Basecamp Pricing (2026): What Freelancers and Small Teams Actually Pay

Basecamp’s current paid packages start at $25 per month for Freelancer. Studio is $59 per month, Pro is $99 per month, and Unlimited is $299 per month billed annually.

These are account prices. Your bill depends on the package that fits your active projects, storage, and participants, rather than a separate charge for each employee.

That changes the buying question. A small team with many projects may need a higher package than a larger group working together on only a few.

This guide explains the current limits, calculates twelve-month costs, and shows what to check before choosing a plan.

Prices checked October 15, 2026. All amounts are in US dollars before tax. Examples exclude optional upgrades and special discounts.

Basecamp pricing at a glance

These are the currently advertised packages and allowances.

SelfManager is included as a pricing reference for small teams organizing shared daily work. Its tables are not equivalent to Basecamp project spaces, and the products offer different workflows.

If you find an older guide centered on Basecamp Plus per-user pricing, do not use that model to calculate the packages currently advertised. Existing subscribers should check the package and terms shown in their own account.

What determines your Basecamp bill?

Start with the smallest package that accommodates the way you intend to use it. Check three limits separately:

1. Active projects: How many separate projects need to remain in progress at once?
2. People: How many team members, clients, and outside collaborators need access?
3. Storage: How much space will the account’s files require?

A package must fit all three. Being comfortably below one limit does not remove another.

For example, a freelancer may have only two active client engagements but a substantial archive of large files. A different business might have modest storage needs and many small projects running simultaneously.

Count internal work too. Marketing, hiring, product development, and company operations may each occupy a project if that is how you organize the account.

Active projects and archived projects are different

The paid packages with project caps refer to active projects. Basecamp says archived projects do not count toward those active totals.

Archiving preserves the project while removing it from active work. However, archived projects still count toward storage.

That distinction makes archiving useful for completed engagements, but it does not make the file archive free of capacity limits. Review storage as well as your active project list.

Three small-business cost examples

These examples are fictional. They illustrate how the published limits affect package selection, rather than reporting what a particular customer pays.

A freelancer with two client projects

Imagine one freelancer, two active projects, six total participants, and 3 GB of stored material.

That usage fits the published Freelancer package. At its displayed monthly rate, twelve payments would total $300.

The important detail is that the six participants do not produce six separate subscription charges. The account pays for the package, provided it remains within its limits.

If this freelancer starts several additional engagements at the same time, the project allowance becomes the next constraint to review.

A six-person studio with eight projects

Now imagine six internal team members, eight active projects, additional client participants, and 20 GB of stored files.

That usage fits Studio. At the displayed monthly rate, the base cost would be $708 over twelve months.

Dividing the monthly fee by six employees produces an effective $9.83 per employee, rounded to the nearest cent. That is an analytical comparison, not Basecamp’s billing method. Adding another person within the package does not add another employee fee.

For this studio, the next upgrade decision is more likely to come from projects or storage than headcount.

A twelve-person agency with eighteen projects

An agency with eighteen active projects and 80 GB of stored material fits Pro’s published allowances.

At the displayed monthly rate, twelve months would cost $1,188 before optional extras and tax.

The agency should compare that with the value of the shared project workspace: task ownership, project discussions, files, and client participation. A larger package can be economical if those capabilities replace real coordination work.

Twelve-month costs without confusing the billing basis

The following figures are calculated from the displayed rates. For Freelancer, Studio, and Pro, they show twelve payments at the advertised monthly price, not a separately verified annual discount or annual invoice quote.

Calculations use the advertised subscription rates.

Check the amount and billing frequency at checkout. A displayed monthly equivalent on an annual subscription is different from paying that amount one month at a time.

For a stable workload, estimate the full year. For a changing workload, consider the likely busiest period and which package it would require.

Are clients and contractors included?

Basecamp’s current pricing FAQ says every person added counts toward the user allowance, including clients, contractors, and guests. Studio and higher include unlimited users.

For the capped packages, count the entire participant group rather than employees alone. A business with a small internal team can still have many client contacts in the account.

Access and billing are separate questions. Basecamp distinguishes internal people, outside collaborators, and clients. Client permissions let you control which project items are visible to them.

Clients can contribute to the work you share, including posting messages, comments, to-dos, and files. That is useful when your project space needs to support communication with customers as well as internal delivery.

Before choosing a package, list everyone who needs access and test the client view. The right price matters less if the sharing arrangement does not fit the way you deliver work.

What are you paying for beyond a task list?

Basecamp’s project workspace brings together to-dos, message boards, chat, calendars, card tables, files, and recurring check-ins.

The value depends on whether the team uses that shared workspace consistently.

For example, a client website project might contain:

• The agreed brief and reference assets.
• Assigned tasks and review dates.
• A discussion explaining a design decision.
• Client-visible feedback and deliverables.
• A recurring question asking what is blocked.

If that replaces scattered email threads and repeated requests for context, the subscription can solve a meaningful problem.

If you only need to see today’s tasks and record what happened, you may use less of the project workspace. Evaluate the work pattern before paying for extra capacity.

If your team mainly needs dated tasks, supporting files, and an AI review of recorded progress, try SelfManager’s seven-day trial. No credit card is required.

