Who needs to install it (and who pays)

Two questions come up a lot, usually together: “Why can’t my teammates or clients see the features I see?” and “Will everyone be charged?” Short answers: each person installs the extension themselves, and only one admin pays.

Assistant is a browser extension

Assistant runs inside your browser. The Kanban board, tags, custom fields, and everything else are added to Basecamp by the extension on your computer. Someone looking at the same Basecamp project without the extension installed just sees plain Basecamp.

So there’s no way to switch it on for other people from your side. Anyone who wants the extra views installs it in their own browser:

Open the Chrome Web Store listing and click Add to Chrome (works in Chrome, Arc, Edge, and Brave).
Sign in with their Basecamp account.
The features light up inside Basecamp.

Full setup steps are in getting started.

Only one admin pays. Everyone else is free

Pricing is flat: $29/month or $290/year for your whole team, unlimited people, every feature. There are no per-person charges.

One Basecamp admin connects the account and pays. After that, everyone else on that Basecamp account is covered automatically. There’s nothing for them to buy, assign, or request. They install the extension, sign in, and they’re in. Every new account also gets a 7-day free trial with no credit card. See billing or the pricing page for the details.

What about client guests?

Guests you’ve invited to your Basecamp projects work the same way. They install the extension in their own browser, sign in, and see Assistant’s features on the projects they can access. Everyone on your Basecamp account is covered by your plan, so there’s nothing for a guest to pay either.

If someone still sees plain Basecamp

Usually it’s one of these:

They haven’t installed the extension yet. This is the most common one. Send them this page.
They haven’t signed in after installing. Have them sign in at app.getassistant.io.
No admin has connected the account yet. A Basecamp admin has to connect and start the trial or subscription once, before anyone else gets access.

More fixes are in troubleshooting.

The short version

Assistant is a browser extension, so every person who wants its features installs it themselves and signs in. Only one admin pays for the whole account. Everyone else, teammates and guests alike, is free and unlimited.