Joan or Skedda — which room booking system actually fits your office?

TL;DR: Joan ships ePaper room displays. Skedda has no hardware at all. For most offices, this is decisive.

This is where Joan has a clear advantage. Joan's purpose-built ePaper room displays are battery-powered, mount on any wall without cable runs, and show real-time availability to anyone walking past. Skedda has no hardware offering — you'd need to source, purchase, and configure a third-party tablet separately, which adds cost and complexity. Worth noting: Joan's hardware is an upfront investment, so for very small offices (under 5 rooms) with tight budgets, the value calculation shifts.

TL;DR: Both are DIY-friendly. Joan is faster out of the box; Skedda takes longer because its rules engine is deeper.

Joan takes under 15 minutes per room to set up — the displays are plug-and-play, and the admin panel is intuitive. Skedda is also manageable for basic use, but the depth of its booking rule customization means the setup process takes longer, particularly for complex office environments. Neither platform requires dedicated IT support.

TL;DR: If your scheduling logic is genuinely complex, Skedda's rules engine is best in class.

This is Skedda's strongest suit — and it genuinely excels here. Skedda offers the most flexible booking rule configuration we've seen: minimum/maximum durations, buffer time between bookings, blackout periods, resource-specific rules, and approval workflows. Joan's booking rules cover the needs of most offices but don't match Skedda's granular depth. If your office has genuinely complex scheduling logic — think co-working spaces, universities, or shared facilities — Skedda is the more considered choice.

TL;DR: Joan has a full visitor suite built in. Skedda has none. If reception matters, this ends the comparison.

Joan includes a full visitor management suite — pre-registration, badge printing, host notifications, and visitor logs — integrated with the same platform used for room and desk booking. Skedda has no visitor management functionality. If front desk visitor experience is part of your requirements, this category alone can decide the shortlist.

TL;DR: Joan's dashboards are deeper. Skedda covers the basics but user-level breakdowns are limited.

Joan's analytics dashboard covers room utilisation rates, peak booking times, no-show rates, and desk occupancy — giving facilities managers actionable data. Skedda's analytics are functional but shallower: multiple reviewers on G2 note that "breaking down data by team or individual user is limited." For data-driven workplace decisions, Joan provides more insight out of the box.

TL;DR: Both integrate with Google and Microsoft. Joan's M365 sync is more consistently reliable in reviews.

Both platforms integrate with Google Calendar and Microsoft 365. Skedda has received user reports of Outlook integration issues — a gap worth checking for Microsoft-heavy organisations. Joan's Microsoft 365 integration is consistently well-reviewed, with bidirectional calendar sync that works reliably in enterprise environments.

TL;DR: Skedda dropped its free tier in 2025. Joan still offers a free trial. Hardware is an upfront cost to weigh.

Skedda removed its free tier in 2025, which triggered SMB pricing complaints in reviews. Joan offers a free trial with no credit card required. Neither platform publishes flat pricing publicly — both use quote-based pricing at scale. Joan's hardware adds upfront cost, but total cost of ownership is comparable once you factor in the visitor management and analytics modules that would otherwise be separate line items.