10 Best Basecamp Alternatives Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 23 tools reviewed.
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If Basecamp isn’t cutting it for your team, you’re not alone. While the software is great for keeping things simple, some project managers find it lacks the advanced task management, reporting, or integrations they need to stay on top of complex projects. Others just want more flexibility in how they organize work.
The good news is that there are plenty of alternatives that offer similar project management and collaboration tools—plus features that might better fit your team’s workflow.
I’ve tested and reviewed project management software extensively, and in this article, I’ll walk you through the best Basecamp alternatives on the market. Whether you need stronger task tracking, more customization, or a different pricing model, I’ve got you covered.
What is Basecamp?
Basecamp is a project management and team collaboration software designed to help teams stay organized and communicate effectively. It is used by project managers, small business owners, and remote teams who need a simple way to manage tasks, discussions, and deadlines in one place.
Overall, Basecamp keeps everything in one central hub, which makes it easier for your team to stay on the same page without switching between multiple tools. The software's to-do lists, message boards, and automatic check-ins also help keep your team aligned, reduce email clutter, and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
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Best Basecamp Alternatives Summary
This comparison chart summarizes pricing details for my top Basecamp alternative selections to help you find the best one for your budget and business needs.
Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Wrike Users can view priorities on Gantt charts, lists, boards, tables, and more, depending on their preferences. | Best for scaling organizations | Freemium version available | From $10/user/month (min of 2 seats) | Website |
2 | ClickUp Small and large teams can easily plan projects, assign team members, and track progress. | Best free plan for a Basecamp alternative | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $7/user/month | Website |
3 | monday.com Team tasks can be viewed at a glance on Kanban boards, in a list view, and more. | Best for customization | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
4 | Zoho Projects Zoho Projects offers multiple views for projects, including classic, plain, and Kanban. | Best for easy migration from Basecamp | 10-day free trial + free plan available | From $4/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
5 | Nifty Nifty project dashboard and home, providing an overview of tasks, milestones, and discussions. | Best for ease of use & client collaboration | 14-day free trial | From $5/user/month (billed annually) + free plan available | Website |
6 | MeisterTask The ease of use, innovative ideation integration, and flexible project management tools makes MeisterTask a standout choice for teams. | Best for integration of ideation and task management | Free trial available | From $8.25/user/month (billed annually) + free plan available | Website |
7 | Freedcamp Freedcamp allows project managers to organize tasks under projects. | Best for budget-friendly project management | 14-day free trial | From $1.49/user/month (billed annually) + free plan available | Website |
8 | Backlog View recent project updates, burndown charts, and more for each individual project. | Best Basecamp alternative for software development | 30-day free trial | From $35/month (up to 30 users) | Website |
9 | Avaza Avaza offers the ability to create regular invoices and recurring invoices. | Best for extra features like timesheets and expense tracking | Free plan available | From $11.95/month (up to 2 users) | Website |
10 | Teamwork.com Teamwork offers project, task, milestone, and time overviews. | Best for content collaboration | 30-day free trial | From $10.99/user/month (min 3 users, billed annually) | Website |
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Wrike
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.2 -
actiTIME
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.4 -
monday.com
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.6
Best Basecamp Alternative Reviews
Here are the details on the tools that you can choose instead of Basecamp and what makes them good alternatives.
Wrike is an award-winning, easy-to-use project management software trusted by 20,000+ organizations worldwide. This project planning tool is suitable for teams of anywhere from five to an unlimited number of team members. It's highly configurable, allowing users to customize workflows, recurring tasks, dashboards, reports, request forms, and more.
Wrike's simple interface enables users to switch between Kanban boards, one-click Gantt charts, and traditional workload views, allowing them to choose how to visualize their priorities. Wrike also comes with project management features such as project templates, task lists; subtasks; task dependencies; calendars; shared workflows; file sharing; image, video, and web proofing; and real-time collaboration. Unlock advanced insights with performance reporting tools, resource management and allocation, time tracking, and more.
Wrike has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface and navigation with distinct spaces for every folder and task list. Managing projects is made easy by simply toggling from the home screen to timesheets, dashboards, calendars, reports, and the activity stream for notifications and messages.
This project management solution also offers a variety of different yet specific project management features depending on the type of team or organization - whether you're a creative team, a marketing team or a professional service team.
Wrike offers 400+ pre-built native integrations, including integrations with the most popular file management software from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software from Salesforce and Marketo.
ClickUp is a project management tool with powerful features for managing and completing all your team's projects in one platform. Users can plan projects, schedule tasks, and manage resources in a centralized workspace, as well as communicate and collaborate with team members and guests.
Project scheduling features include Gantt charts, calendars, and timelines for visualizing tasks. Users can also schedule time and tasks, track deadlines, set time estimates, and track time.
