Basecamp vs Mattermost
Basecamp and Mattermost are both team communication tools. Basecamp is aimed at small businesses and agencies, while Mattermost is aimed at enterprise and developers. Both have a free plan.
Opinionated, calm project management
Self-hosted secure collaboration
| Pricing | Freemium · $25 | Open source |
| Starting price | $25/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | — |
| Built for | Small businesses, Agencies | Enterprise, Developers |
| Platforms | web, ios, android, macos, windows | web, macos, windows, linux, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2004 | US · 2015 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Basecamp if
Agencies and remote companies that value calm communication over detailed planning, especially at 30+ users on a flat plan.
- Simple, consistent structure every project shares
- Flat pricing with unlimited users from the Studio plan up
- Promotes async, written communication
Look elsewhere if: Teams needing dependencies, resource planning or engineering workflows.
Choose Mattermost if
Organizations needing self-hosted secure chat.
- Full control and security
- Open source
- DevOps-focused
Look elsewhere if: Teams wanting Slack's ecosystem.
Basecamp vs Mattermost pricing
Basecamp
- Free$01 project, 1 GB storage, up to 5 users
- Freelancer$25/mo3 active projects, 5 GB storage, up to 20 users
- Studio$59/mo10 active projects, 25 GB storage, unlimited users
- Pro$99/mo25 active projects, 100 GB storage, unlimited users
- Unlimited$299/moBilled annually; unlimited projects and users, 45-day trial
Mattermost
- Free$0Self-hosted, community support
- ProfessionalCustomAnnual seat licenses; SSO, access controls
- EnterpriseCustomCompliance, HA, 24x7 support
- Enterprise AdvancedCustomAir-gapped, Zero Trust, classified controls
Basecamp · Key features
- Message boards, to-dos, schedules, docs and files per project
- Campfire real-time chat and Pings for DMs
- Automatic check-ins (recurring questions)
- Hill Charts and Lineup for progress and timelines
- Card Table kanban and Timesheets
- Client access with 'Clientside' visibility controls
Cons
- No Gantt, dependencies or custom fields
- Limited integrations; relies on Zapier
- Active-project caps on lower plans force upgrades
Mattermost · Key features
- Self-hosted team chat
- Playbooks for incidents
- Boards
- DevOps integrations
- Compliance and security
- Air-gapped deployment
Cons
- UX behind Slack
- Self-hosting effort
- Smaller app ecosystem
Basecamp vs Mattermost: FAQ
Do Basecamp and Mattermost have a free plan?
Yes, both Basecamp and Mattermost have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.
Which is better for small businesses, Basecamp or Mattermost?
Basecamp lists small businesses as a core audience, while Mattermost is aimed more at enterprise and developers.