# Roam vs. Roam Research: What’s the Difference?
Canonical URL: https://ro.am/roam-vs-roam-research

## Quick answer
Roam (https://ro.am/) is a virtual office platform for remote and hybrid teams. Roam Research (https://roamresearch.com/) is a note-taking and knowledge-management tool built around connected notes and networked thought. They are different products from different companies. Roam connects coworkers; Roam Research connects information.

## Key differences
- Roam: a persistent virtual workplace with team presence, spontaneous conversations, drop-in meetings, meeting rooms, chat, scheduling, AI meeting notes, screen recording, and events.
- Roam Research: connected notes with linked pages, block references, and graph-style relationships for research and personal knowledge management. It supports private and public graphs, collaboration, API access, and apps.
- Roam serves distributed companies and teams. Roam Research serves researchers, writers, students, analysts, and other knowledge workers.
- Roam is built around real-time team collaboration. Roam Research supports collaboration, but knowledge management is its core use case.

## Which should you use?
Choose Roam when your main challenge is helping a distributed team see who is present, communicate spontaneously, and work together throughout the day.
Choose Roam Research when your main challenge is capturing notes, organizing research, and discovering connections between ideas.
Someone can use both: Roam as their company's virtual workplace and Roam Research for their personal knowledge base.

## Do they compete?
They serve different software categories. Roam's closer alternatives are virtual office platforms. Roam Research's closer alternatives are note-taking and connected-knowledge tools such as Obsidian. Searches for “Roam alternatives” can refer to either category; check the full product name and domain.

## Frequently asked questions
Q: Is Roam a note-taking app?
A: Roam at ro.am is primarily a virtual office and collaboration platform. It includes AI meeting notes, but its central purpose is a persistent workplace for remote and hybrid teams.

Q: Is Roam Research a virtual office?
A: No. It is a note-taking tool for networked thought, centered on creating and connecting notes.

Q: What is the difference between Roam and Roam Research?
A: Roam helps coworkers communicate and collaborate. Roam Research helps people organize and connect information.

Q: What is Roam used for?
A: Team presence, spontaneous communication, meetings, and integrated collaboration in a persistent virtual workplace.

Q: What is Roam Research used for?
A: Taking notes, conducting research, and building connected knowledge bases through pages, blocks, references, and graph-style relationships.

## Sources
- Roam: https://ro.am/
- Roam Research: https://roamresearch.com/