ClickUp also includes features for creating, sharing, and collaborative editing for Wikis and documents. Users can comment on documents and tasks, assign comments, and chat with other team members for increased communication and collaboration. Reporting features include the ability to create custom dashboards, as well as six built-in report types for team reporting.
ClickUp offers native integrations with Slack, G Suite, Dropbox, and many more tools, as well as over 1,000+ integrations through Zapier. ClickUp's free plan is robust and includes all primary features. The unlimited plan starts at $5 a month per user and offers additional functionality.
monday.com is an intuitive project collaboration software that enables teams to track project tasks, assign ownership, and manage deadlines with ease. Although easy-to-learn, monday.com offers advanced data insights, dashboards, and workforce analytics.
monday.com's features include all of the project scheduling, file sharing, communication, and reporting features you'd expect in a project management tool similar to Basecamp. For example, you can upload and attach files to updates on project boards, make comments, mention teammates, build and share reports, send messages, and easily organize project tasks by upcoming due dates. You can also easily manage recurring tasks and team documents by creating virtual workspaces for your team's onboarding or meeting notes for everyone to access.
monday.com has integrations with over 40 apps like Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Zoom, Slack, Typeform, and many more, accessible via Zapier.
monday.com costs from $6/user/month and comes with a free 14-day trial. They offer a free plan for up to 2 users.
If you are looking for a user-friendly yet feature-rich upgrade from Basecamp, then Zoho Projects is a great option. If you are already a Basecamp user, Zoho Projects allows direct migration from Basecamp. With customizations and reporting capabilities, this tool is a logical step up.
Schedule work items as tasks and set dates, or do it with the intuitive click and drag Gantt chart interface. Go beyond scheduling and analyze timelines with critical path and baseline. The integrated social feed, chat rooms and forums give ample options for starting conversations. Add to that, the documents module that supports file sharing, version history, and collaborative file creation. Zoho Projects is one of the few PM tools that allow creation of dependencies between projects.
Fully customize the dashboards to suit your needs. Integrate with Zoho Analytics and create over 50 types of charts and reports. Export Gantt charts to PDF, and task to XLS/CSV. The interface and modules are highly customizable. All aspects of the UI from theme colors to arrangement and visibility of the various modules can be changed to suit a user's preferences. Zoho projects also offer free onboarding for its customers and a comprehensive online help guide for all users.
Being part of the Zoho's ecosystem allows Projects to connect to several of Zoho's own services such as Zoho Books, Zoho CRM, and Zoho's finance suite. The new Zoho marketplace allows 3rd party integrations as well. Zapier connections are also supported. Zoho Projects stands out in cases where there are multiple hand-offs involved. It is especially popular among IT companies, consultants and education organizations.
Starts from $4/user/month billed annually. Also has a freemium version up to 3 users for 2 projects and a 10-day free trial. No credit card information is required.
Nifty is a project management and collaboration hub that allows teams to plan, track, and deliver projects. Nifty's comes packed with project planning features such as discussions, milestones, task dependencies, docs, and files ensure project members and stakeholders are aligned on project objectives. The tool also includes direct messaging, which is great for facilitating team-wide communication from planning to delivery. Nifty's built-in reporting provides a global overview of project statuses and team member workloads, making sure your decisions are aligned with your business plan.
Nifty allows you to import your existing data from Basecamp as well as from CSV & Excel files, so you can quickly establish your workflow on Nifty. Nifty also offers built-in integrations with Google Docs, Sheets, and Presentations. Custom third party project embeds and workflow automations, along with connections to over 1000 additional applications through Zapier.
Nifty starts at $39/month.
MeisterTask asserts its position as a strong competitor to Basecamp in the project management software market through its unique blend of visually appealing design, intuitive usability, and innovative features that cater specifically to enhancing team productivity and project workflow. Unlike Basecamp, which adopts a more straightforward, list-based approach to project management, MeisterTask offers a dynamic, Kanban-style interface that allows for a more visual and flexible management of tasks.
One of MeisterTask’s standout features is its deep integration with MindMeister, an online mind mapping tool. This integration facilitates a seamless transition from the initial brainstorming and planning stages directly into actionable tasks and projects within MeisterTask. This feature is particularly unique in the project management space, offering teams a cohesive platform for both ideation and execution. Such a capability is invaluable for creative and strategic planning, where the journey from concept to completion is often nonlinear and requires a flexible, integrated toolset to manage effectively.
MeisterTask places a strong emphasis on automation, with features designed to streamline repetitive tasks and processes. This not only helps in reducing manual effort but also ensures that projects move forward smoothly and efficiently. The automation capabilities in MeisterTask go beyond simple task assignments and due date reminders, offering custom rule configurations that can trigger a series of actions based on specific criteria.
