What's replacing Skype after the May 2025 shutdown?

Microsoft migrated Skype users to Microsoft Teams Free, which keeps chat and video features but drops Skype's signature pay-as-you-go international landline calling. Teams Free does not let you dial a regular phone number; that capability now requires a Teams Phone subscription starting at $8 monthly per user. The closest direct replacements for Skype's old pay-per-minute dialer are WorldDialer in a browser at $0.04 a minute, KeepCalling in an app at $0.01 a minute, Talk360 in an app at $0.04 to the US, and Yolla and Viber Out for general international destinations. Your unused Skype credit balance was transferred to a Teams account but cannot be used for outbound PSTN calls under the free tier.

What can I use instead of Skype without a subscription?

For US-bound calls from abroad, WorldDialer runs in any browser with no app or recurring fee at $0.04 a minute. KeepCalling charges $0.01 a minute through its app with no subscription, and Talk360 charges $0.04, the same as WorldDialer. Yolla, VoIPVoIP, and Viber Out offer similar pay- per-minute pricing. For US-to-US calls only, Google Voice remains the cheapest option (free) if you can set up the account from a US IP with a US verification number. For technical users comfortable with SIP configuration, VoIP.ms charges $0.01 a minute with never-expiring credit. None of these require monthly payment, which was Skype's original appeal.

What can I use instead of Skype for free international calls?

Genuinely free international calling requires both ends on the same app over WiFi or mobile data. WhatsApp, FaceTime Audio, Signal, Telegram, Viber, and Facebook Messenger all support free app-to-app voice and video calls worldwide. For US-to-US calls only, Google Voice gives free unlimited calls from anywhere with internet, but signup requires a US phone number and US IP address. Microsoft Teams Free supports free meeting-style calls but cannot dial regular phone numbers. For free calls to a real landline or non-app mobile number, there is no honest answer in 2026; every PSTN-bound service charges at least pennies per minute to cover carrier termination fees.

Can I still use my old Skype Credit balance somewhere?

Yes, but with restrictions. Microsoft migrated remaining Skype Credit balances into linked Microsoft accounts during the May 2025 shutdown. You can still use the credit to buy Microsoft 365, Xbox content, or other Microsoft services through the same account, and Microsoft offered limited PSTN calling refunds for users with unused balances above $5. The credit cannot be transferred to Teams Phone, used in non-Microsoft apps, or refunded to a card after the original 30-day refund window closed. Check your balance at account.microsoft.com under Payment & Billing. Many users discovered small balances of $2 to $15 they had forgotten about; these can be applied to a Microsoft 365 renewal.

Will VoIP.ms work from anywhere or does it lock to a country?

VoIP.ms works from any country with internet, but the account requires creating a SIP credential and configuring a softphone app like Zoiper, Linphone, or Bria. There is no native VoIP.ms dialer; you supply your own SIP client. Outbound calls to US numbers cost $0.0085 per minute on the standard rate, with $0.005 per minute available on certain LCR routes. VoIP.ms assigns you a DID (a real phone number) in the country code of your choice if you want inbound, starting at $0.85 monthly for a US DID with free incoming minutes. The 30-minute setup includes creating the account, funding the balance, configuring SIP, and testing on Zoiper.

Best Skype Alternatives 2026: Pay-As-You-Go, Ranked

Skype Credit went away with the rest of Skype on May 5, 2025. If you used it to dial a US bank, a doctor's office, or the IRS a few times a year, Microsoft Teams did not replace that job.

This is the ranked list of services that did. Each entry carries the per-minute rate to US numbers, where that rate comes from, and what taking it costs you in setup or monthly fees. Two of them charge a quarter of what we do, and we say so by name.

What Happened to Skype Credit

Microsoft retired Skype on May 5, 2025 and pointed users at Microsoft Teams Free, which does not dial regular phone numbers. Remaining Skype Credit moved into the linked Microsoft account, and buying more stopped. The full account of what became of credit, Skype Numbers, and chat history is in Skype Shut Down: What Happened to Your Credit.

Which Skype Were You Using? Video vs Skype Credit

Skype was four products wearing one icon, and one replacement does not cover all four. Most Skype alternative lists rank a video app next to a phone dialer as though a reader could swap one for the other.

Skype Credit / SkypeOut. What it did: Pay-per-minute calls to phone numbers. What replaces it: This article.
Skype-to-Skype. What it did: Free voice and video between Skype users. What replaces it: WhatsApp, Signal, FaceTime.
Skype Number. What it did: An inbound number people could call you on. What replaces it: Google Voice (US signup), or a paid VoIP number.
Skype IM. What it did: Text chat. What replaces it: WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage.

If you were on Skype for free calls with other Skype users, skip to the free options below. If you were spending Skype Credit to reach numbers that ring on a real telephone, the ranked list is what you want.

What to Look For in a Replacement

Five things decide this, and only one of them is the headline rate.

