Best Skype alternatives for international calls and landlines

Which Skype alternative should you use for international calls?

Skype did two jobs: free calls between Skype users, and paid SkypeOut calls to ordinary phone numbers with Skype Credit. Free apps such as WhatsApp still cover the first job, but none of them can dial a landline.^⁠[11] The second job now needs a separate service that connects internet calls to the phone network. This page compares those services; the hub page lists all Skype alternatives, including free video apps, and a separate guide explains how Skype international calling used to work.

If the person abroad already uses the same messaging app as you, a paid service is not needed at all: see free app-to-app calls abroad. Everything below is about calling a number that has no app behind it: a parent's landline, a business, a pharmacy, a hotel.

Cheapest per minute

Yolla, Rebtel and BOSS Revolution had the lowest published per-minute rates from the US on October 25, 2026. Yolla was cheapest to India (from 2.39¢) and Mexico (from 1.1¢); Yolla calls those rates a starting price.^⁠[2] BOSS Revolution was cheapest to UK landlines (2¢) and Philippine landlines (13¢).^⁠[3] Rebtel was cheapest to German landlines (1.21¢) and charges one rate, 2.89¢, to Indian landlines and mobiles.^⁠[4]

Best for calling from a computer

TwinPhone and Yolla Web both call landlines and mobiles from a browser tab, with nothing to install, and Google Voice does the same for personal accounts in the US.^{⁠[8]⁠[9]⁠[5]} Setup, supported browsers and the emergency-call caveat are covered in calling a landline from a computer; the rates are in the table below.

Unlimited plans for one country

A monthly plan beats per-minute credit when most calls go to one country. Rebtel sells Mexico Unlimited for $3 a month, India Unlimited for $14 for 30 days and Global Unlimited for $14 a month, covering India and 46 other countries.^⁠[4] BOSS Revolution sells 30-day unlimited plans for Mexico ($3), the UK ($2) and India ($14), and a 40+ Countries Unlimited plan for $5; BOSS says some countries in that plan include landlines only.^{⁠[12]⁠[10]⁠[13]}

If you live in the US and call Canada

Google Voice is the simplest answer for US residents: almost all calls from the US to the US and Canada are free, and some specific numbers cost 1¢ a minute.^⁠[5] Personal Google Voice is available only in the US.^⁠[14] Outside Google Voice, TwinPhone charges 2¢ a minute to Canada; Rebtel, Yolla and BOSS Revolution did not publish a Canada rate that I could read.^⁠[6]

International calling rates compared: India, Mexico, the Philippines, the UK, Canada and Germany

These are cheap international calls priced by the minute, as each provider published them for a caller in the US on October 25, 2026, in US cents. Where a provider splits landlines and mobiles, the cell shows landline / mobile. A dash means the provider did not publish a rate I could read.

Swipe the table sideways

1. ¹ BOSS Revolution's single rate is for landlines; its country pages list Philippine mobiles at 15.1¢ and UK mobiles at 5¢ a minute.^{⁠[15]⁠[10]}
2. ² Almost all Google Voice calls from the US to Canada are free, for US personal accounts; some specific numbers cost 1¢ a minute.^⁠[5]
3. Google Voice and Viber Out show international rates only inside calculators I could not read, so I don't quote them. TwinPhone's rates are higher than Rebtel's, Yolla's and BOSS Revolution's on most of these routes; TwinPhone's full per-country rate list covers every destination it calls.

Call India from the US

Yolla starts at 2.39¢ a minute to Indian landlines and mobiles, Rebtel charges 2.89¢ to both, and BOSS Revolution 3.3¢ to both.^{⁠[2]⁠[4]⁠[13]} TwinPhone charges 8¢.^⁠[6] For daily calls, Rebtel India Unlimited and BOSS Revolution India Unlimited each cost $14 for 30 days, and BOSS also sells 60 minutes to India for $0.99 for 30 days.^{⁠[4]⁠[13]}

