Quick answer
Gather is the best virtual office for teams that want to build a real remote culture. It's a workspace where teams can create shared rituals and express their personality, beyond holding meetings and chatting.
Roam is a strong alternative for teams optimizing for productivity and consolidation. It's an all-in-one suite for meetings, chat, scheduling, and AI, with less emphasis on the cultural side of remote work.
If your team measures success by how connected people feel, we think you'll really enjoy Gather. If your team prefers pure efficiency, Roam may be the better fit.
A day in Gather vs. a day in Roam
It's 9:15 on a Tuesday.
With Gather, you open your team's personalized office. Someone decorated for fall, so the trees are now orange and there's a pumpkin by your desk. You hear two teammates nearby talking about their weekend and pop over to say hello. Later, someone waves from across the office, and you swing by their desk to answer a quick question. You didn't have a single meeting on your calendar today, but you feel energized by these small moments with your team.
With Roam, you open the app and see everyone's room: who's free, who's in a meeting, and what they're working on. You click to knock and start or join a conversation, and go back to your own room when you're done. It's fast, clean, and built to get things done.
Neither workspace is necessarily better; they're just optimized for different things. Gather is for the moments in between work. Roam is for the work itself.
What is Roam?
Roam is a room-based virtual workspace built around productivity and AI. Instead of a spatial map you walk around, Roam organizes your team into rooms, floors, and departments. Click one to "knock" and start or join a conversation.
Roam includes several products on top of the workspace: Theater (for large all-hands events), Lobby (meeting scheduling), AInbox (enterprise chat), Magicast (screen recording), and more. Their goal is to help teams replace several separate tools with a single subscription.
What is Gather?
If you're new here, Gather is a virtual office where remote teams can work, chat, and interact like they're in person. See who’s around, join conversations without scheduling a thing, and create a space that’s as unique as your team.
Our features include work-critical tools like instant meetings, persistent chat, AI meeting notes and summaries, and calendar syncing, plus fun features like holiday objects, the ability to dance and throw confetti, and a Spotify integration.
Our mission is to create the most delightful, energizing, and purposeful way to interact with remote teammates online.
How are Roam and Gather similar?
Both platforms are built around the same core idea: your team should feel present with each other throughout the day, not just during scheduled calls. Gather and Roam both offer:
Always-on presence: see who's online and available without pinging them first
Click-to-join meetings: drop into a conversation instantly, no calendar invite required
Dedicated meeting rooms: with screen sharing, recording, AI notes, and transcriptions
Calendar integration: Easily schedule formal meetings, in addition to spontaneous calls
Statuses and reactions: communicate quickly without a full conversation
Quick conversations: The average conversation length of both platforms is <10 minutes
Roam and Gather tackle the same underlying problem: remote and hybrid teams lose something when every interaction has to be scheduled. Both platforms try to bring back a sense of "being in the office together"; they just have different approaches to what the office should feel like.
How are Roam and Gather different?
The workspace
The biggest difference you'll notice right away is each platform's look and feel. Gather embraces fun and delight, with a playful pixel-art style that lets your team show off their personality. If you're not into the pixel-perfect details, you can always switch into Simplified View for a minimal office.
Roam has a single, clean view that puts productivity first. You won't find objects or decorations, but you will see your teammates in a single, organized view.
Type of presence (spatial vs. room-based)
Gather uses proximity audio and a spatial map. You move your avatar around and can naturally start conversations when you approach someone, like you would in a real office.
Roam is organized by room: you see a list of who's where and click to join in. Gather's approach creates more of those unplanned, hallway-style moments; Roam's is more direct and requires less navigation.
Product focus
Gather focuses on the human side of remote work, investing in a joyful way to work together. You can see what's coming on our public roadmap.
Roam focuses on building an AI-powered product suite, typically prioritizing productivity over personalization.
Feature Comparison
Overview
Feature | Gather | Roam |
|---|---|---|
Monthly price | ✅ $15/member/month | ✅ $19.50/member/month |
Annual price | ✅ $12/member/month | ❌ Monthly plans only |
Free trial | ✅ Yes, 30-day free trial | ✅ Yes, 14-day free trial |
Proximity/spatial audio | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Average meeting length | <10 minutes | <10 minutes |
Workspace
Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 |
|---|---|---|
Simple room-based view | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Immersive object-based view | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Office editor | ✅ Yes, room layout and decorations | ✅ Yes, room layout |
Multiple office floors | ✅ In beta | ✅ Yes |
Meetings & Collaboration
Feature | Gather | Roam |
|---|---|---|
Click-to-join instant meetings | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Interaction to get someone's attention | ✅ Yes, Wave | ✅ Yes, Knock |
Schedule meetings in advance | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Lock conversations | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Meeting recording | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
AI meeting notes & transcript | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Chat (channels, DMs, threads) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Culture
Feature | Gather | Roam |
|---|---|---|
Customizable avatars | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Personal, customizable desks | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Seasonal & themed office decor | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Reactive avatar animations | ✅ Yes; wave, throw confetti, dance, etc. | ⚠️ Emoji reactions |
Embedded games | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Productivity & Security
Feature | Gather | Roam |
|---|---|---|
SSO | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
SCIM | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
MCP Server | ⚠️ Coming soon | ✅ Yes |
Mobile app | ✅ In beta | ✅ Yes |
Webhooks | ✅ Yes, via Smart Objects | ✅ Yes, via API |
Who should choose Roam?
Teams who are optimizing for productivity and efficiency over cultural connection
Teams who prefer a simple UI
AI-first teams who want agents built into their workspace
Who should choose Gather?
Teams who value culture and want to create a connected remote work experience
Teams who prefer a fully customizable office that can be as unique as they are
Human-first teams who want to have more spontaneous and fun interactions with their teammates
FAQs
Does Roam have spatial audio like Gather?
No. Roam has a room-based UI that requires users to click or knock to start conversations. Gather has that as well (we call it a Wave), plus spatial audio that lets you hear casual conversations nearby in the virtual office. Both platforms also let you schedule meetings in advance and lock conversations for extra privacy.
Which virtual office is better: Roam or Gather?
Roam and Gather are both great virtual office platforms for remote teams. It really just depends on what your team needs: teams that prioritize connection and culture tend to prefer Gather, while teams that prioritize consolidation and pure productivity tend to prefer Roam.
Does Roam support team culture and rituals the way Gather does?
Not really; it's not a focus of the product. Roam focuses on productivity, AI, and tool consolidation, whereas Gather consistently introduces new ways to personalize the space through objects and avatar outfits.
What's on Gather's roadmap?
Our team is laser-focused on creating the most delightful digital workspace for remote teams. Check our changelog for what’s shipped recently, or our roadmap for what’s next.
