How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Microsoft Teams Free is the official successor: Skype contacts and chats carried across, with 60 minute free meetings.
- Zoom is the meeting standard for mixed groups, free with a 40 minute group cap and Pro at $13.33 per user per month billed annually.
- WhatsApp replaces personal Skype calls best: free video for up to 32 people with no time limit and nothing to install for most people.
- Viber Out is the heir to Skype Credit, selling pay as you go calls to landlines and mobiles in countries where app to app calling does not reach.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Microsoft Teams | The official Skype successor | Free | Yes |
 Zoom | Meetings with anyone, anywhere | Free | Yes |
 Google Meet | Browser calls with no install | Free | Yes |
 WhatsApp | Personal video and voice calls | Free | Yes |
 FaceTime | Calls inside the Apple world | Free | Yes |
 Discord | Groups that live in voice channels | Free | Yes |
 Signal | Private calls with encryption first | Free | Yes |
 Viber | Cheap calls to real phone numbers | Free | Yes |
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The best Skype alternatives in 2026
#1Microsoft Teams
Best for: The official Skype successor4.4/5 on
G2 (19,330 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit microsoft.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Teams Free is where Skype users were sent, and for keeping your address book it remains the path of least resistance. The consumer experience is adequate rather than loved: meetings work, chat works, and everything sits inside a product designed for companies.
Judge it by your actual use. If Skype was your work tool, Teams is the upgrade Microsoft intended and the paid tiers scale sensibly from $4 per user per month. If Skype was how you called your mother, Teams will do it while making both of you feel like employees. WhatsApp, further down, is the kinder inheritance for that job.
What we like- The migration target Microsoft built: sign in with Skype credentials and contacts and chats came across, free meetings run 60 minutes, longer than Zoom's free cap, paid Essentials starts at $4 per user per month, with full tiers inside Microsoft 365, live captions in more than 40 languages
Watch out for- Built for workplaces, so the interface carries channels, teams and files a family caller never asked for, calling real phone numbers needs a Teams Phone add on at roughly $8 to $20 per user on top, personal use feels like borrowing office software
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Zoom replaced Skype in the world's vocabulary before Skype even closed: people now say "let's Zoom" the way they once said "Skype me". For scheduled group calls across mixed devices and technical abilities, nothing here is easier to adopt, because your guests adopted it years ago.
Its shape is meetings, not presence. Skype let you see who was around and call on impulse; Zoom wants a link and a time. Pro at $13.33 per user per month billed annually removes the 40 minute cap for people whose work runs on calls. Everyone else should test the free tier's patience honestly before paying.
What we like- The link everyone already knows how to open, on every platform, free plan covers 100 participants with a 40 minute cap on group meetings, paid Pro meetings run up to 30 hours, with recording and AI summaries, the strongest webinar and large meeting tooling here
Watch out for- The 40 minute free cap cuts real conversations, and the restart ritual is a tax on the unpaid, Pro at $13.33 per user per month billed annually costs more than Teams Essentials, a meeting tool first, so casual chat lives elsewhere
#3Google Meet
Best for: Browser calls with no install4.6/5 on
G2 (4 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit meet.google.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Meet is the zero friction option. A link, a browser tab, and the call exists, which made it the default for schools, clinics and families during the years Skype was quietly losing them. Free group calls at 60 minutes beat Zoom's free cap by half again.
Google bundles the serious features into Workspace, so businesses should price Meet as part of that subscription rather than a standalone product. For personal use it is simply there, attached to the account most people already have, and that availability is its feature.
What we like- Runs in the browser with nothing to install, which rescues every call with a non technical relative, free meetings hold 100 people for 60 minutes in group calls, already inside every Google account, with paid Workspace tiers adding recording and longer sessions, captions and noise cancellation on calls
Watch out for- The full feature set lives inside Google Workspace subscriptions, reported from about $6 to $7 per user per month, one to one and group limits differ in ways that confuse first time hosts, no cheap dial out to phone numbers for consumers
#4WhatsApp
Best for: Personal video and voice calls4.6/5 on
G2 (250 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit whatsapp.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
For the personal calling Skype was loved for, WhatsApp is the actual successor. Your contacts are already in it, calls are free and unlimited in length, and the app forgives the bad connections that defeat heavier platforms. Grandparents do not need a tutorial; they have been using it for years.
Its limits are a business user's list: no links to send a client, no recording for the meeting notes, no dial out to a landline. That is fine. WhatsApp does not want your standup meeting. It wants, and has, your family's Sunday call.
What we like- Already installed on the phones of most of the world, so the network effect Skype lost is here, video calls for up to 32 people with no time limit, free, end to end encrypted by default, works on weak connections better than the meeting platforms
Watch out for- Tied to a phone number and a phone first design, with desktop as a companion, no meeting links, scheduling or recording for organised calls, 32 person ceiling excludes large groups and events
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
FaceTime is the best calling experience on this list for the households that can use it, and unusable as a standard for the ones that cannot. Inside an all Apple family it beats everything for simplicity: tap a name, see a face, in quality that embarrasses the platforms.
The link feature narrowed the wall without removing it. Guests can join from anywhere, but the host needs Apple hardware, so mixed device families and nearly all workplaces need a second tool anyway. Treat FaceTime as the private channel, not the public square.
