Basecamp vs Flowdock

August 10, 2023 | Author: Adam Levine
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Basecamp
Basecamp tackles project management with a focus on communication and collaboration. Making to-do lists and adding to-do items literally just takes seconds. Basecamp is optimized to make the things you do most often really fast and really easy. Basecamp mobile is especially made for popular mobile devices like iPhone and Android.
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Flowdock
CA Flowdock is a team collaboration app for desktop, mobile & web. Work on things that matter, be transparent and solve problems across tools, teams & time zones. One place to talk and stay up-to-date.
Basecamp and Flowdock are collaboration tools that offer different approaches to team communication and project management. Basecamp is a comprehensive project management platform that focuses on organizing tasks, milestones, and project timelines. It provides features like task assignment, progress tracking, file sharing, and centralized project discussions. Basecamp emphasizes simplicity and intuitive user experience, making it suitable for teams looking for a straightforward project management solution. Flowdock, on the other hand, is a real-time team chat tool that allows for group discussions and file sharing. It provides chat rooms organized by topics and integrates with various project management tools, allowing teams to stay connected and have quick conversations. Flowdock is ideal for teams that prioritize real-time communication and collaboration.

See also: Top 10 Team Messaging platforms
Basecamp vs Flowdock in our news:

2020. Basecamp launches Hey, a hosted email service for neat freaks


Project management software maker Basecamp has introduced an innovative hosted email service named Hey. With Hey, the company aims to tackle the chaos and clutter typically associated with traditional email inboxes. One of its notable features is a built-in screener that prompts users to confirm whether they wish to receive emails from new senders. Upon consent, inbound emails are sorted into different trays. The central "imbox" (short for important box) exclusively contains communications designated as important by the user. Newsletters are organized in a News Feed-style tray called The Feed, where they are conveniently displayed in a partially opened format for casual reading. Additionally, email receipts are neatly arranged in a dedicated inbox view called the Paper Trail, serving as a reference for users.


2018. Basecamp adds recurring events and image galleries



Project management service Basecamp has introduced several exciting new features. The first addition is Recurring events, allowing users to schedule daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly repeating events within Basecamp 3. Users can choose to set the recurrence until a specific date or continue indefinitely. The second feature is Image galleries, which enables users to showcase their work or share photos in visually appealing side-by-side or three-in-a-row layouts. This enhancement makes it easier than ever to present visual content. Lastly, Basecamp introduces Automatic Check-ins, a simple and informal tool extensively utilized for team communication. The entire company can engage in queries such as sharing weekend activities and work updates, while smaller teams like Support can address specific questions related to common issues encountered during the week. These new features enrich the Basecamp experience, enhancing collaboration and streamlining communication within teams.


2018. Basecamp improves client collaboration



Collaborating with clients in Basecamp has been significantly enhanced, offering an improved experience. The latest updates enable you to effortlessly assign to-dos to clients, share files and folders, schedule events and meetings, engage in Campfire chats, and even automatically ask clients check-in questions. Within a project, all items are now clearly labeled as either "private to our team" or "visible to the client." To avoid any unexpected sharing mishaps and minimize concerns, every item within a project begins as private, accessible only to your team. When you post something new, you have the flexibility to specify whether it should be visible to the client or remain private within your team. These enhancements ensure smoother collaboration and allow for precise control over shared information in Basecamp.


2014. Basecamp app is available for iPad



The official app for iPad has been launched by the popular project management service Basecamp, expanding beyond its previous availability only on iPhone and the web for iPad users. This app enables users to conveniently access their projects from anywhere, providing updates on each project's latest news, facilitating participation in discussions and sharing thoughts, and allowing the viewing of team members' progress as they complete tasks and upload files. With all project-related information accessible, users can easily reference documents and make decisions regardless of their location. The app boasts a swift and responsive performance, featuring a clean and well-organized interface.


2014. 37Signals renames to Basecamp, discontinues development of other products



37Signals emerged as one of the pioneers in the SaaS market. In 2004, they introduced Basecamp, a project management service that remains highly popular to this day. It boasts a user base of 15 million individuals and is often regarded as a trailblazer in web-app design. Notably, 37Signals CEO, Jason Fried, is widely recognized, and he has authored books such as Getting Real and ReWork. Jason's profound admiration for small businesses and the startup ethos is evident. Despite Basecamp's remarkable success, he has successfully maintained the startup mentality within the company, employing only 43 individuals. Jason even experimented with scaling back the customer base to control growth. Presently, he has conceived a new idea: to pause the development of other products (including the CRM system Highrise, group chat Campfire, task-manager Ta-Da List, wiki Writeboard, and organizer Backpack) and concentrate all efforts on Basecamp. Moreover, he has decided to rename the company from 37Signals to Basecamp, a concise and elegant title. If you are a user of 37Signals products affected by this decision, there is no need to panic. The products will continue to function and receive support in the future, albeit without further feature updates.


