Skedda Alternatives: Best Tools for Hybrid Workplaces

Managing hybrid work environments requires you to balance in-office collaboration, remote flexibility, workspace management, and cost reduction, all at the same time. The right room and desk booking system can simplify challenges like double bookings and unused space, making it a smooth experience for your employees and administrators.

Skedda is a well-known option for workspace management, but it might not cater to every organization’s needs. This article will walk you through the best alternatives to Skedda, showcasing options that provide features designed for hybrid work settings.

What Is Skedda?

Skedda is a cloud-based platform that helps manage bookings and schedules, making it easier for companies to manage their space needs. It's recognized for its user-friendly interface, appealing to organizations that need simple solutions for reserving meeting rooms, desks, and shared areas.

Key features of Skedda

• Interactive floor plans: Skedda offers customizable and interactive floor plans that help employees visualize and reserve available spaces.
• Two-way calendar sync: With integrations for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, Skedda with personal and team calendars, helping avoid scheduling conflicts and double bookings.
• Online payment integration: By integrating with Stripe, Skedda allows organizations to provide secure payment options, including upfront payments and “Book Now, Pay Later” choices.
• Mobile accessibility: Skedda's iOS and Android apps enable users to make reservations, check schedules, and manage bookings from their mobile devices.
• Usage analytics: Skedda includes basic reporting features that provide insights into space utilization and trends.
• Visitor management: Skedda offers visitor management features like self-check-in and host notifications.

Skedda is an easy-to-use solution for organizations looking for a simple way to manage workspaces. Although it effectively addresses basic needs, businesses with more intricate demands might require extra features or flexibility that other platforms provide.

What is Gable?

Gable is an all-in-one workspace management platform that makes it easier for hybrid teams to access and manage their workplaces. Whether your team works from a central office, coworking spaces, or a combination of both, Gable’s booking software provides the flexibility and tools necessary to accommodate various workspace requirements.

Key features of Gable

• Gable HQ for seamless office management: Gable HQ stands out by centralizing office management, enabling organizations to easily handle desk assignments, team schedules, and space usage. It integrates with workplace tools such as Google Calendar, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
• Global On-Demand access: Gable offers access to a worldwide network of 12,000+ vetted coworking spaces, meeting rooms, and private offices. Your employees can quickly book spaces that fit their needs, with options sorted by amenities, location, or type.
• Advanced analytics: Gable provides detailed reports on office utilization, booking trends, and collaboration. These insights help workplace managers make informed decisions and effectively optimize space usage.
• Employee-centric features: Gable gathers employee feedback and tailors workspace preferences with features like recurring bookings, favorite space bookmarks, and team collaboration tools. 
• Comprehensive integrations and flexibility: Gable’s extensive integration ecosystem includes HRIS systems, access control solutions, and popular scheduling tools like Outlook. 

Gable’s emphasis on flexibility and data-driven insights makes it a robust solution for organizations facing the challenges of hybrid work. Whether you're overseeing a headquarters or offering on-demand workspace options, Gable provides the necessary tools to help you adapt and succeed.

Key Skedda Alternatives: A Quick Overview

When looking for alternatives to Skedda, several workspace management platforms emerge as solid options for addressing the unique challenges of hybrid work. Platforms like Envoy, SpaceIQ, OfficeSpace, Robin, and Kadence each provide distinct features and capabilities that position them as competitive choices in the industry.

Here’s a summary of the key features and pricing for these platforms:

Envoy

Envoy is a workplace platform designed to improve visitor management, desk booking, and overall employee experiences in the office. With its sleek interface and efficient visitor check-in system, Envoy helps businesses optimize operations for their in-office teams.

Key features

• Desk and room booking: Envoy’s meeting room booking system enables employees to book spaces in real time, maximizing team space efficiency.
• Visitor management: A key highlight of Envoy is its visitor management system offering features such as pre-registration, badge printing, and immediate notifications for hosts.
• Health and safety tools: Envoy provides employee health surveys and occupancy tracking to assist organizations in maintaining compliance and ensuring a safe workplace.
• Workplace analytics: The platform delivers essential analytics to monitor space usage and visitor activity, offering insights for improved space planning.