What we like- Built into every iPhone, iPad and Mac, so setup is a contact name, excellent video quality and effects, with SharePlay for watching together, links let Android and Windows users join from a browser, free with no account beyond an Apple ID for the host
Watch out for- Hosting is Apple only, so a Windows household cannot start calls the same way, none of the meeting machinery businesses expect, no dial out to phone numbers
#6Discord
Best for: Groups that live in voice channels4.6/5 on
G2 (43 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit discord.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Discord inherited a Skype use case the meeting platforms forgot: the standing group. Friends who once kept a Skype group call running all evening now sit in a Discord voice channel, dropping in and out, sharing screens and games. For communities, study groups and gaming circles, that ambient presence is the product.
It asks commitment in return. A server must be set up, roles make sense only with use, and your aunt will not enjoy it. Discord is a place, not a utility, which is precisely why its users stay for years.
What we like- Always on voice channels recreate Skype's group hangout feeling better than any meeting tool, screen sharing and streaming built for gaming and study groups, free, with servers that hold a whole community's text, voice and files, optional Nitro at $9.99 a month raises quality and limits
Watch out for- Video calls in channels suit groups, not formal meetings or clients, the interface overwhelms newcomers who only wanted a call button, not a business tool: no dial out, no meeting compliance features
#7Signal
Best for: Private calls with encryption first4.4/5 on
G2 (453 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit signal.org
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Signal is Skype rebuilt by people who read the surveillance headlines. Calls, messages and groups are encrypted with the protocol that became the industry standard, and the organisation behind it sells nothing and tracks nearly nothing. For journalists, activists and the simply private, it is the default recommendation.
Adoption is the tax. A calling app is worth the people reachable on it, and Signal's smaller network means some of your calls will still happen elsewhere. Privacy minded circles increasingly accept the two app life: Signal for the conversations that matter, something else for the rest.
What we like- End to end encryption with the protocol other apps license, run by a nonprofit with no advertising business, group video calls for up to 50 people, free, minimal data collection, with usernames so your number stays private, open source clients anyone can audit
Watch out for- Your contacts must install it, and its network remains smaller than WhatsApp's, no meeting features, links for guests or dial out, group call ceiling of 50 is generous for friends and small for events
#8Viber
Best for: Cheap calls to real phone numbers4.4/5 on
Capterra (4,064 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit viber.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Somebody had to inherit Skype Credit, and it is Viber. Plenty of real world calling still ends at a phone number: a parent without a smartphone, a bank abroad, a landline in a village with poor data coverage. Viber Out sells that by the minute or by plan, at rates that undercut carrier international pricing by a wide margin.
Google Voice deserves the footnote for US readers: calls within the US and Canada are free, making it the cheapest dial out for North American numbers. For the rest of the world, compare Viber Out's per country rates against your carrier before any long call, because destinations differ by multiples.
What we like- Viber Out sells pay as you go credit for calls to landlines and mobiles worldwide, the Skype Credit job, app to app calls and messages are free, with group video for its user base, strong presence across Eastern Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia, calling plans for heavy diallers to specific countries
Watch out for- Its user network is regional, so your contacts may not be on it, rates vary by destination and need checking per country, like Skype Credit did, not a meeting platform for work
How we chose
We started from the two jobs Skype actually did and required every alternative to do at least one of them well: app to app video and voice calling, or cheap calling to real phone numbers. Skype itself is retired and never appears as an entry. Participant and time limits come from vendor pages and October 2026 comparisons; Zoom and Teams paid figures are the published annual rates. We did not claim hands-on testing.
What Skype users still need to know
If you never exported your Skype data, the windows Microsoft offered during 2025 and into 2026 have closed, and chat histories that were not moved to Teams or exported are no longer retrievable through the normal portal. Contacts and chats carried into Teams Free when you signed in with Skype credentials remain the practical recovery path.
Skype Numbers are gone as a product: subscriptions have ended and Microsoft stopped number port outs, so a Skype Number you gave out for years no longer reaches you anywhere. If that number was your business line, republish a current number everywhere it appeared, because callers now hear a dead end.
And settle the two tool reality rather than fighting it. Pick one app for people, from WhatsApp, Teams, Meet or Signal according to your circle, and keep one dial out option, Viber Out or Google Voice, for the phone numbers. That pair covers everything Skype did, at a total cost that is usually zero.
Frequently asked questions
When did Skype shut down?
Microsoft retired the Skype consumer service on 5 May 2025. Accounts were migrated to Teams Free, Skype Credit and calling subscriptions ended for new customers, and the paid Skype Number product was wound down.
What is the closest free replacement for Skype?
Teams Free for your migrated contacts and chats, and WhatsApp for personal calling. Most former Skype users end up with both: Teams where Microsoft moved their data, WhatsApp where their people already were.
How do I call landlines abroad cheaply now?
Viber Out sells pay as you go credit and country plans for calls to real numbers worldwide. For calls inside the US and Canada, Google Voice is free. Check per minute rates by destination before long calls, since they vary widely.
Which alternative is best for large group meetings?
Zoom and Google Meet both hold 100 people on free plans, with 40 and 60 minute group caps respectively. Paid Zoom tiers stretch meetings to 30 hours and add webinars for far larger audiences.
Is there a private option for sensitive calls?
Signal. Its encryption protocol is the category standard, the service is run by a nonprofit, and group calls hold up to 50 people free. The only cost is persuading your contacts to install it.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.