Who Uses Coworking Spaces? The People and Teams Behind the Desks

Ask who uses coworking spaces and most people picture a freelancer with a laptop. That was true fifteen years ago; today the floor is far more mixed. Coworking spaces are used by remote employees, startups, small businesses, corporate satellite teams, digital nomads, students, and independent professionals from law to design — each there for a different reason. This guide walks through the main types of members, what each one needs from a workspace, and which kind of coworking plan tends to fit them, so you can see where you’d sit among them.

Prices checked 21 July 2026. MONTECO rates are those published on the pricing page and include VAT — check the pricing page for current figures.

Who uses coworking spaces?

The short answer is: a much wider range of people than the freelancer stereotype suggests. Surveys of coworking members consistently show small businesses and corporate teams making up a large share alongside solo workers, and enterprise use is the fastest-growing segment. What unites them isn’t a job title — it’s a need for a professional place to work without the cost and commitment of a traditional lease. The sections below break the crowd into the personas you’ll actually meet in a coworking space, and what each one is there to get.

Freelancers and independent professionals

Freelancers were coworking’s first members and remain its backbone — writers, designers, developers, consultants, and coaches who work for themselves. They come for three things a home office can’t easily give: a credible address and meeting rooms to host clients, separation between work and home life, and other people to break the isolation of working alone. Because their schedules and income vary, they tend to start on a flexible meeting-room-plus-hot-desk arrangement and move to a dedicated desk once the work is steady.

Remote and hybrid employees

A large and growing share of members are employed full-time but don’t have to sit in their company’s office every day. Remote and hybrid workers use coworking to get out of the house without going all the way back to a corporate HQ — a reliable desk, fast internet, and a clear line between work hours and home. Many use a space a few days a week rather than daily, which makes a hot desk or a part-time membership the natural fit. Increasingly, employers pay for these memberships as a benefit, since it’s cheaper than holding a fixed office for a distributed team.

Startups and small teams

For a young company, coworking solves the chicken-and-egg problem of needing an office before you can afford one. A startup gets a professional base, meeting rooms, and room to add desks as it hires — without a multi-year lease or a fit-out. Small teams also value the neighbours: a coworking floor puts founders next to other founders, which is how a surprising number of well-known companies found early hires and investors. As a team grows past a few people, many graduate from shared desks to a private office inside the same building, keeping the community while gaining a door.

Corporate and enterprise teams

The fastest-growing group of coworking members is the one the stereotype misses entirely: large companies. Enterprises use coworking as satellite offices — a way to give staff a professional workplace in a city where the company doesn’t want to sign for a whole floor. It suits distributed teams, project-based work with a defined end date, and giving employees a hub closer to home than headquarters. For a company entering a new market, a flexible workspace removes the risk of a long lease while it works out how much space it actually needs.

This is where a tailored arrangement matters more than a single desk. Teams that need their own secured area, custom layout, or a block of offices usually look at a dedicated workspace for teams rather than an open-floor membership.

Digital nomads and people relocating

Coworking and remote travel grew up together, and digital nomads are among its most committed users. For someone working from a country that isn’t their own, a coworking space provides the two things hardest to arrange on arrival: a fast, dependable place to work and a ready community of people in the same situation. Montenegro, with its coast, climate, and cost of living, has become a popular base for exactly this group, and a space in Budva is often a newcomer’s first foothold in the city.

People relocating a business face an extra hurdle — they often need a credible local address for registration and mail before they’ve committed to full-time space. A virtual office covers that gap, giving a registered address and mail handling with a few coworking days included, so you can establish a presence first and add a desk later.

Students, creatives, and client-facing professionals

Beyond the main groups, coworking quietly serves a long tail of members with specific needs. Students and recent graduates use it for a structured place to study and a chance to network with working professionals. Creatives — photographers, marketers, UX designers — toggle between the open floor for collaboration and quiet rooms for focused work. And client-facing professionals such as lawyers, accountants, and therapists rely on coworking for private, bookable rooms where confidentiality matters, without the overhead of running their own office. The common thread is that each picks the space for one feature that matters most to their work, whether that’s privacy, networking, or simply a professional room to meet in.

Matching the member to the workspace

The useful question isn’t only who uses coworking spaces, but which part of a space each member actually needs — and this is where most guides stop short. A rough map: solo freelancers and part-time remote workers do well on a hot desk; people in every day who want a fixed setup move to a dedicated desk; teams and privacy-sensitive professionals take a private office; companies needing their own secured area look at a custom team workspace; and anyone who mainly needs an address or the occasional meeting starts with a virtual office or meeting-room booking. The same building can hold all of them, which is why such different people end up under one roof.

Where would you fit?

Whoever you are, the pattern holds: coworking works for people who want a professional place to work without the weight of a lease, and the membership simply flexes to match the job. Freelancer or founder, remote employee or relocating nomad, there’s a tier that fits. The surest way to know which is to spend a day in a space and see who you’re sitting next to — if you’re in or heading to Budva, you’re welcome to try MONTECO and find your place among them.