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Self-Hosted Skype Alternatives

Skype is not available as a self-hosted solution but there are plenty of alternatives for power users and business that want to host a solution on-premise. The best Self-Hosted alternative is Wire. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Element or Mumble. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Skype and many of them are available as a self-hosted solution so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Self-Hosted alternatives to Skype are Jitsi Meet, Matrix.org, Mattermost and Rocket.Chat.

Skype alternatives are mainly Group Chat Apps but may also be Video Calling Apps or Instant Messengers. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Skype.
This page was last updated
Skype iconSkype
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  • Freemium • Proprietary
  • Mac
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  • Online
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  • Blackberry
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  • Windows S
  • Android Tablet
  • BSD
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Skype is the most popular free voice-over IP and instant messaging service globally. It allows users to text, video and...

Learn more about Skype
  1. Wire icon

    Wire

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    • Free Personal • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • F-Droid
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)

    Wire is the most secure collaboration platform featuring messenger, voice, video, conference calls, file-sharing, and external collaboration –all protected by the most secure end-to-end-encryption.

    Screenshot
    Wire vs Skype opinions
    Almost everyone thinks Wire is a great alternative to Skype.
     all • positive • negative      relevance • date
    svenjost

    Group audio calls with screen sharing functionality, open source, nice UI.

    Top positive comment   ago
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    10

    Great security, open source, video calls, responsive developers.

    Top positive comment   ago
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    9

    Wire is free, open source and easy to use and, most importantly, PRIVATE. It transmits data only in an encrypted way that even the creators of Wire cannot see, so you can be sure your content is YOURS, and not something the likes of Microsoft (who own Skype) can read, analyze, hand on to authorities or lose to hackers.

    Positive comment • ago
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    1

    Truly secure and feature reach

    Positive comment • ago
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    0
    someonelast

    It's open source, cross-platform, and free!

    Positive comment • ago
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    -3
    Lura

    Open source, encrypted, stable

    Positive comment • ago
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    0

    a better connection and more secure

    Positive comment • ago
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    0
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    7 of 9 comments
  2. Element icon

    Element

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    • Freemium • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Matrix.org
    • Cloudron

    Element is a secure collaboration and messaging app based on the Matrix protocol. It’s decentralised to deliver digital sovereignty, and based on an open standard for easy connections and interoperability. It is end-to-end encrypted by default.

    Video calls for desktop and mobile
    Element vs Skype opinions
    Almost everyone thinks Element is a great alternative to Skype.
    MasteLrugarius

    It's like Skype but has open groups like Teamspeak and it has unlimited fileupload. Thanks to a server to server structure, everyone can text everyone.

    Top positive comment   ago
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    7

    FOSS, free, open source, own nodes etc.

    Top positive comment   ago
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    1

    Cross platform in terms of Apps and equally good using a browser.

    Positive comment • ago
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    1

    It's arguably the premier Matrix client, which is free software that is decentralized. Riot.im gives you the option to host a Matrix server yourself and connect to it. It also offers end-to-end encryption and high quality video and audio chat. Not to mention the modern UI.

    Positive comment • ago
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    5
    Murz

    Free, opensource and encrypted, with federation support and can be hosted on your servers.

    Positive comment • ago
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    3

  4. Mumble was the first and is the most successful and wide spread free and open source software for VoIP. It was the first VoIP software to provide low-latency audio suitable for gaming, and at the same time was a pioneer in high audio quality at the same time.

    Mumble 1.2.3 Release Candidate – some users in different channels
    Mumble vs Skype opinions
    Almost everyone thinks Mumble is a great alternative to Skype.

    Completely open source, very high quality

    Top positive comment   ago
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    4

    Communication more lightweight due to new opus codec when communicating

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    4

    Mumble requires a server to run

    Top negative comment   ago
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    3

    Lightweight high quality audio chat. Self-hosted and encrypted, so your communications are private.

    Positive comment • ago
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    1

    Mumble requires a server. Skype is end-to-end

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    -21

  5. Go ahead, video chat with the whole team. In fact, invite everyone you know. Jitsi Meet is a fully encrypted, 100% open source video conferencing solution that you can use all day, every day, for free — with no account needed.

    Screenshot
    Jitsi Meet vs Skype opinions
    Almost everyone thinks Jitsi Meet is a great alternative to Skype.

    This is an excellent Skype replacement. It's free, open source, encrypted and you don't need to install anything. You simply go to the website, choose a link and email it to the person you want to speak with. Everything happens in your browser. You can password protect your session, have group conversations, share screen, chat and collaborate on text documents. Easier even than Skype and much more private.

    Positive comment • ago
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    6

    Fast, secure and Open Source.

    Positive comment • ago
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    0

    Skype for free, with better quality and more secure.

    Positive comment • ago
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    1
  6. Matrix.org icon

    Matrix.org

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • WebRTC
    • Python
    • JavaScript
    • Go (Programming Language)
    • Cloudron
    • Java
    • Perl

    Matrix defines a set of open APIs for decentralised communication, suitable for securely publishing, persisting and subscribing to data over a global open federation of servers with no single point of control.

    Main Page
    Matrix.org vs Skype opinions
    Most users think Matrix.org is a great alternative to Skype.
    Murz

    Feature-full modern free opensource instant messaging server with federation.

    Positive comment • ago
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    3
  8. Mattermost icon

    Mattermost

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    • Freemium • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • JavaScript
    • Go (Programming Language)
    • Cloudron

    Mattermost is a secure, open source platform for communication, collaboration, and workflow orchestration across tools and teams.

    Screenshot
    Mattermost vs Skype opinions
    Most users think Mattermost is a great alternative to Skype.
    MasteLrugarius

    Its oriented on enterprize

    Negative comment • ago
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    0

  9. Rocket.Chat is a Web Chat Server, developed in JavaScript, using the Meteor fullstack framework.

    Screenshot
    Rocket.Chat vs Skype opinions
    Almost everyone thinks Rocket.Chat is a great alternative to Skype.
    edlee

    Good alternative to Slack because it is free and self-hosted.

    Positive comment • ago
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    -1

  10. Zulip is a group chat app in which messages are threaded by topic, helping you have long-running, organized conversations.

    Screenshot
  11. Nextcloud Talk icon

    Nextcloud Talk

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    • Free Personal • Open Source
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Nextcloud

    Nextcloud Talk is a fully self-hosted audio/video and chat communication service. It features web and mobile apps and is designed to offer the highest degree of security while being easy to use.

    Screenshot
  12. Briefing icon

    Briefing

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted

    The preservation of privacy is the main driver for this project. Secure technologies, such as WebRTC, are used to establish a direct connection between the participants.

    Screenshot
Showing 10 of 33 alternatives