A Gather alternative that charges for the room, not for every person in it
Virtual Hirix vs Gather
Gather is the best-known 2D office, and since its 2026 pricing change it bills every member, every month, with no free tier. Virtual Hirix is the same kind of walkable office — with team chat and public events attached — and it bills the room. Hire ten people and the invoice does not move.
| Virtual Hirix | Gather | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | The room. One price a month, from RM29 | Each member: $12 a month billed annually, $15 monthly (Essential) |
| Free to start | Chat, DMs and public events are free at any team size. The room is free for its first month | A 30-day trial. No free tier since the 2026 pricing change |
| Cost when you hire five people | Unchanged | Five more members on the invoice |
| Joining the office | In the browser. Click the link | Download the desktop app, then click the invite link (Gather 2.0) |
| When nobody is in the office | Spaces, DMs, threads and events keep working with no room at all | The office space is the product |
| Public events | A public page anyone can open without an account, with numbered seats capped in the database | Guest invite links into the space, with an expiry you set |
| Who becomes a member | An admin approves each join; membership is verified by email domain | A visitor with a matching email domain can be upgraded to Member automatically (admin setting) |
| Billing | Malaysian ringgit, monthly, by FPX or card | US dollars, per member, monthly or annual |
Gather prices are its published USD list prices as of September 2026 and may change; Virtual Hirix prices are what its billing code charges.
Why per-room pricing changes the decision
Per-member pricing makes every hire a line item and every contractor a question. Virtual Hirix charges for the room, so a team of eight and a team of forty pay the same for the same floor plan — and adding someone to the workspace costs nothing at all.
Why the workspace outlives the room
Gather is an office; when the office is the whole product, the office is always on the bill. Here the office is one room inside a workspace that also has chat, DMs and events — so if a room lapses, the team keeps talking and history stays put.
Why events are a page, not a link
A Gather guest link drops a visitor into the space. A Virtual Hirix event has its own public page, a stage, a raise-hand queue and numbered seats that are enforced in the database — sold out means the sixty-first person does not get in.