Skype Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options

Skype today: See pricing page (Skype: what changed, checked 2026-10-23).

Why people look for Skype alternatives

Microsoft retired Skype on May 5, 2025, so the question is no longer whether to leave but where to go. New purchases of Skype subscriptions, numbers and credit are no longer available, and subscriptions running past May 1, 2026 were cancelled and converted to Skype Credit, with refunds on request through support. Microsoft advised exporting data before deletion begins on April 1, 2026. Teams Free accepts Skype sign-ins but does not support paid calling plans.

What changed at Skype

Microsoft retired Skype on May 5, 2025 and pointed users to Microsoft Teams Free. Skype users could sign in to Teams with their Skype credentials, and the history export portal closed on June 15, 2026. (Skype: what changed)

Microsoft Teams

Compared with Skype: This is Microsoft's own replacement: Teams Free allows group meetings up to 60 minutes and 100 participants, and Skype contacts and chats carried over. It replaces Skype's one-to-one calls, but Teams is a work-oriented app.

Price: Free (Teams Free: group meetings up to 60 minutes and 100 participants) (Microsoft Teams pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Proprietary.

Best for: Former Skype users moving to Microsoft's free app.

Zoom

Compared with Skype: Basic meetings run 40 minutes with up to 100 participants, which is shorter than Teams Free's 60-minute calls. Pro is $14.16 a user a month billed annually, the paid step for former Skype users who need more.

Price: Free (Basic plan: meetings up to 40 minutes and 100 participants, 3 AI meeting summaries a month, 5 clips of up to 2 minutes); paid from $14.16 per user/month, billed annually (Pro; $16.99 billed monthly) (Zoom pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android. Proprietary.

Best for: Calls with a larger audience.

Jitsi Meet

Compared with Skype: Free and open source under Apache-2.0, with no account needed for calls on the hosted service. Skype's accounts and contact list are not carried over, so you start from a link, and the hosted meet.jit.si service caps meetings at 95 minutes.

Price: Free (free; meetings on meet.jit.si limited to 95 minutes from October 9, 2026) (Jitsi Meet pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. Apache-2.0 (open source).

Project activity: 30.2k GitHub stars · latest release stable/jitsi-meet_11248 (Sep 14, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Quick calls with a link.

Element

Compared with Skype: The Element Server Suite Community edition is free to run, and the client is open source. It is a messaging and collaboration platform rather than a Skype clone, so it fits teams that want chat on their own server.

Price: Free (Element Server Suite Community: free front end and back end) (Element pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0, GPL-3.0 or a paid commercial license (open source).

Project activity: 13.6k GitHub stars · latest release v1.12.33 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Team chat on a self-hosted server.

Worth knowing: Enterprise is priced per seat but the figure is not published.

Google Meet

Compared with Skype: Free plan allows up to 100 participants and 60-minute group meetings, the same limits as Teams Free. It suits former Skype users who already have a Google account and want calls without installing an app.

Price: Free (Free plan: up to 100 participants and 60 minutes per group meeting) (Google Meet pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.

Best for: Calls from a browser with a Google account.

Which one to pick

• You want Microsoft's own replacement with chat history carried over: Microsoft Teams
• You want to start calls from a link with no account: Jitsi Meet
• You want team chat on a server you run: Element
• You already use a Google account for calls: Google Meet