Zoom Rooms vs Microsoft Teams Rooms: Which Is Right for Your Business in 2026?
- Chris Gore
- 11 hours ago
- 5 min read
Zoom Rooms or Microsoft Teams Rooms? This honest 2026 comparison covers hardware, licensing, AI and which suits your organisation.
Chris Gore \ Updated 2026
The shortlist is down to two. Zoom Rooms vs Microsoft Teams Rooms. Both are mature platforms. Both are certified on the same hardware. Both let you join a meeting with one tap. And both will cost you a meaningful amount of money to deploy properly across a building.
So which one do you actually choose? The honest answer for most organisations is simpler than the comparison guides suggest. The platform that fits best is almost always the one your organisation already lives in. Here is the full comparison anyway, because the detail matters when you are committing to a platform for the next three to five years.
What Each Platform Actually Is
Zoom Rooms
Zoom Rooms is Zoom's dedicated meeting room platform. It sits on a compute device in the room, connects to the Zoom cloud, and turns a conference room into a one-touch Zoom meeting experience. It uses the same AI, the same interface and the same Zoom AI Companion features that people use on their laptops, just on a room-scale system with a proper camera, microphone and display. The management happens through Zoom Device Management, which is self-contained and does not depend on any Microsoft infrastructure. For organisations that run primarily on Zoom, this is the natural choice.
Microsoft Teams Rooms
Microsoft Teams Rooms is Microsoft's dedicated meeting room platform. It runs on a certified compute device, integrates natively with Microsoft 365, and pulls scheduled meetings directly from Outlook calendars. One tap and the meeting is joined. The Teams Admin Centre provides centralised management across every room in the estate. For organisations already deep in Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, this is the home court. SPOR Group has delivered Teams Rooms environments for Masdar's London headquarters, Pinebridge Investments and the NFL's London HQ.
How Zooms Rooms vs Microsoft Teams Rooms Compare in 2026
Feature | Zoom Rooms | Microsoft Teams Rooms |
Best for | Zoom-first organisations | Microsoft 365 organisations |
Hardware choice | Open — 10+ certified partners | Open — 10+ certified partners |
M365 integration | Third-party add-ons needed | Native. Deep. Seamless. |
AI features | Zoom AI Companion included | Microsoft Copilot available |
Management | Zoom Device Management | Teams Admin Centre + Pro Portal |
Licensing | Zoom Rooms add-on required | Included in M365 plans |
Cross-platform | Direct Guest Join — Teams/Webex | Direct Guest Join — Zoom/Webex |
Best hardware | Logitech, Poly, Yealink | Logitech, Yealink, Poly, HP |
Verdict | Clean. Simple. Video-first. | Collaboration-first. |
A few things worth noting from that comparison. Both platforms now run on the same certified hardware from Logitech, Yealink, Poly and others. Both support Direct Guest Join, meaning a Zoom Room can join a Teams meeting and a Teams Room can join a Zoom meeting. The meaningful differences are in M365 integration, AI feature sets, licensing model and management approach.
The AI Question in 2026
Both platforms have invested heavily in AI for meeting rooms. The features differ in scope and how they are licensed.
Zoom AI Companion
Zoom AI Companion generates real-time meeting summaries, captures action items and provides in-meeting chat assistance. It is included in paid Zoom Workplace plans without an additional charge. For organisations already paying for Zoom, this is available immediately across both desktop and room deployments.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot for Teams Rooms generates summaries, extracts action items, provides transcript search and allows natural language queries about meeting content. It is available through Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing, which is an additional cost on top of existing M365 plans. For organisations already invested in the Microsoft AI stack, the Copilot integration across Teams, Outlook, Word and the room system is genuinely compelling.
Want to know more about Microsoft Teams?
Which One Is Right for Your Organisation?
Choose Zoom Rooms if
• Your organisation primarily uses Zoom for meetings and collaboration
• You want the simplest possible room experience with no dependency on Microsoft infrastructure
• You run frequent large webinars or virtual events where Zoom's capabilities are stronger
• Your stack is built around Google Workspace or Slack rather than Microsoft 365
• You want a platform-agnostic, video-first room setup
Choose Microsoft Teams Rooms if
• Your organisation is deep in Microsoft 365 — Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive
• Microsoft Teams is the primary communication and collaboration platform
• Native Outlook calendar integration and one-touch meeting join from scheduled meetings matters
• You want Microsoft Copilot AI features integrated across desktop and room
• Security, compliance and Microsoft's enterprise governance framework are priorities
What if you run both?
Some organisations use both Zoom and Teams across different teams or regions. Both platforms support Direct Guest Join, so a Zoom Room can join a Teams meeting and vice versa. The native experience will always be better within the home platform, but cross-platform joining works well for most standard meeting use cases. If you are genuinely split, the practical answer is to standardise on one platform for room systems and use Direct Guest Join for the other.
For a view on how Teams Rooms compares to Cisco Webex as a third option, read our Cisco Webex Rooms vs Microsoft Teams Rooms comparison. And for the hardware side of this decision, the Neat vs Logitech vs Yealink guidecovers the video bar options that work across both platforms.
The Platform Is Your Decision. The Installation Is Ours.
READY TO GET STARTED?
Get a price for your meeting rooms — in minutes
Fill out a short form — tell us your room sizes, headcount and platform.
We'll come back to you with exactly what we'd recommend and why, with a price guide included.
No jargon. No pushy sales calls. Just a straight answer.
TAKES 2–3 minutes | INCLUDES Full price guide | COST Completely free |
SPOR Group is platform-agnostic. We do not have a commercial preference between Zoom and Teams. We have a professional preference for the platform that is the right fit for the organisation in the room with us.
Every installation, Zoom Rooms or Teams Rooms, is specced to the specific room, commissioned properly, and backed by SPORTrack, which monitors every connected device in real time. Problems are caught before meetings, not during them. For a full picture of what a properly installed room costs, read our 2026 meeting room AV cost guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams Rooms?
Zoom Rooms is Zoom's dedicated room platform, best suited to organisations that primarily use Zoom. Microsoft Teams Rooms is Microsoft's platform, best suited to organisations deep in Microsoft 365. Both run on the same certified hardware and both support cross-platform joining.
Can a Zoom Room join a Microsoft Teams meeting?
Yes. Zoom Rooms supports Direct Guest Join, which allows a Zoom Room to join a Microsoft Teams meeting with one tap. The experience is not identical to a native Teams meeting but works well for most standard use cases.
Can a Teams Room join a Zoom meeting?
Yes. Microsoft Teams Rooms also supports Direct Guest Join for Zoom meetings. One tap from the room system and the Zoom meeting is joined without needing a laptop.
Is Zoom Rooms or Teams Rooms cheaper?
Microsoft Teams Rooms licensing is often included within existing Microsoft 365 plans, reducing the additional per-room cost. Zoom Rooms requires a separate Zoom Rooms subscription on top of existing Zoom licences. The total cost depends on what your organisation is already paying for.
What hardware works with both Zoom Rooms and Teams Rooms?
Most major certified hardware works with both platforms. Logitech Rally Bar, Yealink MeetingBar series, Poly Studio series and others are certified for both Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams Rooms. The platform choice is made at the software and compute level, not the hardware level.
Does SPOR Group install both Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams Rooms?
Yes. SPOR Group is platform-agnostic and installs both environments. Every installation is backed by SPORTrack remote monitoring regardless of which platform is chosen.
Comments