2013. Basecamp launches mobile app for iOS



HTML5 has taken a backseat to mobile applications, at least for the time being. Jason Fried, the CEO of the highly popular project management service Basecamp, has always prioritized the effectiveness of his product over following trends or engaging in mere PR stunts. He previously held the belief that focusing on the web interface was the best approach rather than chasing the multitude of mobile platforms. As a result, Basecamp was only available as a web app for mobile devices. However, Jason has recently concluded that a native client would offer greater convenience. As a result, Basecamp is now accessible as a native app for iPhone and iPad. The app is free and showcases the new, visually appealing style of the web version.


2013. Basecamp Personal - SaaS with no monthly charges



37Signals, the maker of the popular SaaS project management app Basecamp, always invent something interesting and innovative. This time they coming up with the new service Basecamp Personal, intended for small teams (projects), for which the regular Basecamp is too expensive. Earlier Basecamp used to provide a free version for one project and it was very popular. But as you know, 37Signals want to have fewer clients and more money. Therefore, they decided to create a paid version for 1 project and 5 users. But how beautiful they did it... ***


2012. New Basecamp: All ingenious is simple



As one of the Enterprise 2.0 classics said: "If I had more time, I would have created a simpler application". That's how 37Signals (the company behind the project management app Basecamp) is spending its time. Basecamp was launched about eight years ago and since then it remained almost unchanged. Every new feature was added only if it was really necessary. Due to this, Basecamp has retained its simplicity and effectiveness. But it turned out that the Basecamp developers during all these years not only defended the app from the complications, but also have been inventing more perfect and simple structure. And this year they decided to roll it out. It's hard to believe, but the new version of Basecamp is even easier and more effective. ***


2010. 37signals Suite - the new rival for Google Apps



37Signals has introduced a bundled package of its key SaaS services for businesses called 37signals Suite, similar to how Google offers its services as Google Apps. The suite includes Basecamp (a project management system), Highrise (a CRM system), Campfire (a group chat platform that can serve as a communication tool within this package), and Backpack (a group organizer with wiki functionality, which can be seen as an intranet portal within this bundle). Currently, the integration between these applications may not be seamless, but it provides a unified user base. The pricing of 37signals Suite is designed to make it more cost-effective to purchase the entire suite rather than individual services in most cases. The price starts at $99 per month and includes 35GB of storage, 35 projects in Basecamp, 20,000 contacts in Highrise, 5,000 pages in Backpack, and 50 simultaneous chats in Campfire. While the price may appear higher compared to the cost of Google Apps ($50/year), it's important to note that Google charges this fee per user, whereas 37Signals Suite offers unlimited users.


2010. Jason Fried: We want fewer customers. Basecamp increased prices (sort of)



Let's start from what happened last week. Without any announcements 37Signals dropped a low end plan from the Basecamp sign-up page ($24/month for 15 projects and 5GB of disk space). Now, the cheapest option on this page is $49 for 35 projects and 15 GB. Of course, this caused a loud reaction of bloggers and competitors. Bloggers started speculating that Basecamp feels so confident that has lost interest in small business. Competitors started pitching alternative project management tools and Zoho even pushed the promotion for customers switching from Basecamp to Zoho Projects. 37Signals co-founder Jason Fried has clarified the situation. "In fact, Basecamp hasn't raised prices. Existing users continue to pay the same price for the same subscription plans. The company is just experimenting with the sign-up page design. The $24 plan is still available (inside) for those who sign-up for free account and then wants to upgrade". Nevertheless, the idea of the experiment is clear: Basecamp focuses on the more "expensive" clients. Here's why: ***

Author: Adam Levine
Adam is an expert in project management, collaboration and productivity technologies, team management, and motivation. With an extensive background working at prestigious companies such as Microsoft and Accenture, Adam's in-depth knowledge and experience in the field make him a sought-after professional. Currently, he has ventured into entrepreneurship, owning a thriving consulting and training agency where he imparts invaluable insights and practical strategies to individuals and organizations, empowering them to achieve their goals and maximize their potential. You can contact Adam via email adam@liventerprise.com