MeisterTask’s commitment to security and privacy is evident through its GDPR compliance and end-to-end encryption for task comments and discussions. This focus on data protection is an essential factor for businesses operating in sensitive industries or those that prioritize data security. While Basecamp also values privacy and security, MeisterTask’s approach provides users with peace of mind through transparent policies and robust security measures, making it an attractive option for teams that require a high level of data protection alongside powerful project management capabilities.
Freedcamp is a great Basecamp alternative software, providing useful collaboration features through a simple visual interface. The app enables you to track, mark up and follow your tasks, using a Kanban board and an interactive Gantt chart. It offers the option to categorize your tasks by who, when, and how the tasks are being done.
With Freedcamp’s messaging and task-overview boards, you will be able to assign members, provide them with necessary files, assign deadlines, and add sub-tasks. The built-in calendar allows you to create and customize events, tasks, and milestones.Freedcamp also has a general discussion board.
Freedcamp integrations include all of the standards: Jira, Slack, Trello, GitHub, and many others. It also syncs easily with the entire Google ecosystem, which means you can sync your Google Calendar with Freedcamp’s built-in one to keep your updates consistent across platforms and enable more report-generating possibilities.
Freedcamp costs from $3.49/user/month.
Backlog is a cloud-based project management tool with a special emphasis on collaborative tools for developers. Backlog provides useful collaboration features like task management (including subtasks, checklists, and custom fields), milestones, file management, wikis, and more. But Backlog is more than a project management app, it's also a bug tracker and version control system in one.
For collaborating on code, Backlog has SVN and Git repositories, a differences viewer and inline comments, plus pull requests, merge requests, and branches. For quick visual reports, the app provides burndown charts, Git graphs, Kanban boards, and Gantt charts, so project managers and users alike can quickly assess projects at a glance.
While there is no one-to-one chat, users can collaborate and comment directly on issues, including tagging selected team members on important activity and updates. Nulab — the creators of Backlog — also have their own chat app called Typetalk that seamlessly integrates with Backlog to give you the communication powers you need alongside the project management tools you depend on.
Backlog works for a range of team sizes. They have a free account available to teams of up to 10, while also offering a self-hosted Enterprise option for larger companies. They also provide a mobile app on both iOS and Android for collaborating on-the-go. It integrates with Nulab's other apps and provides both Redmine and Jira importers.
Backlog allows you to assign, track, and release work, right in one app while ensuring transparency and accountability across teams. If you're looking for a tool to help manage development projects or working closely with a team of developers, this is the app for you.
Backlog is free for up to 10 users with some feature limitations or $35/month for up to 30 users. For $100/month, your team gets unlimited users, i.e. their Standard Plan.
You might have realized already that these tools are always more than “just collaboration tools”. Avaza is a cloud-based task management tool with an emphasis on resource management, but it also offers a great deal of handy features for better communication.
Avaza gives you the option to track everything in one place: from simple conversations to expense tracking, time-tracking, invoicing, kanban-style task management, and reporting. The task scheduling features allow you to assign time and monetary value to each task, which is a useful feature for communicating the priority and resources assigned to the team members who will be working on the task.
Being cloud-based, they make it easy to share files and communicate in real-time. Nevertheless, if you want more than the ability to make comments and mentions, consider integrating an additional app because it offers only basic messaging boards.
This software integrates with popular tools like Jira, Trello, Quickbooks, Evernote, Slack, as well as Google apps like Google Calendar and Google Drive that allow you to share files and events directly within the platform.
Avaza costs from $9.95/user/month.
Teamwork is a project management and collaboration tool that can easily fill the shoes of Basecamp, if you’re looking to change things up. Teamwork makes it easier for everyone to see what projects team members are working on, communicate amongst themselves, and plan ahead together. This software contains a full-suite of tools: project management, helpdesk, team chat, CRM, and content collaboration (called “Spaces”).
Teamwork’s Chat app introduces easy communication seamlessly into your workflow, be it internal messaging or external client-facing collaboration. With one central place for users to share ideas and look for feedback, project management teams can reach a consensus and make decisions faster.
The Portfolio feature makes it easy for project managers to get a high-level overview of multiple projects at once. Use Portfolio to see every project represented as a card and manage them all from one central place.
Teamwork integrates with Gmail, HubSpot, Slack, Float, KingswaySoft, Databox, Numerics, Automate.io, Easy Insights, Integromat, Chatify, Zapier, and Import2.
Teamwork has a freemium plan for up to 3 projects and 5 users. Their paid plan starts at $10/user/month, requiring 5 users or more.
