Comparison
Fishbowl vs Robin: Meeting Room Display Comparison
Robin is a workplace experience platform that includes desk booking, room booking, and analytics. Here is how it differs from a focused room-display tool like Fishbowl.
In one paragraph
The biggest differences between Fishbowl and Robin come down to three things: your data, scope, and price. On data, Robin syncs every booking through its cloud, while Fishbowl keeps meeting data on each device and never stores it on our servers. On scope, Robin is a full workplace platform spanning desk booking, visitor management, and analytics, while Fishbowl does one job: a secure display outside each meeting room. Finally, on price, Robin bills per active user, while Fishbowl charges a flat rate per device.
Side by side
| Fishbowl | Robin | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Focused on meeting room displays. Booking, extending, ending, check-in. | Full workplace platform: desk booking, room booking, visitor management, analytics. |
| Pricing model | Per device. From $10/device/month. | Per active user (and/or per resource), tiered plans. Custom for enterprise. |
| Hardware | Software-only. Runs on any tablet you already own, or PoE Philips/iAdea panels. | Software with a separate room display app; some plans include hardware bundles. |
| Calendar support | Microsoft 365, on-prem Exchange, Google Workspace, personal Gmail, Teamup. | Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, others. |
| On-premises Exchange | Yes - direct EWS over your LAN. | Cloud-first; on-prem support depends on plan. |
| Setup time per room | ~5 minutes - install, pair, pick room. | Higher setup overhead; full platform onboarding. |
| Best for | Teams that just want a secure room display per meeting room. | Larger orgs that want one platform for the whole hybrid workplace. |
Comparison reflects publicly available information at the time of writing. Competitor product details may have changed - check their website for the latest.
5-room cost example
A like-for-like deployment: 5 meeting rooms with a tablet at each, hardware plus software, for the first year and over three years.
Robin is priced per active user, not per room - so the room count alone does not determine your bill. The figures below assume a 50-person team using Robin's Workplace tier purely for room booking. Smaller teams pay less; larger teams pay more.
| Fishbowl + Philips 10BDL5051T |
Robin | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware (one-off, 5 rooms) | $2,095 | ~$2,145 |
| Fishbowl: Philips 10BDL5051T @ ~$419 each. Robin: iPad 10.9" @ ~$329 each + a wall mount. | ||
| Software (per year) | $480 | ~$15,600 |
| Fishbowl: Business annual plan, 5 devices. Robin: 50 users × ~$26/user/month × 12. | ||
| Year 1 total | $2,575 | ~$17,745 |
| 3-year total | $3,445 | ~$48,945 |
| Fishbowl figure uses our 3-year prepay rate ($270/device on Business, vs $96/year annual). Robin figure assumes annual rate × 3 at 50 active users. | ||
Hardware figures are approximate MSRP and vary by reseller. The Philips 10BDL5051T runs about $419 each in the US and €300 ex VAT each in the EU. Fishbowl Year 1 software uses our Business annual plan ($96/device/year); the 3-year total uses our Business 3-year prepay rate ($270/device, save vs annual). Competitor software figures are publicly listed annual rates × 1 or × 3 - if the vendor offers a multi-year discount, ask them. Fishbowl is billed in USD; EUR figures above are approximate equivalents at recent FX.
Choose Fishbowl when
- You want meeting data to stay on your network rather than flow through a cloud platform.
- You want a room display, not a full workplace platform.
- You prefer per-device pricing over per-user pricing.
- You need on-prem Exchange support.
- You want to use tablets you already own.
Choose Robin when
- You also need desk booking, hot-desking, visitor management, or workplace analytics in the same product.
- You're standardizing on a single workplace-experience platform across the company.
See Fishbowl in your meeting room.
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