16 Best Basecamp Alternatives (Free and Paid)

Basecamp is a popular project management tool for good reason. It’s a great starting point for a lot of teams.

However, it’s not the right fit for everyone. If you’re looking for good Basecamp alternatives, you’re not alone.

The team at Basecamp places a strong emphasis on minimalism, so they offer limited integrations and an intentionally short list of built-in features.

While this is great for teams that share the same philosophy, it’s tough for companies that need more flexibility. Managers also find it difficult to gain insights into how their teams work since Basecamp offers very limited analytics and reporting.

That’s why we put together this list of tools like Basecamp that offer different features for growing teams.

The 16 best Basecamp alternatives

Basecamp lacks all of these important task management features:

• Automated workflows
• Tags and labels
• Time and expense tracking
• Integrations with your current monitoring software
• Built-in reporting and analytics

Fortunately, there are plenty of great alternatives to Basecamp. Check out this list of the 16 best options to find one that works perfectly for your team.

1. Hubstaff Tasks

Hubstaff Tasks is a great alternative to Basecamp. It focuses on making Agile project management as streamlined as possible with automated daily stand-ups, automated workflows, and a suite of intuitive features.

The Kanban-style workflows are familiar for Agile teams. It’s easy to see your team’s status at a glance. You can automate different workflows for different boards so that each task is assigned to the right person at the right time.

With the sprint view, everyone on your team knows what to work on next, even if they’re juggling multiple projects that live on different boards.

Individual tasks are managed with cards. In Hubstaff Tasks, each task card can include:

• The task description
• Assignees and followers
• An optional checklist
• File attachments
• Comments with reactions
• Labels
• Due dates
• Time estimates
• A running total of time worked
• Detailed work logs

Hubstaff Tasks integrates seamlessly with Hubstaff, a top tool for time and productivity tracking. This means that you can track how much time team members are spending on tasks and projects, as well as make better project completion date estimates.

It also comes with more than 40 different project templates you can use to get started on a project quickly and easily.

These include templates for things like:

• Product development
• Employee onboarding
• IT support
• Expense tracking
• Blog management
• Facebook advertising

Each template can also be customized to fit your team’s specific needs. It’s a perfect balance between convenience and flexibility.

Key features

• Kanban-style workflows
• Sprints
• Automated stand-ups
• Project templates
• Time tracking
• Project timeline
• Roadmap

Pricing

Hubstaff Tasks offers a free plan for up to five users and ten projects. The Premium plan supports unlimited users and projects for $5 per user per month.

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2. Asana

Asana is a popular project management tool used by businesses in a wide variety of industries.

It allows users to break down projects into tasks and subtasks that can be assigned to team members. You can also add a due date for each task and use the comments feature to communicate with your team.

The Calendar feature is particularly useful for teams that need to manage shifts or juggle multiple deadlines.

You can also check the status of your highest priority projects at a glance with the Portfolio feature. It shows you the project priority and percent complete, and you can easily see whether you’re on track or falling behind.

Asana supports multiple project views and real-time, task-based chat. It comes with plenty of project templates to help you get started quickly.

Some teams find that Asana takes a little extra time to learn. If you choose to use Asana for your team, make sure that you offer training to help your employees use it effectively.

Key features

• Project boards
• Project timelines
• Workflow automation
• Forms
• Team calendar
• Project templates
• File sharing

Pricing

Asana offers a free Basic plan which has limited features and supports up to 15 users.

Paid plans include:

• Premium ($13.49/month)
• Business ($24.99/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

3. monday.com

monday.com is a cloud-based project management solution. Initially known as DaPulse, it rebranded as monday.com in 2017.

This platform strikes a good balance between flexibility and ease of use. While project management programs like Asana become more complex as you try to use more features, monday allows you to use their built-in apps to choose the right functions and features for your team.

It comes with plenty of templates to simplify project creation. If you don’t see one that works for you, it’s easy to tweak an existing workflow or set up your own.

View your projects on timeline, calendar, map, or chart view. It’s highly customizable, which means that you can set it up so that it fits your workflow perfectly.

This is a good tool for a variety of teams, especially if you have people that are a little more tech savvy.

