We believe Project Management is Communication

Projects don't fail from of a lack of charts, graphs, reports, or statistics, they fail from a lack of communication. That's why we built Basecamp — a project management tool designed entirely around the concept of open, centralized two-way communication. Simple tools such as message boards, to-do lists, painless file sharing, and flexible scheduling make communicating easy — and natural. That's why people are abandoning their traditional project management software in droves to manage their projects the Basecamp way.

We believe in Less Software

Basecamp is simple on purpose. We've kept the confusing, complex stuff out. Basecamp doesn't do everything, but what it does it does extremely well. That's focus and that's the baseline principle of our "Less Software" approach. Not more stuff, just the right stuff to help you get your job done.

We believe the interface is the product

If something is confusing, slow, or a pain to use, it won't get used. It's that simple. That's why we pour so much love into the design of the Basecamp user interface. It's simple, easy, intuitive, fast, and clear. It does what it's supposed to do, helps you get done what you need to do, and gets out of the way when you don't need it. But don't take our word for it. Others have called it "Astonishingly elegant," "Completely intuitive," "A masterpiece of simplicity," "Amazingly intuitive and beautiful," and more.

We believe long-term contracts and "one-time set-up fees" are insulting

No one likes long term contracts, early termination fees, or "one-time set-up fees." We're no different. That's why Basecamp bills you on a month-to-month basis. There's no contract to sign and you can cancel at any time without penalty. And of course there are never any set-up fees. Good riddance.

We believe the "Participation Tax" is wrong

The software industry believes that you should be charged based on how many "seats" (a.k.a. people) use a product. We call that the "Participation Tax" and we think it's wrong. More participation should not result in higher fees. With Basecamp you pay the same fixed monthly rate no matter if 1 or 1000 people are using it. Go on, get everyone involved.

We believe it's everyone's project

Conventional wisdom is that it's the sole project manager's role to shield everyone from the chaos of a project. Usually this happens via a desktop software application that's overseen by this single project taskmaster. We think there's a better way. Basecamp democratizes project management and makes it a team effort. Basecamp lets everyone get involved in managing a project. The thinkers, the builders, the managers, and the client. Of course the degree of control is up to you.

We believe in quick support responses

During business hours, we answer 90% of all email support requests within 90 minutes — and often within 30 minutes. If you have a question we want to give you a quick answer so you can get back to business. Further, all support emails are answered personally by the people who actually built the product. We don't outsource our customer support to a call center or a third party.

We believe in "easy on, easy off"

Signing up for Basecamp takes about 1 minute. We don't ask for stuff we don't need and we'll never throw a long daunting form at you. And, while we'll be sorry to see you go if you do decide to cancel, we'll never make that process intimidating or confusing. A "Cancel my account" link is clear as day on your Account page. There's no email to send, no special form to fill out, no questions to answer. Just click and we'll say goodbye.

We believe in flexibility and creativity

Basecamp isn't about doing it our way, it's about doing it your way. People are using Basecamp to manage their intense client engagements during the day, and their side projects or hobbies at night. Others are using Basecamp to manage their home improvement projects, their school projects, their classrooms, their magazines and publications, their book writing process, their churches and synagogues, and even their weddings! Who would use Microsoft Project to manage their wedding? Exactly.

We think there's a better way than email, post-it notes, and paper

Email, post-it notes, and paper — these are the ad hoc ways many projects get managed. While these tools can be useful, and can be used in conjunction with Basecamp, we know that a centralized, archived, accountable, and shared communication space is the real competitive advantage Basecamp provides when it comes to managing projects.

We believe projects are inherently chaotic

Real-world projects don't run like an organized, Gantt-charted project plan. Real projects are chaotic: Missed deadlines, miscommunication, scope creep, new initiatives, new people in, old people out. This is why information needs to be centralized and archived. No more he-said she-said. No more forwarding 500 emails to a person who gets involved in the middle of a project. No more losing knowledge when someone leaves a project. With Basecamp it's all there. All centralized, archived, accessible, date stamped, and labeled for clear accountability.

We believe in small business

We're a small business. We understand what it's like. And we're constantly frustrated by the software industry's "efforts" at building tools for small businesses or freelancers. They think watering down one of their enterprise products is the answer. We disagree. Small businesses have specific needs. Owner/operators have to wear many hats. They're busy and they need a product that simply works. They don't need different versions of products, they need different types of products. We built Basecamp for them.

We believe in transparency

If something goes wrong we'll tell you. Even if you never saw it. For example, Basecamp was down once in the middle of the night. 99% of our customers never knew, but we still posted an unexpected downtime notice to our Everything Basecamp support site. We want to be as open, honest, and transparent as is reasonably possible. We don't keep secrets or hide behind fancy marketing spin. We believe an informed customer is our best customer.

We believe trying Basecamp should be easy

Many of our competitors require a call back, an appointment, or a special password in order to try their product. What's the deal with that? We let anyone try Basecamp for free at any time. Sign up takes less than a minute and you're off and running.

We believe in making you the hero

"Basecamp" is something only you know about. Your clients will never see a hint of it. If you pay for Basecamp, we never put our logo, our name, or any marketing messages in front of your clients. And we'll certainly never contact them. They are yours and yours alone. (Note: This only applies to paying Basecamp plans — a small logo does appear at the bottom of the screen on free 1-project plans)