Microsoft Teams Rooms vs. Zoom Rooms: which platform for your conference rooms?

The short answer

If your company lives in Microsoft 365 → Teams Rooms. If your company lives in Zoom → Zoom Rooms. If you have a mix — more common than you'd think — you probably want BYOD rooms with interoperability rather than picking one platform for every conference room.

Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR)

Pros:

• Seamless with Outlook/Exchange calendars
• Deep Microsoft 365 integration (whiteboard, OneDrive, identity)
• Massive hardware ecosystem — Logitech, Poly, Crestron, Yealink
• Included with most E5 licenses (no extra per-room cost often)

Cons:

• Windows under the hood — occasional Windows Update pain
• Less intuitive for non-Microsoft shops
• Multi-vendor deployments require careful MDM

Zoom Rooms

Pros:

• Simplest UX — single tap to join
• Strong appliance ecosystem (Poly, Logitech, Neat, DTEN)
• Runs on Mac, Windows, or appliance — flexibility
• Excellent gallery view and pinning logic

Cons:

• Monthly per-room license ($49/mo Pro, $149/mo Business)
• Less tight with Microsoft 365 calendaring
• Smaller app ecosystem than Microsoft

BYOD rooms (the growing option)

A BYOD room skips the appliance and lets users bring their laptop, connect via USB-C to a dock, and drive the display and cameras from their own machine. Platform-agnostic. Pros: cheaper, platform-independent. Cons: requires users to do the connecting, rooms feel less polished.

Our recommendation for most DFW offices: MTR or Zoom Rooms in the 2–3 "executive" conference rooms, BYOD in the other team rooms.

Hardware we install most often

• Small rooms (2–4 people): Poly Studio X30 or Logitech Rally Bar Mini all-in-one
• Mid rooms (6–10 people): Logitech Rally Bar + Tap controller, or Poly Studio X52
• Large rooms (10+): Logitech Rally Plus with extension mics, or Poly Studio X70
• Board rooms: Custom Crestron or QSC solutions with multiple ceiling mics, dual displays, presenter tracking

Typical budgets

• Small room, BYOD: $3,500–$6,000
• Small room, MTR/ZR appliance: $6,000–$10,000
• Mid room, MTR/ZR: $12,000–$20,000
• Large room, MTR/ZR: $20,000–$40,000
• Board room, custom: $50,000–$150,000