When it comes to finding the best video conferencing software for your business, there are plenty of options out there. Skype is a popular choice, but it may not be the right fit for everyone. That’s why it’s important to do your research and find a skype alternative that meets your needs and aligns with your business goals.
One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a video conferencing tool is scalability. Fortunately, there are plenty of Skype alternatives that won’t break the bank, work for teams of all sizes, and have all of the features your team needs to collaborate on projects. Below, we cover some of the most popular alternatives and which features they have so you can make an informed decision on which is the best choice for your business.
Most Important Features to Have in a Video Conferencing App
- Video & audio quality: The video quality and audio quality should be high, especially if you are using this for business. You want to remain professional and stay connected during the call.
- Affordability: The app should be within your budget. It’s also good if there’s a free version that you can try before committing your entire business to the system.
- Ease of use: It needs to be easy for anyone to use right away without having to learn anything new or try multiple tutorials before they get started talking with others on the platform.
- Scheduling options: You may want an app that allows you to schedule calls ahead of time so that everything is set up automatically when it’s time for everyone involved in the conversation to reach out and connect at their convenience without having yet another task added to their list.
- Easy collaboration: Does the system allow easy collaboration for file sharing, screen sharing, call recording, etc.?
- Software integrations: Does it integrate with the software you and your team are already using?
- Reliability: Does it have a reliable network? For example, Monster VoIP has redundant networks that ensure your systems don’t go down.
- Security: Does the system have encryption and authentication technologies to ensure your calls are private?
The best Skype alternatives would provide the same/similar features to Skype and more. Below we’ve reviewed the most popular alternatives to skype and their features. Some are best for small and large businesses while others may be best for family and friends but not a good solution for business.
Let’s check out the best alternatives below…
Monster VoIP
The leader in the industry is our very own Monster VoIP technology. For small to mid-sized businesses, you won’t find a Skype alternative that’s more well-rounded for the vast majority of businesses. With Monster VoIP, you can have up to 1,000 participants on your video calls making it easy for remote teams to collaborate no matter where they’re located. Speaking of collaboration, you can also share screens, apps, files, and edit documents in real-time making teamwork a breeze.
Need to record your meetings? With Monster VoIP, you can record, replay, and download videos – including your on-screen collaboration and chat. This makes it a great option for training or sending to those who missed your meeting.
Another important benefit of Monster VoIP is that we offer 24×7 support – something you won’t find in most Skype alternatives. There’s nothing worse than having nobody to talk to when your video conferencing software takes a dive. If you run a small to mid-sized business, our scale-on-demand solutions provide you with all of the essential features your business needs – from exceptional customer service to highly-stable connections that allow team collaboration from anywhere in the world.
Take a look at our flexible pricing options or reach out to learn more about our industry-leading software.
Slack
Slack is a messaging app that lets you chat with your team, video conference, share files, and more. It’s free to use, but there are paid plans if you need more options. Slack is available on desktop, mobile, and web. It has a large number of integrations so it can be used as an internal communication tool across many different business functions.
It’s a great choice for businesses that need to communicate across many channels since it offers more than 800 integrations with the business apps you commonly use. However, the primary drawback with slack is that you can only have a maximum of 15 participants on a video chat even with the highest tier paid plan. If you plan to scale your business, Slack isn’t going to scale well with large team video conferencing.
Google Meet
Google Meet is a video conferencing app (formerly known as Google Hangouts) that, like Skype, offers both free and paid plans. The free version of Google Meet can support up to 100 participants in a meeting. It has some cool features such as built-in file sharing and scheduling with Google Calendar as well as many of the same features that Skype offers. You can use your existing Google account or create a new one when you first sign in which also makes it easy for almost everyone to use (since most of us have google emails already).
Additional features of Google Meet include:
- Easy group chats
- Captions in real-time
- Screen sharing and presentation modes
- File sharing
- Video recording (requires paid plan)
- You can dial into a video conference with your phone (paid plan)
If you’re already using Google Workspaces, this might be a good option for your business. However, if your clients or team are not using Google, they’ll need Google emails in order to be able to use this Skype alternative. If this is an issue, consider Monster VoIP which doesn’t require you or your participants to have a Google email. And while Google Meet does offer high-quality video, it’s known to be slightly hit-and-miss. This can reduce your perceived professionalism if conferencing with important clients.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration platform that’s part of Office 365. It’s a good alternative to Skype for your business, particularly if you’re already using other Office 365 applications like Microsoft Word and Excel. It has solid built-in video conferencing, letting users chat, host voice calls, and share files all with enterprise-grade security. In fact, the technology behind Microsoft Teams supports up to 10,000 users in one organization.
Microsoft Teams also offers third-party app integrations for a more robust experience. For example, it integrates with existing apps like Trello, Dropbox or Asana (so members of your company can collaborate on projects). The downside is that it isn’t quite as easy to navigate compared with other platforms such as Monster VoIP – which means it may take some time to get used to – but once mastered then this could help boost productivity levels within teams who use these tools regularly at work.