Pricing

Envoy’s Workplace pricing for desk and room booking averages $5 per seat per month, which includes key features like desk hoteling, permanent desk assignments, and room booking through their mobile app. For visitor management, packages start at $329 per location per month for comparable features to Gable’s Visitor Management package, which can be costly for businesses with many locations and those needing advanced visitor management features.

Robin

Robin is a workplace management software that specializes in booking desks and meeting rooms, along with offering tools to enhance collaboration in the office. With its intuitive interface, Robin has become a favored choice for companies making the shift to hybrid work.

Key features

• Desk and room booking: Robin provides tools for booking workspaces and meeting rooms, featuring real-time availability to enhance efficiency.
• Workplace mapping: The dashboard offers visual maps of the workplace, simplifying navigation and workspace selection for employees.
• Space management: Robin monitors space usage over time, enabling organizations to make informed, data-driven decisions.
• Integrations: This platform works seamlessly with popular workplace tools such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Google Workspace.

Pricing

Pricing details are available upon request. They are mid-range for similar tools.

OfficeSpace

OfficeSpace is a platform for managing workspaces that aims to enhance office layouts and streamline the process of reserving desks and meeting rooms. Its user-friendly tools have made it a favored option for companies seeking to improve their in-office experiences.

Key features

• Interactive floor plans: OfficeSpace offers a visual layout of office spaces, enabling employees to choose and book desks or meeting rooms.
• Move management: Eases the moving process by providing tools to assist with employee transitions within office environments.
• Space usage analytics: Monitors how workspaces are used, helping organizations enhance their office designs and minimize unused areas.
• Integration capabilities: Works seamlessly with tools like Slack and Outlook to improve communication and scheduling efficiency.

Pricing

OfficeSpace offers custom pricing based on the number of users and the features required, making it suitable for businesses of various sizes.

Why Gable Is the Best Alternative to Skedda 

While Skedda and Gable have similarities, Gable’s enhanced features position it as a stronger option for hybrid work settings. Let’s take a closer look at both.

Superior features for hybrid work environments

Gable’s user-friendly design allows employees to effortlessly book workspaces or conference rooms, check real-time availability, and manage their reservations without extensive training. Users emphasize Gable’s easy learning curve and smooth navigation, enabling teams to adopt the platform quickly.

In addition to managing workspaces, Gable provides powerful event management tools that make planning for on-site and off-site events easier. From handling RSVPs and monitoring attendance to managing budgets and analyzing post-event data, Gable ensures that every part of event coordination runs smoothly. These features make it an essential resource for organizations aiming to enhance collaboration and host meaningful team events with little hassle.

Skedda, while user-friendly for basic tasks, can feel less intuitive for organizations with complex requirements. Users on Capterra have pointed out difficulties in configuring time slots and pricing structures, which can be a hassle for larger teams.

Ease of use

When comparing the ease of use between Gable and Skedda, Gable stands out for its intuitive interface and user-friendly design. Users often commend Gable for its simple booking process, tailored workspace suggestions, and smooth navigation, all of which contribute to a positive user experience.

“One of the main factors that made us decide to use Gable was usability. It’s easy for everyone to self-book, the process is seamless, and Gable’s support team is outstanding and always there to help”. —Docker

On the other hand, although many users consider Skedda user-friendly, some have reported difficulties. For example, a reviewer on Capterra mentioned challenges in setting up specific time slots and managing complex pricing structures, stating, "I couldn't set up the three basic timeslots we needed... It just wasn't intuitive."

These insights indicate that although both platforms strive for user-friendly experiences, Gable's design and functionality might provide a more seamless and intuitive interface, especially for organizations with varied and changing workspace requirements.

