho Alternatives to Skyrocket Your Business Growth

17. Asana

Asana is free, simple to get started, and powerful enough to run your entire business. It promotes collaboration by allowing teams to create and move projects forward to help to know who is doing what. Companies like Airbnb, Red Bull, Allstate and NASA use Asana for their project management.

Main features:

• Track projects from start to finish
• Simple to use and intuitive
• Effective task management

Price: Basic version free. Premium starts at $9.99/member/month.

Read on: Powerful Asana Alternatives for Project Management in 2019

18. ActiveCollab

If you’re looking for a simple yet powerful project management tool that helps your teams to stay organized, this is the tool for you. ActiveCollab comes with plenty of neat add-ons that makes it a one-stop solution for all your business needs.

Main features:

• Stay organized with advanced to-do lists
• Track every minute and bill clients accordingly
• Easily issue invoices and save time

Price: Paid plans start from $25/month (5 members).

19. Smartsheet

If you and your team use spreadsheets to manage work, you would love the sheet-based interface of this Basecamp alternative. It provides a powerful platform for the way you work today and take real action on ideas, not just talk about them.

Main features:

• Manage complex projects and visualize tasks
• Streamline work by setting up automatic update requests
• Smart dashboards provide real-time visibility into critical KPIs

Price: Business plan starts from $25/user/month.

20. Trello

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible way and that’s what make Trello a great alternative to Basecamp. It lets you work more collaboratively and get more done.

Main features:

• Follows visual approach to represent projects
• Add comments, attachments, and more directly to Trello cards
• Trello stays in sync across all of your devices

Price: Free. Business plan available for $9.99/user/month

Read on: Top Trello Alternatives List

21. Hive

What makes Hive a worthy alternative to Basecamp is how effortlessly it puts the needs of a team at a single place. Apart from providing a Kanban-style status view, you can also track the progress of your projects with Gantt charts in Hive.

Main features:

• Provides a central platform for everything
• Move seamlessly between projects, messages, and files
• Access anywhere from a desktop or mobile apps

Price: $12/user/month.

22. GoodDay

The next on our list of Basecamp alternatives is GoodDay which is a modern work management platform. It brings together the best tools for high-level planning, task organization, and project management. It lets you visualize work like no other Basecamp alternative as you can understand current priorities and see your overall workload easily at any time.

Main features:

• Plan, schedule, prioritize, and execute tasks
• Updated Kanban boards that offer a visual at-a-glance view of all workflows
• Provides data required to optimize work distribution and to boost team productivity
• Extremely user-friendly and powerful Gantt Chart module that visualizes project schedules with all key dates and milestones

Price: Professional plan starts at $5 per user per month.

23. Freedcamp

Whether it’s about leading a complex task or planning an event, Freedcamp can easily help you get everything done. It is loaded with amazing features – project templates, white-labeling, task boards, CRM to name a few. Freedcamp offers everything your team needs to successfully complete any project. It is a true-blue collaboration and collaborative tool that makes life more productive and enjoyable.

Main features:

• See an overview of your due items from one place
• Discuss ideas with your team from one centralized place
• Bill your clients easily from your time tracking entries or create new list items
• Manage tasks outside the office with its mobile app

Price: Starts from $3.49 per user per month.

24. Monday

Monday was formerly known as Dapulse. The collaborative software is visual and quite intuitive in nature. It is used to create tasks that can be assigned to team members. Further, you can attach files, mark deadlines, and track along the way to see if things are on track or not. Plus, it can be customized to fit your exact workflow. It comes with many templates, so you can use it the way you want.

Main features:

• Keep all your conversations, files, briefs, checklists, and sheets in one place
• Enables project scheduling and file sharing
• Powerful reporting and analytics features

Price: Pro plan starts at $59/month

25. Backlog

Backlog is an online project management tool designed for developers that could help them deliver high-quality web projects faster. It has everything you might need for a development workflow – project management, bug tracking, task management and version control. Backlog’s visual approach to project management offers greater visibility, higher productivity, and easier tracking.

Main features:

• View, prioritize, and discuss all your tasks in one place.
• Turns reported issues into clear, easy-to-follow outlines so you can dive into details faster
• Set due dates to keep work on schedule
• Provides a mobile app on both iOS and Android for collaborating on-the-go

Price: Get Standard Plan for $100/month

26. Airtable

Airtable is one of those Basecamp alternatives that are known as great task management tools. It offers multiple views for tasks at hand – Grid, Calendar, Kanban, Gallery, and Form to view project boards and schedules. It easily integrates with third-party applications like Dropbox, Google Drive in addition to different project management tools like Asana, Basecamp, GitHub and more.

Main features:

• Capture and share new insights with powerful visualization and formatting tools.
• Collaborate in context and keep your team on the same page
• Backup is done automatically and it doesn’t even eat server space
• Option to turn task cards into forms (something that Basecamp doesn’t offer)

Price: Pro comprehensive collaboration plan is available for $20 user/month

27. nTask

If you’re looking for a Basecamp alternative that is built around your needs, nTask might come to your rescue. It is a smart project management tool that comes with a simple and easy-to-use taskboard. It also offers meeting management module to help teams stay on the same page.