Call Mexico from the US

Mexico is the cheapest route checked. Yolla starts at 1.1¢ a minute, Rebtel charges 1.21¢ to landlines and 2.42¢ to mobiles, and BOSS Revolution 1.9¢.^{⁠[2]⁠[4]⁠[3]} TwinPhone charges 4¢ to landlines and 2–4¢ to mobiles.^⁠[6] Rebtel and BOSS Revolution both sell unlimited calling to Mexico for $3 a month.^{⁠[4]⁠[12]}

Call the Philippines from the US

The Philippines is the most expensive route checked, and the cheapest service depends on the kind of number. To landlines, BOSS Revolution charges 13¢ a minute and Rebtel 13.19¢; to mobiles, Yolla charges 14.4¢, BOSS Revolution 15.1¢ and Rebtel 19.24¢.^{⁠[15]⁠[4]⁠[2]} TwinPhone charges 36¢ to both, the highest rate on this page.^⁠[6] Rebtel also sells 120 minutes to the Philippines for $12 a month.^⁠[4]

Call the UK and Canada from the US

To UK landlines, BOSS Revolution charges 2¢ a minute, Rebtel 2.42¢, and Yolla and TwinPhone 6¢; to UK mobiles, Rebtel shows 2.42¢, BOSS Revolution 5¢, Yolla 10¢ and TwinPhone 12¢.^{⁠[10]⁠[4]⁠[2]⁠[6]} BOSS Revolution's UK Unlimited plan costs $2 for 30 days.^⁠[10] Canada is free with Google Voice for US personal accounts and 2¢ a minute with TwinPhone.^⁠[5]⁠[6]

Plans vs pay-as-you-go: unlimited country plans, bundles and credit expiry

Skype Credit worked like a prepaid wallet. Every service below sells a similar balance, but they differ in the smallest top-up, in what happens to unused credit and in how a call is rounded. These terms matter more than a fraction of a cent if you call rarely.

Swipe the table sideways

1. Checked October 25, 2026. "Not stated" means I did not find the term on the provider's current official pages.

Yolla's minute bundles and BOSS Revolution's plans renew automatically: BOSS says subscribing to a plan also enrols the account in auto-recharge.^{⁠[2]⁠[10]} Yolla also offers new users 100 minutes for 7 days for $0.99, after which the bundle moves to a regular 30-day bundle.^⁠[2] Rebtel offers a one-week free trial on some plans.^⁠[4]

TwinPhone says its credit never expires and unanswered calls are free, and BOSS Revolution lists its pay-per-minute credit as having no expiration.^{⁠[7]⁠[13]} Rebtel says its credit has no expiry date for active users and expires after one year of no activity.^⁠[16] Yolla's help centre says credit may become inactive after 365 days without use, can be reactivated by logging in, and is not refundable once reactivated.^⁠[17]

Skype alternatives for calling landlines (and what the person you call needs)

A Skype alternative for calling landlines must hand the call over to the ordinary phone network. Rebtel, Yolla, BOSS Revolution, TwinPhone, Viber Out, Talk360 and Google Voice all do that; WhatsApp, Signal, FaceTime and Teams Free do not.^{⁠[11]⁠[1]}

The person you call needs nothing special. With TwinPhone, the other person answers a normal call on a landline or mobile, with no app, no account and no internet on their side.^⁠[21] Yolla says the same for its browser calls, and Talk360 says the recipient needs no app or internet.^{⁠[9]⁠[19]}

You, the caller, need an internet connection and an account. TwinPhone signs up with an email address or a Google account and needs no phone number.^⁠[22] Talk360 and Viber register with a phone number.^⁠[19]

• Browser, no app: TwinPhone, Yolla Web, Google Voice (US personal accounts only).^{⁠[8]⁠[9]⁠[5]}
• Phone app: Rebtel, Yolla, BOSS Revolution, Viber Out and Talk360 work from a phone app; TwinPhone also has iPhone and Android apps.^⁠[8]
• Cannot call landlines: WhatsApp, Signal, FaceTime and Microsoft Teams Free.^{⁠[11]⁠[1]}

The services, one by one

Each passage below follows the same order: what the service is best for, one rate example, and its main limit.

