Horizon Workrooms Alternatives in 2026: Virtual Offices That Don't Need a Headset

Horizon Workrooms is Meta's VR meeting room for Quest headsets, where a team meets as avatars around a virtual table. Meta's own page says "Starting February 20, 2026, Meta Horizon managed services will no longer be available for purchase." Teams look for alternatives for one reason above all: a headset is something most people will not put on for a working day, and a client never will. The best alternative is Katmai, a photorealistic 3D virtual office in the browser where your team is present as real people on live video all day, with no headset and no download, at $25 per user per month with every feature included, no minimum number of users and free guests. The other options below keep the avatar or the 3D space without the hardware.

This guide 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.

The best Horizon Workrooms alternatives at a glance

The headset problem

Workrooms made a real bet: that presence needs immersion, and immersion needs a headset. The first half is right. The second half is why teams leave. A headset is heavy, it isolates you from your desk, nobody wears one for eight hours, and the moment a client or a contractor needs to join, the whole plan collapses to a call link. An office has to be somewhere everyone can walk into.

1. Katmai: 3D presence with no headset and no avatars

Katmai keeps what Workrooms was reaching for, a 3D space your team is in together, and drops both the headset and the avatar. Your team is on live video in a photorealistic 3D office, at desks and in rooms; you see real faces, walk over and talk, and clients join free by link in the browser. Katmai recommends 16GB of RAM and an i7 processor or better. One plan, $25 per user per month, every feature included, no minimum number of users. Getting started is a demo, then a configuration meeting where the Katmai team sets up your spaces and adds your users.

2. Virbela: 3D avatars on a screen

Virbela is the closest to Workrooms' avatar idea without the headset: a 3D campus of buildings, auditoriums and offices where your team appears as stylized avatars. The main app is a download; Virbela Go runs in the browser. Virbela publishes no prices. eXp World Holdings sold it to Virbela LLC in November 2024, and it is still sold. Suited to large events; still avatars.

3. Kumospace: a browser avatar office

Kumospace runs in the browser with avatars and video when you meet. Free for up to 5 registered members; Business is $16 per user per month paid annually with a 5-member minimum, a 14-day trial, unlimited floors, recording and analytics. Guests are capped at 4 hours a week.

4. Gather: the pixel office

Gather is a 2D pixel-art avatar office at $12 per member per month billed annually or $15 billed monthly, with a 30-day trial and no free plan since Gather 2.0 launched on September 15, 2025. Guests are not billed. The opposite of VR: light, flat and playful.

5. Roam: rooms on a map

Roam drops avatars entirely and shows a map of rooms and who is in them, at $19.50 per active member per month billed monthly, inactive seats not counted, guests free, 14-day trial per new member. Roam's own comparison page marks it "No" on spatial movement and proximity audio.

How to choose

If you want what Workrooms promised, a 3D place your team is in together, without the headset, Katmai is the only option here that is 3D, real video and browser-based. If you want 3D avatars for big events, Virbela. If 3D was never the point, Kumospace, Gather or Roam. Microsoft retired its own 3D option, Mesh and the immersive view in Teams, in December 2025, so the field of headset-first offices is thinner than it was.

FAQ

Do Horizon Workrooms alternatives need a VR headset?

None of the five above do. Katmai, Kumospace, Gather and Roam run in the browser; Virbela runs as a downloaded app or in the browser as Virbela Go.

What is the best Horizon Workrooms alternative?

Katmai: a photorealistic 3D office where your team is on live video, in the browser with no headset, at $25 per user per month with every feature included, no minimum number of users and free guests.

Which alternatives are 3D?

Katmai, with real people on live video, and Virbela, with avatars. Kumospace and Gather are 2D avatar offices and Roam is a map of rooms.

Can clients join without a headset?

In Katmai, yes: guests join free by link in the browser.

How much does Katmai cost?

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

Related: Microsoft Mesh alternatives · Spatial alternatives · Katmai vs Virbela · All alternatives guides · Katmai pricing · Book a Katmai demo