Basecamp vs OpenProject

What Basecamp is

Basecamp organises projects around message boards, to-dos, schedules and chat, with a flat-fee pricing option instead of per-seat billing. The flat fee is the point: cost stops tracking headcount, which changes the maths for larger teams. In return you accept its opinionated structure, since there are no custom workflows, boards or automation rules to bend it into another shape.

What OpenProject is

OpenProject is open-source project management with a free Community edition you can self-host, and paid Enterprise tiers that add feature add-ons and, crucially, a support level with published service hours. The detail that decides the real cost is not the per-user price but the minimum user count attached to each tier: the cheapest paid plan bills for at least twenty-five users whatever the size of your team, so a six-person group pays the same as a twenty-five-person one. Support hours widen tier by tier, and the Corporate tier adds a named engineer and onboarding.

What Basecamp is built to do

Project-scoped tools

Gives each project its own to-dos, message board, docs and schedule.

Flat-fee option

Offers a plan priced per company rather than per seat.

Hill charts

Reports progress by where work sits between unknown and done.

What OpenProject is built to do

Community edition

Full open-source project management, self-hosted, free and with no user minimum.

Enterprise add-ons

Tiered feature add-ons layered on the Community base.

Published support levels

Email, phone, remote hands and a dedicated engineer by tier, with stated hours.

Choose Basecamp if

• Teams that hate per-seat billing — every paid tier is a flat price with no per-user fee
• Small projects that fit the free plan: 1 project, 1 GB, up to 5 users
• Growing teams: Studio and above include unlimited users at no extra cost

Skip Basecamp if

• You need more than one project without paying — the free plan allows exactly one
• You want a cheap per-seat entry for two people; flat pricing starts at $25/mo regardless of headcount
• You need deep agile tooling; Basecamp is deliberately simple

Choose OpenProject if

• Small teams and self-hosters: the Community edition is free with no user minimum at all
• Organisations of 25 or more needing a support contract — Basic is €5.95 per user per month with email support
• Teams needing phone support, which begins on Professional at €10.95 per user per month
• Construction teams, since the BIM module is a published add-on at +€1.00 per user

Skip OpenProject if

• Your team is under 25 people: the cheapest paid tier still bills a 25-user minimum
• You need installation and upgrade assistance, which starts on Premium with a 100 user minimum
• You want support outside European business hours; every tier publishes Mon-Fri CET windows
• You need openDesk or Nextcloud Hub single sign-on, which are Corporate with a 250 user minimum and a quote

Basecamp: pros & cons

• Flat pricing regardless of headcount
• Deliberately simple and calm
• Good for client-facing project work
• Too simple for complex dependencies
• No native Gantt or resource planning
• Opinionated structure resists customisation

OpenProject: pros & cons

• Community edition is free with no minimum users
• Support hours and channels are published per tier
• Self-hosted and cloud both offered, with 14-day trials
• Paid tiers carry 25, 100 and 250 user minimums
• Per-user price billed in increments of five users
• Corporate tier is quote-only