Key features

• Project timelines
• Workflow automation
• Forms
• File sharing
• Time tracking
• Reports

Pricing

monday.com offers four plans:

• Basic ($10/user/month)
• Standard ($12/user/month)
• Pro ($20/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

There’s also a free 14-day trial you can use to test out the software and see if it’s the right fit for your needs.

4. Trello

Trello is one of the most popular Kanban-based project management tools. The free version is widely used by businesses, volunteers, and freelancers.

It’s a simple solution that works well if you don’t need all the bells and whistles. For a lot of teams, Trello is an excellent starter software.

Trello is a great option for small teams who need a quick and simple way to manage projects. It supports drag-and-drop task management with task tags, labels, categories, and checklists.

Users organize projects and tasks on boards. Each board consists of cards that represent tasks and contain all the important information needed to perform each task.

Cards can include checklists, subtasks, and file attachments.

Trello power-ups give your board additional functionality. You can use them to connect a calendar to your Trello board, set up custom fields, or add time tracking.

Key features

• Kanban boards
• File sharing
• Checklists
• Workflow automation

Pricing

Trello has a free plan that has some limitations in terms of the number of team boards you can create, as well as how many power-ups you can add to each board. It also doesn’t support all the features that the paid plans do.

Trello currently offers two paid plans:

• Business class ($12.50/user/month)
• Enterprise ($17.50/user/month for 100 users)

5. Wrike

Wrike is one of the more flexible Basecamp alternatives. They also offer Wrike for Marketers because project management software is often difficult to use for creative teams.

The dashboard is one of this software’s biggest strengths. You can customize your view to reduce the need for meetings, emails, and check-ins. It’s a source of truth for you to see where your team stands. It’s also a great way to set priorities for each team member.

Wrike is packed with features that were designed with creative teams in mind.

The document editing tool allows you to collaborate in real time. You can set up boards in multiple views to find what works best for your team. Wrike even integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud to make your creative work easier to organize.

If your team has struggled with developer-focused tools in the past, Wrike might be a good choice.

Key features

• Customizable dashboards
• Team calendars
• Multiple project views
• Approval management
• Detailed reports
• Workflow automation

Pricing

Wrike offers a free plan that’s limited to five users. Paid plans come with more features and support additional users:

• Professional ($9.80/user/month)
• Business ($24.80/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

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6. Jira

Jira is a good tool for Agile software teams.

It supports Scrum and kanban workflows and allows teams to create custom workflows using the drag-and-drop builder. You can also import ready-made workflows from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Jira is a good choice if you need to track bug tickets. In fact, the software started as a bug tracker and has since expanded into a more complete project management tool.

As a project management tool, it works best for teams that are already familiar with agile. This is not the right tool for teams who need their software to guide them through project management. However, it’s a powerful tool for software teams that need help staying organized.

You can also enhance Jira’s functionality by integrating various apps from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Key features

• Scrum & kanban boards
• Project roadmaps
• Drag-and-drop workflow builder
• Workflow automation

Pricing

Jira has a free plan that’s limited to ten users. It also offers more advanced paid plans:

• Standard ($7/user/month)
• Premium ($14/user/month)

7. ProjectManager.com

ProjectManager.com is a cloud-based tool that supports every step of project management, from project planning to completing timesheets.

It supports multiple project views so that you can visualize work in whatever way works best for you. Use tools like team calendars and real-time dashboards to keep track of projects as they progress.

You can manage your team’s workload more easily with detailed reports and other built-in resource management tools.

ProjectManager.com aims to provide a complete project management solution for teams that manage multiple projects.

Rather than using multiple tools for different jobs, you can use their built-in features to manage schedules, develop products, and keep track of all your projects in one place. It works whether you prefer waterfall, agile, or a hybrid approach.

Like most of the Basecamp alternatives in this list, ProjectManager.com allows you to integrate other apps through their API. You can also add functionality with their custom apps.

Key features

• Customizable project dashboards
• Task management
• Gantt charts
• Kanban boards
• Timesheets
• Reports

Pricing

ProjectManager.com offers three plans:

• Personal ($15/user/month)
• Team ($20/user/month)
• Business ($25/user/month)

8. ProofHub

ProofHub offers everything you expect from your project management software, plus a suite of communication tools to help your team stay connected.

Chat with coworkers within the app in real time. You can even use the Chat feature to communicate with clients.

