7 best virtual office software for remote team collaboration

In the 1980s, videocassette recorders (VCRs) changed entertainment forever. For the first time ever, you could fast-forward, rewind, pause, and play a movie at the click of a button. You could also “timeshift,” record your favorite TV shows, and watch them whenever you wanted. 

This was a game-changer as you no longer had to be physically in front of the TV at a certain time to enjoy a show. 

The best virtual office software does something similar for remote or hybrid work. It gives you and your people a place to find each other and get work done in real time or async (aka, whenever it suits you). This means you don’t need to be in the same place, or at the same time, to accomplish great things. 

By contrast, traditional video conferencing tools rely on one-sided screen sharing and delete everything at the end of each conversation, which harms engagement, collaboration, and productivity. Like old-school analog TV, it’s best to be there when your show airs if you really want to be in the loop.   

That’s why leaders of highly collaborative teams need to invest in virtual office software that saves your progress, acts as a hub for your teams, and lets them feel like they’re sitting side-by-side, sharing ideas.  

In this post, we’ll walk you through seven of the best virtual office tools, compare their features, pricing, and advantages, and outline who each is best for. We’ll also show you how Switchboard helps you create a truly collaborative environment where team members can participate and contribute seamlessly—even if they’re “watching the show” at different times. 

Looking for a virtual office that unlocks healthy and effective teamwork? 
Switchboard’s virtual workspace lets you get more done and have more spontaneous interactions, which builds cohesive teams.
‍Sign up for free.

Virtual office software: overview

Want a more detailed product analysis? Keep reading!

What to look for in virtual office software

With the right virtual office software, you can create an environment where team members feel connected and on the same page. Here are some things to look out for: 

• An online workspace to bring all your web-based tools in one place for seamless teamwork
  
• Persistent rooms that save your work so you can “press play” whenever you want and pick up where you left off
  
• File sharing capabilities and a multiplayer experience so everyone can access, view, and work on browser-based apps, files, and documents side by side
  
• Dedicated 1:1 rooms for planned meetings, spontaneous interactions, and team-building
  
• Fits your team’s working and communication style so everyone can do their best, whether its async or in real time
• Real-time communication through video chat and virtual rooms to keep everyone updated
  
• Virtual whiteboards, comments, sticky notes, and in-room messaging to make communication, brainstorming, and coworking easier
  
• Integrations with project collaboration tools to keep track of deadlines and project statuses
  
• Presentation and screen sharing mode to show everyone in the room what you are seeing
  
• Meeting recordings so nobody is out of the loop, even if they couldn’t attend ‍
• Straightforward setup and intuitive interface and features to get everyone on board more easily ‍
• Available across a range of devices so your teams can work from anywhere ‍
• Data security and encrypted infrastructure to keep company and client information safe‍
• In-app support to resolve issues quickly

7 best virtual office software tools

Now you know what to look for, let’s explore some of the best virtual office platforms out there:

​​1. Switchboard

Switchboard is a collaborative digital workspace that lets you and your team make things happen inside dedicated virtual rooms—without having to share your screen. You can work together on documents and browser-based apps in a range of meetings, from 1:1 catch-ups and sprint planning to sales demos and project presentations. 

Switchboard lets you communicate in real time with video, audio, and chat. You can also work side-by-side allowing everyone to scroll, type, and browse the same document at the same time. 

Throughout the meeting, you can explore any file in the room, moving around and viewing whatever you want without getting in the way of others. When you want to get everyone’s attention, just use “present mode” to focus everyone’s eyes on what you want to show.

Finally, Switchboard gives you a centralized hub that securely stores your work and progress so you never lose anything important. Think of it like recording and saving your favorite TV program on a VHS tape so you can watch it anytime you like.

Key features:

• Shared online workspace and rooms for recurring meetings
• Web-based canvas to add multiple apps, websites, PDFs, and images next to each other
• Persistent rooms that keep everything you put in them
• In-meeting video, audio, and chat
• Secure, fast multiplayer browsers for instant collaboration
• Screen sharing for native apps—including multiple screen shares inside a room
• Sections to organize documents and apps
• Built-in whiteboard 
• Presentation mode
• Google Calendar integration so you always know what’s coming up
• Unlimited rooms for 1:1s, meetings, and projects
• Meeting recording
• No integration required for browser-based apps—access them like you normally would
• Room permissions for members and guests
• Host not required for members to enter a room
• Up to 50 participants 
• In-app support

Pricing: 

• Switchboard is currently free with all features included. It plans to introduce pricing tiers in 2023 and there will always be a free option. 

Best for: 

• Switchboard is designed for teams that need a better way of collaborating no matter where they are--sitting side-by side in an office, spread across time zones, or hybrid. It's a great option for teams that need a dedicated, interactive space for projects and meetings.

