The best coworking spaces for digital nomads are not just desks with wifi — they are how most working nomads actually build a social life and a work routine on the road. This guide covers the global networks worth knowing, what a membership typically costs, and how to tell a good space from a laptop café with a marketing budget.
Table of Contents
- Are Coworking Spaces Worth It for Digital Nomads?
- Coworking and Coliving Networks Nomads Actually Use
- How to Vet a Coworking Space Before You Commit
- Regional Picks Among Get ZEN's Covered Destinations
- FAQs
Are Coworking Spaces Worth It for Digital Nomads?
For most remote workers, yes — but the value is rarely just the desk. A reliable wired or dedicated wifi connection beats almost any home or Airbnb connection for a work-critical call (see our internet rankings for city-level speed data), and a coworking space is the fastest way to meet other nomads and freelancers in a new city without waiting weeks to build a social circle organically. The tradeoff is cost: a monthly membership ($80–$300 depending on city and space tier) is a real line item against a nomad budget, and a solopreneur working four hours a day from a quiet apartment may not need one at all. The honest answer is that it's worth it if you value the community and connection reliability more than the money, and skippable if you're disciplined about working from cafés or have solid apartment wifi already.
Coworking and Coliving Networks Nomads Actually Use
Selina
Best for: nomads who want coworking bundled with accommodation across many countries on one membership.
Selina combines hostel/hotel-style accommodation with an on-site coworking floor across dozens of locations in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The appeal is consistency — the same membership and roughly the same setup whether you're in Medellín or Lisbon — plus a built-in social calendar (events, communal dinners) that solves the "how do I meet people" problem automatically. Day passes and monthly coworking-only memberships are available even if you're not staying on-site.
Outsite
Best for: nomads who want a curated, community-vetted house with dedicated workspace rather than a hotel-scale property.
Outsite runs smaller coliving houses (typically 10–30 people) in nomad hubs including Bali, Lisbon, and Mexico, each with a dedicated coworking room. The smaller scale means a tighter-knit group than a large hostel-coworking hybrid, and the application-style booking process filters for people who are actually there to work, not just party.
Hubud (Ubud, Bali)
Best for: nomads specifically based in Ubud — one of the original nomad coworking spaces, still a community anchor.
Hubud was one of the first dedicated digital nomad coworking spaces in Southeast Asia and remains a fixture in Ubud's nomad scene, with an open-air bamboo design, a strong local events calendar, and a long track record — useful if you want a space with an established community rather than a newly opened one.
WeWork
Best for: nomads who prioritize consistency and enterprise-grade facilities in major global cities over community vibe.
WeWork's global footprint across major cities makes it the most predictable option if your nomad route sticks to large metros rather than smaller nomad hubs — the desk setup, meeting-room booking system, and printing/scanning basics are the same everywhere. It leans more corporate and less community-driven than nomad-specific networks like Selina or Outsite.
Second Home
Best for: design-focused nomads based in London, Lisbon, or Los Angeles for a longer stretch.
Second Home is a smaller, design-forward network (plant-filled, architecturally distinct spaces) with a strong member community, concentrated in a handful of major cities rather than nomad hubs — better suited to a multi-month stay in one of its cities than a fast-moving multi-country itinerary.
How to Vet a Coworking Space Before You Commit
Marketing photos rarely tell you what a day actually feels like. Before paying for a monthly membership:
Ask for a day pass first. Every legitimate space offers one ($10–$25 typically) — use it to test wifi speed at peak hours (mid-morning, not 7am when nobody's online yet), noise levels, and how full it actually gets versus how it looks in photos.
Check the community, not just the desk. If meeting people matters to you, ask about the events calendar and whether it's active or just listed on the website. A space with zero recent events despite advertising "community" is a red flag.
Confirm the backup-internet situation. Ask what happens when the primary connection drops — a space with a real backup line or Starlink failover is worth more than one running on a single residential fiber connection, especially during a client call.
For cheaper options: a strong-wifi café with a day-rate "buy a coffee, stay all day" culture is a legitimate substitute for nomads on a tight budget or those who only need occasional focused work sessions rather than daily desk access — cheapest coworking spaces are often these café hybrids rather than formal coworking brands.
Regional Picks Among Get ZEN's Covered Destinations
Beyond the global networks above, several of Get ZEN's covered cities have strong local coworking scenes worth knowing by name:
- Medellín — one of Latin America's most established nomad coworking scenes, helped by a large resident nomad population and relatively low costs.
- Tbilisi — a fast-growing scene tied to Georgia's broader nomad-visa and remote-worker friendliness.
- Ubud — home to Hubud and one of the longest-running nomad coworking cultures anywhere, alongside Canggu's newer scene nearby.
- Nairobi — East Africa's largest tech and coworking hub, with a strong local startup ecosystem alongside nomad-oriented spaces.
See our full coworking rankings for cost bands and vetting criteria across all 26 covered countries.
FAQs
Are coworking spaces worth it for digital nomads?
For most nomads, yes — mainly for reliable wifi and the fastest way to build a social circle in a new city — but it's a real monthly cost ($80–$300 depending on city) that's skippable if you're disciplined about cafés or already have solid apartment internet.
What is the cheapest way to get coworking-style access?
A café with strong wifi and a "stay all day" culture is the cheapest substitute for a formal coworking membership, and many nomad hubs have several well-known ones. Some coworking brands also offer discounted or single-day passes that beat a full monthly membership if you only need occasional desk access.
What are the best coworking spaces for startups and solopreneurs specifically?
Smaller, community-vetted networks like Outsite or Hubud tend to suit solopreneurs better than large corporate-scale options like WeWork, since the smaller member base makes it easier to actually meet and collaborate with other founders rather than working in relative anonymity in a large building.