Main features:

• Create, assign, organize, share tasks and projects
• Powerful search and filter tools that help you search for tasks, projects, meetings, issues, and risks
• Gantt charts, multiple board views, and time tracking features

Price: It charges $2.99 per month per user with an annual billing plan

28. Allthings

For starters, Allthings is used by names like that of North Arizona University, Logicnow, Harper Macleod LLP among other. It helps you take control of all your tasks, teams, and time by helping you quickly plan, organize, and share work and visualize overall progress and performance. If that’s not enough, it enables you to manage work from anywhere at any time on any device.

Main features:

• Create and share plans, projects, and tasks
• Centralize communication about tasks
• Easily share documents and reports
• See at a glance what your priorities are
• Can be easily customized and personalized

Price: Team plan starts at $9.95 per team member/ month

29. Avaza

Avaza is project management, task tracking, and time tracking in one software. Also, it is a seamless, productive platform teams use to collaborate on projects, schedule resources, track time, manage expenses & invoice customers. It can do everything – from resource scheduling to time and expense management to quoting and invoicing.

Main features:

• Easily manage resources allocated to each project
• Schedule and edit assignments with simple drag and drop
• Understand project progress and profitability
• Takes care of unvoiced time, expenses, and fixed amounts

Price: Business plan starts at $39.95/month

30. Quire

Quire is a visual collaborative platform that works best for creative teams. The task management software helps you break big goals in hierarchical lists by letting you map out your thoughts, and tackle them with small steps. In Quire, you can also streamline your to-dos visually letting you arrange, prioritize, and focus on what is most important each day. Unlike other tools. It is up and running from the first moment you’ve set it up.

Main features:

• Status tracking and task filtering
• Measure the progress of tasks and projects
• Top-notch task management
• Integrates with many third-party applications
• Intuitive and easy-to-use

Price: Pricing can be requested on their website

31. Paymo

Paymo is the last Basecamp alternative on our list that is a full-featured online project management app. The long list of features include time tracking, resource planning, Gantt charts, reports, Kanban boards, invoices and expenses. Paymo helps your team work better by getting everyone on the same page. It is catering to the needs of over 100,000 small business and freelancers with their project management needs.

Main features:

• Real-time comments on tasks allow you to stay on the same page
• Enables you to accurately track their work time and task progress
• Generate customizable time and work reports
• Switch to an advanced task view with filters to see all details

Price: Business plan $15.16/user/month

32. WorkBook

WorkBook is an agency management software for agencies and in-house teams to boost productivity. It is designed to help teams with project management, resource management, customer relationship management, team collaboration and file sharing, and accounting. The software clearly understands the fact that not every business/team has the same needs. Therefore, it lets you select modules that suit your needs and only pay for what you use.

Pricing: WorkBook’s Basic plan starts from $19 user/month.

33. WorkflowMax

WorkflowMax is an all-in-one project management software with a variety of useful features such as project tracking, timesheets, reporting, invoicing, job monitoring, just to name a few. Since WorkflowMax is a Xero-owned software solution, it flaunts seamless integration with Xero’s long line of accounting and business software – a key reason to call it one of the best Basecamp alternatives available out there.

Pricing: Individual plans starting from $15 month/user and it also offers optional upgrades as per business needs.

34. Output Time

Output Time is the type of project management software that puts emphasis on effective team collaboration. In addition to key project management features like time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking, the software also has an instant messenger feature. Moreover, it provides instant notification on each action of Projects/Tasks in real-time, thereby keeping everyone up-to-date and avoiding any kind of unnecessary confusion.

Pricing: Free, paid plans starting from $4 user/month.

35. WORK[etc]

WORK[etc] is a business management platform that includes features for CRM, billing, help desk, project management, customer portal, social media and much more. It serves as one place for the entire team to collaborate, sell, support, and deliver.

Pricing: Starter plan starting from $78 user/month, team plan starts from $195 user/month, and foundations plan starts from $395 user/month.

How To Choose The Best Alternative To Basecamp For Your Team?

Before you bite the bullet and choose an alternative tool from this list, we would like to make one thing very clear – there is no such thing as ‘perfect tool’. There are more than a dozen project management solutions out there – each of them have a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. The question is – Which tool will meet the needs of your projects and teams?

You need to find criteria for selecting the right project management tool. Understand that there are many Basecamp project management alternatives and you get to choose only one. Try focusing head on the basics i.e. “What does Basecamp lack?”.

We’ve created a small checklist that will make it easier for you to choose the best alternative to Basecamp for your team.

Here, when you choose a tool to replace Basecamp, you must expect:

• Task management

• Shared calendaring

• Inbuilt Gantt charts tool (Interactive with task dependencies and critical path)

• Document management

• Inbuilt browser chat

• Email integration

• Time tracking and invoicing

• Visual customization

• Better support

Note: This checklist doesn’t include all the features of project management software. It is a list of features that leads you to apps and tools like Basecamp for project management.

Conclusion

It’s easier to spot the right kind of Basecamp alternative or project management software when you’re clear about your requirement. We hope this post helps to put an end to your search.

Vartika Kashyap

Vartika Kashyap is the Marketing Manager at ProofHub and has been one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2018. Her articles are inspired by office situations and work-related events. She likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click.

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