Basecamp vs Smartsheet comparison

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Basecamp

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Basecamp and Smartsheet compete in project management. Smartsheet has the upper hand due to its comprehensive features, which provide greater flexibility and automation for complex projects.

Features: Basecamp supports team communication with message boards, to-dos, and scheduling. Smartsheet includes project tracking, automation, data integration, and workflow customization, giving it an edge in handling diverse project needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Basecamp offers quick deployment and efficient customer service, focusing on simplicity. Smartsheet, though more complex to deploy due to its features, provides detailed support and resources, guiding users in managing intricate projects effectively.

Pricing and ROI: Basecamp's flat pricing is cost-effective and predictable. Smartsheet's tiered pricing can increase costs but matches its capabilities, offering a high ROI due to its advanced features, benefiting organizations needing sophisticated solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Basecamp vs. Smartsheet Report (Updated: December 2025).

Basecamp vs. Smartsheet

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Helped 879,455 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Basecamp

Ranking in Project Management Software

27th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Smartsheet

Ranking in Project Management Software

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Project Portfolio Management (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Basecamp is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 2.2%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Project Management Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Smartsheet	2.2%
Basecamp	1.1%
Other	96.7%

Project Management Software

Featured Reviews

Abenazzer Tadesse

Chief Operations Officer at BeOnline ICT

An easy-to-use project management solution with good stability and scalability

The recent update on the solution has made it a little bit complex. For example, to create a team and a project, there is a separate button that you need to click. Recently they updated it with only one button making it difficult for us to create teams or supply teams other than a project. Hence the solution could be more user-friendly. Additionally, some additional features need to be integrated so it'll be easy for other companies or project managers to manage software projects.

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DonatasSinkevicius

Project Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Automation simplifies manual tasks and facilitates team communication

There are many useful features in Smartsheet. One can easily share plans with the entire team, and it functions similarly to Microsoft Project. Creating dependencies across all tasks is smooth, and team members can make adjustments if necessary. Automation helps by simplifying some manual work, saving time and facilitating communication.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The ease of use is valuable."

"The ability to network informally is great for communicating with colleagues."

"The most valuable feature of Smartsheet is it can be highly customized."

"The tool creates shareable dashboards. These dashboards allow us to display project deliverables' status, their position in the queue, expected delivery timelines, and more. The best part is that these dashboards can be shared with our clients without a license."

"The dashboard feature is the most valuable aspect of the solution."

"It's stable and simple to use."

"The product is easy to use."

"Smartsheet is a really good tool for collaboration."

"It is a stable and scalable solution."

"What I found most valuable in Smartsheet is its project customization feature. It's a great solution because you can add in your own WBS. You can see it in Jira style, Kanban, and you can even do Agile and Waterfall. Another feature that's valuable in the solution is when you have those connections, you have that API, you have a sandbox, and you can make a solution, it's a tremendous product because you can pull data."

More Smartsheet pros

Cons

"The solution could be more user-friendly."

"The product isn't easy to use. It's not very intuitive."

"There isn't much automation at this time."

"Areas for improvement in Smartsheet include better integration capabilities with other technologies through APIs and addressing limitations in reporting functionalities."

"There are some pain points for me. Other people use it a little differently, but I would like to be able to do a little more with it. I would like database functionality with it wherein if I bring in several Excel spreadsheets of data and load them into Smartsheets, I should be able to make a correlation between an index field and run a report against those two. I can do it, but it's a little clunky. So, I need a little more experience to feel comfortable doing that."

"With a large quantity of data, the solution lags a bit."

"The solution should include integrations with other platforms or software."

"If there was some way to store more complex files in the system, or if there was a back-end structure where you could store files, that would be ideal."

"The system can become more challenging to use in more complex scenarios, requiring additional add-ons that can be quite costly."

"The only reason we migrated to another application was the full integration available in other solutions. We never used the integration capabilities of Smartsheet."

More Smartsheet cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Smartsheet only requires licenses for project managers. When we were using Asana, we had to purchase a license for everyone who wanted to access their tasks and use the system. That gets costly fast. It was one of the main reasons we left Asana. As Asana and these other tools scale, they become way more expensive."

