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Skype (discontinued)

Score7.1 out of 10

2,611 Reviews and Ratings

What is Skype (discontinued)?

Skype (the personal edition or Skype free) was a web meeting, video conferencing, and VoIP software, now superseded by Microsoft Teams' free edition and unsupported from May 2025.

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Skype (discontinued) has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 2,611 ratings of Skype (discontinued)'s features
View all features

Top Performing Features

  • Confidential attendee list

    Presenters, moderators, or admins can see a confidential list of attendees that is not visible to all attendees.

    Category average: 8

  • Slideshows

    Presenters can present slideshows during the meeting within the web conferencing platform.

    Category average: 8.3

  • Audience polling

    Presenters can ask for audience input.

    Category average: 8.1

Areas for Improvement

  • Instant messaging

    Users are able to communicate via chat, either one-on-one or in a group message, through an instant messaging or chat tool.

    Category average: 8.8

  • Whiteboards

    Presenters or attendees can share notes or annotations they’ve made on a whiteboard/meeting space within the web conferencing UI.

    Category average: 7.8

  • Video screen sharing

    Users are able to share their screens with other meeting participants on video conference calls.

    Category average: 8.5

Reviews

What users are saying about Skype (discontinued).
View all reviews

Skype a product for video conferencing.

Incentivized
Hitesh GautamView profile
Cloud engineer in Information Technology at Insight (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As a Skype user, I interact with my peers in real-time, making it easy to make decisions that benefit the organization. Additionally, since it is a global product, people can reach out to their colleagues from anywhere, as long as they have a machine and an internet connection.

Pros

  • Video conferencing.
  • Internal messaging.
  • Meeting management.

Cons

  • Timely updates.
  • Platform compatibility.
  • Frequent call drops.

Return on Investment

  • Global interaction.
  • Costs involved.
  • Less advanced features.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams

Other Software Used

Microsoft Power BI, Azure DevOps Services, Azure SQL Database

Easy and affordable option for local number with unlimited local calls

Incentivized
Bryan McAnultyView profile
Owner / Founder in Product Management at Velora Studios (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Skype for international calls, local calls in place of a regular office number, and for text communication with international vendors.

This lets us answer calls from an "office" phone line whether we are in the office or not, and also allows us to make calls from this number to other local US numbers, even if an employee is not currently in the US, without any additional costs.

We route a Grasshopper.com toll free number with extensions to various Skype numbers in order to implement this from a central number.

With this setup we are able to do anything we need when it comes to phone for local or international calls, and at a much lower cost than alternative business phone services.

It is helpful that Skype numbers also now support text messaging for the businesses that prefer to leave a text instead of a voicemail.


Pros

  • Unlimited local calling through local number
  • Affordable international calling
  • Ability to call local numbers without additional fees when traveling internationally

Cons

  • UI is dated and frustrating to use on desktop
  • UI feels sluggish on mobile
  • Text messaging experience overall not up to par with more modern chat apps

Return on Investment

  • Helps us answer calls easily when out of the office
  • Helps us answer calls easily when out of the country

Alternatives Considered

Grasshopper

Other Software Used

Artlist, Postmark, OpusClip, Riverside.fm, TubeBuddy

Skype - A good business communication and marketing tool

Incentivized
Ameya PanditView profile
Marketing Professional in Marketing at MetaSys Software Pvt. Ltd. (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Skype to make calls to customers in US, UK, etc. which are in different time-zones. Skype is our mode of communication to prospects and existing clients. Our developers do project discussions through this channel. We use Skype for marketing purpose also, basically to contact clients and have the first level of communication with them, to understand more about their requirements.

Pros

  • Making marketing calls
  • Project discussions
  • Internal team coordination

Cons

  • Like Microsoft Teams, Skype doesn't totally look like a professional platform. It should have some more privacy features for companies.
  • Cost-wise it's expensive. Making calls to some locations like Bermuda is very costly.
  • It should have some feature to write notes while on call.

Return on Investment

  • We normally purchase a package to call customers in USA. So we purchase the US package and then we are able to make for a few months. Cost wise, it only costs us a few hundred dollars.
  • Enabling prospects to call us directly for inquires through our website has helped in talking to them immediately and get us deals.
  • Not everyone uses Skype so it's difficult sometimes to totally rely on one business communication tool.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams

Skype - No longer the industry leader

Incentivized
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Collaborations, chat, video conferencing and meetings

Pros

  • Collaboration
  • Meetings
  • Video Conferencing

Cons

  • Cost
  • VoIP
  • File Transfer

Return on Investment

  • Negative impact on expense calling to Non Skype VoIP Numbers
  • More recent software release versions have become unreliable and problematic
  • Issues with cell phone registration

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams, Zoom Phone, Zoom Events & Webinars, Fuze, 8x8 Work and RingCX

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams, Zoom Phone, 8x8 Work, Fuze, RingCX

"Skype is unmatched in terms of its user base, reliability, and ease of use."

Adil Khan RobinView profile
Front-end Developer| Team Lead in Information Technology at Dhaka IT Solution (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Skype, an effective tool for communicating internationally. It's the best software for calls, meetings, and instant messages due to its multiple communication methods. Microsoft supports Skype with simple integrations into OneDrive, making sending and receiving even very large files easy. Installing the Zoom plugin for Skype lets us import Zoom contacts and invite them to Skype meetings. Skype allows us to collaborate, communicate, and create. Screen-sharing, file-sharing, and image-sharing are all possible. Skype shows screenshots without downloading them, making it ideal for sharing. One of the most inspiring resources is the built-in whiteboard, which can be used to make designs and illustrate discussions. It allows the host to record meetings anytime, which are immediately shared with participants. Skype uses industry-leading technology with full privacy and security.

Pros

  • It's the best call, meeting, and IM software.
  • An attractive and straightforward UI is a major selling point.
  • IMs and calls are free, and paid features are affordable.
  • It's great for group meetings because it allows video and audio calls.

Cons

  • Free users may find ads intrusive.
  • Some callers and texters have dropped.
  • Slow internet connections can degrade call quality.

Return on Investment

  • It offers low-cost calls to landlines and mobile phones and free Skype-to-Skype calls. It boosts productivity, reduces travel, and lets us work remotely without meetings.
  • It is compatible with devices running Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS, Google Android, and the Android tablet and smartphone operating systems. It facilitates group and individual video calls and enhances collaboration.

Alternatives Considered

Whereby

Other Software Used

Zoom, Webex App, TeamViewer