It has to dial phone numbers. The industry word is PSTN. WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and Teams Free all place calls between app users and stop there. A US bank's hold queue is not on WhatsApp.

The rate to your destination, not the rate on the homepage. Providers advertise their strongest corridor. A penny a minute to the US says nothing about what the same service charges to Manila.

Expiry and the minimum top-up. Someone who calls five times a year can lose a balance to an inactivity clock before the second call.

Setup. An app install, an account, and a payment method are the usual price of entry. A SIP configuration is a bigger one.

Per minute against per month. A monthly plan is cheaper past a certain volume, and the volume is higher than most people guess. The math is further down.

The Replacements, Ranked

Ranked for the Skype Credit pattern: top up, dial, forget about it until next time. Price appears in every entry, and on the US route two of these charge a cent a minute against our four.

1. WorldDialer

$0.04/min to US landlines and mobiles. Browser. Credits start at $5 and never expire.

Open the page, enter the number, call. There is nothing to install and nothing recurring on standard calling, so a 10-minute call to the US costs $0.40 and that is the whole bill. Outbound reaches 200+ countries: the UK is 4¢ a minute, India 6.48¢, the Philippines 27.3¢, all listed on our rates page. An optional Premium tier takes 20% off every call ($0.032/min to the US) and adds inbound calling, a dedicated US or UK number, SMS, and voicemail transcription.

Best for: the person who calls the US a handful of times a year and wants the balance still sitting there in March.

2. Rebtel

$0.01/min to US numbers, mobile and landline alike. App required.

Rebtel is four times cheaper than us on the US route. Credit packs run $5 for 500 minutes and $10 for 1,000. If your calling picks up, US Unlimited is $3 a month and Global Unlimited is $12 a month covering the US plus 46 countries, both with a one-week free trial. Past about 75 minutes a month, that $3 plan beats paying us per minute.

The cost of taking it: an app on your phone, and a monthly plan you have to remember to cancel if you stop calling.

Best for: anyone calling the US weekly or more. Side by side: WorldDialer vs Rebtel.

3. KeepCalling

$0.01/min to US numbers. App required. $5 minimum top-up, one-minute rounding.

The 1¢ tier is real and it is narrow: the US, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and Croatia. Everywhere else runs on the normal table, so India is 2.1¢, Nigeria 12.9¢, and the Philippines 15.9¢ to a landline. One-minute rounding means a 20-second call bills as a full minute. Monthly plans exist too, US Unlimited at $4.99 and World Unlimited at $10 for 50+ destinations, landlines only.

Best for: US-route callers who want the lowest per-minute figure on this page, tied with Rebtel. Side by side: KeepCalling vs WorldDialer.

4. Talk360

$0.04/min to the US. App required.

Talk360 charges the same four cents we do on the US route, so on price this one is a tie and the difference is the app. Their rates to other destinations are not something we have verified, so treat the US figure as a US figure.

Best for: callers who prefer a native app to a browser tab.

5. Yadaphone

Roughly 2.4¢ to 4¢ a minute, browser-based, around 150 destinations.

Yadaphone runs the same pattern we do, in a browser, with pay-as-you-go credit. The rate range above comes from our own corpus rather than a source we have independently checked, so confirm it on their page before you top up.

Best for: readers who want a second browser option to compare.

6. Google Voice

Free to US numbers. Free is real, the signup is the catch.

Google Voice needs a US phone number to verify the account, which is the thing most people living abroad have already given up. If you kept a US line, it is hard to beat free. Calls out of the US to other countries are billed per minute on Google's own rate card.

Best for: Americans temporarily abroad who still hold a US number. Side by side: WorldDialer vs Google Voice.

7. BOSS Revolution

Headline rate around two cents a minute. Effective rate about $0.174 once the fees land.

The advertised number is one of the lowest in this list, and it is also the least like what you pay. Per-call connection fees and weekly maintenance fees push the effective US rate to roughly 17.4 cents a minute. In-app calling is billed at $0.015. There is also a US and Canada unlimited plan at $2 per month, which is the figure our older articles wrongly credited to Rebtel, whose plan is $3.

Best for: daily callers who will track the fee structure. Side by side: WorldDialer vs BOSS Revolution.

8. Yolla and Viber Out

Rates we could not verify.

Both appear on every list of Skype replacements, including our own older articles, at somewhere between one and two cents a minute to the US. We have never confirmed either figure against the provider, so we are not printing a number for them here. Check their rate pages yourself before you commit money.

Best for: existing Viber users, who are installing nothing new.

The Math: 5 Calls a Year vs 50

Here is the whole subscription question in one table. Ten-minute calls, US destinations, a year at a time.

5 calls (50 min). WorldDialer at $0.04/min: $2.00. Rebtel or KeepCalling at $0.01/min: $0.50. Rebtel US Unlimited at $3/mo: $36.00.
10 calls (100 min). WorldDialer at $0.04/min: $4.00. Rebtel or KeepCalling at $0.01/min: $1.00. Rebtel US Unlimited at $3/mo: $36.00.
50 calls (500 min). WorldDialer at $0.04/min: $20.00. Rebtel or KeepCalling at $0.01/min: $5.00. Rebtel US Unlimited at $3/mo: $36.00.

