If you’ve ever tried to get real work done from a noisy coffee shop or a hotel lobby with spotty Wi-Fi, you already know why the coworking space industry has exploded over the last several years. What started as a niche option for freelancers and startup founders has become mainstream infrastructure for remote employees, consultants, small business owners, and digital nomads alike. Today, finding the right shared office space isn’t about settling for whatever’s nearby — it’s about matching your work style, budget, and travel schedule to a space that actually helps you be productive.
This guide walks through what a coworking space actually offers, how to evaluate one before you commit, the best apps and platforms for finding one anywhere in the world, and answers to the questions people ask most often when they’re shopping around for their first (or fiftieth) coworking membership.
Why Coworking Spaces Became the Default for Remote Work
Remote and hybrid work arrangements are no longer the exception — they’re standard practice across most industries. But working from home isn’t always realistic. Kids, roommates, poor internet, or simply the need for a change of scenery push people to look for flexible workspace options outside the house.
Coworking spaces fill that gap by combining the casual, social atmosphere of a café with the professional infrastructure of a real office: high-speed internet, private meeting rooms, printers, phone booths, and often a built-in community of other professionals. Many locations sweeten the deal further with perks like free coffee, wellness rooms, networking events, and professional development workshops.
For business travelers specifically, a good coworking membership can replace the need to book a hotel business center or scramble for a quiet corner between meetings — which is exactly the kind of gap our corporate transportation clients ask us about when they’re planning a full day of back-to-back meetings around Chicago.
What to Look for Before You Book a Coworking Space
Not all coworking spaces are created equal, and the “best” one depends entirely on how you work. Before choosing a shared workspace, it helps to think through a few practical factors:
1. Location and Commute
A coworking space that’s a 45-minute drive away defeats the purpose of avoiding a commute. Look for locations near your home, near client meetings, or — if you travel for work — near the airport or your hotel.
2. Membership Flexibility
Some platforms lock you into monthly plans; others offer pay-as-you-go or hourly access. If your schedule is unpredictable, prioritize flexibility over a lower monthly rate.
3. Amenities That Actually Matter to You
Fast Wi-Fi and quiet space are non-negotiable for most people, but think about what else you need: a private call booth, a meeting room for client pitches, standing desks, or even something unconventional like a dog-friendly policy.
4. Community and Networking
Some coworking spaces are built around community — regular events, shared Slack channels, and casual networking. Others are quieter, more corporate, and better suited to people who just want a desk and don’t want to be disturbed.
5. Global or Multi-City Access
If you travel frequently for business, a platform with locations in multiple cities (or countries) saves you from re-searching every time you land somewhere new.
The Best Apps and Platforms for Finding a Coworking Space
Once you know what you’re looking for, the next step is actually finding it. Here are the top tools worth knowing about, along with what each one does best and where it falls short.
Coworker — Best for Filtering by Amenities
Coworker is a web-based directory covering more than 12,000 coworking spaces, private offices, and meeting rooms across 165+ countries. Its biggest strength is its filtering system: you can search by practical amenities like high-speed Wi-Fi and meeting room availability, or more specific preferences like dog-friendly policies or unconventional perks.
Signing up is free, and the platform shows which spaces are trending in a given city through a “popular now” indicator. The one drawback is that you can’t filter directly by price — you’ll need to filter by amenities first, then manually compare rates space by space. Reservations themselves aren’t handled through the platform; you’ll need to contact each space directly.
Best for: People who care more about specific amenities than about booking convenience.
Croissant — Best for Real-Time, Nearby Access
Croissant uses your GPS location to surface coworking spaces near you in real time. It’s free to browse as a guest, with paid memberships starting around $39 for 10 hours of coworking per month. The interface is clean and easy to navigate — you can browse by city from a dropdown or use the map view to see what’s close by.
Each listing includes a rundown of amenities, and you can reserve a spot directly through the app. The trade-off is that Croissant doesn’t let you filter by amenities the way Coworker does, so it works best when you already know the location you want and just need a nearby option.
Best for: Spontaneous, location-based bookings — especially useful if you need a desk near a specific meeting, hotel, or event venue.
Available on iOS, Android, and desktop.
Deskpass — Best for U.S. Business Travelers
Deskpass takes a similar membership approach to Croissant but structures visits differently — instead of an hourly cap, memberships come with a set number of full-length visits per month. After a free trial period, plans start around $49 for four visits monthly, with unused visits rolling over.
One limitation: Deskpass caps you at five visits to any single location per month, so it’s not ideal if you’re trying to become a regular at one space. It’s also currently limited to select U.S. cities, which matters if your travel takes you internationally.
Best for: Frequent U.S. business travelers who want variety across a handful of trusted locations — a useful companion for anyone who also relies on airport transportation to get between flights and meetings efficiently.
Available on iOS, Android, and desktop.
