Basecamp vs Plane
Basecamp and Plane are both project management tools. Basecamp is aimed at small businesses and agencies, while Plane is aimed at developers and small businesses. Plane costs less, from $8/mo versus $25/mo for Basecamp. Both have a free plan.
| Pricing | Freemium · $25 | Open source · $8 |
| Starting price | $25/mo | $8/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | 14 days |
| Built for | Small businesses, Agencies | Developers, Small businesses |
| Platforms | web, ios, android, macos, windows | web |
| Country | US · 2004 | US · 2022 |
| 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 Plane if
Engineering and product teams that want Linear-like workflows with open source and lower cost.
- Open source with a real self-host path
- Cheaper than Linear and Jira per seat
- Flexible views without Jira's complexity
Look elsewhere if: Teams needing enterprise reporting and ecosystem today (Jira) or maximum polish (Linear).
Basecamp vs Plane 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
Plane
- Community (self-hosted)$0AGPL, self-hosted
- Free (Cloud)$0Up to 12 users
- Pro$8/seat/mo$6/seat/mo billed annually; 500 AI credits/seat
- Business$15/seat/mo$13/seat/mo billed annually; 1,000 AI credits/seat
- Enterprise GridCustomPrivate and managed deployments, granular access
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
Plane · Key features
- Issues, cycles, modules and multi-layout views
- Pages for docs and Intake for triaging requests
- Self-hosting with Docker; AGPL community edition
- Importers from Jira, Linear, Asana and GitHub
- Custom workflows, time tracking and Plane AI (Pro)
- API, webhooks and Slack/GitHub integrations
Cons
- Less polished than Linear
- Smaller integration ecosystem
- Self-hosting needs maintenance
Basecamp vs Plane: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Basecamp or Plane?
Plane starts at $8/mo and Basecamp at $25/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Basecamp and Plane have a free plan?
Yes, both Basecamp and Plane have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.