Can I migrate from Basecamp?

Yes. Easylim imports to-do lists, messages and files from Basecamp.

Is there anything like Hill Charts?

The Easylim equivalent is progress dashboards plus the Gantt chart. They show project progress, not just individual hill positions.

For small teams the flat fee can be cheaper. But once you need Gantt, time tracking or forms you'll buy extra tools — Easylim ends up simpler and cheaper overall.

Can I move client-side users?

Yes. Easylim has public links and forms that replace Basecamp's "client side" workflows.

Are there integrations?

Yes. Easylim integrates with Slack, Google, Zapier, GitHub and more. Basecamp has noticeably fewer.

Back to comparisons

Comparison

Easylim vs Basecamp

Basecamp is a "less is more" philosophy — but sometimes it's too little. No Gantt, no time tracking, no forms, no dashboards, no custom fields. Easylim stays simple while giving you the full toolkit.

Switch to Easylim See pricing

TL;DR: when Easylim beats Basecamp

Basecamp works for small teams running simple projects who hate configuration. The moment you need Gantt, time tracking, forms or dashboards — Basecamp can't help.

You need a Gantt and project timeline
You need time tracking with estimates
You want forms that create tasks
You need custom fields and statuses

Feature, free-plan and starting-price comparison table.

What you get in each tool

Best choiceEasylim

Basecamp

Views

Kanban board

Yes

Task list

Yes

Calendar

Yes

Gantt chart

Yes

Daily planner

Yes

Dashboards

Yes

Working with tasks

Subtasks

Yes

Task dependencies

Yes

Time tracking

Yes

Add-on

Custom fields

Yes

Custom statuses

Yes

Recurring tasks

Yes

Knowledge & docs

Documents

Yes

Wiki / Knowledge base

Yes

Whiteboard

Yes

Screen recording

Yes

AI assistant

Yes

Collaboration & integrations

Forms → tasks

Yes

Public link sharing

Yes

Automations & rules

Yes

Project templates

Yes

Integrations & API

Yes

Six reasons we hear most often from teams that switched.

Why teams move to Easylim

Real work views

Basecamp is limited to lists and a card table. Easylim ships kanban, list, calendar, Gantt and a daily planner — one for each kind of process.

Time tracking in the box

In Basecamp time tracking is a separate Timesheet add-on — $50/mo on top of Plus. Easylim has native time tracking with estimates and reports, no extras.

Forms → tasks

Basecamp has no built-in forms. Easylim Forms turn external requests into tasks in the right project.

Custom fields, statuses, dependencies

Basecamp deliberately has no custom fields, statuses or dependencies. Easylim lets you configure everything to match your team's process.

Real Gantt

Basecamp deliberately has no Gantt or timeline. Easylim ships Gantt, dependencies and a daily planner for real project planning.

Subtasks that work like tasks

Basecamp is stuck with lists-in-lists. Easylim has real subtasks with assignees, deadlines and their own history.

Deep dive

Easylim vs Basecamp — when flat $99 wins and when it just lacks features

5 chapters

Basecamp is Jason Fried's specific philosophy: fewer features = better outcomes, flat pricing = fair to big teams. This is the no-snark version: where that philosophy genuinely works, where it stops landing in 2025, what Easylim does differently, and when you really shouldn't migrate off Basecamp at all. It's not a contest — Basecamp and Easylim aim at different ends of the market.

Розділ

What Basecamp actually is — philosophy, not features

Basecamp is a project as a fixed set of 6 sections: Message Board, To-dos, Schedule, Docs & Files, Campfire (group chat), Card Table. That's the whole product. No custom fields, no statuses, no Gantt, no time tracking. That's not a missing feature list — it's 37signals' deliberate stance.

The philosophy: "we don't want you spending hours configuring the tool". Basecamp made the structural decisions for you, and your job is to fit your work into that mold. If your processes align — you're comfortable on day one. If they don't — you'll fight the tool forever.

The big strength is flat-fee $99/month for unlimited users and projects (Pro Unlimited). For a 50-person team that's $2/user — the cheapest PM tool on the market. For a 5-person team it's $20/user — one of the most expensive.

Basecamp = opinionated tool: you don't choose the model, it's chosen for you.
Economics are inverted: the more people you have, the cheaper per head.
No Gantt, no custom statuses, no time tracker, no dashboards — by design.

basecamp · project

Message Board

• Q3 launch — status
• Retro date vote

To-dos

• Configure domain
• Prepare slides
• Align branding

Docs & Files

—

Schedule

—

$99 / month · unlimited users

Розділ

Where Basecamp wins — not for everyone, but for its crowd, hard

Flat $99 for big teams — best economics on the market, period. 50-person team in Easylim: $350/month. Asana: $550. monday: $950. Basecamp Pro Unlimited: $99. That's a 5–10× difference for agencies that genuinely have 50+ people. Not marketing — that's honest math.