2. SpatialChat

‍SpatialChat is a virtual workspace tool designed to bring distributed teams together. With personalized offices and rooms, you can curate your own tailored headquarters. It also lets you connect seamlessly with various apps and coworkers, and hold meaningful conversations. 

Conduct internal meetings, such as town halls or all-hands sessions, and watch as your coworkers engage in real time with emoji responses. You can also use it to run workshops and training sessions, virtual events, and even code together. 

Key features: 

• Accommodates up to 5,000 participants at once 
• Browser-based application 
• Document and file sharing 
• Personalized offices and office decor 
• Annotations/drawing on screen
• Sticky notes
• Simultaneous screen sharing

Pricing: 

• Free plan available for up to five users
• Startup: $5/month per user 
• Enterprise: $12/month per user
  

Best for: 

• Large remote or hybrid organizations looking to host virtual events and training conferences across multiple departments, including educators.  

3. Gather

Gather (also known as Gather.town) is a virtual workspace platform that lets you bring your teams together in a customizable, gamified digital space. When you first log in, you create a personalized avatar that you use to walk around the space and interact with others. Imagine stepping into a ‘90s video game world with your coworkers, where your avatars can interact as you come into contact with each other.

Once you’ve done that, you can design your online office, create private rooms for 1:1 conversations, and public areas for water cooler chats or co-working. You can also use Gather to host virtual events, training, and team-building games. 

However, as of right now, you can’t record your Gather calls, which means you might lose some important information. To record an audio or video call, you need to use the app’s Google Meet or Microsoft Teams extension for the meeting.

Key features:

• Public and private rooms
• Customizable office maps 
• Unlimited audio and video meetings
• Hand raising and emoji reactions in video chats and calls
• Screen and file sharing
• Link and document sharing
• Private and public in-meeting chat
• Interactive objects like whiteboards, timers, game stations, and even office pets
• Link and document sharing

Pricing:

• Free for up to 10 users 
• Monthly subscription: $7/month per user 

Best for: 

• Small teams of under 10 people who like working in a gamified, interactive office 
• Large conferences and workshops of up to 500 people 
• Organizing occasional team-building events
  

4. Kumospace

Kumospace is a virtual office space designed for events and teamwork. It helps reduce the need for lots of meetings by using simple nudges and live chat as you pass each other in the space. You can also see where your teammates are at any time, just like you would in a traditional office. For example, if someone’s hanging out by the water cooler, you can take a break and join them for a virtual coffee chat.

The platform uses spatial audio to give you a more intimate working experience. This means you can have multiple conversations with people in the same space. Anyone who “walks” by can hear what you’re talking about and join in—unless you’re in a private space.  

Key features: 

• Live chat 
• Customizable space 
• Video and audio conferencing 
• Private and public rooms
• Built-in whiteboard 
• Screen sharing 
• Spatial audio for more spontaneous conversations 
• Virtual games for team building 

Pricing: 

• Free
• Professional: starts at $8/month per user 
• Business: starts at $16/month per user 
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Best for: 

• Large teams of hybrid and remote workers that need a place to hold comprehensive virtual-office-based events. 

5. Teemyco

Teemyco is a digital office that improves teamwork by bringing your virtual workspace and tools together. It lets you and your people see where your colleagues are in the work environment and what they’re working on, which brings greater visibility to who’s doing what. For example, you can tell who’s planning a project, giving a sales demo, or taking a break. 

Like with Kumospace and Gather, you can customize your virtual office floor plan on Teemyco and create as many public and private spaces as you need. Choose layouts for meeting rooms, project management spaces, and lounge areas according to what helps boost team productivity. 

Finally, you can engage with teammates with kudos hats, emojis, and status updates so you can get work done while building a close-knit, sociable team. 

Key features: 

• Unlimited video calls 
• In-meeting chat
• Customized office floor plans
• Document sharing 
• Flying emoji reactions and status updates 
• Guest links and external conferencing 
• Simultaneous screen sharing 
• Personalized offices 
• Slack and calendar integrations

Pricing: 

• Free trial 
• Monthly plan: $8/month per user
• Annual plan: $6/month per user

Best for:  

• Remote or hybrid teams in product design or software development looking for simultaneous screen-sharing for collaborative coding and cross-checks.

6. Happeo

Happeo is a company intranet tool that helps you manage information by uniting all your apps, tools, and teams in one place. Remember that VHS drawer you had to keep all your favorite tapes so nothing got misplaced or lost? Well, this is the digital equivalent for remote companies. 

