5 Best Skype Alternative in 2024
Skype has been a huge benefit to the world, offering essentially free VoIP phone calls and video conferencing for a long time. Since Microsoft acquired the server, it has had some changes to make the service more profitable, and it does have its own bugs and glitches, but even so, it’s still one of the best video conferencing and VoIP solutions in the world. That said, not everyone is going to like what Skype has to offer, but for those people, there’s still plenty of great Skype alternatives on the market. If you follow along below, we’ll show you some of the best options for you. Here are our top picks.
First up on our list, we have WhatsApp, the messaging service that Facebook acquired not too long ago. WhatsApp offers free messaging and video calling software. The application can even assign a free phone number for you to make phone calls to friends and coworkers. WhatsApp will even allow you to make group calls, which can bring all of your coworkers, friends, or family members into a single video chat. WhatsApp might not be a true VoIP and video conferencing service, but it certainly does get close to that. And the best of all: WhatsApp is entirely free to use — you don’t need credits or tokens for making calls or setting up video conferencing. Just download the app, set up your account, and you’re ready to roll.
Download it now: Google Play
WeChat is connecting billions of people together with phone calls, video chat, and regular messaging. You can easily connect to family members, friends, and coworkers with WeChat with this all-in-one communications app. WeChat is actually really great for groups — a single text group messaging session can handle up to five hundred people in a single group sessions. As far as video calls go, you can get up to nine people in a video chat sessions, so it does work really great for video conferencing in that sense. WeChat will even let you make phone calls to mobile devices and landlines at extremely low rates.
Download it now: Google Play
Viber
Viber is another great solution for folks looking for a Skype alternative. With Viber, you can call or text almost anyone in the world straight through your Internet connection. Viber even allows for free, secured phone calls — with Viber’s free messaging system, you can make calls to friends or family — video or voice — really easily. Viber will even allow you to make International calls without any charge. You don’t even need a username — plug in your phone number for verification and you can call anywhere. As far as messaging itself goes, you can get in a group chat up to 250 people (text only sessions). One of the many neat things about Viber is that they allow you to delete text messages and voice chats even after they’re sent.
Download it now: Google Play
Google Duo
Folks looking for a video chat-only solution will want to look at Google Duo for their conferencing needs. Google Duo is one of the best video applications on the market, allowing you to easily connect up to friends and family members. If you’re not sure who’s calling, Google Duo even allows you to use a feature called Knock Knock for a quick video preview of who is on the other line. Duo has phone call capabilities as well for making calls when your friends aren’t available over video chat. Google Duo is free to use on Android or iOS.
Download it now: Google Play
Google Hangouts
Last, but certainly not least, we have Google Hangouts. Google is slowly trying to move Hangouts over to a business-focused service. With Google Hangouts, you can get in video conferences with multiple people, whether that be your coworkers, friends or family members. Google Hangouts, as you might expect, has text-based messaging services available as well. You can even make phone calls and send text messages with Google Hangouts — it’s as simple as plugging in your phone number and entering in a verification code. Google Hangouts is entirely free to use, costing you no credit or tokens that you have to purchase.
Download it now: Google Play
Verdict
If you’re looking for a good alternative to Skype, any of the applications on this list will serve you well in regular phone calls and video conferencing capabilities. Our favorite on this list is easily WhatsApp, as it is the most well-rounded service available, not to mention that they do even have a service geared towards businesses as well.