If you need review and approvals on your projects, the proofing feature is useful. Built-in markup tools keep all of your feedback on designs and documents in one place.

Each project has its own private workspace, which contains all the files, tasks, and conversations associated with the project.

The interface is available in multiple languages, which is an advantage for global teams.

You can use ProofHub to set up recurring tasks and reminders, track time spent on tasks, and manage task dependencies. There’s also a valuable reporting feature so that you can analyze the way your team works.

Key features

• Task management
• Kanban boards
• Gantt charts
• Project notes
• Team calendar
• File sharing
• Custom user roles
• Group chat
• Timesheets
• Reports

Pricing

ProofHub offers the following plans:

• Essential ($50/month)
• Ultimate Control ($99/month)

9. Teamwork

Teamwork is a simple platform that’s designed to scale as your company grows. Start with basic project management and add features as you need tools to manage resources, communicate more effectively, and keep your team accountable.

This is an excellent tool for agencies that do client work. Your clients have unlimited access so that you can keep them in the loop. Teamwork helps you track time and manage invoices, too.

On top of basic project management, you can add more functionality to expand how you use this platform. Teamwork can help you with content collaboration. Use it as a CRM or a helpdesk.

When you’re ready for a more enterprise-level solution, Teamwork can grow with you.

Key features

• Task management
• Project templates
• Project milestones
• Chat
• Time tracking
• Gantt charts
• Calendar
• File sharing
• Reports

Pricing

Teamwork offers a free plan that’s limited to two projects and five users. It also has three paid plans which offer advanced features and support more users:

• Pro ($12.50/user/month)
• Premium ($22.50/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

10. Podio

Podio is packed with useful features and places emphasis on security and stability. It’s a good choice for teams that deal with sensitive information.

You can configure public and private workspaces, and your admin controls can be as granular as you need them. It’s easy to keep all the right people in the loop.

File management is simple, too. You can manage your files within Podio or use one of their many integrations to organize documents however it makes sense for your team.

Though Podio offers lots of built-in integrations, they understand that your team probably uses tools that they haven’t thought of yet. That’s why their API is exposed. It’s easy for your development team to connect Podio to the rest of your ecosystem.

The Podio App is available for both Apple and Android devices. This is useful for field teams and people who work from multiple locations.

Key features

• Task management
• Reports
• File sharing

Pricing

Podio has a free plan that’s limited to five users. The paid plan structure is as follows:

• Basic ($9/user/month)
• Plus ($14/user/month)
• Premium ($24/user/month)

11. Workzone

Workzone shows you where all of your projects stand so that you can prioritize your time and effort. This software aims to provide enough features to meet all of your changing needs without adding too much complexity.

The project dashboard gives you a lot of information at a glance. You can immediately see which projects are on track, which need your attention, and what you need to do to move forward.

Get more information from the reporting feature. From high level data to granular analysis, you have access to details about projects, clients, campaigns, or departments.

Workzone has some great collaboration tools, especially when it comes to file management. The file markup tools and version control help keep your team organized and on track.

The support team at Workzone treats you more like a partner than a customer. They help you onboard effectively so you’re more likely to succeed in your new project management endeavor. If you felt a little lost with Basecamp, this should be a nice change.

Key features

• Project dashboard
• To-do lists
• Gantt charts
• Project templates
• Status alerts
• Email alerts
• Time tracking
• Group calendar
• File sharing
• Version control

Pricing

Workzone offers three plans:

• Team ($24/user/month)
• Professional ($34/user/month)
• Enterprise ($43/user/month)

12. Nutcache

Nutcache helps you manage projects, prevent budget overruns, and track time.

Product owners and scrum masters will find that Nutcache built features with those roles in mind. Creative teams can choose from workflow templates and budgeting tools designed especially for creative work.

Nutcache even offers features like recurring invoices and time estimates to help freelancers grow.

No matter what kind of team you lead, you’ll appreciate the robust budgeting features that Nutcache offers. Get alerts when a project starts to overrun the budget so that you can make adjustments early. You can also track expenses and bill clients more intelligently.

The reporting tools in Nutcache were created to show different types of teams what they need to see. On top of your standard analytics, you’ll find burndown charts, flow diagrams, and velocity charts to suit your style of project management.

