# Basecamp

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Basecamp and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for one price at any company size and for being bootstrapped and profitable. Critics often call its design poor and its mobile apps weak.

## Why people recommend it

- Fair flat price, worth the time (2 comments): "Do what Basecamp does. They have one price for any size of customer and more importantly do not let any one customer, no matter how big, pay more" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721020)) "The problem has been solved and the $15/mo. is well worth the time I will save" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461281))
- Bootstrapped, profitable, successful business (2 comments): "One of the things I admire most about Basecamp is that they are a bootstrapped, profitable business." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49835895)) "every once in a while, there's a huge success … like Rails, Basecamp, Hey" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48258722))

## What people warn about

- Poorly designed, weak search and apps (2 comments): "Basic features like search barely work, the iOS and Android apps are embarrassingly bad" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49448221)) "I'm forced to use Basecamp, and I find it an unpleasant, poorly designed tool." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49559060))
- Losing mindshare, getting worse (2 comments): "They have been losing relative mindshare and possibly marketshare more recently." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45866954)) "nothing from their sides has changed, and it's worse than before" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49100333))
- Criticism of founders' work and posts (2 comments): "I've never been particularly impressed by anything he's built, from Basecamp to HEY" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49431392)) "I don't understand why anyone still works at Basecamp with posts like this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49073545))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [OpenProject](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openproject.md): 7 recommend
- [ClickUp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clickup.md): 7 recommend
- [Asana](https://hackerapproved.com/p/asana.md): 6 recommend
- [Pivotal Tracker](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pivotal-tracker.md): 5 recommend
- [Plane](https://hackerapproved.com/p/plane.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://basecamp.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Basecamp", https://hackerapproved.com/p/basecamp/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).