Mixed Signals from 37signals

I accidentally landed on a fantastic landing page by Basecamp that praised small businesses. Here, they specifically make the case that individuals and small businesses do great work and that Basecamp best aligns with them. The copy is enticing—take a look for yourself:

37signals is a company that I have loved and looked up to since I got into tech. I had read ReWork while in college and was a big fan of their blog. I was hugely influenced by what Jason Fried and DHH used to say. I also more or less agreed with their stance around too much politics-related conversation at the workplace.

But it is also a company that has increasingly frustrated me with some of their product and pricing decisions. As an independent developer, Basecamp has just not felt affordable. They are priced at USD 99 per month, which is crazy expensive! They say that upto 10 team members can join in that price, but how is that relevant for individuals? The brilliant copy on that landing page seems more like hollow words ringing loud with irony.

Update (April 2023): Things Have Changed

I had written this a few days back. Upon re-checking today, I noticed that they had changed their pricing during this time! Their pricing page is now showing a USD 15 per month pay-as-you-go price per seat. They only gave me four days to rant about my problem. Not fair. 🤦🏽‍♂️

While this price is still more than other tools like Asana and Linear and becomes higher still because I'm in India, I can at least think about switching to Basecamp now.

Update (August 2023): They've Really Turned it Around

I casually opened Basecamp's pricing page (it's almost become a six-monthly ritual for me) and was pleasantly surprised to see an India-specific pricing of Rs. 350 (approx. USD 4.2) per seat per month. This is crazy! Basecamp has suddenly become the most affordable high-quality project management app in India. It's a fantastic move from Basecamp and reflects how project management apps should actually be priced like in the country (thanks to INR's extremely bad exchange rate versus the USD).

I still have some qualms about Basecamp's feature set (no custom fields, no cancelled task status) but this has become a no-brainer if you're in India and need a solid project management tool.

Update (January 2024): It’s Going Great, More or Less

We got Basecamp after their pricing update for India—August 2023—and it’s been a mostly positive experience. We now use Basecamp for all our work projects. The biggest benefit has been the ease in coordinating with clients collaborators. We also no longer feel the need to invest in something like Slack with Basecamp’s Campfire doing a more than good enough job for us.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have some qualms about the feature set and the philosophy behind it (I’m planning to write a separate post on that—feel free to nudge me to be quicker). There is also some problem in the auto-debit functionality, most likely related to India’s tight regulations, because of which we have to pay manually every month. But Basecamp is still the the tool that aligns with our work processes the best; and as long as the pricing stays the same, it’s by far the best ROI for any tool that we use.

Update (October 2024): Oops, They Did It Again?

I checked Basecamp’s pricing page again recently and realised that they’ve removed the option to pay-per-seat for Indian customers. The only option available is to subscribe to the plan with unlimited seats (called Pro Unlimited) that costs INR 4800 per month (billed annually—else it’s more). Even this pricing is great for what it offers but it will require a business to occupy 14 seats for them to see a benefit compared to the per-seat plan which costed INR 350 per month. Sure, they throw in the useful Timesheet and Admin Pro Pack add-ons to sweeten the deal but it’s still not favourable enough. Where does that leave businesses like Greythink Labs with 2-10 employees? Once again, the smallest of the small businesses that Basecamp loves will not really have an option to use their product.

So far, our per-seat subscription is running fine despite the auto-debit functionality not working and us having to pay manually every month after Basecamp sends an email notifying us that our payment failed (thanks, Reserve Bank of India). However, I fear that I will wake up one day with a message from Basecamp saying that we need to switch to the Pro Unlimited plan or find something else. And I really don’t have it in me to switch to yet another project management tool. This uncertainty makes me very hesitant to recommend Basecamp to anyone, despite it being a great tool.

Honestly, the USD 15 per seat per month option available to customers internationally will be better than having no per seat option for Indian customers. In trying to offer a discount to entice more customers in a low-ARPU country like India, they have accidentally made Basecamp even more expensive for smaller teams here. Something like an Asana (USD 8.5 per month per seat, less if billed annually) will again be the more sensible choice.

Yes, there are regulatory and pricing challenges in India that will make it hard for Basecamp to grow here. But it’s a solid product that has as good a chance as any other tool to find more traction if they can fix their pricing strategy and make it more stable. It’s a good company run by sensible people—I hope they see the logic in this.