The Roam Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Roam in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Roam
The Insider’s Guide
Virtual office with drop-in meetings, chat and AI meeting notes
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among team communication apps, read from Roam’s own pages.
Made by Roam HQ Inc. · checked Oct 9, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Roam’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Roam’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.4
GPA, above 8 of the 33 other team communication apps we grade
Roam is a virtual office platform that shows a whole company on a live map: who is in, who is meeting with whom and who is free to talk. One bundle covers drop-in audio and video meetings, a theater for all-hands, AInbox group chat, a meeting scheduler, a screen recorder, AI meeting summaries and an AI assistant. It is sold at a single monthly price per active member, and guests are free.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Roam, taken from its own pages and our grades.
No rating on record, and nine products arriving at once is a lot to meet.
- 1
Best for a whole remote company on one live map
Roam puts your company on a live map, so you can see who's in and who's free, and a knock on a seat starts a quick audio chat, with meetings, group chat, a scheduler, a screen recorder and AI summaries in one bundle.
- 2
Paid plans start at $19.50 a month for each person
As its pricing page puts it: $19.50 per active member / month, billed monthly.
- 3
You can try it first
14-day free trial for every new team member, no credit card required
- 4
It runs on 6 platforms
Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
- 5
Virtual office map
A live view of who is in the office, who is meeting with whom and who is talking. Click a person to chat with them or an empty seat to enter their room.
- 6
Drop-in meetings and meeting rooms
Knock on a seat in someone's office to start an audio-only drop-in meeting, or use a meeting room for video with screen sharing and a whiteboard.
- 7
AInbox group chat
Direct messages, group chats and confidential chats with custom folders, pinned chats, bookmarks, scheduled messages and search across the full history.
- 8
A 2.4 GPA, above 8 of 33
That is against the other team communication apps we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
To replace Roam you would be making video calls. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Roam at a glance
- Pricing
- Free trial, from $19.50 per active member / month, billed monthly
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- 14-day free trial for every new team member, no credit card required
- Runs on
- Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
- Made by
- Roam HQ Inc.
- Category
- Team Communication
- Our grade
- 2.4 GPA, fair
The report card
Best for a whole remote company on one live map
Roam puts your company on a live map, so you can see who's in and who's free, and a knock on a seat starts a quick audio chat, with meetings, group chat, a scheduler, a screen recorder and AI summaries in one bundle. That bundle is $19.50 per active member a month, rising to $20.88 in 2027, with no free plan, no discounts and no annual plan, and the bill moves with how many members were active.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D | $19.50 per active member a month, going to $20.88 in 2027 on a published schedule. That's nearly three times the $7 team chat typically starts at and dearer than Gather at $12, and Roam says plainly it offers no discounts and no annual plans. You do get all nine products for it. |
| Free plan and trial | C | No free plan. Every new team member gets 14 days before they appear on the bill, and it asks for no card. After that they're billed for any month they're active. |
| Features | B | One bundle covers the lot: the live office map, knock-to-talk drop-in meetings, rooms with screen sharing and a whiteboard, AInbox chat with searchable full history, AI meeting summaries, a Theater for all-hands, a screen recorder and an AI assistant that schedules and follows up. |
| Ease of use | C | No rating on record, and nine products arriving at once is a lot to meet. The map itself is the easy part, you click a seat and you're talking, but the Theater, Lobby links, Magicast and On-It all have to be learned before they earn their place. |
| Platforms and integrations | A | Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android. GitHub, Figma, Zapier, n8n and Datadog connect, and there's a developer site for building against it. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Roam is for
- Fits if your remote company wants meetings, chat and presence in one tool with one bill
- Works for teams that drop in on each other for quick talks instead of scheduling calls
Who it is not for
- Pricey if all you need is chat, at $19.50 per active member a month, nearly three times the $7 team chat typically starts at
- Skip it if you want a free plan, because all you get is 14 days per new member
- Not for you if you need a fixed bill, since it follows how many members were active that month
- Watch out: the rate rises on a published schedule to $20.88 in 2027, and there are no discounts or annual plans
- Too light for a team that won't learn nine products at once, as Theater, Lobby links, Magicast and On-It all take time
Good to know
Good for
- Remote and hybrid companies that want meetings, chat and presence in one tool
- Teams that prefer short drop-in conversations to scheduled calls
- Companies that want month-to-month billing with no annual contract
- All-hands presentations held in the same workspace as daily work
Worth knowing
- There is no free plan; each new member gets a 14-day trial before appearing on the bill.