Rebtel

Best for: people who call one country a lot, or several of the 47 countries in Global Unlimited. Rate example: 2.89¢ a minute to Indian landlines and mobiles, and 1.21¢ to Mexican and German landlines.^⁠[4] Plans: Mexico Unlimited $3 a month; India Unlimited $14 for 30 days, $30 for 90 days or $55 for 180 days; Global Unlimited $14 a month.^⁠[4] Limit: Rebtel credit expires after one year without account activity, and Rebtel did not publish a Canada rate I could read.^⁠[16] Rebtel-to-Rebtel calls are free.^⁠[4]

Yolla

Best for: the lowest per-minute price to India and Mexico, from a phone or a browser. Rate example: from 1.1¢ a minute to Mexico and from 2.39¢ to India.^⁠[2] Credit: top-ups of $4, $8 or $16, no connection fees, and auto-renewing minute bundles; Yolla says it connects to 190+ countries.^⁠[2] Limit: Philippine landlines cost 18¢ a minute, more than BOSS Revolution or Rebtel, and credit unused for 365 days may become inactive.^{⁠[2]⁠[17]} Yolla-to-Yolla calls are free.^⁠[2]

BOSS Revolution

Best for: US callers to the UK and to Philippine landlines, and cheap 30-day plans. Rate example: 2¢ a minute to UK landlines and 13¢ to Philippine landlines.^⁠[3] Plans: UK Unlimited $2, Mexico Unlimited $3, India Unlimited $14 and 40+ Countries Unlimited $5, each for 30 days with auto-recharge.^{⁠[10]⁠[12]⁠[13]} Limit: the rates here are for the US version of the service; mobile rates are higher than the headline rate, for example 5¢ to UK mobiles.^⁠[10] New customers get $2 of credit for downloading the app before January 31, 2027.^⁠[18]

TwinPhone (sponsor)

Rate example: 2¢ a minute to the US and Canada, 8¢ to India, 6¢ to UK landlines.^⁠[6] Limit: TwinPhone has no free minutes, its numbers can receive texts but not send them, and it cannot call emergency numbers.^{⁠[20]⁠[25]⁠[22]} Unused credit can be refunded within 14 days if no more than 30% of it was spent.^⁠[22]

Google Voice (US only)

Best for: US residents who call the US and Canada. Rate example: calls from the US to the US and Canada are free for almost all numbers; some specific numbers cost 1¢ a minute.^⁠[5] International calls: Google charges calls outside the US at listed rates, which load in a calculator I could not read.^{⁠[5]⁠[26]} Limit: personal Google Voice is available only in the US.^⁠[14] It works in a web browser and on phones.^⁠[5]

Viber Out

Best for: people who already use Viber. Viber Out, the paid part of Viber, calls landlines and mobiles with pay-as-you-go credit, country plans or World Unlimited.^⁠[23] Rate example: none quoted, because Viber shows Viber Out rates only in a calculator. Limit: Viber Out calls are not end-to-end encrypted, unlike Viber-to-Viber calls, and Viber registration needs a phone number.^⁠[23]

Talk360

Best for: trying a call before paying. Talk360 charges per minute by destination, shows the price before the call and deducts credit only when the call connects.^⁠[19] Rate example: none quoted, because Talk360 shows its rates in a calculator. Limit: registration uses a phone number, and the free trial is one 1-minute call per newly registered number.^⁠[19]

Replacing Skype Credit: what carries over and what doesn't

Nothing carries over: Microsoft no longer sells Skype Credit, and unused Skype Credit cannot be moved to Teams or to another calling service.^{⁠[1]⁠[27]} The best alternative to Skype Credit is a prepaid balance with a similar shape, such as TwinPhone's never-expiring top-ups or Yolla's $4 top-ups, or a monthly plan from Rebtel or BOSS Revolution if you call one country.^⁠[7]⁠[2] The Dial Pad, refunds and expiry are covered in what happened to your leftover Skype Credit.

