Summary and recommendation
Basecamp user management can be run manually, but complexity usually increases with role models, licensing gates, and offboarding dependencies. This guide gives the exact mechanics and where automation has the biggest impact.
Basecamp uses a two-tier account permission model: Administrators and regular users. Within projects, a client/guest distinction controls content visibility. There are no custom roles or granular permission sets beyond admin vs.
non-admin at the account level.
SCIM provisioning and SSO are available exclusively on the Pro Unlimited plan ($299/month flat rate, billed annually), which covers unlimited users. The per-user Basecamp Plus plan ($15/user/month) offers no automated provisioning path and no bulk CSV import - every app in your stack that relies on manual onboarding compounds this gap at scale.
Quick facts
| Admin console path | Navigate to your Basecamp account home → click 'Adminland' (visible only to account administrators) |
| Admin console URL | Official docs |
| SCIM available | Yes |
| SCIM tier required | Business |
| SSO prerequisite | Yes |
User types and roles
| Role | Permissions | Cannot do | Plan required | Seat cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Full access to Adminland: can add/remove users, grant/revoke admin rights, manage billing, configure SSO/SCIM, view all projects, and manage account-wide settings. | Cannot impersonate other users or access private direct messages between other users. | Any paid plan | $15/user/month on Basecamp Plus; included in flat $299/month on Pro Unlimited | Admin rights are granted per-user in Adminland; there is no separate admin seat type - admins consume the same seat as regular users. |
| Regular User (Employee/Team Member) | Can be added to projects, create and participate in message boards, to-dos, schedules, docs, and campfires within projects they are assigned to. | Cannot access Adminland, manage billing, or see projects they have not been added to. | Any paid plan | $15/user/month on Basecamp Plus; included in flat $299/month on Pro Unlimited | Users only see projects they have been explicitly added to; there is no global 'view all projects' permission for non-admins. |
| Client / Guest | Limited access to specific projects or tools within a project as configured by the project owner. Can participate in message boards, to-dos, and other tools that have been made client-visible. | Cannot see internal (non-client-facing) content within a project, cannot access Adminland, cannot see other projects. | Any paid plan | Free on Pro Unlimited (guests do not consume paid seats); on Basecamp Plus, clients/guests count as paid seats at $15/user/month | On Basecamp Plus, every invited person including clients counts as a billable user. On Pro Unlimited, unlimited guests are included in the flat fee. |
Permission model
- Model type: role-based
- Description: Basecamp uses a simplified two-tier role model: Administrators and regular users. Within projects, a client/guest distinction controls visibility of content. There are no custom roles or granular permission sets beyond admin vs. non-admin at the account level, and client-visible vs. internal at the project level.
- Custom roles: No
- Custom roles plan: Not documented
- Granularity: Coarse. Account level: admin or non-admin. Project level: member or client (guest). Individual tool visibility within a project can be toggled by project admins, but there are no fine-grained permission sets.
How to add users
- Log in as an account administrator.
- Go to Adminland (account home → Adminland).
- Click 'Add people to the account'.
- Enter the person's name and email address.
- Optionally grant administrator rights.
- Click 'Send invitation'. The invitee receives an email to set up their account.
- Once the user accepts, add them to specific projects from within each project's settings or from Adminland.
Required fields: Name, Email address
Watch out for:
- Users must accept the email invitation before they appear as active in the account.
- Adding a user to the account does not automatically add them to any project; project membership must be configured separately.
- On Basecamp Plus, each invited user (including clients) immediately counts as a billable seat upon invitation acceptance.
- There is no bulk CSV import available natively in Basecamp's UI.
- SCIM provisioning (for bulk/automated provisioning) requires the Pro Unlimited plan and an active SSO configuration.
| Bulk option | Availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CSV import | No | Not documented |
| Domain whitelisting | No | Automatic domain-based user add |
| IdP provisioning | Yes | Pro Unlimited (requires SSO to be enabled; supported IdPs include Okta and Microsoft Entra ID) |
How to remove or deactivate users
- Can delete users: No
- Delete/deactivate behavior: Basecamp does not permanently delete user accounts from the admin UI. Administrators can remove (deactivate) a person from the account via Adminland, which revokes their access. Their past contributions (messages, to-dos, comments) remain in the account and are attributed to their name. The account record is retained but the user can no longer log in.
- Log in as an account administrator.
- Go to Adminland.
- Click 'Remove people from the account' or find the user under 'People & permissions'.
- Select the user and confirm removal.
- The user is immediately logged out and loses all access to the account.
| Data impact | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Owned records | All content created by the removed user (messages, to-dos, documents, comments) remains in the account and is still attributed to their name. No content is deleted upon removal. |
| Shared content | Shared project content remains fully intact and accessible to remaining project members. |
| Integrations | Any API tokens or third-party integrations authenticated under the removed user's account will stop functioning. Administrators should audit and re-authenticate integrations before removing a user. |
| License freed | On Basecamp Plus ($15/user/month), removing a user frees that seat and reduces the monthly bill at the next billing cycle. On Pro Unlimited ($299/month flat), removing a user has no billing impact. |
Watch out for:
- Removed users cannot be re-invited with the same email address without contacting Basecamp support in some cases; re-invitation via the standard flow may work if the account record is fully cleared.