Zoom
Zoom is one of the most used video call apps, with an extensive range of features that have made it a popular option for businesses. It’s good if you want to use the video conferencing platform for business meetings and presentations but there are some downsides.
Zoom has great video quality, works on multiple devices and its free platform allows up to 40 minutes of meeting time per call. It also includes more advanced features such as task tracking, file sharing, storage, text chat (for example “is everyone here?”), recording sessions so they can be played back later, screen sharing where anyone invited can view what’s on your computer monitor (as well as showing them their own screens), and much more.
Zoom lacks some key elements for businesses on the free plan though. For example, the 40-minute limit on calls can be a hindrance to longer meetings and important communications. Zoom also doesn’t record larger meetings in HD video resolution and there have been issues with “Zoombombing” which is where uninvited people are able to join your meeting.
Viber
Viber is a free app that you can use to make calls, send messages and share files with people who have the app. It is very similar to Skype and provides users with VoIP functionality, file transfer, and instant messaging. One of its most notable features is screen sharing which enables remote teams to work together on their projects effectively by sharing their screens in real-time with each other over Viber calls/video chats. This makes it a good option for remote teams to collaborate on projects.
The primary difference between Skype and Viber is that Viber uses your personal phone number (required) and you have to have a smartphone to sign up.
WhatsApp is a messaging app that lets you send text messages, photos, videos, and other files to individuals and groups. Originally WhatsApp was released as a messaging app, WhatsApp now allows you to make video calls, audio calls, voice and video messages, and share files.
It also allows chat groups of up to 1024 people so that multiple people can be involved in the same conversation at once. WhatsApp’s main drawback is that its video conferencing capabilities are quite limited; it only supports up to four participants at any one time (though this number may increase over time). That said if you need mostly a chat feature for your teams to communicate or only need small video conferences, it’s a good option.
Jitsi Meet
Jitsi Meet is an open-source video-conferencing application that allows encrypted video and voice calls as well as a chat feature that can be encrypted but this has to be enabled and isn’t encrypted out of the box. The Jitsi Meet team says the service can handle unlimited participants on a call.
Users don’t need to sign up for Jitsi Meet, though you can create an account if you want to take advantage of additional features like screen sharing or saved preferences. This solution is great for small businesses looking for a free solution for their conference calls, but be aware: It’s focused on video conferencing so lacks many of the features needed for project collaboration among teams.
Talky
Talky is a free video-conferencing app that allows up to 15 people with a simple interface but is mostly a web-based solution. Talky does have an IOS app but if you need an app that offers true cross-platform chatting, you’ll want to look for another solution.
Creating a chat group is very easy – just go to Talky, create the URL for your room and share it with your participants. You can also password-protect your rooms for even more security. While it’s easy to use for simple chats, Talky is missing more robust features many businesses need so it’s best for communicating with family and friends.
WeChat is a well-known messaging app that allows you to do a variety of things including voice, text and video chat with people all over the world. The app also has its own social media platform where it allows you to connect with friends or meet new people nearby. WeChat is available for iOS, Windows Phone, and Android devices but if you want to use it on your desktop computer then they have an official website where you can log in as well (but a phone is required to login to the desktop version).
WeChat is a good solution for communicating with friends, family, and small teams but lacks many of the more robust features needed for small to mid-sized businesses.
Additional Skype Alternatives
Video chat apps are a great way to stay in touch with friends and family, but if you’re concerned about privacy or want more features than what Skype has to offer, there are plenty of alternatives. Here are a few others that are worth looking into.
Jami: This is a peer-to-peer platform that’s fully encrypted and lesser known than many of the Skype alternatives. However, this isn’t great for businesses since it’s limited to peer-to-peer communication.
Wire: Good platform for collaboration, however, it lacks many third-party integrations.
FaceTime: Everybody with an iPhone or Macbook has this already built in. It’s a stable option for communication with family and friends but not a good app for team communication.
OoVoo: Good amount of free features but not as reliable as most other platforms.
Whereby: Good video conferencing option but users are limited to a single meeting room on the free plan.
What’s The Best Skype Alternative For Your Business?
Choosing an alternative to Skype can be a little bit daunting. There are many chat apps out there so how do you narrow it down? The most important thing is to ensure you’re getting all the functionality you plan on using in your business. What features does your team need in order to work together effectively? Once you know, you can check off any apps that lack things like file sharing, stable video connections, dial-into video calls, etc.
It’s also important to select an option that’s scalable as your business grows and doesn’t require you to switch technology. With that being said, Monster VoIP is, in our opinion, the best option for most businesses. We’ve nailed down all of the most important features and offer flexible plans that can easily scale as your business grows. Try Monster VoIP or chat with us to learn more about our solutions.
