Let's be fair: Basecamp is genuinely good at what it was designed to do. The message board keeps long conversations readable. The automatic check-in questions are a legitimately clever way to run async standups. And if you're running a 20-person agency, the flat per-team billing math works out nicely in Basecamp's favor.
But here's the problem. You're a team of two or three. You don't need campfire threads, hill charts, or a dedicated space to post the company handbook. You need to know what's due today, where that design file lives, and whether your partner got the reminder about the client call. Basecamp wasn't built for that tightness of workflow — it was built to scale up. TaskLoco was built to stay out of your way.
Where Basecamp Actually Wins (Be Honest About It)
Basecamp's message board genuinely beats a stack of sticky notes for long-form async conversations. If your team communicates mostly in paragraphs — project briefs, strategy discussions, client feedback threads — Basecamp's structure keeps those conversations organized better than most tools, including TaskLoco.
The automatic check-in feature is also legitimately useful if your team is distributed across time zones and needs a structured daily rhythm. You set the questions once, Basecamp pings everyone, and the answers pile up neatly without anyone having to schedule a meeting. That's a real, functional workflow.
And for teams that have grown beyond ten people, Basecamp's billing model has historically made sense. One price, everyone included — that math works when your headcount is high enough.
What Basecamp Gets Wrong at Very Small Scale
Basecamp's structure is built around projects. To do anything — post a task, share a file, send a message — you first pick a project. For a team of twenty, that makes sense. For a team of two working on three overlapping things at once, it becomes friction. You end up creating projects for things that aren't really projects. A "miscellaneous" project appears within the first week. Then a "client stuff" project. The structure starts working against you instead of for you.
There are also no reminders in the traditional sense. Basecamp has notifications, but there's no mechanism to set a time-based push notification that fires when a deadline actually arrives and deep-links you straight back to the relevant note or task. You're managing deadlines manually, checking in on due dates yourself, or relying on a calendar you maintain separately.
File attachments exist, but they're scattered across individual to-dos and message threads. Finding last month's contract means remembering which message board it was attached to, not searching a unified file space.
For a duo or trio, all of this overhead lands harder. There's no team of five to absorb the navigation. It's just you, your one or two collaborators, and a tool that keeps asking you to classify things before you can work on them.
How TaskLoco Actually Works for Two or Three People
TaskLoco is built around sticky notes — literal, visual, fast. You open the app, you see your notes on a wall, and you start working. There's no onboarding ceremony, no project setup, no permissions configuration. You add your two colleagues, share a note with them, and they clone it into their own workspace. It works exactly like forwarding an email — the recipient gets a full copy they can own and act on, no access levels, no "can view" vs "can edit" confusion.
Reminders are push notifications that fire directly to your phone and computer and deep-link straight back to the original note. So when a reminder fires, one tap takes you exactly to the task it's about — not to a dashboard where you have to find it again. You can also enable optional email notifications or SMS add-on if you prefer those channels, but push is the default and it's fast.
Every Premium note can have file attachments. Ten gigabytes is included. If you're working with larger files or media-heavy projects, additional storage tiers are available as add-ons. Everything searchable, everything in one place — not scattered across threads.
The calendar view pulls your notes with due dates into a visual timeline. For a team of two managing a client roster, a launch schedule, or a content calendar, this alone replaces a separate calendar tool for most day-to-day tracking.
The Chrome Extension and Cross-Device Reality
One of TaskLoco's genuinely underrated features for teams of any size is the Chrome extension. If you're doing research, managing clients, or tracking down references across the web, one click captures any webpage directly into a note. No copy-paste, no tab hoarding, no "I'll come back to this" that never happens. The extension is free and works with both Lite Plus+ and Premium accounts.
TaskLoco Premium runs as a web app, which means it works on any browser — desktop or mobile. The native iPhone and Android app is TaskLoco Lite, the free tier that stores up to 20 notes locally on your device with no sign-in required. It's the fastest possible on-ramp for someone who wants to try the note-wall concept before committing to anything. Lite Plus+, also free, adds cross-device sync and up to 30 notes through the web app and Chrome extension.
Premium unlocks everything: unlimited notes, reminders, file attachments, calendar view, and team sharing — all the things a two- or three-person team actually needs to run a real workflow together.
