Basecamp alternatives for teams whose projects are customer jobs

Short answer: If you are looking at Basecamp alternatives, start with where your customers live. Basecamp is a calm, simple project tool with to-dos, message boards, schedules, files and group chat, and many small teams love it for that. Alori is the all-in-one app for service businesses: projects, a shared inbox with the customer, and team notes sit in the same app as quotes, jobs and invoices.

Who Basecamp fits well

Basecamp is a good fit when:

• Your team runs internal or client projects and wants one calm place for to-dos, files and discussion.
• You like a simple, opinionated tool more than a configurable one.
• You invite clients into a project to follow along and comment.

Basecamp is easy to learn and easy to love. If it covers your work, it is a fine choice.

Why service owners look for alternatives

Service businesses that use Basecamp often add a stack of tools around it:

• The customer's messages are elsewhere. Texts, emails and calls with the customer sit in phones and personal inboxes, not in the project.
• No money in the project. Quotes, invoices and payments live in an accounting or invoicing tool.
• No schedule of visits. Basecamp has a project schedule, but dispatching technicians to addresses happens in another app.
• Copying between tools. The same job is typed into Basecamp, the CRM, the quote tool and the invoice.

Side by side

What Alori replaces, and what it does not

Alori replaces Basecamp for customer work, plus the tools you add around it:

• Projects. Group the tasks and jobs that belong together, like a renovation or the maintenance season. Set a lead, a target date and a state, follow progress, and link the project's jobs, quotes and invoices.
• Tasks in a list or on a board, with due dates, priorities, repeat and assign with accept.
• A shared inbox. Every text, email and website chat with a customer lands in Conversations, one thread per customer, with calls and notes in order. Pick who follows each customer.
• Team notes. Leave an internal note on a customer's thread and type @ to tell a teammate. They get a notification, then an email if they have not seen it after about 5 minutes. The customer never sees notes.
• The rest: customers, deals, schedule, jobs, invoices, booking and video meetings with a recording and AI summary.

What it does not replace: Basecamp's message boards, group chat, document and file storage, and its client access to projects. A client portal is coming soon in Alori, not live today. If your team mainly needs a place to discuss and share files, Basecamp may be all you need. Alori connects to Slack and Discord if your team chats there.

How to switch

1. Describe your business. Alori builds the app with the tools your work needs.
2. Move your to-dos. Export them to a CSV or Excel file and click Import in Tasks. Alori reads titles, dates, people and projects, with an Undo.
3. Bring your customers. Paste a list into Ask Alori, use the HubSpot move, or the import API.
4. Connect email. Each teammate connects Gmail. Customer emails then leave from their address, and replies come back to Conversations.

Start on the free plan, no card needed. See pricing.

FAQ

Is Alori a good Basecamp alternative? Yes if your projects are customer jobs and you want the customer's messages, quotes and invoices in the same place. If you mostly need message boards, group chat and file sharing, Basecamp fits better.

Can clients see their project in Alori? Not yet. Customers can accept and sign quotes online and pay invoices by card, but a client portal is coming soon.

Does Alori have team chat? Alori has internal notes and task comments with @mentions, and your bot works in Slack and Discord. It does not have a separate group chat like Basecamp's.

Who is Alori for? Service businesses such as plumbing and HVAC companies, and agencies. Compare also with the Asana alternative.