Flexibility

When evaluating the flexibility of workspace management platforms, Gable stands out for its adaptability to hybrid work environments. It offers features like employee-specific preferences, collaboration heatmaps, and access to a global network of high-quality coworking spaces, ensuring it meets the dynamic needs of modern workforces.

Apartment List shares, "The other solutions we tried didn’t offer much visibility or flexibility. Gable has allowed us to stay on top of managing everything so easily, and it’s much more flexible than any of the alternatives."

In contrast, while Skedda provides core functionalities such as desk and meeting room booking, some users have noted limitations in its customization options.

“Ultimately, we decided to go for it anyway, even though there is more manual intervention when canceling or modifying bookings, which do not automatically adjust the external invoicing system. We had to work around some of our more complex multi-day bookings that did not fit the Skedda 'standard' approach for such bookings, but we have found solutions even though it has meant changing our billing processes in some cases.” shared Paul K. on Capterra.

Gable’s ability to support complex hybrid setups makes it the more adaptable option for businesses looking to create flexible, employee-focused work environments.

Integration Capabilities

Gable stands out due to its robust integration ecosystem. It seamlessly connects with tools like Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, Slack, various HRIS systems, and access control software like Brivo and Verkada. This wide-ranging compatibility enhances workflows, enabling organizations to centralize their workspace management processes.

Ironclad praises Gable, saying, “We have all those three things with Gable. Everyone knows how to book spaces, we got all the data we needed, and the employee experience is amazing.” 

While Skedda also provides integrations, its scope is more limited, mainly focusing on calendar tools like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. While these integrations serve basic scheduling needs, some reviewers on Capterra have noted a desire for more comprehensive integration options. One review mentioned, “Using Skedda's integration with Outlook calendars can be a bit troublesome at times. You are not allowed to double book, and your reservation will be marked as "busy." This is troublesome if your phone calls are going through the Teams application since the phone notification will not ring if your status is "busy".

Gable provides a more versatile and connected platform for organizations that need a comprehensive suite of integrations.

Customer Support

Gable is frequently praised for its responsive and proactive customer support. Users have often highlighted how Gable’s team quickly addresses issues, helping businesses maintain uninterrupted operations.

Workstep shared, “One of the reasons why we decided to use Gable is because your team is incredible. The thing that stands out the most about Gable, the number one thing, is their team. The responsiveness to product feedback and customer service is a true differentiator.”

Skedda, while offering support, has faced criticism, especially regarding response times. One Capterra review noted, “They provided no customer service when I had trouble with the system. Automatic reply said that they will come back after 1 hour, but they didn't. So I ask the status. Message was seen but no reply.”

Although both platforms strive for user-friendly experiences, Gable's design and functionality might provide a more seamless and intuitive interface, especially for organizations with varied and changing workspace requirements.

Value for money: Pricing vs features comparison

Gable offers transparent and flexible pricing that is ideal for small businesses and large organizations. Its HQ pricing starts at $3 per seat per month, which includes desk and room scheduling, advanced analytics, and integrations with workplace tools. Gable’s On-Demand feature provides global workspace access with pay-as-you-go flexibility, eliminating the need for upfront credit pools or minimum commitments.

Skedda follows a tiered pricing model, starting at $99 monthly for basic features. However, certain advanced functionalities, like visitor management or more granular analytics, require additional costs, making it less cost-effective for organizations with extensive needs.

Key features: Side-by-side comparison 

Verdict: Gable offers a more comprehensive feature set, making it the better choice for hybrid work environments. Its event orchestration, deeper analytics, and broader integration capabilities give it a distinct edge over Skedda, particularly for organizations looking to optimize flexibility and efficiency.

Choosing the Right Workplace Management Tool for Your Business

While Skedda offers valuable features for space booking, Gable stands out as the ultimate solution for businesses seeking flexibility, comprehensive analytics, and employee-focused tools. It is a clear choice if your organization values adaptability, actionable insights, and a user-friendly solution.