---
title: "Microsoft Loop alternative – Docs your clients can open"
description: "Display is the open alternative to Microsoft Loop. Your agent publishes docs to one URL. Clients open them by email, with no guest account. Start free."
---

# The open alternative to Microsoft Loop for docs you share with your clients

Your clients and partners open each doc from an email invitation. They need no guest account in your Microsoft 365 tenant. Your agent publishes each doc to one URL. The Free plan costs $0.

[Start free](https://app.display.dev/) · No card required · Unlimited viewers

Kestrel's Q3 churn review, an HTML report with its own layout and chart, open on Display. The version history lists four versions at the same URL. Cursor published v1 for Ana Ruiz. ChatGPT published v2 for Ben Okafor. Priya Shah edited v3 on the page. Claude Code published v4 for Maya Lind. Version 4 answers Priya's comment “Can we split EMEA out?”

## Should I use Microsoft Loop or Display?

Use Display when people outside your company must open your docs, or when agents write them. A client opens a doc from an email invitation, signs in with a one-time password and needs no guest account in your Microsoft 365 tenant. Your agent publishes HTML or Markdown to one URL, and your team keeps the docs in Spaces and folders. The Free plan costs $0. Display Team costs one flat $79 a month, billed monthly, for up to 150 editors. Keep Microsoft Loop when several people type on one page at the same time, and for components that stay in sync in Teams and Outlook. Loop is part of Microsoft 365 and has no separate price. You can use both.

## Microsoft Loop and Display, side by side

Display holds the docs that agents write, for the people you choose. Loop holds the pages that people type together in Microsoft 365.

| | Microsoft Loop | Display |
|---|---|---|
| **People outside your company open it** | Partly – Guest account, if admin allows | Yes – Email invite with a role |
| **Keeps the file your agent made** | Not documented – Saved as .loop files | Yes – HTML, Markdown, PDF, DOCX |
| **Your agent publishes the doc** | Not documented | Yes – MCP, API or CLI |
| **Export your work** | Partly – PDF export, HTML by API | Yes – Download the source file |
| **Price, billed monthly** | In Microsoft 365 plans | Free $0, Team $79 |
| **Shared spaces for the team** | Yes – Workspaces and pages | Yes – Spaces, from Team |
| **Version history** | Yes – 50 versions by default | Yes – From Solo |
| **Real-time co-editing** | Yes – With shared cursors | No – Planned |
| **Live components in Teams and Outlook** | Yes – Sync in real time | No |
| **Tables and lists you edit on the page** | Yes – Loop components | Partly – Agent-made tables, native Planned |
| **Built-in AI assistant** | Yes – Copilot, with a Copilot plan | No – Use your own agent |
| **Microsoft Purview controls** | Yes – eDiscovery, DLP, labels | No – Audit logs on Business |
| **Mobile app** | Yes – iOS and Android | No – Planned |

Checked 12 November 2026. Sources: [Loop permissions and guests](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/loop/loop-permission) · [Loop requirements](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/loop/loop-requirements) · [Loop admin configuration](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/loop/loop-admin-configuration) · [Loop compliance summary](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/loop/loop-compliance-summary) · [Microsoft Loop](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-loop) · [Loop access by subscription](https://support.microsoft.com/office/loop-access-via-microsoft-365-subscriptions-92915461-4b14-49a4-9cd4-d1c259292afa) · [Get started with Loop](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-with-microsoft-loop-9f4d8d4f-dfc6-4518-9ef6-069408c21f0c) · [Print and PDF export in Loop](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365-insider-blog/do-more-with-loop-content-using-the-new-print-amp-pdf-export/ba-p/4226542) · [Graph format conversion](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/driveitem-get-content-format) · [Work IQ MCP](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/extensibility/work-iq/mcp/overview)

## Edit any document in-line.

Fix any line right where you read it.

1. Select Edit on the page
2. Change it on the page
3. Save – the next version at the same URL

## Share each doc and Space with the right people

A doc stays private until you share it. Then choose who can open it – one doc, a folder or a whole Space.