With this platform, you can create a detailed employee directory, an in-depth analytics dashboard, news feed, and even internal blog posts. This way, you can build your company culture as you grow.  

Happeo also lets you post targeted announcements to quickly get messages across to your team. You can also see who’s read it and resend it to the people who missed it, so nobody’s out of the loop. 

Key features: 

• Personalized company homepage
• Employee directory 
• Employee channels to enhance engagement
• News feed
• Newsletter
• Multi-channel sharing 
• Complete integration with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 
• Live chat 
• Analytics dashboard 

Pricing: 

• Free trial 
• Custom priced on request 

Best for: 

• Medium- to large-sized and scaling distributed companies needing a collaborative, unified online office that combines employee onboarding, HR, and internal content creation functions. 

7. TimeCamp Planner

‍The app formerly known as HeySpace, TimeCamp Planner is a collaboration software and project management tool for distributed teams. It makes it easy to plan resources, gauge workloads, and get quick replies to urgent messages, projects, or questions. With TimeCamp Planner, you can tag coworkers to get their attention, send files and attachments, and make impromptu video calls from one place. 

You can also integrate it with TimeCamp’s other services for more features like time tracking, billing, reporting, and productivity tracking.

Key features: 

• In-app chat and private channels 
• Ability to turn messages directly into tasks
• Project and task management 
• Boards, lists, and checklists 
• Video calls, mentions, and quick reply 
• Filter tasks by completion status, assignees, and tags
• Task timelines for project overviews 
• Calendar, Kanban, and Gantt views
  

Pricing: 

• Free
• Premium: $3.75/month per user
  

Best for: 

• Remote or hybrid startups and SMBs wanting streamlined and centralized workflows for efficient project management.

How Switchboard brings collaborative teams together

Just as the VCR changed the way we enjoy TV shows, Switchboard changes the way teams work together—no matter where or how they work. It’s designed to foster team connection, collaboration, and productivity through intuitive, persistent meeting rooms. These save your work and remember your progress so nothing gets lost: Just jump in any time and work together in real time or async. 

With Switchboard, you and your teams can work together seamlessly, rewinding and fast-forwarding through tasks and projects. 

You can use Switchboard for:

• Project spaces. Meet, work together or async, leave all your materials in the room, and come back to it whenever you want. These rooms give you a bird’s eye view of the project and keep every related file, link, or app in the same place. That way, you don’t have to dig through different tools, documents, or conversations to find what you need. 
• 1:1s. No need to set up a new call every time—it’s like having a dedicated virtual conference room for every coworker. Switchboard also lets you keep a visual record of what you talked about last time so you can track progress.
• Spontaneous conversations. Just click on the dedicated room you want, like water cooler chats, games, or virtual huddles, and connect with others instantly. You don’t have to set up a meeting and send a new link every time you need to resolve something quickly or just have a chat.
• Recurring meetings. Set it and forget it: Create your meeting room once and go back to it anytime to pick up where you left off. No need to set up a calendar invite and share the meeting link every time. 

See the video below to see how your project room looks like on Switchboard or check out more use cases to understand how it helps you get more done as a team–or alone–no matter where you are.

Fast forward collaboration with the best virtual office software 

In the 1980s, the invention of the VCR drastically changed how we consume TV and movies. You no longer had to stay up late to watch your favorite shows. Instead, you could just hit record and watch it back when you had time.  

Traditional video conferencing and collaboration tools are the meeting equivalent of the pre-VCR era. They rely on one-sided screen sharing, so most participants can’t control what they see or how they can contribute. Worse still, you need to set them up beforehand and they delete everything after each call. That means a lot of wasted time sharing links and materials afterward. 

To cultivate healthy teamwork, you need virtual office software that records and saves your work so you can always return to it—like a VHS tape. In this piece, we looked at seven of these, including Switchboard, Spatial Chat, Gather, Kumospace, Teemyco, Happeo, and TimeCamp Planner. All of which give your people a centralized hub so they can find each other and get work done async and in real time. This way, you can make progress when it suits you, rather than “catching the show” on someone else’s schedule.  

Switchboard goes one step beyond, by easily integrating into your workflow to bring your teams, tools, and processes together in an intuitive, easy-to-use digital workspace. It allows you to create “always open” rooms that let your people engage and enjoy spontaneous interactions, just as they would in a physical office. Create as many environments as you need–brainstorming hubs, break spaces, and sprint rooms–to let your teams enjoy the benefits of remote or hybrid work with the feeling of an in-person work environment. 

Like bringing the movie theater to your own home. 

Looking for a virtual office that unlocks healthy and effective teamwork? 
Switchboard’s virtual workspace lets you get more done and have more spontaneous interactions, which builds cohesive teams.
‍Sign up for free.