Caller ID and receiving calls back

Calling out and being called back are two separate services. Skype caller ID setups shut down on February 15, 2026, and Skype Numbers ended in May 2026.^⁠[1] The services on this page are built for outgoing calls; to let people call you on a number, you need a rented number as well. Google Voice gives US personal accounts a free US number, and TwinPhone rents US and Canadian numbers from $3.19 a month, with incoming calls charged at 2¢ a minute.^{⁠[14]⁠[24]⁠[28]} Numbers in other countries, and how to get a number people can call you back on, have their own guide.

How I checked these rates

• Origin: the US. Rates for callers in the UK, Canada or Australia can differ, and I did not check them.
• Currency: US cents and US dollars, as published for US visitors. Other language versions of this page convert them at a fixed exchange rate.
• Terms: credit expiry, connection fees and billing come from each provider's help or rates pages; where I found nothing, the table says "Not stated".
• What I did not do: I compared published prices and terms. I did not make test calls or measure call quality.
• Sponsor: TwinPhone supports this site. Its rates are listed in the same table and order as everyone else's.

The scoring method behind the hub page, and the sponsor disclosure, are on the page about how I checked rates.

Related guides

• Every Skype alternative, ranked
• The Skype Dial Pad and leftover credit
• A new number to replace a Skype Number
• Methodology and sponsor disclosure

Sources

1. Microsoft Support: Skype is retiring in May 2025: What you need to know (no visible update date). Accessed October 25, 2026.
2. Yolla: Call rates (country pages for India, Mexico, Philippines, UK, Germany). Accessed October 25, 2026.
3. BOSS Revolution: International calling rates (US). Accessed October 25, 2026.
4. Rebtel: Calling rates (country pages for India, Mexico, Philippines, UK, Germany). Accessed October 25, 2026.
5. Google Voice Help: Set up Google Voice - Computer - Google Voice Help. Accessed October 25, 2026.
6. TwinPhone: International calling rates. Accessed October 25, 2026.
7. TwinPhone Help: How does TwinPhone billing work? (September 27, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
8. TwinPhone Help: Does TwinPhone work on iPhone, Android and Linux? (September 27, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
9. Yolla: Call from Computer or Browser — Web Calling | Yolla. Accessed October 25, 2026.
10. BOSS Revolution: International calling to the United Kingdom (US rates and plans) (no visible update date). Accessed October 25, 2026.
11. WhatsApp: Calling. Accessed October 25, 2026.
12. BOSS Revolution: International calling to Mexico (US rates and plans) (no visible update date). Accessed October 25, 2026.
13. BOSS Revolution: International calling to India (US rates and plans) (no visible update date). Accessed October 25, 2026.
14. Google Voice Help: Google Voice Help Center. Accessed October 25, 2026.
15. BOSS Revolution: International calling to the Philippines (US rates) (no visible update date). Accessed October 25, 2026.
16. Rebtel Help: When do my plans and credits expire? (September 17, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
17. Yolla Help Center: Credit expiration (November 24, 2025). Accessed October 25, 2026.
18. BOSS Revolution: BOSS Revolution (US homepage: new-customer app bonus before January 31, 2027) (no visible update date). Accessed October 25, 2026.
19. Talk360 Help: How does Talk360 work? (June 2, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
20. TwinPhone Help: Can I call a phone from my browser for free? (October 11, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
21. TwinPhone Help: Does the person I call need the TwinPhone app or internet? (October 11, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
22. TwinPhone: llms.txt (official product facts). Accessed October 25, 2026.
23. Viber: Viber and Viber Out. Accessed October 25, 2026.
24. TwinPhone Help: Which countries can I get a phone number in? (September 27, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
25. TwinPhone Help: Can I send text messages from TwinPhone? (September 27, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
26. Google Voice: Calling rates. Accessed October 25, 2026.
27. TwinPhone Help: What replaced Skype for calling phone numbers? (September 27, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.
28. TwinPhone Help: Do incoming calls cost money on TwinPhone? (September 27, 2026). Accessed October 25, 2026.