Opinionated model. The team doesn't argue "where do we keep docs" or "which view do we use". Basecamp says: docs go in Docs & Files, conversations in Message Board, tasks in To-dos. That reduces cognitive load — especially for teams previously drowning in Slack chaos.

Hill Charts. A unique visual where you position a task on a hill: "going up" = still figuring it out, "coming down" = executing. That metric is different from % complete and it captures discovery-phase uncertainty better. No competitor ships anything like it.

50+ team → flat $99 is unbeatably cheap.
Fewer choices = less anxiety, especially in non-technical teams.
Hill Charts honestly capture discovery — not just percent done.

where basecamp wins

Flat $99 for unlimited users
Zero configuration decisions to make
Built-in chat (Campfire) + message board
Hill Charts — uniquely useful progress visual
"Less is more" philosophy genuinely reduces anxiety

Розділ

Where Basecamp is missing things — specific gaps, not taste

No real kanban. Card Table is the closest thing, but it's a fixed 3-column layout (Not started / In progress / Done) with no drag-and-drop between columns and no custom statuses. If your team is used to Trello or Jira, the switch is jarring.

No Gantt. Schedule shows deadlines on a calendar but doesn't show task duration, dependencies or critical path. For deadline-driven project management, that's a structural gap.

Time tracking is a separate product. 37signals' Timesheet is $50/month on top of Basecamp. For a 50-person team that's a cent per person, fine. For a 5-person team it's +$10/user, which destroys the "cheap PM" economics.

Dated UI and weak search. Basecamp visually looks like 2015. Search inside a project is basic — finding one comment in 200+ message threads is painful.

Kanban = fixed Card Table, not real kanban.
No Gantt — philosophical stance, not an oversight.
Timesheet at $50/month breaks economics for small teams.

where basecamp is missing things

No real kanban80%
No Gantt or timeline95%
No time tracking (Timesheet is $50 extra)75%
No custom fields or statuses70%
Dated UI, weak search60%

Розділ

What Easylim does differently

We don't try to beat Basecamp on flat-fee at 100-person teams — Basecamp is unbeatable there. We play in the 5–30 person band where flat $99 is actually expensive and Basecamp's feature set is too thin.

Economics for a 12-person team. Basecamp Pro Unlimited: $99/month. Easylim Business: 12 × $7 = $84/month. Near-parity on price, but Easylim gives you kanban, Gantt, dashboards, time tracker, docs and AI — all in. Basecamp at that budget gives you message board, to-dos and a 2015 UI.

Structure. Easylim provides structure too (project → task → comment), but doesn't force it as the only way. Want kanban — done. Want Gantt — done. Want list — done. Same task set, multiple lenses.

5–30 person team: price parity with Basecamp, 3× the features.
Kanban, Gantt, dashboard — equal views, not a forced shape.
AI and time tracker in the plan — no add-ons.

basecamp vs easylim · 12-person team

Basecamp Pro UnlimitedEasylim BusinessMonthly cost$99$84Kanbancard✓Gantt–✓Time tracker+$50✓Dashboardsbasic✓AI–✓

Basecamp Pro Unlimited$99 (+$50 Timesheet)

Easylim Business$84 (12 × $7)

Розділ

When you should stay on Basecamp

If you're an agency or consulting firm with 50+ people where flat $99/month saves you $300–800/month vs alternatives — stay. That's not our economic model, and we won't argue you should overpay for features your team doesn't need.

Stay if: (1) team is reliably 50+, (2) you philosophically accept Basecamp's model (no kanban, no Gantt), (3) you genuinely don't need a time tracker (internal team, not a client-billing agency), (4) Hill Charts are useful to you and you've built discovery around them.

Switch when: (1) you're a 5–30 person team, (2) you need kanban + Gantt + dashboard, (3) you want a time tracker without the +$50/month, (4) Basecamp's dated UI is actively turning your team off the tool.

50+ people with simple processes → flat $99 is unbeatable.
5–30 people needing kanban/Gantt → Easylim is the honest fit.
Import from Basecamp brings To-dos, messages and files.

stay or switch?

Stay on Basecamp if:

Team is 50+ — flat $99 wins
"Less is more" philosophy works for you
Don't need kanban, Gantt or time tracker
Hill Charts are part of your process

Switch to Easylim if:

Team is under 30 people
You want kanban, Gantt, dashboards
You need a time tracker in-plan
Basecamp's dated UI bothers the team

Quick takeaways

1Basecamp = "less is more" philosophy + flat $99 for unlimited users.
2Economics flip at 30+ people: cheapest for big teams, expensive for small ones.
3Easylim Business wins the 5–30 band: $84 for 12 people vs $99 + $50 Timesheet.
4No kanban, no Gantt, no time tracker — by design. If you need them, Basecamp isn't for you.

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