SpotBooker vs Outlook room mailboxes (Microsoft 365)
If your organisation uses Microsoft 365, you can already book rooms in Outlook: each room gets a room mailbox, and Room Finder helps people pick a free one. SpotBooker has no Outlook add-in. It complements or replaces room mailboxes when you need public booking pages, quotas, approvals, floor plans or equipment booking, or when some of the people who book have no Microsoft account.
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The short answer
SpotBooker makes sense when…
- People who book have no Microsoft account: students, residents, partners, members
- You need quotas per person or group, fixed slots or multi-level approval
- You share equipment or lab instruments, with accessories booked alongside
- You want floor plans, check-in with automatic release and usage statistics
Outlook room mailboxes fit better when…
- Everyone who books has a Microsoft 365 account and works in Outlook
- A booking is a meeting: the room should simply appear in the invitation
- Your rules are simple: no conflicts, a booking window, a maximum duration
- You do not want another tool, another sign-in or another subscription
Side-by-side comparison
| Criterion | SpotBooker | Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A booking tool for rooms and shared resources, used in the web browser | Room and equipment mailboxes in Exchange Online: people add the room to an Outlook meeting request; Room Finder helps them find a free room |
| Pricing | Free plan (2 spots), then $39/month or $390/year with 5 spots included | Part of Exchange Online, with no separate booking tool to buy: see Microsoft for plans |
| What you can book | Rooms, equipment, vehicles, lab instruments and any shared resource; accessories can be booked with a resource, at no extra cost | Rooms (room mailboxes), workspaces, and equipment such as a projector or a company car (equipment mailboxes) |
| Where people book | In SpotBooker, in any browser on computer or phone, or on a public booking page without an account | In Outlook for Windows, Mac, the web, iOS and Android, by adding the room to a meeting request |
| Outlook calendar | .ics invitation attached to emails (user option) and iCal subscription feeds per user and per resource; no two-way sync; no Outlook add-in | Built in: the booking is the Outlook meeting itself |
| Booking rules | Fixed time-slot grid (15/20/30/60 min), limits per day, week or month (hours or number of bookings), group exceptions, late-cancellation rule | Booking window (180 days by default), maximum duration (24 hours by default), working hours only, recurring meetings allowed or not, and who may book |
| Approval | Single or multi-level approval, per resource | Booking delegates accept or decline requests; if there are several, one of them is enough |
| Finding a room | Floor plans, categories, tags and custom fields | Room Finder: browse by city and room list, filter by capacity, floor and features; a search returns up to 100 rooms |
| Check-in and no-shows | QR code check-in; the spot is released automatically if nobody checks in | See Microsoft’s site |
| Setting it up | In the SpotBooker admin area; users can be imported from a CSV or Excel file | In the Exchange admin center or PowerShell; room lists can only be created in PowerShell; changes can take 24 to 48 hours to show in Room Finder |
| Sign-in | Email and password, Google, Microsoft Entra ID (SSO, tenant or domain restriction, Entra groups mapped to groups) | Microsoft 365 account of your organisation |
| Information checked | October 2026 | October 2026, on Microsoft Learn |
Microsoft information comes from Microsoft Learn: “Manage resource mailboxes in Exchange Online” and “Configure rooms and workspaces for Room Finder”, checked in October 2026. Features change: check Microsoft’s documentation.
Where Microsoft 365 is stronger
Microsoft 365 may be the better choice in these situations. We would rather tell you now than after you sign up.
Nothing new to learn
People book the room while they create the meeting, in the Outlook they already use, on computer or phone.
Already part of Exchange Online
Room and equipment mailboxes come with Exchange Online: there is no separate product to buy or connect.
One calendar
The room’s calendar and the meeting are the same object, so there is nothing to sync. SpotBooker has no two-way sync with Outlook.
Where SpotBooker fits better
People outside Microsoft 365
A public booking page lets people without an account book a room or a resource, under your rules.
Rules beyond conflicts
Limits per day, week or month, exceptions per group, fixed slots, late-cancellation rule and single or multi-level approval.
Equipment and instruments
Book a microscope, a vehicle or a camera like a room, and add accessories to the same booking at no extra cost.
Check-in and statistics
QR code check-in releases the resource after 15 minutes by default (adjustable from 5 to 60) if nobody shows up; usage statistics export to CSV.
What SpotBooker does not do (today)
- No native mobile app: SpotBooker runs in the web browser, on computer or phone.
- No two-way sync with Outlook or Google Calendar: bookings can be sent as .ics invitations and followed through an iCal subscription feed.
- No Microsoft Teams app, no Outlook add-in, no public API.
- No full-day desk booking, hot desking or office attendance planning.
- No occupancy sensors and no door displays.
Pricing
SpotBooker
- Free plan: 2 spots (rooms, equipment…)
- Monthly: $39/month, 5 spots included, +$3 per extra spot per month
- Annual: $390/year, 5 spots included, +$30 per extra spot per year
- Unlimited users on every plan
- 14-day free trial, no credit card required
Microsoft 365
Room and equipment mailboxes are a feature of Exchange Online, so there is no separate booking product to buy: check Microsoft for what your plan includes. Using SpotBooker alongside does not change your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need SpotBooker if we already have Microsoft 365?
Not always. If everyone who books has a Microsoft 365 account and rooms only need to avoid double bookings, Outlook room mailboxes and Room Finder may be enough. SpotBooker helps when you need quotas, approvals, floor plans, equipment booking or a public booking page.
Does SpotBooker have an Outlook add-in?
No. SpotBooker has no Outlook add-in and no Teams app. Booking happens in SpotBooker, in the browser.
Do SpotBooker bookings appear in Outlook?
They can appear, read-only: users can receive an .ics invitation with their booking emails and subscribe to an iCal feed of their bookings or of a resource. There is no two-way sync: a meeting created in Outlook does not book a room in SpotBooker.
Can people sign in with their Microsoft account?
Yes. SpotBooker supports Microsoft Entra ID sign-in, can be limited to your tenant or domain, and Entra groups can be mapped to SpotBooker groups to give rights.
Can we use room mailboxes and SpotBooker at the same time?
Yes, as long as each resource is booked in one place. A common split: meeting rooms stay in Outlook, while equipment, labs or rooms open to outside people go in SpotBooker.
Other comparisons
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