Is Basecamp or Slack free?

Slack can be used for free (free plan, paid upgrades). Basecamp is paid.

Do I need to install Basecamp or Slack?

No. Both run in a web browser, so you can open either one and start.

Price, ratings and what each one does, side by side. Every fact here comes from their listings on Linkstore.

Projects, message boards and to-dos in one place.

Team chat, organized into channels.

Basecamp

Slack

Basecamp keeps a project's chat, tasks, docs and schedule together, and charges a flat price instead of per seat.

Slack is where a lot of teams talk, share files and plug in other tools. Free for small history, paid to keep it all.

Apps that do a similar job, closest matches first.

Asana
Plan work and track who is doing what by when.
ProductivityNewFreemium
Open
Microsoft Teams
Chat, meetings and files for work accounts.
ProductivityNewFreemium
Open
monday.com
Boards for projects, campaigns and whatever else.
ProductivityNewFreemium
Open
Intercom
Customer messaging, with a bot in front of the inbox.
ProductivityNewPaid
Open
Plane
Project and issue tracking with cycles, modules and pages.
ProductivityNewFreemium
Open
ClickUp
Tasks, docs, goals and chat in one workspace.
ProductivityNewFreemium
Open