"There's a license for Smartsheet, and the enterprise plan comes down to about $750. My company also pays an extra $60 monthly apart from the standard licensing fee."

"I pay $ 120 or $ 128 a month for two to three users."

"There's a trial version and a free version. Each license costs a decent amount, $25 per month or something."

"Smartsheet can be low-priced, with personal subscriptions around eight dollars a month, but I imagine it gets pricier for enterprise systems. Microsoft Project can be more expensive."

"I believe a licensed user costs between 300 to 400 euros."

"It is less expensive than Microsoft Project for enterprise or Oracle Primavera by an order of magnitude. If you buy a Microsoft Project license, it's probably $300 or so by itself, whereas Smartsheet is probably less than $50 per head."

"Smartsheet has many licensing models. You need to add the package that best suits your requirements. The license is paid per user and it is monthly. The cost was approximately $7 per PC, $15 for professional, and $33 for the enterprise plan."

More Smartsheet pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

16%

Healthcare Company

10%

Government

10%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	22

Questions from the Community

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Has anyone moved from Microsoft Project to Smartsheet? How has your experience been with Smartsheet?

Hi @Eire Zimmermann, I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting their PM tool RFP. The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the mo...

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What do you like most about Smartsheet?

The tool creates shareable dashboards. These dashboards allow us to display project deliverables' status, their position in the queue, expected delivery timelines, and more. The best part is that t...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Smartsheet?

Licensing might be cheaper per user. I rate it as seven or eight due to its demanding nature. For personal use, I have a monthly subscription, while the company uses an annual basis.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Project Management Software

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Download Smartsheet product report

Overview

Basecamp is a web-based project-management tool developed by Basecamp and launched in 2004, with a new version being launched in 2012. Basecamp offers to-do lists, wiki-style web-based text documents, milestone management, file sharing, time tracking, and a messaging system. Basecamp Classic also offers integration with Basecamp's own Campfire product, and features APIs that are used by a host of web and mobile apps. Basecamp Classic's interface is available in different languages (e.g. Spanish, French, Italian, German, Finnish and Japanese). The newer version of Basecamp currently only supports English as the interface language.

37signals

Smartsheet offers a comprehensive platform for project management, featuring real-time sharing, cloud accessibility, and a user-friendly interface, which enhance workflow efficiency and project tracking capabilities.

Smartsheet stands out in the realm of project management by integrating robust tools like Gantt chart creation and seamless compatibility with products like Jira and Microsoft Teams. Its dashboards, intuitive design, and flexible customization options support efficient collaboration and centralized management. Enhancements such as real-time change visibility without refreshing, advanced automation capabilities, and improved integration with APIs address user needs. Sectors spanning from strategic initiatives to operational tasks benefit from this customizable, cloud-based platform.

What are the key features of Smartsheet?

Real-Time Sharing: Facilitates immediate collaboration across teams.
Cloud Accessibility: Work from anywhere with cloud-based tools.
User-Friendliness: Simplified project management through an intuitive interface.
Gantt Chart Creation: Offers dynamic timelines for project tracking.
Integrations: Seamless connectivity with Jira, Microsoft Teams, and more.

What benefits or ROI does Smartsheet provide?

Enhanced Efficiency: Streamline workflows for quicker project completion.
Improved Collaboration: Centralized tools support teamwork and communication.
Project Tracking: Real-time updates keep projects on schedule.
Customizable Solutions: Adaptable to meet diverse management needs.

In specific industries, Smartsheet is leveraged for creating project plans, managing tasks, and compiling statistics. Teams use dashboards for data visualization to monitor multiple projects efficiently. The platform supports resource management, approvals, and collaboration, integrating features like automation and data export for comprehensive project oversight.

Sample Customers

Ashland Addison Florist Co., Victory Auto Wreckers, Ideal Box Co., Hollymatic Corp.

Sony Music, ESPN, Hilton, Unisource, Colliers, Extreme Networks, Groupon, Netflix

Basecamp vs. Smartsheet