Optional extras and billing details to check

Storage is an account-wide concern

Basecamp’s storage guide includes files from archived projects and uploads in chat and private conversations in its usage calculation. Some uploads may not appear in the largest-files report.

The guide also warns that remaining over the storage limit for thirty days can trigger an automatic paid storage expansion. Review account warnings rather than assuming an overage only prevents new uploads.

Its public pricing page and storage help page describe different expansion amounts and rates. Confirm the applicable storage offer, payment schedule, and overage policy in your account before relying on a particular add-on price.

Verify time tracking and admin upgrades on your package

Basecamp’s help documentation describes Timesheet and Admin Pro Pack upgrades. Some pages still refer to Basecamp Plus, while its public pricing page now uses a different package lineup.

Do not combine an old add-on quote with a new package and assume the total applies. If time tracking or a particular administrative control is essential, confirm whether it is included in the package you are buying or needs an upgrade.

Give the requirement a concrete description. “Record project hours” and “require particular access controls across the account” are easier to verify than asking whether a plan has advanced features.

Keep responsibility for billing clear

Basecamp restricts billing and invoice management to account owners. The billing area is accessed through Adminland on desktop or the web.

Before a trial ends, identify the person choosing the package and receiving invoices. That avoids a useful evaluation ending without anyone responsible for the purchasing decision.

Does using Basecamp with AI cost extra?

Basecamp now documents an official MCP connection for AI assistants. Its AI page says the connection is included with every Basecamp account, while the assistant itself may require a paid plan.

The documented workflow allows an assistant to work with project context, such as summarizing a discussion, finding overdue tasks, or drafting an update. You approve access and can choose read-only or permission to make changes.

For budgeting, separate the Basecamp package from the AI service you intend to connect. An included connector does not mean a paid assistant subscription is included in the Basecamp bill.

Test one real workflow during evaluation, such as preparing a weekly project update. Check the quality of the result and whether the people using it need additional subscriptions.

How SelfManager’s team price compares

SelfManager Team costs $30 per month or $300 per year with annual billing. It includes unlimited free collaborators, Team AI Review, seventy weekly AI credits, and 25 GB of storage for docs and videos. Extra AI credits and up to 1 TB more storage are optional purchases.

Both products offer flat team pricing in relevant packages. The decision should therefore go beyond a general objection to per-seat fees.

SelfManager focuses on work organized by date, with tasks, notes, files, comments, time tracking, and AI planning and review. Basecamp organizes collaboration around project spaces and their tools.

For example, SelfManager may suit a founder or small team keeping client work, product development, and daily decisions together. Basecamp may suit a business that wants each engagement to have its own discussions, tools, and controlled client view.

At the annual costs shown above, SelfManager Team and twelve monthly Freelancer payments both total $300. That does not make their capacity or features interchangeable.

Choose the structure the team will actually use, then compare the package needed to support it.

How to choose a Basecamp package

Use a representative project during the trial and answer these questions:

1. How many projects need to stay active simultaneously?
2. How many people, including clients, need access?
3. How much storage do current and completed projects require?
4. Which tools will replace an existing process?
5. Are essential time-tracking or admin capabilities included?
6. Does the total include any separate AI subscription or storage upgrade?

Choose the smallest package that fits confirmed requirements, leaving sensible room for expected work. Revisit the choice when the workload changes.

Do not reorganize unrelated engagements into one project solely to fit a cheaper allowance if that makes permissions, discussions, and delivery harder to manage. The subscription should support the workflow you need.

Verdict: when is Basecamp worth the price?

Basecamp deserves a closer look when a project workspace can reduce scattered communication and keep clients and teammates working from the same context.

Its current package model makes active projects and storage central to the buying decision. Calculate the account’s needs before comparing an effective per-person cost with another product.

For simpler shared daily execution with built-in AI planning and review, include SelfManager in the evaluation. For project-centered communication and a distinct client view, Basecamp may provide the more suitable structure.

Start SelfManager’s seven-day trial to test a real week of shared work. Put the tasks, brief, decisions, and progress on their dates, then review what moved.

Frequently asked questions

Is Basecamp priced per user?

The packages currently advertised use flat account prices. Free and Freelancer have participant caps, while Studio and higher include unlimited users. Check your own account terms if you are on an older subscription.

Does Basecamp have a free plan?

Yes. The current free plan includes one project, up to five users including clients and outside collaborators, and 1 GB of storage. It is a permanent free plan, distinct from a paid-package trial.

Do archived projects still use storage?

Yes. Archiving a project preserves it and removes it from active work, but its files still count toward account storage. Archive completed work to manage active projects; review storage separately.

Does Basecamp include an AI assistant subscription?

No assistant subscription is included merely because Basecamp provides a connector. Its official AI connection is included with the Basecamp account, but the assistant you connect may require its own paid plan.

Is SelfManager cheaper than Basecamp?

It depends on the package and billing basis. SelfManager Team is $300 per year when billed annually, which equals twelve payments at Basecamp Freelancer’s advertised monthly price. Higher Basecamp packages cost more but provide different project capacity, storage, and collaboration capabilities. Compare the workflow as well as the total.