Head-to-Head Comparison · Alternative to Gather · 👥 community
Gather vs Cosmos Free
A persistent spatial office for four people with no call timer; the fifth person remains outdoors. Here is how Cosmos Free ($0/mo free) stacks up against Gather ($12/mo) across cost, hosting, data privacy, and real-world trade-offs.
Gather vs Cosmos Free Specification Matrix
facts verified 2026-08-11
| Dimension | Gather (Paid) | Cosmos Free (Replacement) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $12 / mo | $0 / mo |
| 1-Year Cost (1 seat) | $144 / yr | $0 / yr (Save $144) |
| 1-Year Cost (5 seats) | $720 / yr | $0 / yr (Save $720) |
| 1-Year Cost (10 seats) | $1,440 / yr | $0 / yr (Save $1,440) |
| Source & License | Proprietary SaaS | free proprietary, free |
| Where It Runs | Vendor Cloud | Hosted (their cloud) |
| Platforms | Web / Cloud | desktopmobilewebthey host it |
| GitHub Stars | — | ★ $0 forever |
Deep Dive: Switching from Gather to Cosmos Free
Trade-offs, installation & data architecture
What you trade away
The four-person concurrent cap and shallow map and game-world tooling make it a much smaller social space than Gather.
How to deploy Cosmos Free
Hosted signup in the browser, with optional native desktop and mobile apps
Where your data lives
Account, messages and files live in Cosmos's cloud; calls are transmitted encrypted, while user-started recordings are stored on Cosmos servers and some recording or message data is handled by US processors
Why fork Cosmos Free instead of vibe-coding a Gather clone?
A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Gather, build a small spatial web room with basic movement and text presence. The hard boundary is real-time spatial media, maps, integrations, moderation, and hosted capacity, plus network, moderation, and communication infrastructure.
Gather vs Cosmos Free FAQ
Is Cosmos Free a good free alternative to Gather?+
Yes. Cosmos Free is a verified free replacement for Gather. A persistent spatial office for four people with no call timer; the fifth person remains outdoors.
What is the catch when switching from Gather to Cosmos Free?+
The four-person concurrent cap and shallow map and game-world tooling make it a much smaller social space than Gather.
How much do you save switching from Gather to Cosmos Free?+
Gather costs $12/mo ($144/yr) per seat, whereas Cosmos Free is $0/mo. Switching saves $144/yr for a solo user, $720/yr for a 5-person team, and $1,440/yr for a 10-person team.
How do I install or self-host Cosmos Free instead of Gather?+
Install: Hosted signup in the browser, with optional native desktop and mobile apps.