- Roam states it offers no discounts and no annual plans. The only other price it publishes is a rupee rate for companies in India.
- The rate rises on a published schedule: $19.50 per active member a month in 2026 and $20.88 in 2027.
- Billing follows the number of active members each month, so the total can change from one bill to the next.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$19.50
A month to start, for each person
Roam is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $19.50 per active member / month, billed monthly.
After that they're billed for any month they're active.
Virtual Office Super Bundle
$19.50
per active member / month, billed monthly (2026 rate)
All nine Roam products at one price, charged only for members active that month. Guests are free. The published 2027 rate is $20.88.
Trying it first
14-day free trial for every new team member, no credit card required
Read from ro.am on Oct 9, 2026.
Ways to pay less
By country
Lower price for companies in India
On October 9, 2026 the pricing page gave ₹888 per active member a month (₹948 in 2027) for companies in India paying in rupees, against the US dollar rate of $19.50 ($20.88 in 2027).
Stated on ro.am
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
6
Places it runs: Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android
Virtual office with drop-in meetings, chat and AI meeting notes. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: AI features, meeting notes, transcription, booking links, screen recording, team chat, video calls.
Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android.
- Virtual office map
- A live view of who is in the office, who is meeting with whom and who is talking. Click a person to chat with them or an empty seat to enter their room.
- Drop-in meetings and meeting rooms
- Knock on a seat in someone's office to start an audio-only drop-in meeting, or use a meeting room for video with screen sharing and a whiteboard.
- AInbox group chat
- Direct messages, group chats and confidential chats with custom folders, pinned chats, bookmarks, scheduled messages and search across the full history.
- Magic Minutes
- Turns on a transcription and AI summary that every participant receives in a group chat, where they can ask questions about the meeting.
- Theater and On-Air
- Theater seats an all-hands audience in rows with a backstage, a Q&A microphone and a stadium mode for 100 or more people. On-Air hosts virtual events.
- Lobby, Magicast and On-It
- Lobby links let guests book time or drop in, Magicast records the screen with a transcript, and On-It is an AI assistant that schedules and follows up.
Where it runs
- Web
- macOS
- Windows
- Linux
- iOS
- Android
What it works with
- GitHub
- Figma
- Zapier
- n8n
- Datadog
Who makes Roam
Roam is made by Roam HQ Inc., a venture-backed company founded and led by Howard Lerman, who earlier founded Yext. It sells its virtual office software, which bundles chat, meetings and AI tools, as a monthly subscription.
- Based
- United Statesro.am
- Ownership
- Privately held. Privately held and venture-backed. A job posting on its site says it is backed by more than $40m of venture capital from IVP, Protagonist and other investors; no parent company is named.ro.am
- Funding
- Announced a $30 million Series A led by IVP in November 2022, after a $10.6 million seed round put in by founder Howard Lerman, as TechCrunch and CNBC reported from its release. Its own site says it is backed by more than $40m from IVP, Protagonist and others.techcrunch.comcnbc.comro.am
- Founders and leaders
- Hiring
- 1 open position, titled Entrepreneur: a role running product demos and customer onboarding. The posting says all positions are fully remote.ro.am
- Affiliate program
- Roam Influencer pays active customers a recurring share of the revenue collected from companies they influenced, divided between influencers by multi-touch attribution. The percentage is not published.ro.am
- Partner program
- Roam Certified Partners collect a revenue share, sell their own onboarding and implementation services and are listed in its partner directory. A customer a partner signs up stays theirs while active. The rate is not published.ro.am
- Lately
- Roam Awarded Key Virtual Office Patent · Sep 15, 2026
- The Office That Thinks + The Next !nvention · May 12, 2026
Read on Oct 6, 2026 from the company’s own pages and from news reports. What is not stated there is left out.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
8/33
Other team communication apps it is graded above
Roam's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 8 of the 33 other team communication apps we grade, and level with 11.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (A, above 15 of 33) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $19.50 a month for each person, against a middle price of $7 for the category: 23 of the 28 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 3.0 out of 4. 6 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 34 team communication apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Roam’s own letter is outlined.
