After more than 20 years, Microsoft pulled the plug on Skype in May 2025. For millions of businesses worldwide, that meant losing their go-to tool for cheap international calls — often overnight, with little preparation. If your company relied on Skype to call clients, suppliers, or partners abroad, you're not alone in looking for a replacement.
This guide covers what actually happened, what your options are now, and what matters most when replacing Skype: pricing, ease of use, international coverage, and whether you need to sign a contract just to make a phone call.
The End of an Era: What Happened to Skype
On May 5, 2025, Microsoft officially discontinued Skype and began redirecting users to Microsoft Teams. The decision had been a long time coming. After acquiring Skype in 2011 for €8.5 billion, Microsoft gradually shifted its focus to Teams — first for enterprise users, then for everyone.
The shutdown wasn't a sudden blackout. Microsoft gave users several months' notice and offered an automatic migration path to Teams. Contacts, chat history, and remaining Skype credit balances were transferred over — at least for those who followed the migration process.
⚠️ Still have unused Skype credit? If you haven't migrated yet, your balance may still be recoverable. Contact Microsoft support to check the status of your account. Note that after a certain period of inactivity, credit recovery may no longer be possible.
But here's what caught many businesses off guard: Skype wasn't just a chat app. For thousands of small and mid-sized companies, it was their entire international calling infrastructure. Front desks, sales teams, procurement departments — all of them used Skype's pay-as-you-go rates to call landlines and mobiles worldwide. And Teams, while powerful for meetings and collaboration, handles international PSTN calling very differently.
Why Businesses Were Hit Hardest
Consumer users barely noticed the transition. Most had already moved to WhatsApp, FaceTime, or Telegram for personal calls. But business users who relied on Skype for one specific thing — calling real phone numbers internationally at low per-minute rates — suddenly had a problem.
Microsoft Teams requires additional paid licenses for PSTN calling (starting at €8–10 per user per month, plus a calling plan). For a five-person team that made occasional international calls, the monthly cost went from near-zero on Skype to €50–170 on Teams — before a single minute was dialed. For businesses that valued Skype's simplicity and pay-per-use model, Teams felt like being upsold into a full enterprise communications suite they didn't ask for.
What to Look for in a Skype Replacement
Not every business needs the same solution. Before choosing a replacement, consider what you actually used Skype for:
If you mainly used Skype for video meetings and team chat: Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet are natural fits. They're designed for collaboration, screen sharing, and group calls. Most businesses in this category have already switched.
If you mainly used Skype to call phone numbers internationally: This is where the decision gets more interesting. You need a service that connects to the actual telephone network (PSTN), supports a wide range of countries, and doesn't lock you into expensive monthly contracts. That is exactly the angle our provider comparison takes.
Which Skype Alternative Should You Choose?
It depends on which part of Skype you actually relied on. If it was team chat and video meetings, Microsoft Teams is the intended successor and the migration path is built in. If it was calling landlines and mobiles abroad, you need a service that connects to the public telephone network — and there the differences between providers are substantial, particularly around pricing models, country coverage and licensing.
We compare ten providers in detail — pricing, coverage, licensing and GDPR status, each with one honest drawback — in our full comparison of the best Skype alternatives in 2026. If you already know you need a direct replacement for calling phone numbers abroad, our Skype alternative for international calls covers that in depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Microsoft discontinued Skype on May 5, 2025. Existing users were migrated to Microsoft Teams. The standalone Skype application is no longer available for new users or continued use.
Microsoft transferred remaining Skype credit balances to Microsoft Teams for users who completed the migration process. If you did not migrate, contact Microsoft support to check whether your balance is still recoverable.
No. Microsoft retired Skype on May 5, 2025 and moved consumer accounts to Microsoft Teams. The standalone application is no longer available, and Skype Credit can no longer be purchased.
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See How It Works →This article is for informational purposes only. All product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Pricing and feature information is based on publicly available data as of May 2026 and may have changed since publication. FluffyCall is one of the alternatives covered in this article and is the publisher of this guide — we've aimed to present all options fairly and transparently. We encourage readers to verify current pricing on each provider's official website before making a purchasing decision.