Free Gather Alternatives in 2026 (Gather Is No Longer Free)

Gather ended its free plan on September 15, 2025, and now starts at $12 per member a month. The best free Gather alternatives in 2026 are WorkAdventure (the closest look and feel, free for up to 10 people at once), Topia and ZEP for classes and events, SpatialChat for small groups, and, if you mostly used Gather to hang out with friends, Kosmi, Discord or Glint. Here’s what each one’s free plan actually gives you.

Full disclosure: I make Glint, one of the picks below. Glint is built for friends and communities rather than offices, so I’ll say where it fits and where a Gather-style tool is the better choice.

What happened to Gather’s free plan?

Gather removed its free plan for both Gather 1.0 and 2.0 on September 15, 2025. Its price went from $7 to $15 per user a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, and billing switched from how many people are online at once to how many members you have. New offices get a 30-day free trial for up to 50 people, and schools and nonprofits can ask for a discount. Gather’s pricing page now lists an Essential plan at $12 per member a month and a custom plan for larger teams.

For a lot of the groups who used Gather for free (study groups, small communities, friends hanging out), that means it’s time to move.

What are the best free Gather alternatives at a glance?

Tool	Free plan	People on the free plan	Style	Best for
WorkAdventure	Yes, unlimited maps	10 online at once	2D pixel art, like Gather	Communities, small teams
Topia	Yes	50 at once	2.5D	Communities, classes, events
ZEP	Yes	10 at once per space	2D pixel art	Classes, events
SpatialChat	Yes, 2 hours of meetings a day	12	2D rooms	Classes, workshops
Kumospace	Yes, 5 members	50 guests at once	2D	Small teams
Frame	A free trial plan	8 per space	3D, also in VR	Classes
Cosmos	Yes	4	2D	Very small teams
Kosmi	Yes	No stated cap	Rooms for watching and playing	Friends, watch parties
Discord	Yes	Up to 25 with cameras on	Voice channels, no map	Friends, communities
Glint	Yes, everything	No set cap	Rooms you build and decorate	Friends, communities, study groups

Which free Gather alternative is closest to Gather?

WorkAdventure

WorkAdventure looks and works the most like Gather: a 2D pixel-art map you walk around, with video bubbles that open when you get close to someone. The free plan has unlimited maps and up to 10 people online at once. You can also host it yourself; its license is AGPLv3 with a “Commons Clause”, which makes it source-available rather than strictly open source.

ZEP

ZEP is another pixel-art space in the Gather mold, popular for classes and events. The free plan allows up to 10 people at once in each space.

Which is best for classes and events?

Topia

Topia gives you a 2.5D world in the browser and the most generous free plan here: up to 50 people at once, with one broadcast and one screen share. It’s a good fit for communities and classes that outgrew Gather’s old free tier.

SpatialChat

SpatialChat is built around rooms where you move your bubble to join a conversation. The free plan gives you 2 hours of meetings a day across 4 rooms, for up to 12 people, which suits workshops and small classes.

Frame

Frame is a 3D space that works in the browser and in VR headsets, with a free trial plan for up to 8 people per space and a discount for education.

Which is best for small teams?

Kumospace’s free plan covers 5 members plus guests, and Cosmos is free for up to 4 people. Both work, but if you were on Gather for work, their paid plans are where they’re meant to be used.

Which is best for hanging out with friends?

A lot of people used Gather’s free plan for things that weren’t work at all: study sessions, game nights, long distance friends. For that, a virtual office is the wrong shape.

Glint

Glint is a place for friends rather than an office. You build a room tile by tile, decorate it with stickers (furniture, plants, pets, whole room styles), and hang out in it over voice, video and chat, with messages popping up as bubbles over your heads. You walk your avatar around with W A S D like in Gather, but the room is yours to decorate and it stays how you left it. You can put notes, images, documents and websites on the walls and watch videos in sync.

Glint is free, with no limit on rooms or members; we only earn from optional sticker series. It runs in a browser tab, and you can try a room without an account. It doesn’t have Gather’s office features like meeting rooms, calendars or a company directory, so it’s not the pick for running a team.

Kosmi

Kosmi is the pick for watch parties and games: rooms you share by link, synced video and built-in games, free with an optional Premium plan. There’s no map to walk around or room to decorate.

Discord

Discord is free and most of your friends probably have it already. Voice channels are great for dropping in and out, and Watch Together and other activities are free for everyone. It’s chat and voice rather than a space you move around in.

Which Gather alternatives shut down?

Wonder, once a popular Gather alternative, shut down in 2023. Teamflow’s team moved on to a different company in 2023 after its product and customers were sold, so it’s not a safe bet either.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gather still free? No. Gather ended its free plan on September 15, 2025. It now starts at $12 per member a month, with a 30-day free trial for new offices.

What is the closest free alternative to Gather? WorkAdventure, a 2D pixel-art space you walk around in, free for up to 10 people at once.

What is the best free Gather alternative for a big group? Topia, which allows up to 50 people at once on its free plan.

What can I use instead of Gather to hang out with friends? Glint, for a room you build and decorate together; Kosmi, for watching and playing together; or Discord, for voice channels.

Did Wonder shut down? Yes. Wonder shut down in 2023.