We install Microsoft Teams Rooms, so you would expect this article to end with "choose Teams". It mostly does, but for a specific reason that has nothing to do with which meeting app has the nicer buttons: for a business running Microsoft 365, the room is a device in your tenant, and Teams Rooms is the only option that treats it that way.
There are cases where Zoom Rooms is the right answer. This guide sets out how to tell.
The decision in one question
Which platform do your staff live in, and which do your clients dial in from?
If your business runs Microsoft 365 and most meetings are Teams meetings, choose Teams Rooms. If your business runs Google Workspace or Slack and most meetings are Zoom meetings, choose Zoom Rooms. If the answer is "both, roughly equally", keep reading, because the interoperability section decides it.
Everything below is detail on why.
Side-by-side
| Factor | Microsoft Teams Rooms | Zoom Rooms |
|---|---|---|
| Native platform | Microsoft Teams | Zoom Meetings |
| Licence | Basic: free (25-room cap). Pro: paid per device per month | Paid per room per month, single tier, no free option |
| Room management | Teams Admin Centre; Pro Management portal with Pro | Zoom Device Management, included |
| Identity and security | Resource account in Entra ID; Conditional Access and Intune with Pro | Zoom account; separate SSO and device policies |
| Compliance capture | Recordings, transcripts and chat in Microsoft Purview | Zoom cloud recording, separate retention |
| Joining the other platform | Direct Guest Join to Zoom and Webex | Direct Guest Join to Teams and Webex |
| Calendar | Exchange Online, native | Exchange or Google via calendar integration |
| Certified hardware | MaxHub, Logitech, Yealink, Poly, Crestron, Neat, Jabra, Cisco | Logitech, Yealink, Poly, Neat, DTEN, Crestron, Jabra |
| Guest-facing extras | Room booking panels, hot-desking | Digital signage, virtual receptionist kiosk, workspace reservation |
| Typical Australian SMB fit | Microsoft 365 businesses, regulated industries | Google Workspace businesses, customer-facing venues |
Platform fit and the guest problem
The room should run natively on the platform your own staff use most. Native means one-touch join from the calendar, in-room chat and reactions, whiteboard, recording to the right place, and no "click the link in the invite and hope" moment.
The guest problem is the counter-argument: what about the clients and suppliers who send Zoom invites? Both platforms handle it the same way. Direct Guest Join lets a Teams Room join a Zoom meeting, and a Zoom Room join a Teams meeting, from the calendar with one touch. You get audio, video and content sharing, and you lose platform-specific features like breakout rooms and the other side's whiteboard.
For most Australian SMBs that is fine. Guest meetings are calls, not workshops. Run native on your own platform and let Direct Guest Join handle the rest.
The exception is a business where the split is genuinely even, say a consultancy whose biggest client mandates Zoom for every engagement. There, a room that is a full participant in both matters, and the answer is usually a Zoom Room with Teams Direct Guest Join if Zoom is where the revenue meetings happen, or dual-certified hardware that can be re-homed if the balance shifts.
Licensing
This is where Teams Rooms pulls ahead for small fleets.
- Teams Rooms Basic is free for up to 25 rooms. Huddle rooms and small meeting rooms on Teams only cost nothing to license.
- Teams Rooms Pro is a paid per-device monthly licence for boardrooms and any room you want under Conditional Access.
- Zoom Rooms has no free tier. Every room is a paid monthly licence, with management included.
An office with three huddle rooms and one boardroom pays for one Pro licence on Teams. The same office on Zoom Rooms pays for four. If every room needs Pro-level management, the gap narrows and the decision should be made on platform fit, not price. Our Teams Rooms Basic vs Pro guide covers exactly when Pro is needed.
Hardware
The good news is you rarely need to choose hardware by platform. Logitech Rally Bar, Yealink MeetingBar, Poly Studio X series, Neat Bar and Jabra PanaCast 50 carry both certifications, and several MaxHub kits do too. The bar can be switched between Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms mode with a reconfiguration, so a wrong platform call is recoverable without replacing the room.
