Which Virtual Office Should You Choose in 2026? Alternatives to Every Major Product

Virtual office software splits into four kinds, and the choice is mostly about what you see on screen. Katmai is the only photorealistic 3D office where your team appears as real people on live video all day, in the browser, with no headset, at $25 per user per month with every feature included, no minimum number of users and free guests. The rest of the market is avatars on a 2D map (Gather, WorkAdventure, SoWork, Kumospace, oVice), maps of rooms (Roam, Sococo), live video on a flat map (Cosmos Video, Flat.social, SpatialChat) and 3D avatar worlds (Virbela). This hub links to a dedicated alternatives guide for each product and gives you the published price of every one.

This hub is published by Katmai, which makes virtual office software. Competitor prices come from each vendor's own pricing page in October 2026; check them before you buy.

Every virtual office compared

Product

What you see

Free plan

Published price

Katmai

Real people on live video in a photorealistic 3D office

No; starts with a demo

$25 per user per month, every feature included

Gather

Pixel-art avatars on a 2D map

None; 30-day free trial

Essential $12 per member per month billed annually ($15 billed monthly)

Kumospace

Avatars in the browser

Up to 5 registered members

Business $16 per user per month, paid annually, minimum 5

SoWork

Avatars in a 2.5D space

Up to 10 members, 30-minute meetings

Basic $5.40, Premium $12 per member per month, billed annually

WorkAdventure

Open-source pixel avatars on a 2D map

Up to 10 users

Business from €8 per user per month

oVice

Avatar icons on a 2D floor plan

None listed

Entry-S $65 per space per month annual; Business Starter $16 per user per month annual, from 20 users

Roam

A map of rooms

None listed; 14-day trial per new member

$19.50 per active member per month

Sococo

A floor map of rooms

None; 14-day trial

$13.49 per seat per month prepaid annually, 10-seat minimum

Cosmos Video

Live video tiles on a 2D map

Up to 4 online at once

Paid price not shown in the page as served

Flat.social

Video and audio on a 2D map, for meetings and events

Up to 5 people at once

$6 per seat per month, 10 to 100 seats

Virbela

3D avatar campus

None listed

Not published; contact sales

Real people or avatars

The first decision is whether your team sees faces or characters. Every avatar office, from Gather's pixels to Virbela's 3D campus, puts a character between you and your colleague, and opens video only when characters meet. Katmai, Cosmos Video, Flat.social and SpatialChat show real video. Of those, only Katmai puts the video in a 3D office rather than on a flat map, which is why it reads as a place your team is in rather than a diagram of where they are.

Office or map of rooms

Roam and Sococo skip presence in favour of a map: rooms with names and a note of who is inside. Roam's own comparison page marks it "No" on spatial movement and proximity audio. They are simple and they are not an office; you join a room to talk, the way you join a call.

What changed in the category

The market thinned out. Gather ended its free plan when Gather 2.0 launched on September 15, 2025, and in February 2026 became an independent, non-venture-backed business with its AI team joining Figma. Teamflow still takes signups but pivoted to Lindy in 2023 and has had no development since. Around is gone: Miro lists the app as deprecated and the around.co domain is now parked for sale. Microsoft retired Mesh and the immersive 3D view in Teams in December 2025. Spatial moved to 3D games and experiences. Kumospace's founders now run Fonzi AI and say Kumospace is still supported. The guides below cover each one.

Alternatives guides

Why Katmai is the first row on every guide

Katmai is the one product in the category that is 3D, real video and browser-based at once. Your team is present at desks and in rooms as themselves, you walk over to talk, and clients and candidates join free by link into an office that looks like yours. There is no map to build: getting started is a demo, then a configuration meeting where the Katmai team sets up your spaces and adds your users. One plan at $25 per user per month, every feature included, no minimum number of users. Katmai recommends 16GB of RAM and an i7 processor or better. On every guide above, Katmai is the alternative to pick when the point is to feel like you share an office, and the others are listed with their real prices for when it isn't.

FAQ

What is the best virtual office software in 2026?

Katmai, for teams that want to see each other as real people in an office that looks real: a photorealistic 3D office on live video at $25 per user per month with every feature included, no minimum number of users and free guests.

Which virtual offices have a free plan?

SoWork (up to 10 members, 30-minute meetings), WorkAdventure (up to 10 users), Kumospace (up to 5 registered members), Flat.social (up to 5 people at once) and Cosmos Video (up to 4 online at once). Gather ended its free plan on September 15, 2025.

Which virtual office products are shut down or retired?

Around is gone: Miro lists it as deprecated and its domain is parked for sale. Microsoft retired Mesh and Teams' immersive 3D view in December 2025. Spatial moved to games. Teamflow still runs but has had no development since its 2023 pivot.

Which virtual offices use real video instead of avatars?

Katmai, Cosmos Video, Flat.social and SpatialChat. Katmai is the only one of them in a 3D office rather than on a flat map.

How much does Katmai cost?

$25 per user per month, every feature included, no minimum number of users and free guests.

Related: Compare Katmai with every virtual office · Best virtual office software · Free virtual office software · Katmai pricing · Book a Katmai demo