How After Skype rates Skype alternatives: methodology and disclosure
After Skype compares apps that replace Skype for free calls, video and calls to phone numbers. We rate each app out of 10 against four published criteria, take every price, limit and date from official pages with the date we read them, and disclose that the site is published with support from TwinPhone.
What we cover
Skype was retired on May 5, 2025, and Microsoft moved its users to Teams Free. Our guides cover what people used Skype for: free voice and video calls with other app users, group meetings, calls to landlines and mobiles in other countries, and phone numbers that others can call. We write for readers in the US first, with prices in US dollars.
How we rate apps
Each app gets a score from 0 to 10, in half points, on 4 weighted criteria. The rating is the weighted total, rounded to one decimal, and the ranked order on the home page follows it.
| Criterion | Weight | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Fit for Skype's jobs | 35% | Skype did four jobs: app-to-app calls and chat, calls to landlines and mobiles, a number people could call, and calling from a computer. Teams Free, which every Skype account now opens, already does app-to-app calls and chat, so the jobs it dropped (calls to phone numbers and a number) count for more. |
| Cost and free tier | 25% | What is free and its limits, published per-minute or plan prices we could verify, minimum top-ups and whether credit expires. Rates hidden in a calculator score lower because you can't check them before paying. |
| Reach | 25% | Platforms (iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, web browser) and who you can reach: only people with the same app, or any phone. |
| Privacy and account | 15% | End-to-end encryption by default, and what sign-up needs (a phone number, an email address or an existing account). |
Scores by criterion
| # | App | Fit for Skype's jobs | Cost and free tier | Reach | Privacy and account | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | |
| 2 | TwinPhone | 9.0 | 7.5 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 8.3 |
| 3 | Microsoft Teams (free) | 8.0 | 9.5 | 8.5 | 6.0 | 8.2 |
| 4 | Signal | 6.0 | 10.0 | 7.5 | 9.5 | 7.9 |
| 5 | Google Meet | 6.5 | 9.5 | 8.5 | 7.0 | 7.8 |
| 6 | Viber | 8.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 6.0 | 7.6 |
| 7 | Zoom | 7.0 | 6.0 | 9.5 | 6.0 | 7.2 |
| 8 | Google Voice | 7.5 | 8.0 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 7.0 |
| 9 | Rebtel | 6.5 | 9.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.9 |
| 10 | Yolla | 6.0 | 8.5 | 7.0 | 5.5 | 6.8 |
Labels follow the rating: 9.0 and above is Excellent, 8.0 to 8.9 Very good, 7.0 to 7.9 Good and below 7.0 Fair. Ratings are our judgment against these criteria. They are not lab measurements, star ratings from users or reviews, and we don't publish them as review markup for search engines.
How we source prices, limits and dates
- Official pages only. Prices and limits come from each vendor's pricing, help or rate pages; Skype facts come from Microsoft Support, the Microsoft 365 Blog and Microsoft Learn.
- Dated. Every source is listed with the date we read it. The current check was October 25, 2026.
- "—" means unverified. When a vendor hides rates behind a calculator (Google Voice, Viber Out, Talk360 and Zoom Phone's international rates in October 2026), we leave the cell empty rather than guess.
- Contradictions are flagged. For example, Microsoft's Skype support page says data is available "until January 2026" in one place and gives June 15, 2026 as the export deadline in another; we use the later date and say so.
- No invented social proof. We don't publish testimonials, user counts or reviews we can't source. Icons on the site are generic illustrations, not brand logos.
Sponsorship and disclosure
After Skype is published with support from TwinPhone, which ranks #2 on this site, behind WhatsApp. Links to TwinPhone go to its own website with tracking parameters so TwinPhone can see visits from us. Links to every other app go to that app's official homepage with no tracking. Ratings are editorial judgments against our published criteria, not user reviews or lab scores.
TwinPhone ranks #2, behind WhatsApp. Under our criteria it scores highest on fit, because it covers the jobs Teams Free dropped (calls to landlines and mobiles in 145+ countries and a US or Canadian number) from any browser, and it loses points on cost: it has no free minutes or video, its numbers are US and Canada only, and some routes, such as the Philippines at $0.36 a minute, cost more than rivals. Not affiliated with Microsoft. Skype and Microsoft Teams are trademarks of Microsoft. Other product names are trademarks of their owners; icons on this site are generic illustrations, not brand logos.
Updates and corrections
We re-check every price, limit and date each quarter, and sooner when a vendor changes its plans. The next full review is due in January 2027. The "Updated" date on each page changes only after a real re-check. If you spot an error, tell the editor (Gladstone Walters); corrections are noted on the page with the date.
Our guides
- The best Skype alternatives in 2026, by what you used Skype for
- Best Skype alternatives for international calls and landlines (coming soon)
- Is Skype still available? What happened to Skype (coming soon)
- Skype Number alternatives: how to get a second phone number now (coming soon)
- Can you still make international calls with Skype? (coming soon)
- What happened to Skype Credit and the Skype Dial Pad (coming soon)
- Skype vs Microsoft Teams: is Teams Free a real Skype replacement? (coming soon)
- Skype vs Zoom: which to use now that Skype is gone (coming soon)
- Free calls like Skype: what still costs nothing in 2026 (coming soon)
- Video calling apps like Skype, compared (coming soon)
- Skype for Business alternatives for small teams (coming soon)
Gladstone Walters
Editor, After Skype
I'm Gladstone Walters, and I live in the United Kingdom. I write and maintain the After Skype guides. Every price, limit and date here comes from the vendor's own pricing, help or rate pages; I note the day I read each one and put a dash wherever I can't verify a number. I use TwinPhone, this site's sponsor, to call phones abroad and have reviewed it on Trustpilot, so I hold it to the same criteria as every other app and list its weak points next to its strengths.
Gladstone on Trustpilot (opens in a new tab)Reviewed and updated · Next review January 2027 · Author page · Methodology