- **Invite people outside your company** – Invite clients and partners by email, and give each one a role: Viewer, Commenter, Contributor or Editor. They do not join your organization.
- **Private by default** – Every doc stays private until you share it with people and groups.
- **Know who opened it** – On Team and Business, see who opened which doc, and when, before you follow up.
- **One-click sign-in for colleagues** – On Solo and higher plans, colleagues use the Google or Microsoft account they already have. Readers need no seat.

## Microsoft Loop or Display?

Choose by who writes the doc and who must open it. You can use both.

### Keep Microsoft Loop for

- Pages that several people edit at the same time.
- Components, for example tables and lists, that stay in sync in Teams and Outlook.
- Copilot in Loop, if you have a Copilot plan.
- Content that must stay under Microsoft Purview controls.

### Use Display for

- Docs that clients and partners open with an email invitation.
- Reports, specs and plans that agents write as HTML or Markdown.
- Files that stay as your agent made them, with the source file to download.
- One flat price for the team, with free Viewers and Commenters.

> “Most of what I send clients goes through Display.”
>
> – Antonio Montingelli, SEO Manager, Smart Web Media

**Free plan: $0.** One editor, 3 gated docs, unlimited public docs and 50 MB of storage. Viewers and Commenters are free. No credit card required.

[Start free](https://app.display.dev/)

## A full workspace behind every URL

### Spaces and folders

A Space for every team, with folders inside and its own permissions.

### Search everything you can open

You and your agents can search every doc you can open.

### Work across every agent and plan

Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, on personal or company plans. One doc, one URL.

### Build internal apps (private beta)

Develop applications that pull data from your sources.

### Connect your data sources (private beta)

Pull data from the sources your team already uses.

## Questions about Display and Microsoft Loop

### We already have Loop in Microsoft 365. Why add Display?

Use Display for the docs that your agents make, and for work that people outside your company must open. An HTML report or a Markdown spec from your agent opens as a page at one URL. Keep Loop for the notes that people type together in Teams and Outlook. If you already have Microsoft 365, Loop costs nothing extra. The Display Free plan costs $0 and needs no card.

### Can people outside our Microsoft 365 tenant open a doc?

Yes. Invite them by email to a doc or a folder, and give them a role: Viewer, Commenter, Contributor or Editor. They sign in with a one-time password, Google or Microsoft. They do not join your organization. For Loop, Microsoft says that your organization must allow external sharing. A person you add to a shared Loop workspace needs a guest account in your tenant.

### What does Display cost?

The Free plan costs $0 and includes one editor, 3 gated docs and 50 MB of storage. Solo costs $12 a month. Team costs $79 a month for up to 150 Editors and Contributors. These prices are for monthly billing, without VAT. Viewers and Commenters are unlimited on every plan. Loop has no separate price. It is part of Microsoft 365.

### How do we move Loop pages to Display?

Microsoft documents two paths. A person can export a Loop page as a PDF from the page menu. An administrator or a developer can get HTML through Microsoft Purview eDiscovery or the Microsoft Graph API. Then ask your agent to publish the files to Display.

### Which agents can publish to Display?

Any agent that writes HTML or Markdown, for example Claude Code, Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and Cursor. Agents connect through the Display MCP server, the CLI or the API. Each person can use a different agent on the same doc. ChatGPT needs a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace to publish.

### Does Display have real-time co-editing or Loop components?

No. One person edits a Display doc at a time, and real-time co-editing is Planned. Display has no components that sync into Teams or Outlook. A Display doc is one URL that you paste into a chat or an email. A table that your agent makes in HTML or Markdown opens in the doc today. Native tables are Planned. For live editing with shared cursors, use Loop.

### Is Microsoft retiring Loop?

We found no notice on Microsoft's pages on 12 November 2026 that Loop closes. Microsoft did make two changes to Loop components. It retired support for inserting them in Word for the web on 1 September 2025. It scheduled the same change for OneNote for the web from mid-September 2026. Microsoft says that existing components become links to their Loop pages.

### Is Display open source?

No. “Open” means three things. Any agent can publish to Display. Anyone you choose can open a doc without a seat. You can download the source file of any doc at any time.

## Publish the next doc where your clients can open it

Display works with Claude Code, Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and any other agent that writes HTML or Markdown. The Free plan costs $0.

[Start free](https://app.display.dev/) · No card required · Unlimited viewers