Nomad Space — Best for International, Peer-Reviewed Options
Nomad Space covers roughly 500 partner coworking spaces across 220 cities worldwide, including less-common destinations that don’t always show up on bigger platforms. Every listing includes an interactive map, contact details, and peer-reviewed star ratings that you can factor into your search alongside price and location.
The trade-off is flexibility of search: you can’t filter by specific amenities or by a precise location within a city, so it works best for travelers who are reasonably flexible about exactly where they end up.
Best for: Digital nomads and international travelers who want variety and don’t mind a bit of manual research.
Available on iOS.
Regus Coworking — Best for a Global, White-Glove Experience
With roughly 3,000 locations across 120 countries, Regus is the largest and most established name on this list. In addition to a self-service app, Regus offers guided setup through a customer service team for individuals or companies that want hot desks, private offices, meeting rooms, or fully virtual office solutions.
The onboarding process is less immediate than Croissant or Deskpass since it typically starts with a conversation rather than an instant booking, but the payoff is a large built-in community, proprietary workplace apps, and partner discounts. Its Global Connect feature also gives members access to an enormous network of Wi-Fi hotspots at airports, hotels, and conference venues around the world.
Best for: Companies and frequent global travelers who want a consistent, managed experience across many cities.
Matching a Coworking Platform to Your Work Style
To make the comparison easier, here’s a quick way to think about which platform fits which type of worker:
- Want maximum amenity control? Start with Coworker.
- Need a desk near you, right now? Croissant is built for that.
- Traveling regularly within the U.S.? Deskpass offers a good balance of flexibility and cost.
- Heading somewhere off the beaten path internationally? Nomad Space has the broadest reach outside major hubs.
- Need a consistent, managed setup across many countries or for a whole team? Regus is the most established option.
Coworking Spaces and Business Travel: A Practical Pairing
For business travelers moving through a city like Chicago, a coworking space is often just one piece of a longer day that includes flights, client meetings, and evening events. Getting between those commitments reliably matters just as much as where you’re working from.
That’s where reliable private driver service comes in — whether that means being picked up from O’Hare Airport and dropped directly at a coworking location downtown, or having an executive car service on standby between a morning coworking session and an afternoon client pitch. Pairing a well-chosen workspace with dependable transportation is often what separates a productive business trip from a stressful one.
Frequently Asked Questions About Coworking Spaces
1. What is a coworking space, exactly?
A coworking space is a shared work environment — usually a mix of open desks, private offices, and meeting rooms — that professionals from different companies rent access to, either by the hour, day, or month.
2. How much does a coworking membership typically cost?
Pricing varies widely by city and platform. Hourly or visit-based memberships can start around $35–$50 per month for limited access, while dedicated desks or private offices in major cities can run several hundred dollars monthly.
3. Are coworking spaces only for freelancers?
No. While freelancers and solo entrepreneurs were early adopters, coworking spaces are now widely used by remote employees of large companies, small business teams, and corporate travelers who need a temporary professional base.
4. Can I book a coworking space for just one day?
Yes. Most of the platforms covered above — including Croissant and Deskpass — offer day passes or hourly access in addition to monthly memberships.
5. Do coworking spaces offer private offices, or just open desks?
Most established coworking companies, including Regus and many spaces listed on Coworker, offer a range of options from open hot desks to fully private, lockable offices.
6. What amenities should I prioritize when choosing a space?
Reliable Wi-Fi and a quiet environment are baseline requirements for most people. Beyond that, prioritize whatever supports your actual workflow — a private room for client calls, meeting rooms for pitches, or proximity to your hotel or the airport if you’re traveling.
7. Is it worth using a coworking space for just a single business trip?
Often, yes. A single day pass is typically far cheaper than losing hours to a noisy hotel lobby, and many spaces offer better Wi-Fi and quieter environments for calls and video meetings.
8. How do I find a coworking space near the airport?
Apps like Croissant that use GPS-based, map-driven search are particularly useful for this, since you can search near a specific address — like your arrival airport or hotel — rather than just by city.
9. Are coworking spaces available outside the U.S. and Europe?
Yes. Platforms like Nomad Space and Regus specifically cover a broad international footprint, including cities that aren’t typically covered by U.S.-focused platforms like Deskpass.
10. What’s the biggest mistake people make when choosing a coworking space?
Picking a space based on price or aesthetics alone, without checking practical details like Wi-Fi reliability, meeting room availability, or location relative to where the rest of the day’s commitments actually are.
Final Thoughts
The right coworking space can make the difference between a scattered work day and a genuinely productive one — whether you’re working from home most days and just need an occasional change of scenery, or you’re traveling from city to city and need a reliable base between meetings. Take the time to match the platform to your actual work style rather than defaulting to whichever app ranks first in the app store, and the investment tends to pay for itself quickly in focus and flexibility.
Need a Ride Between Meetings, the Airport, or Your Coworking Space?
If your work day includes moving between a coworking space, client meetings, or O’Hare, Windy City Limousine Chicago offers professional chauffeur service, airport transportation, and corporate transportation across the Chicago area—so the only thing you have to focus on is the work itself.
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