Coworking vs managed office vs serviced office

The difference is how much of the space is yours and how long you commit. Coworking gives you a desk in a shared room, pay-as-you-go. A serviced office is your own enclosed, ready-to-use cabin inside a managed building. A managed office is a whole space run for one company on a longer, customisable commitment. All three are operator-run — you bring your team, not the fit-out.

Coworking means a desk in a shared workspace, with the meeting rooms, internet, coffee and reception shared across everyone in the building. You pay per seat and can usually start and stop with little or no lock-in.

On 78Flex this covers two plans: a hot desk (any free seat, by the day or month, no contract) and a dedicated desk (your own seat held month-to-month). It suits freelancers, remote workers and small teams who want low commitment and a ready community over a private, branded space.

A serviced office is your own enclosed, fully furnished private cabin inside a building the operator runs — plug-and-play, with furniture, internet, cleaning and utilities already handled. You get privacy and a lockable space without signing a conventional lease or fitting out anything yourself.

On 78Flex a serviced office (private cabin) typically houses a team of 1 to 50 and is taken on a short, flexible commitment — usually month-to-month. It suits teams that have outgrown a shared desk and want their own room, but still value flexibility over a long-term contract.

A managed office is a dedicated space run for a single company. The operator handles the fit-out, facilities, maintenance and staff, but the space itself is yours to use and often to brand and lay out to your needs. It is the closest thing to a traditional office without you having to manage the building.

The line between a serviced and a managed office is not seat count — it is commitment and customisation. A managed office is generally taken on a longer term than a serviced cabin, in exchange for a space configured around one company rather than a standard ready-made cabin. It suits established teams that want a dedicated, tailored home but would rather not run the premises themselves.

Choose coworking if you are one person or a small team, want to start tomorrow, and don’t need a private, branded room. Choose a serviced office if you want your own enclosed space without committing to a long lease. Choose a managed office if you want a dedicated space shaped around your company and are ready to commit for longer in return.

You can compare all three on 78Flex. Search live spaces by city and plan, or ask RAMA to narrow it down for your team. Operator-confirmed inventory — with live pricing and real availability — is concentrated in our 11 launch cities; elsewhere, spaces are drawn from public sources and labelled as such under the 78Flex Verification Standard.