Two things fall out of it. A monthly plan starts winning at roughly 75 minutes a month against our rate, and around 300 minutes a month against a penny-a-minute rate, which is daily calling, well past what a five-times-a-year caller does. And on pure per-minute price at this volume, the gap between the top of the table and the bottom is about fifteen dollars a year, which is smaller than most people expect after reading a rate comparison.

Which is why expiry and setup end up mattering more than the rate does.

Credit Expiry and Minimum Top-Ups

An inactivity clock is the quiet cost of prepaid calling. Buy $10 of credit, call twice, come back in five months, and on several services the balance is gone.

WorldDialer: credits start at $5 and never expire. That is the honest differentiator here, more than the rate is.
KeepCalling: $5 minimum top-up, and calls bill in whole minutes.
Rebtel: credit sold in packs, $5 for 500 US minutes.

For every provider on this page, expiry terms live on their own site and change without announcement. We verify per-minute rates against provider rate pages; we have not verified each provider's expiry policy, so read the terms before you put money in. A rate you saved a cent on is a bad trade against a balance you lost.

Setup Friction: App, Account, Browser

The best option is the one you will still be able to use at 11pm when you need the call.

WorldDialer. Steps to first call: Open the browser, add credit, dial. Typical time: Under a minute. Barrier: An account and $5 in credit.
Talk360. Steps to first call: Install, register, top up. Typical time: 5-10 minutes. Barrier: App on your phone.
Rebtel. Steps to first call: Install, register, buy a pack. Typical time: 5-10 minutes. Barrier: App on your phone.
KeepCalling. Steps to first call: Install, register, top up. Typical time: 5-10 minutes. Barrier: App on your phone.
Google Voice. Steps to first call: Account plus phone verification. Typical time: 5-15 minutes. Barrier: US number required.
Viber Out. Steps to first call: Install Viber, add credit. Typical time: 5-15 minutes. Barrier: A full messaging app.

Every service on this list wants an account and a payment method. What varies is whether you also have to keep an app on a phone that may be full, on a plan that may be roaming, in a country where you may have just landed. A browser is already on the laptop.

Teams, WhatsApp, and the Free Options

If Skype was your video and chat app rather than your dialer, none of the paid services above are what you want.

WhatsApp, Signal, FaceTime, Telegram: free voice and video, and both people need the same app.
Zoom, Google Meet: free meetings, no phone numbers.
Microsoft Teams Free: Microsoft's official successor. Teams-to-Teams calls only, no dialing out to phone numbers. Teams Phone, the paid add-on that does dial phone numbers, is sold per user per month and aimed at workplaces.
Google Voice: free to US numbers, if you can complete the US signup.

Free app-to-app calling carries its own tax. The person you are calling has to be on the same app, own the right phone, or install something on your say-so. A government office, a bank, or an airline will do none of those things, and that is the gap the paid list above fills. If the number you are trying to reach starts 1-800, read Are 1-800 Numbers Free Internationally? first, because most of them will not connect from abroad at all.

Quick Picks by Use Case

You call the US a few times a year: WorldDialer. Browser, $0.04/min, credits from $5 that never expire.
You call the US every week: Rebtel. A penny a minute, or $3 a month unlimited past roughly 75 minutes.
You want the lowest US per-minute rate: KeepCalling or Rebtel at $0.01, with an app and a top-up minimum.
You call several countries regularly: Rebtel Global Unlimited, $12 a month for the US plus 46 countries.
You still have a US phone number: Google Voice, free.
You are replacing SkypeOut for client calls: see The SkypeOut Replacement for Calling US Numbers From Abroad.
You need a number people can call you on: Google Voice with a US signup, a paid VoIP number, or WorldDialer's Premium tier.

How to Pick

Three questions get you there.

Were you calling phone numbers, or other Skype users? Other Skype users: WhatsApp, Signal, or FaceTime, and you are done reading. Phone numbers: keep going.

How often do you call? Five to fifty times a year is the Skype Credit pattern, and pay-as-you-go fits it. Daily is a different product, and Rebtel's monthly plans win it outright.

What matters more, the rate or the friction? Rebtel and KeepCalling charge a cent a minute to the US and want an app, an account, and a top-up minimum. We charge four cents and want a browser tab. On fifty minutes a year that difference is a dollar and a half; on five hundred minutes it is fifteen dollars. Pick the side of that trade that matches how you call. More of this argument: pay-per-use vs subscription calling.

If you land where most former Skype Credit users land, WorldDialer is $0.04 a minute to US landlines and mobiles, from a browser, with credits that start at $5 and stay where you left them. When somebody else is cheaper for how you call, we would rather you knew it now.

Try WorldDialer

The Best Skype Alternatives in 2026 (Pay-As-You-Go, Ranked)