A virtual office for remote teams.

What a virtual office is, and isn't

"Virtual office" means two different things. One is a business address: a service that gives a company a mailing address and sometimes a phone line, without a desk. The other, and the one this page is about, is an online office where a remote team works together during the day.

That second kind is a shared space that stays open while people work. Instead of a grid of faces that ends when a meeting does, everyone has a place in the office, can see who else is around, and starts a conversation the way you would in a building: by going over to someone.

What you do in one

• See who's in. Everyone appears in the office with a status, so you know who's at their desk, who's busy and who's in a meeting before you interrupt.
• Talk without scheduling. Walk up to a teammate and start talking. A two-minute question stays two minutes, instead of becoming a calendar invite for tomorrow.
• Meet in a room. Group conversations happen in a meeting room you walk into, with video and screen sharing, and you walk out when it's done.
• Have a desk of your own. A desk gives each person a place, so the office looks like a team rather than a lobby.
• Chat beside it. Messages and channels sit next to the floor, for what doesn't need talking.

A virtual office next to the tools you already have

A virtual office doesn't replace video calls or team chat. It covers the part of the day neither was built for.

Who uses one

• Small remote teams. Four to fifteen people who don't share a building, or a hybrid team split between home and office, who miss being able to turn around and ask.
• Startups. Early startup teams that decide things quickly and can't wait a day for the next meeting.
• Agencies and studios. People at agencies and studios who move between client projects all day and need to find each other fast.
• Engineering and design teams. Pairing, reviewing and showing work on screen without booking a call for it. More for engineering and design teams.
• Teams onboarding someone. A new hire can see who's around and ask, instead of guessing who is free to message. See remote onboarding.

What one costs

What a team of 8 pays a month on popular virtual offices, on the cheapest plan that fits. For every option side by side, read our virtual office software comparison, or work out your own team's price with the cost calculator.

Setting one up in a day

1. 1.

   Make the office

   Two minutes

   Name it after the team. There's nothing to design: the floor, desks and meeting room are ready.

2. 2.

   Invite everyone with one link

   Paste it where the team already talks

   Teammates sign in with Google or email and walk in. No install, on a laptop or a phone.

3. 3.

   Everyone takes a desk

   A place of their own

   Once people sit somewhere, the office reads like a team and it's easy to find each other.

4. 4.

   Hold the next standup in the meeting room

   The first habit

   Moving one daily meeting, like the standup, into the office is what brings people back the next day.

5. 5.

   Leave it open for a week

   Then decide

   It proves itself in the small moments: a quick question answered in a minute, a conversation you overheard and joined.

What makes a team keep using it

• Keep it in a pinned tab. The office works when it's where you are, not one more thing to open.
• Drop in, cameras optional. Voice first is fine; video is there when it helps. Nobody should feel watched.
• Never use it to monitor people. A virtual office is a place to find each other, not a timesheet. Use it to check on people and it stops being a place anyone wants to be.
• Meet there too. If the standup and the quick questions happen in the office, people come back to it without being asked.