- DValue for moneyAbove 0 of 33
- CFree plan and trialAbove 0 of 33
- BFeaturesAbove 26 of 33
- CEase of useAbove 6 of 33
- APlatforms and integrationsAbove 15 of 33
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 31 team communication apps. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Roam is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
To replace Roam you would be making video calls. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 14 of the 33 other team communication apps grade higher. It costs $234 a year.
What you could not
- Video calls.
- Chat that a whole team counts on staying up.
- A bot that joins your calls and turns the talk into notes.
- Speech turned into text you can trust.
- Booking pages that read and write other people's calendars and send the emails.
- Recording the screen with its sound, and somewhere to keep the video.
- Apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android that stay in step with each other.
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- It plugs into other products, GitHub, Figma and Zapier among them.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Roam’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Gather, Tandem, Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams
The 5 tools Roam is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.2GPA
Gather
Free trial · from $12/mo
Virtual office with presence, meetings and chat for remote teams.
- Only Roam lists Linux, iOS and Android apps.
- Only Gather lists a browser extension.
- Roam also covers booking links and screen recording.
- 2.2GPA
Tandem
Free plan · from $64/mo
Virtual office with one-click calls and shared-cursor screen sharing.
- Tandem has a free plan. Roam does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Roam lists a web app.
- Only Tandem lists a browser extension.
- 2.8GPA
Slack
Free plan · from $7.25/mo
Channel-based team messaging with huddles, workflows and AI.
- Slack has a free plan. Roam does not, though it has a free trial.
- Roam also covers meeting notes, transcription, booking links and screen recording.
- Slack also covers workflow automation, documents and file sharing.
- 2.6GPA
Zoom
Free plan · from $14.16/mo
Video meetings bundled with team chat, phone and AI notes.
- Zoom has a free plan. Roam does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Zoom lists a browser extension.
- Roam also covers transcription and screen recording.
- 3.0GPA
Microsoft Teams
Free plan · from $4.00/mo
Chat, video meetings and calling tied into Microsoft 365.
- Microsoft Teams has a free plan. Roam does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Roam lists a Linux app.
- Roam also covers meeting notes, booking links and screen recording.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
11
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Roam free?
No, Roam is a paid product, but you can try it first. 14-day free trial for every new team member, no credit card required.
How much does Roam cost?
Roam lists one plan. Virtual Office Super Bundle: $19.50 per active member / month, billed monthly (2026 rate).
What platforms does Roam work on?
Roam is available on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
Does Roam offer any discounts?
Roam publicly lists the following: Lower price for companies in India.
Is Roam open source?
Roam is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 9, 2026.
What does Roam integrate with?
Roam's listing names GitHub, Figma, Zapier, n8n and Datadog. A listing names up to eight integrations, so it may connect to more.
Who makes Roam?
Roam is made by a company of the same name. Privately held and venture-backed.
What are the alternatives to Roam?
The closest alternatives to Roam in our directory are Gather, Tandem, Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
How does Roam compare with other team communication apps?
Roam's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 8 of the 33 other team communication apps we grade, and level with 11.
Is Roam good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Roam D for value for money. Its paid plans start at $19.50 a month for each person, against a middle price of $7 for the category: 23 of the 28 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Roam?
To replace Roam you would be making video calls. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Roam’s own pages on Oct 9, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Roam's own pages on 9 October 2026. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-07-09.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Roam HQ Inc. Prices change, so check ro.am before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
3,189
Tools graded, in 94 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Roam, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/roam
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Roam: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 9, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/roam
Know someone choosing between team communication apps?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/roam/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded team communication apps after Roam, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- Team Communication Insider's GuideEvery one of the 34 team communication apps we grade, compared
- Discord Insider's GuideFree text, voice and video chat built around servers3.6 GPA
- Pumble Insider's GuideTeam chat with unlimited message history on the free plan3.6 GPA
- Zoho Cliq Insider's GuideTeam chat, calls and meetings from the Zoho suite3.4 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Roam’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Roam is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Roam HQ Inc. Prices and plans change: check ro.am before you buy.