Basecamp vs Trello: which one fits your team?
One holds items, the other holds pages. Both are pleasant to live in and both are relaxed about the calendar, which is fine until the week gets full.
It turns on whether your work is a set of things or a set of documents.
Pick Basecamp if
your work is client shaped and full of discussion, and you want fewer meetings and less chat. Where it stops: it deliberately will not tell you when the work happens.
Pick Trello if
you want a board everyone gets instantly, for free, and tracking state is all you need. Where it stops: a board says what state something is in, never when it happens.
What it costs
For a team of 5, billed yearly: Basecamp is about $900 a year, Trello is about $300 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT. Between the two of them Trello is $600 a year cheaper at that size.
Basecamp: Free for one project. $15 per user per month, or $299 a month flat for unlimited users. Trello: Free up to 10 collaborators. $5 Standard and $10 Premium per user per month billed annually.
Where they part company
Trello does more on 4 of them
- having a free plan
- being the place the tasks actually live
- linking pull requests to the work
- rules that fire on their own
Basecamp does more on 2 of them
- docs and a wiki inside
- turning meetings into tasks
Side by side
| What it does | Basecamp | Trello | UnaTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time blocking on a calendar | No | No | Core |
| A plan for today and this week | No | No | Core |
| Two way calendar sync | Partly. A schedule per project, not a calendar you plan a week on. | Partly. A calendar power up on the board, not a calendar you plan a week on. | Yes |
| It is the task manager itself | Yes | Core | Core |
| Dependencies and a timeline | No. Left out on purpose. It is a philosophy, not an oversight. | No | Yes. Dependencies with a timeline that shows what is waiting on what. |
| See who has room | Partly | Partly | Core |
| Booking links | No | No | Yes |
| Meetings become tasks | Partly | No | Yes |
| Email and chat become tasks | Partly | Partly | Yes |
| Pull requests linked to work | No | Partly. Through a power up rather than natively. | Yes |
| Docs and wiki inside | Yes. Message boards, docs and check ins per project. | No | Partly. Docs live on a project, they are not a wiki you would run a company from. |
| Portfolio or agile reporting | Partly | Partly | Partly. Team workload and project progress, not portfolios that roll up to a board. |
| Rules that fire on their own | Partly | Yes. Butler rules on the board are genuinely good and free to start. | Yes |
| AI that does the work, not just the scheduling | No | No | Yes. AI teammates you assign a task to. The work comes back on the task for review. |
| Useful before you configure it | Core | Core | Core |
| A free plan | No | Yes | Yes |
What should not decide it
They answer the same on 10: time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today, two way calendar sync, dependencies and a timeline, showing who has room, booking links, turning email and chat into tasks, portfolio and agile reporting, AI that does the work rather than the scheduling and being useful before you configure it.
And where UnaTask sits
UnaTask assumes it is both, and adds the part neither of them wants: hours, and a way to see whose hours are already spoken for.
It does more than both of them on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today, two way calendar sync, dependencies and a timeline, showing who has room, booking links, turning meetings into tasks, turning email and chat into tasks, linking pull requests to the work and AI that does the work rather than the scheduling.
Common questions
Basecamp vs Trello: which should I pick?
Pick Basecamp if your work is client shaped and full of discussion, and you want fewer meetings and less chat. Pick Trello if you want a board everyone gets instantly, for free, and tracking state is all you need.
What is the biggest difference between Basecamp and Trello?
The clearest gap is docs and a wiki inside, where Basecamp does more than Trello. Underneath that, Basecamp is a place to write things down together, with the work living inside the writing, and Trello is a list or a board that everybody understands without being taught.
Is Basecamp or Trello cheaper?
For a team of 5, billed yearly: Basecamp is about $900 a year, Trello is about $300 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT. Between the two of them Trello is $600 a year cheaper at that size.
What do Basecamp and Trello have in common?
They answer the same on 10 of our 16 axes, among them time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today and two way calendar sync. Those are the things that should not decide it for you.
Where does UnaTask fit against Basecamp and Trello?
UnaTask does more than both on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today and two way calendar sync. It is free on your own and €10 per seat for a team, with every feature included. Where it does less: it is not an issue tracker with sprints and burndown, and it is not a documentation workspace.
Details checked 2 August 2026.