LOBBY
Comparisons· 7 min read

Robin Alternatives in 2026: Options for Teams Under 150

Robin sells a full workplace platform and tells buyers it is designed for larger offices. If that is not you, here is a sourced look at Joan, Envoy, Archie and Lobby.

Robin is one of the most established workplace operations platforms on the market. It covers resource booking, space management, meeting management, workplace analytics, visitor management and employee experience in a single product. If your buying committee includes IT, Facilities, HR and Operations, Robin is built for that conversation.

It is also built for a particular size of company. Robin's own pricing page sets out who it is for: "You have more than 150 hybrid employees using an office", and "Robin's platform is designed for companies with 500 employees or more, with at least a third of those using the office regularly." If that does not describe you, an alternative is likely a better fit.

This post compares Robin to four alternatives: Joan, Envoy, Archie, and us, Lobby. Every figure below is taken from the vendor's own pricing page and was checked as of 19 August 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a number, we say so rather than estimate one.

What Robin does well

Workplace analytics. Robin's pricing page lists office usage insights, sensor integrations, access control sync and data exports. An analytics AI assistant and custom reports are listed as included with an optional add-on.

Employee experience. Experience surveys, hybrid work policies, office announcements, team coordination and custom branding. Lobby does not offer this layer at all; for the other platforms below, check their own feature pages.

Meeting management. Real-time meeting optimisation, catering, AV and tech requests, IT and issue reporting, and room displays.

Calendar coverage. Robin lists both Google and Microsoft calendar sync.

Breadth of resources. Desks, rooms, parking and lockers are all bookable in one platform.

Robin pricing at a glance

Robin publishes no prices. Its pricing page is a form: "Every workplace is different, so we start by getting to know yours. Complete the form to speak with our team and receive pricing tailored to your organization." There are no plan tiers, no per-user rates and no starting price on the page.

Two things Robin does state on that page. Subscriptions are billed annually. And Robin does not sell hardware: "Not at this time – all hardware is sold separately."

Robin is also direct about fit: "If you are looking for a point solution, such as software exclusively for room displays, there are better options out there for you." That is worth taking at face value.

Common reasons teams shop around

  • Team size. Robin's own guidance points at offices with more than 150 hybrid employees, and a platform designed for companies of 500 or more.
  • Quote-based pricing. You cannot compare Robin on price without speaking to their team first.
  • Annual billing. Robin states all subscriptions are billed annually. Some teams want a monthly option.
  • Use-case fit. If you only need meeting room displays, most of the platform goes unused. Robin says the same thing on its own page.

Robin alternatives worth knowing

Joan

Joan is the closest peer to Robin in feature breadth. Its pricing page lists room booking, desk booking, parking and asset booking, visitor management, workplace digital signage and advanced analytics in one platform, with nothing held behind add-ons.

Published pricing, as served in Joan's EUR price zone: plans start at €49 per month for a base subscription that includes a set number of users and devices. Beyond that, additional users are €0.99 per user per month and additional device licences are €9.99 per device per month on annual billing. Joan's FAQ gives the monthly-billed equivalents as €1.19 per user and €12.99 per device. Joan states you are not billed for employees who only book rooms through Outlook or Google Calendar.

Joan prices vary by region: the pricing page geolocates by IP and shows EUR, USD, GBP or AED with no manual selector, so what you see may differ from what is quoted here. The same base plan reads as $51 per month in the USD zone, with $1.09 per additional user and $10.99 per additional device licence on annual billing. Figures captured 29 August 2026.

Hardware is priced separately in the Joan shop and is not listed on the pricing page, so check current device prices there. Joan runs on its own ePaper displays or on any tablet, LCD TV or other brand of screen. There is a 30-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee on device purchases.

Best fit: Mid-sized teams that want a full platform plus dedicated room hardware, and are comfortable with a base plan plus per-user and per-device model.

Envoy

Envoy started in visitor management and grew into a workplace platform sold as modules: Visitors, Response, Reservations, Screens and Deliveries.

Published pricing for Envoy Visitors: Basic is free with limited features and 100 entries per month, Premium is $362 per location per month billed annually, and Enterprise is custom priced. Two other modules publish list prices: Reservations at $5 per bookable resource per month and Screens at $12 per device per month, both billed annually.