Two watch-outs. Touch controllers and door panels are more platform-specific than the bars, so check the exact model. And "works with" is not "certified for". Certified means the vendor and platform test firmware together; it is the difference between a room that survives an update and one that does not.
Security, compliance and the reason we lean Teams
This is the part that decides it for our clients in government supply chains, healthcare, and financial services.
A Teams Rooms device is a resource account in your Entra ID tenant. With Teams Rooms Pro, it is enrolled in Intune, governed by the same Conditional Access and device compliance policies as your laptops, and its recordings, transcripts and chat land in Microsoft Purview under your existing retention, hold and eDiscovery policies. In an ISO 27001 or Essential 8 audit, the room is simply another device in a scope you already manage.
A Zoom Room is secure, but it is a separate identity in a separate console with separate policies, separate recording storage and a separate retention configuration. That is additional audit scope, another admin plane to harden, and another place a leaver's access has to be revoked. It is manageable, but it is not free, and the cost does not appear on any quote.
For a business whose compliance posture is built on Microsoft 365, Teams Rooms is the option that does not add scope.
Where Zoom Rooms wins
To be fair to it:
- Google Workspace businesses. If your calendar and identity live in Google, Zoom Rooms integrates more naturally than Teams Rooms.
- Customer-facing spaces. Zoom Rooms' digital signage, kiosk and workspace reservation features are more developed than the Teams equivalents.
- Single-tier simplicity. One licence, everything included, no Basic-versus-Pro decision.
- Guest experience. Zoom's touch interface is marginally easier for a first-time visitor to drive without help.
Our recommendation
- Microsoft 365 business, mostly Teams meetings: Teams Rooms. Basic on small rooms, Pro on boardrooms and any room under Conditional Access.
- Google Workspace business, mostly Zoom meetings: Zoom Rooms, on dual-certified hardware in case the platform changes.
- Genuinely mixed: run native on the platform where your own team works, use Direct Guest Join for the rest, and buy dual-certified bars so the decision is reversible.
- Regulated industry on Microsoft 365: Teams Rooms Pro. The compliance integration is the deciding factor, not the features list.
We supply and install Microsoft Teams Rooms Australia-wide on MaxHub, Logitech, Yealink and Poly hardware, integrated with your Microsoft 365 tenant and configured to your compliance baseline. If you are weighing up the platforms for a specific office, a free room assessment will settle it faster than another comparison article. For budgeting, see our Teams Rooms cost guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Microsoft Teams Room join a Zoom meeting? Yes. Direct Guest Join lets a Teams Rooms device join Zoom and Cisco Webex meetings from the calendar invite with one touch, using the web client built into the room. You get audio, video and screen share, but not Zoom-specific features like breakout rooms or Zoom whiteboard.
Can a Zoom Room join a Teams meeting? Yes. Zoom Rooms support Direct Guest Join into Microsoft Teams meetings in the same way, with the same limitations: core meeting functions work, platform-specific features do not.
Is the same hardware certified for both Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms? Mostly. Logitech Rally Bar, Yealink MeetingBar, Poly Studio X, Neat Bar and several MaxHub kits carry both Microsoft Teams and Zoom Rooms certifications and can be switched between platforms with a reconfiguration. The touch controller and room panel are usually where compatibility narrows, so check the specific model.
Which is cheaper to license, Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms? Teams Rooms, in most Australian SMB scenarios. Teams Rooms Basic is free for up to 25 rooms, so small rooms cost nothing to license. Zoom Rooms has no free tier; every room is a paid licence. Where every room needs Pro-level management the gap narrows, and the decision should be made on platform fit rather than price.
Which is better for security and compliance? For a Microsoft 365 business, Teams Rooms. Room devices sit under your Conditional Access, Intune compliance, Purview retention and eDiscovery policies with no separate admin plane. Zoom Rooms are secure but managed in a separate console with a separate identity, which is extra scope in an ISO 27001 or Essential 8 audit.