Other Basecamp Alternatives
Here are some additional Basecamp alternatives that didn’t make it onto my shortlist, but are still worth checking out:
- Nutcache
For visually organizing tasks
- Intervals
For small teams and small businesses
- Yanado
For Gmail users
- Ravetree
Basecamp alternative for agencies
- Project.co
For working with clients
- Quire
Basecamp alternative for beginners
- Celoxis
Alternative for its portfolio and accounting features
- Bonsai Agency Software
For managing projects, clients and finances in one
- Productive
Basecamp alternative for built-in invoicing
- Hive
For multiple project and task views
- Shortcut
For agile-specific frameworks
- Baserow
Basecamp alternative for open source, flexible databases
- Pneumatic Workflow
For streamlining digital projects
Basecamp Alternatives Selection Criteria
When selecting the best Basecamp alternatives to include on this list, I considered common buyer needs and pain points related to project management and team collaboration software products, like the need for more advanced task management features or better integration options. I also used the following framework to keep my evaluation structured and fair:
Core Functionality (25% of total score)
To be considered for inclusion on this list, each solution had to fulfill these common use cases:
- Task and project management
- Team communication and collaboration
- File storage and document sharing
- Notifications and activity tracking
- User roles and permissions
Additional Standout Features (25% of total score)
To help further narrow down the competition, I also looked for unique features, such as:
- Advanced task dependencies and automation
- Built-in time tracking and invoicing
- Customizable reporting and dashboards
- Deep third-party integrations
- Client-facing collaboration tools
Usability (10% of total score)
To get a sense of the usability of each system, I considered the following:
- Ease of navigation and interface design
- Customization options for workflows and views
- Mobile accessibility and cross-device support
- The speed and performance of the platform
- A minimal learning curve for new users
Onboarding (10% of total score)
To evaluate the onboarding experience for each platform, I considered the following:
- The availability of product tours and interactive guides
- Pre-built templates for quick setup
- Access to training videos, webinars, and documentation
- Chatbots or live support during onboarding
- Ease of data migration from other tools
Customer Support (10% of total score)
To assess each software provider’s customer support services, I considered the following:
- The availability of live chat, phone, and email support
- Response times and issue resolution efficiency
- Access to a knowledge base or help center
- Community forums or user groups for peer support
- Availability of dedicated account managers for larger teams
Value For Money (10% of total score)
To evaluate the value for money of each platform, I considered the following:
- Pricing transparency and flexibility
- Availability of free plans or trials
- The features included at each pricing tier
- Cost compared to similar tools in the market
- Scalability for growing teams and businesses
Customer Reviews (10% of total score)
To get a sense of overall customer satisfaction, I considered the following when reading customer reviews:
- Common praise or complaints across multiple sources
- Feedback on ease of use and feature effectiveness
- Reports of software bugs or performance issues
- Customer sentiment on pricing fairness
- The quality and responsiveness of customer support
Why Look for a Basecamp Alternative?
While Basecamp is a good choice for project management and team collaboration software, there are a number of reasons why some users seek out alternative solutions. You might be looking for a Basecamp alternative because…
- You need advanced task management features like dependencies or subtasks
- You want more integrations with the other tools your team already uses
- You need better reporting or analytics to track project progress
- You prefer a different pricing model, like per-user billing
- You need stronger time tracking or invoicing capabilities
- You want more customization options for workflows and permissions
If any of these sound like you, you’ve come to the right place. My list contains several project management and team collaboration software options that are better suited for teams encountering challenges with Basecamp and looking for alternative solutions.
Basecamp Key Features
Here are some of the key features of Basecamp, to help you contrast and compare what alternative solutions offer:
- To-Do Lists: Create and assign tasks to team members, set due dates, and track progress to ensure everyone knows their responsibilities.
- Message Boards: Post announcements, pitch ideas, or start discussions in a centralized place to keep all team communication organized and accessible.
- Campfires: Engage in real-time group chats for quick questions or spontaneous conversations to reduce the need for lengthy email threads.
- Schedules: Manage project timelines by setting milestones, deadlines, and events to help your team stay on track and meet important dates.
- Docs & Files: Upload, store, and share documents and files in a centralized location to ensure everyone has access to the latest versions.
- Automatic Check-ins: Set up recurring questions to gather status updates from your team, keeping everyone informed without scheduling additional meetings.
- Hill Charts: Visualize project progress to identify potential obstacles and ensure tasks are moving forward as planned.
- Client Access: Invite clients to specific projects, allowing them to view progress, provide feedback, and collaborate directly within Basecamp.
- Reports: Generate insights into project performance, track overdue tasks, and monitor team activity to maintain accountability and transparency.
- Integrations: Connect Basecamp with other tools your team uses, such as time tracking or accounting software, to create a more cohesive workflow.

What's Next?
Collaboration software, as we have seen, comes in many shapes and sizes, from simple apps to gigantic all-inclusive project management programs.
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