The Honest Comparison
| Feature | TaskLoco | Basecamp |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Two free tiers: Lite (20 notes, no sign-in, device only) and Lite Plus+ (30 notes, synced across devices) FREE | No free tier — trial period only |
| Core interface | Visual sticky note wall — see everything at a glance, no hierarchy | Project-based structure with to-dos, message boards, and campfire threads |
| Async messaging / message boards | Shared notes with team sharing — notes cloned and owned by each recipient | Dedicated message boards with threaded long-form discussion — genuinely strong |
| Reminders | Push notification reminders that deep-link back to the original note; optional email and SMS add-on | No time-based push notification reminders — relies on manual deadline tracking |
| Calendar view | Built-in calendar view pulls all dated notes and tasks into a visual timeline | No built-in calendar view |
| File attachments | 10GB included with Premium; attachments live inside the relevant note; additional storage tiers available | File attachments exist but scattered across message threads and to-dos |
| Team sharing model | Yes — included with Premium. Each team member requires a separate subscription — currently $9.99/month per person, but TaskLoco is offering a Charter Member special: 50% off for life, currently $4.99/month per person for the first 500 subscribers with code CHARTER50. | Project-level access — everyone in a project sees everything in that project |
| Automatic check-ins / standups | Not a built-in feature | Automatic scheduled check-in questions — a genuinely useful async standup tool |
| Chrome extension | One-click webpage capture into a note — free with Lite Plus+ and Premium FREE | No Chrome extension |
| Native mobile app | TaskLoco Lite is the native iPhone and Android app — free, anonymous, 20 notes, no sync | Native iOS and Android apps with full feature access |
| Setup time for 2-3 people | Start in under two minutes — no project structure required before you can work | Requires project setup and structure before most features become useful |
| Full-text search | Full-text search across all notes and attachments | Search available across projects |
| Gantt charts / project timelines | Not available | Not available either — neither tool has Gantt charts |
| Cross-device sync | Synced on Lite Plus+ and Premium (web app); Lite is device-only | Full sync across all devices |
| Per-person vs per-team pricing | Per person — each member has their own subscription and workspace | Flat per-team pricing — can favor larger groups but less flexible for individuals |
| 7-day free trial (Premium) | 7-day free trial — no charge until day 8, cancel anytime FREE | Trial period available but no permanently free tier |
Who Should Use Each
Use TaskLoco if…
- You're a duo or trio who wants to start working immediately without configuring a project structure first
- You need reminders that fire as push notifications and deep-link straight back to the relevant note
- You want file attachments, calendar view, and team sharing in one place without separate tools
- You capture research and references from the web and want a one-click Chrome extension to grab them
- You prefer each person to own their own workspace with notes shared like emails — no permissions headaches
- You want a permanently free tier to try the concept before spending anything
Use Basecamp if…
- Your team runs on long-form async conversation and message boards are genuinely central to your workflow
- You need automatic scheduled check-in questions for async standups across time zones
- Your team has grown to a size where flat per-team pricing is more economical than per-person subscriptions
- You need a full-featured native mobile app with the same capabilities as the desktop experience
TaskLoco Premium is regularly $9.99/month per person. Right now, charter members can lock in 50% off the regular price — forever. That means $4.99/month per person today. And if our price ever goes up, you still pay half. Always.
Code CHARTER50 auto-applies at checkout. First 500 spots only — once they're gone, this offer is gone permanently. Act fast while spots last.
Every Premium subscription includes unlimited notes, 10GB file storage, reminders, calendar, and team sharing. Each team member requires a separate subscription. 7-day free trial — no charge until day 8. Cancel anytime.
Free Options: TaskLoco vs Basecamp
TaskLoco Lite
- Native iPhone & Android app
- Completely anonymous — no sign-in
- Data stays on your device
- Up to 20 notes
- Free forever
TaskLoco Lite Plus+
- Web app + Chrome extension
- Sign in with Google
- Wall syncs across all devices
- Up to 30 notes
- Free forever
Lock In 50% Off — Forever
7-day free trial. No charge until day 8. CHARTER50 auto-applies at checkout.
🔒 Lock In My Charter SpotSee TaskLoco in Action
Frequently Asked Questions
Is TaskLoco actually designed for very small teams, or is it just marketed that way?
TaskLoco's note-wall model genuinely scales down to one or two people without losing anything. There's no minimum team size, no empty project templates to fill, and no structure you have to impose before you can start working. A solo freelancer and a three-person agency use it exactly the same way.
Does TaskLoco have anything like Basecamp's automatic check-in feature?
No, and it's worth being upfront about that. TaskLoco doesn't have a scheduled check-in question feature. If that async standup workflow is genuinely central to how your team operates, Basecamp does it better. What TaskLoco does instead is give each person a note wall they can update directly — and reminder push notifications that fire on schedule and link straight back to the note. That works for most small-team coordination, but it's not the same thing.
How does team sharing work in TaskLoco?
Sharing in TaskLoco works like sending an email. You share a note, your teammate receives it, and they clone it into their own workspace. They own their copy — they can edit it, attach files to it, set reminders on it — without any permissions or access-level negotiation. There's no 'can view' vs 'can edit' configuration. It's designed to be that simple.
What free options does TaskLoco offer before I pay for anything?
Two of them. TaskLoco Lite is a native iPhone and Android app — completely free, no sign-in, no account, up to 20 notes stored on your device. TaskLoco Lite Plus+ is a free web app and Chrome extension — sign in with Google, up to 30 notes, synced across all your devices. Neither Lite tier includes reminders, file attachments, or team sharing — those are Premium features. But both are genuinely useful entry points, not crippled demos.
How does TaskLoco pricing work for a team?
$9.99/month per person (currently $4.99/month per person for first 500 charter members with code CHARTER50)
Can I use TaskLoco on my phone the same way I use it on desktop?
TaskLoco Premium and Lite Plus+ are web apps, which means you use them on mobile through your phone's browser — not as a native app downloaded from the App Store or Play Store. The native app (available in both stores) is TaskLoco Lite, the free anonymous version that stores up to 20 notes on your device. For the full Premium experience on mobile, you open your phone's browser and go to taskloco.com — it works well that way, but it's not a native app.
What happens to my reminders if I'm away from my computer?
Reminders are delivered as push notifications to both your phone and your computer, so whichever device you have with you will catch it. Each reminder deep-links directly back to the original note so you're one tap away from the context. You can also enable optional email notifications or an SMS add-on if you want those as additional channels.
Born in Brooklyn. Powered by AWS. Your data stays yours.
TaskLoco is available on iPhone, Android, Chrome, and every web browser.