The short answer
Basecamp now charges one flat price per account, tiered by active project count, with no per-user fees on any plan. The paid ladder: Freelancer at $25/month (up to 3 active projects), Studio at $59/month (up to 10), Pro at $99/month (up to 25), and Unlimited at $299/month for unlimited projects, billed annually only. A free plan covers 1 project for up to 5 users, personal use only.
If you remember Basecamp as $15 per user per month: that model is gone. Basecamp retired its per-user pricing in mid-2026; the figures on this page were verified September 7, 2026 from basecamp.com/pricing. The meter that moves your bill is no longer headcount, it is how many active projects you run and which features your tier unlocks.
Thicket uses the same flat model with a shorter ladder: Starter at $25/month for up to 3 active projects, and Pro at $49/month for unlimited projects and people, every tool on every plan. We'll get to that. First, the full Basecamp breakdown.
Basecamp's plans, side by side
Verified September 2026 from basecamp.com/pricing. Prices in USD.
Monthly billing is available on Freelancer, Studio, and Pro; annual billing exists on those plans too, but Basecamp does not publish the discounted annual rates. Unlimited is billed annually only. Features are tiered as well: unlimited tools per project starts at Studio, and time tracking starts at Pro.
Basecamp totals at common project counts
Basecamp prices by how many active projects you run. Here is the cheapest plan that covers each project count, with the user and storage limits that come with it.
| Active projects | Cheapest Basecamp plan | Price / mo | Users | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 project | Free | $0/mo | 5 | 1 GB |
| 3 projects | Freelancer | $25/mo | 20 | 5 GB |
| 5 projects | Studio | $59/mo | Unlimited | 25 GB |
| 10 projects | Studio | $59/mo | Unlimited | 25 GB |
| 25 projects | Pro | $99/mo | Unlimited | 100 GB |
| 40 projects | Unlimited | $299/mo* | Unlimited | 1 TB |
*Unlimited is billed annually only. The free plan is limited to personal use. Prices verified September 2026.
The rungs matter more than the averages: your 4th active project moves you from $25 to $59/month, your 11th to $99, and your 26th to $299/month with an annual commitment. Either you archive projects to stay under a cap, or the bill steps up.
Monthly vs annual billing
Freelancer, Studio, and Pro are available month to month at the prices above. Annual billing exists on those plans, but Basecamp does not publish the discounted annual rates, so there is no annual figure to quote here. Unlimited is the exception: its $299/month rate is billed annually only, so plan on committing to a year up front for unlimited projects.
That's worth knowing before you commit. (For contrast, Thicket publishes both cycles on both paid plans: Starter is $25/month or $240/year ($20/month effective), and Pro is $49/month or $468/year ($39/month effective). Unlimited projects never require an annual commitment.)
Is Basecamp worth it?
Basecamp earned its reputation by keeping project management calm and opinionated. You get message boards, to-do lists, documents and file storage, a schedule, group chat, and check-ins, all organized around projects, without the Gantt charts, custom fields, and automation builders that make heavier tools overwhelming. For a team that wants those constraints, it is a good fit. And the 2026 move back to flat pricing removes the old per-user tax on growing teams.
The tradeoff now is the ladder. Price steps up with active project count, reaching $299/month (annual-only) for unlimited projects, and features step up with it: tool count per project is limited below Studio, and time tracking arrives at Pro. If you need the heavy machinery (dependencies, resource leveling, portfolio dashboards), neither Basecamp nor a tool like Thicket is the answer. But if you want the simplicity with a lower ceiling on the price, that's precisely the gap worth looking at next.
A flat-rate alternative
See what the $49/month alternative looks like
Thicket keeps messages, to-dos, docs, schedules, boards, and chat together in every project. One price covers the whole team.
Thicket fits when: you want unlimited projects and people with every tool included for $49/month, instead of a ladder that climbs to $300.
Choose Basecamp if: you need Basecamp's full product, its established integrations, or its 1 TB storage tier.
Free plan. No card required. Includes a 30-day Pro trial.
Basecamp vs Thicket: what you pay
Both ladders are flat per account, so the comparison is rung by rung. Here is the cheapest plan on each side at common active project counts.
| Active projects | Thicket | Basecamp | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 project | $0/mo (Free) | $0/mo (Free) | $0/mo |
| 3 projects | $25/mo (Starter) | $25/mo (Freelancer) | $0/mo |
| 5 projects | $49/mo (Pro) | $59/mo (Studio) | $10/mo |
| 10 projects | $49/mo (Pro) | $59/mo (Studio) | $10/mo |
| 25 projects | $49/mo (Pro) | $99/mo (Pro) | $50/mo |
| 40 projects | $49/mo (Pro) | $299/mo* (Unlimited) | $250/mo |
*Basecamp Unlimited is billed annually only. Basecamp's free plan is limited to 5 users and personal use; Thicket's free plan allows 20 people. At the shared $25 rung, Thicket Starter includes 10 GB of storage to Freelancer's 5 GB, full activity history, and every tool. Prices verified September 2026.
From your 4th active project, Thicket Pro at $49/month undercuts every Basecamp rung: $49 versus $59, $99, or $299. Read the full Thicket vs Basecamp comparison or see Thicket's pricing in full.
Why flat pricing matters
Basecamp's repositioning is a strong endorsement of the flat model: one price for the whole account, no math when you add a client or a hire. The difference between the two products is now in the ladders themselves: how high the price climbs, and whether features climb with it.
Every tool on every plan
Thicket gates only usage: projects and storage. Basecamp also gates features, with unlimited tools per project starting at Studio ($59/mo) and time tracking at Pro ($99/mo).
A $49 ceiling instead of $299
Thicket's ladder tops out at $49/month for unlimited projects and people, month to month. Basecamp's tops out at $299/month, billed annually only.
More on the model: why we don't charge per user and flat-rate and per-user pricing compared.