- SCIM-provisioned users deprovisioned via the IdP are automatically removed from Basecamp, but only on Pro Unlimited with SSO active.
- There is no 'suspend' or 'deactivate without removing' state - removal is the only way to revoke access.
- Administrators should reassign or document ownership of critical to-dos and projects before removing a user, as Basecamp does not have an automated ownership-transfer workflow.
License and seat management
| Seat type | Includes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Basecamp Plus user seat | Full account and project access for one named user (employee or client) | $15/user/month |
| Pro Unlimited flat subscription | Unlimited users (employees and guests), unlimited projects, 500 GB storage | $299/month billed annually or $349/month billed monthly |
| Timesheet add-on | Time tracking features across the account | $50/month flat (available on Pro Unlimited) |
- Where to check usage: Adminland → 'People & permissions' shows all active users. Billing details and seat counts are visible under Adminland → 'Billing & invoices'.
- How to identify unused seats: Basecamp does not provide a native last-login or activity report in the admin UI. Administrators must manually review project participation or use SCIM/IdP activity logs (Pro Unlimited with SSO) to identify inactive users.
- Billing notes: On Basecamp Plus, billing adjusts based on the number of active users; seats are added when invitations are accepted and freed when users are removed. On Pro Unlimited, the flat fee covers unlimited users regardless of headcount. A 10% nonprofit discount is available on request. No free trial is offered on Pro Unlimited; Basecamp Plus has a 30-day free trial.
The cost of manual management
Adding users requires an administrator to navigate to Adminland, invite each person individually by name and email, and then separately add them to each relevant project. There is no bulk import in the UI.
Basecamp does not provide a native last-login or activity report in Adminland, so identifying inactive seats on Basecamp Plus requires manually reviewing project participation. On Basecamp Plus, clients and guests count as full billable seats - teams with many external collaborators often discover this only after invoices arrive.
Removing a user is permanent and immediate; there is no suspend or temporary-restriction state. Administrators must manually reassign ownership of to-dos and projects before removal, as no automated ownership-transfer workflow exists.
What IT admins are saying
Recurring friction reported by Basecamp administrators centers on a few consistent themes:
- No granular permission controls - users are either admins or regular members with no middle-ground roles.
- No last-login or activity reporting in Adminland, making inactive seat identification difficult on Basecamp Plus.
- Clients and guests count as full paid seats on Basecamp Plus, which surprises teams with significant external collaboration.
- SCIM and SSO are locked to Pro Unlimited, leaving Plus customers without any automated provisioning path.
- No suspend state - full removal is the only way to revoke access, which is high-impact when temporary restriction is needed.
Common complaints:
- No granular permission controls - users are either admins or regular members with no middle-ground roles.
- No native CSV bulk import for users; large teams must invite users one at a time or rely on SCIM (Pro Unlimited only).
- No last-login or activity reporting in Adminland, making it difficult to identify inactive seats on Basecamp Plus.
- Clients/guests count as full paid seats on Basecamp Plus, which surprises teams with many external collaborators.
- SCIM provisioning and SSO are locked to the Pro Unlimited plan, leaving Basecamp Plus customers without automated provisioning.
- No 'suspend' state - the only way to revoke access is full removal, which can be high-impact if temporary access restriction is needed.
- Limited IdP options documented (Okta and Entra ID supported; Google Workspace and OneLogin not supported for SSO/SCIM).
The decision
Teams evaluating Basecamp for user lifecycle management should weigh two distinct operating modes. On Basecamp Plus, every app and every user addition or removal is a manual, per-person operation with no automation and no activity visibility.
On Pro Unlimited, SCIM provisioning via Okta or Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) enables zero-touch onboarding and offboarding, but requires SSO to be fully configured first.
The flat-rate Pro Unlimited pricing ($299/month) makes the automation tier cost-effective for larger teams, but the SSO prerequisite adds implementation complexity. Google Workspace and OneLogin are not officially supported IdPs for SCIM. Teams that need granular roles, a suspend state, or bulk import without SSO will find Basecamp's model a poor fit regardless of plan.
Bottom line
Basecamp's user management is intentionally simple: two account roles, project-level guest controls, and a flat invite-and-remove lifecycle. That simplicity becomes a liability at scale - no bulk import, no activity reporting, no suspend state, and no automation below the Pro Unlimited plan.
Teams willing to commit to Pro Unlimited and configure SSO first gain a functional SCIM provisioning path via Okta or Entra ID; everyone else manages every app access change by hand, one invitation at a time.
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