Key features

• Task management
• Project budgeting
• Time tracking
• Timesheets
• Invoicing

Pricing

Nutcache offers a free plan that’s limited to 20 users. There are also two paid plans that include unlimited users and advanced features:

• Pro ($8/user/month)
• Enterprise ($16/user/month)

13. Nifty

Nifty focuses on remote teams, but it works well for co-located companies, too. After all — the key to managing a remote team is having great communication, and that’s good for everyone.

If you’re already using Basecamp, Nifty offers a free import to easily move your projects over.

For client work, the automated progress report feature is a huge timesaver. You control what your clients can and can’t see, and if you forget to reach out, Nifty keeps them in the loop.

Nifty is just as powerful for teams that don’t do client work. Task management is as intuitive as you’d expect with a few extra features.

Custom fields allow you to change the information you display on task cards. If you’ve ever felt like you can’t quite make generic task tracking software work for you, this is especially nice.

Instead of checklists, Nifty uses subtasks. This allows you to break work into smaller chunks for more granular management.

This is a flexible Basecamp alternative that’s still easy to share with your team.

Key features

• Task management
• Time tracking
• Project milestones
• File sharing
• Reports

Pricing

Nifty offers the following plans:

• Starter ($49/month)
• Pro ($99/month)
• Business ($149/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

14. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-based tool, which makes it a great option for all the Excel nerds out there.

Just because you’re a spreadsheet enthusiast, that doesn’t mean everyone on your team thinks in cells. That’s why Smartsheet also displays project information in card views, Gantt charts, and multiple dashboard configurations.

This might be a good choice for teams that want a more complete ecosystem. However, it is more complex than a lot of the task management tools listed here.

Smartsheet is more appropriate for larger businesses where complexity is just part of life. Make sure you have the resources to train your team and onboard correctly so that you can get the full value from this feature-packed platform.

Key features

• Project management
• Task reminders
• Custom dashboards
• Team calendar
• Gantt charts
• Messaging
• File sharing

Pricing

Smartsheet offers two types of plans:

Standard

• Individual ($14/per month)
• Business ($25/user/month)

Enterprise

• Enterprise (custom pricing)
• Premier (custom pricing)

15. Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is one of the apps in the Zoho cloud software suite. The full collection handles everything from email to HR.

If you already use any of the Zoho apps, adding Projects might be a wise choice. There are always advantages when you stay within a familiar ecosystem.

People who process information visually will appreciate the drag-and-drop workflow builder. You can even set up task automations and easily visualize how those automations fit within your process.

Zoho Projects is far more flexible than Basecamp. You can customize statuses, fields, layouts, workflows, and even the landing page your team sees when they open the app.

Obviously, you can easily integrate with other Zoho apps. If you’re not in the ecosystem, though, that’s not a handicap. There are plenty of existing integrations with popular software so that your task management plays nicely with other business tools.

Key features

• Task management
• Kanban boards
• Task dependencies
• Project forums
• Task chat
• Gantt charts
• Timesheets
• Invoicing
• Reports

Pricing

Zoho Projects offers a free plan that’s limited to three users and two projects. Paid plans include:

• Standard ($3.50/user/month)
• Express ($4.68/user/month)
• Premium ($5.85/user/month)
• Enterprise ($7/user/month)

16. Hive

Hive calls itself a Productivity Platform. It focuses on efficiency and ease of use. You get an intuitive project management platform with excellent analytics so that you can make informed business decisions.

Your team can choose how they view their projects.

Some people might prefer a calendar view, while others have an easier time understanding Kanban boards or Gantt charts. There are 6 different ways to see your projects at a glance.

The proofing and approvals feature is excellent. You can share proofs, assign people for approvals, and leave feedback without needing an additional tool. It even works on mobile.

Hive’s direct messaging feature allows team members to communicate within the app more easily. There’s a built-in inbox and a chat feature to keep messages organized and easy to find.

Key features

• Multiple project views
• Project templates
• Proofing and approvals
• Workflow automation
• Team chat and direct messaging

Pricing

Hive offers two plans:

• Base package ($16/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

Which of these Basecamp alternatives is the right fit for you?

Most of these tools offer free trials. Narrow it down and try something out, then leave a comment here to help someone else make the right choice.

Have you tried any of the solutions on our list? Do you have any recommendations for other tools we should include?

Let us know in the comments.