One scope point to note when comparing: Envoy states that every plan starts with the platform layer, and that the Reservations and Screens prices exclude that platform fee. The platform fee itself is not published, so the modular prices are not a complete total.

Best fit: Companies where visitor security and compliance is the primary driver, with rooms and desks as secondary needs.

Archie

Archie is a full workplace platform and one of the few in the category that publishes list prices on its site. Pricing is split by product across separate tabs for desk booking, room scheduling, visitor management and coworking.

Published desk booking pricing:

  • Starter: $2.80 per desk per month, minimum $159 per month. One location, floor plans, QR check-ins, occupancy analytics.
  • Pro: $3.50 per desk per month, minimum $249 per month. Adds multiple locations, booking from Teams and Outlook, Slack, brand customisation, SSO and SCIM.
  • Enterprise: custom.

Archie prices room scheduling on a separate tab of the same page. Check that tab directly for current per-room rates. Archie's FAQ describes a 14-day test environment provided after a demo rather than a self-serve sign-up.

Best fit: Mid-sized teams that want full workplace functionality with published prices.

Lobby

Lobby is built for a different size of team than Robin. Small and mid-sized offices. We do one thing: meeting room displays, for teams on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. That one thing runs on three surfaces:

  • Physical e-ink display beside each meeting room door, on open-source e-ink hardware. Bought once, owned outright.
  • Virtual display in any browser tab. Same view, on a tablet, TV or any screen you already own.
  • Room overview display: every meeting room at a glance on a single screen.

Published pricing:

  • Free forever for up to 3 active displays, with all features and no credit card. This is not a trial.
  • Unlimited at $30 per month billed yearly, which is $360 a year. The monthly list price is $50.
  • Pro Unlimited at $60 per month billed yearly, which is $720 a year. The monthly list price is $100.
  • Hardware: e-ink displays are $69 each at 1 to 9 units, dropping to $62.99 at 10 or more, bought direct from the manufacturer with no Lobby markup. Or bring your own tablet, TV or monitor at no hardware cost.
  • Cancel any time. No annual commitment. Setup takes roughly 10 minutes with no sales call.

Best fit: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 teams that want a clear room display outside every meeting room and do not need surveys, analytics or visitor flows.

Where Lobby is the wrong choice: If you need workplace analytics, employee surveys and a full operations platform, Robin does things Lobby will never try to do. Pick Robin.

How to choose

If you have more than 150 hybrid employees and need a strategic workplace platform with deep analytics, Robin is built for you. Ask for the quote.

If you are 50 to 150 employees and want one workplace tool, look at Archie for published per-desk pricing, or Joan if you also want dedicated room hardware.

If you are under 50 and just need rooms to work, Lobby is the smallest commitment and the lowest bill.

If your problem is mostly visitors, start with Envoy.

TL;DR

  • Robin: full workplace platform; guidance points at more than 150 hybrid employees; no published prices, quote only; billed annually; hardware sold separately.
  • Joan: full platform plus ePaper hardware; in the EUR price zone, from €49 per month, €0.99 per user and €9.99 per device per month on annual billing ($51, $1.09 and $10.99 in the USD zone).
  • Envoy: modular platform with visitor-management heritage; Visitors free tier, Premium $362 per location per month; Reservations $5 per resource, Screens $12 per device, both excluding the platform fee.
  • Archie: full platform, published per-desk pricing from $2.80 per desk per month with a $159 monthly minimum.
  • Lobby: focused room-display tool for Google Workspace or Microsoft 365; e-ink hardware, any browser, or a multi-room overview screen; free forever up to 3 displays, $30 per month billed yearly for unlimited.

A note on scope. Joan, Envoy, Archie and Robin all sell more than room displays: desks, visitors, parking and analytics sit inside their platforms. Lobby does not. That is a difference in what each product is for, not a fault in any of them. Compare on the job you actually need done.

On Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and just need rooms to work? Get Lobby free. Three displays, no card, no sales call.

Sources

Competitor names are used for identification only. All trade marks belong to their respective owners.

Prices verified 19 August 2026; Joan figures re-checked 29 August 2026. Tier-based and quote-based pricing changes — confirm directly with each vendor. Comparisons in this post are made under Directive 2006/114/EC on misleading and comparative advertising: objective, verifiable and about materially relevant features.

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