Basecamp vs Smartsheet comparison

Read 43 Smartsheet reviews

2,749 Views
1,842 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Basecamp

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

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: March 2026).

Basecamp vs. Smartsheet

Download the complete report

Helped 885,311 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

26th

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 (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Basecamp is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 2.3%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Project Management Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Smartsheet	2.3%
Basecamp	1.3%
Other	96.4%

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.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"The app functionality and ease of seeing the different functionalities parsed equally on the screen with consistent menu access to shift between areas."

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

"The ease of use is valuable."

"The most valuable features of Smartsheet are its collaboration tools, the ability to centralize and prioritize projects, and robust reporting capabilities."

"We like Smartsheet's workflows, automation, and low-code capabilities. I don't know of any other project management tool with low-code functionality designed for project managers."

"The solution is scalable."

"I would highly recommend this tool; it's sophisticated and uses the fundamentals of an Excel spreadsheet to coordinate things, with advanced features that include notifications, communication, attachments, and other features."

"The ability to build a quick dashboard and give management insight into the progress of the project itself is probably one of the most beneficial pieces."

"Smartsheet does a really good job of creating Gantt charts. Export to Excel feature was also very useful."

"Smartsheet is stable."

"Smartsheet is easy to use."

More Smartsheet pros

Cons

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

"Formalized area to store contact information indexed in a way that can pre-populate other areas would be helpful."

"The solution could be more user-friendly."

"Smartsheet's customer service definitely needs to be improved. They create a ticket, and then it disappears."

"The downside of Smartsheet is that there are some security concerns. We were able to restrict people from sharing sheets with anyone who was not in our domain, but it could be easier. We also found it hard to restrict certain user groups from adding attachments to sheets."

"Smartsheet could improve by having seamless integration with Azure Board."

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

"I think it's a little chintzy on what you get for that kind of money and any individual using it would want more than 10 sheets."

"They provide a limited number of sheets which is not enough."

"There are some pain points for me. 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."

"It already has a really powerful Export to Excel feature, but it can have an Excel add-on. The way to set up single sign-on wasn't too easy in the beginning, and it was hard to get hold of customer service. They should make it easier to set up SSO. Smartsheet's customer service also definitely needs to be improved."

More Smartsheet cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

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

"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."

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

"The solution is too expensive."

"The tool's monthly fee is 25 dollars, which is within the range of most cloud-based project management tools. I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."

"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."

"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. I was responsible for negotiating the price with the Smartsheet team, but I don't remember what the price was. Its standard license probably was around 5,000 to 6,000 a year. The enterprise version is significantly more expensive."

More Smartsheet pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Project Management Software solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

Healthcare Company

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

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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

Comparisons

Jira vs Basecamp

Compared 9% of the time

monday.com vs Basecamp

Compared 6% of the time

TeamWave vs Basecamp

Compared 6% of the time

Planview ProjectPlace vs Basecamp

Compared 6% of the time

Planview Portfolios vs Basecamp

Compared 5% of the time

More Basecamp Competitors

monday.com vs Smartsheet

Compared 10% of the time

ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management vs Smartsheet

Compared 7% of the time

Wrike vs Smartsheet

Compared 7% of the time

Jira vs Smartsheet

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Project vs Smartsheet

Compared 5% of the time

More Smartsheet Competitors

Product Reports

Project Management Software

Download Basecamp product report

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