Asana vs Basecamp

Asana

• Teams coordinating projects across several departments
• Organizations that tie project work to company goals
• Nonprofits and schools that qualify for the 50% discount

Basecamp

• Agencies and studios that bring clients into projects
• Teams that prefer a flat monthly fee to per-user pricing
• Companies replacing separate chat, file and task tools

Asana

• The free Personal plan is limited to 2 users; timeline and Gantt views, forms and custom fields start on Starter.
• Seats are sold in fixed steps: one at a time from 2 to 5 users, then blocks of 5 up to 30 and blocks of 10 up to 100.
• Portfolios, goals, approvals and built-in time tracking need the Advanced plan at $24.99 per user / month.
• The download page lists Mac, Windows, iOS and Android apps but no Linux app.

Basecamp

• Paid plans are limited by active projects: 3 on Freelancer, 10 on Studio and 25 on Pro.
• The Free plan covers a single project with 1 GB of storage and 5 users.
• Every person added counts as a user, clients included, and Freelancer is capped at 20 users.
• Unlimited Edition is billed annually only, and a paid plan cannot be downgraded to the Free plan.

Asana

Project views

Show a project as a list, board, calendar, timeline or Gantt chart. Timeline and Gantt views start on the Starter plan.

Rules and forms

Rules automate routine steps and forms turn incoming requests into tasks. Both start on Starter; form branching needs Advanced.

Goals and portfolios

Goals link projects and tasks to company-level objectives, and portfolios track groups of related projects in one place. Both are part of the Advanced plan.

Workload and resource management

Shows how much work each person has so tasks can be rebalanced. Capacity planning across the organization is an Enterprise feature.

Reporting dashboards

Charts built from live project data to show the state of a team's work, included from the Starter plan.

AI Teammates and AI Studio

AI Studio builds AI-driven workflows from a monthly credit pool: 50K credits on Starter, 75K on Advanced and 200K on Enterprise. Extra AI requests are billed per request.

Basecamp

Message Board

Announcements and discussions are kept as posts inside each project, intended as a replacement for internal email.

To-dos and Card Tables

To-do lists support assignees, due dates, attachments and subtasks. Card Tables are Basecamp's version of kanban boards.

Campfire chat

Group chat is built into Basecamp, so a team does not need a separate chat app alongside its projects.

Schedule and Lineup

A per-project calendar holds deadlines, milestones and events, and the Lineup plots every project on a timeline by start and end date.

Hill Charts and Automatic Check-ins

Hill Charts show where a piece of work stands, and Automatic Check-ins ask the team recurring questions on a set schedule.

Client mode

Clients can be brought into a project, with control over what they can and cannot see, project by project.

Asana

• Personal$0

  For one or two people: unlimited tasks and projects, list, board and calendar views, and 100+ integrations.

• Starter$10.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly)

  No seat limit. Adds timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards, forms, custom fields, automations and free guests.

• Advanced$24.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($30.49 billed monthly)

  Adds portfolios, goals, resource management, approvals and proofing, time tracking and form branching.

• EnterpriseCustom

  SAML authentication, SCIM provisioning, capacity planning and service accounts. An Enterprise+ tier adds further compliance controls.

Basecamp

• Free$0

  One project for personal use, 1 GB of storage and up to 5 users.

• Freelancer$25

  per month, flat rate

  Up to 3 active projects, 5 GB of storage and up to 20 users, with no per-user fees.

• Studio$59

  per month, flat rate

  Up to 10 active projects, 25 GB of storage and unlimited users.

• Pro$99

  per month, flat rate

  Up to 25 active projects, 100 GB of storage and unlimited users.

• Unlimited Edition$299

  per month, billed annually

  Unlimited projects and users, 1,000 GB of storage, priority support and personalized onboarding.

Asana

• Annual discount

  Save up to 18% with annual billing

  Asana's pricing page lists Starter at $10.99 per user / month billed annually against $13.49 monthly, and Advanced at $24.99 against $30.49.

• Nonprofit

  50% off for eligible nonprofits

  Qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofits, public libraries and international equivalents can apply for 50% off a Starter or Advanced annual plan.

• Education

  50% off for education customers

  Approved schools and universities get 50% off paid plans after an eligibility check. The page still names the older Premium and Business plans.

Basecamp

• Nonprofit

  10% off for registered nonprofits

  Basecamp's pricing FAQ gives registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits 10% off after verification.

• Education

  Free for classroom use

  Basecamp is free for K-12 schools, homeschoolers and universities as long as it is used for class work only.