3 Best Alternatives to Skype for Subscribers After Shutdown

Skype has been in operation for the last 23 years in connecting people around the globe. Microsoft the parent company advice users to migrate their chats data and contacts to Microsoft teams.

To help you with the change, we’ve made a guide showing how to move to Teams or save your Skype data. We’ve also put together a list of other video-calling apps you can use instead of Skype.

How to switch from Skype to Microsoft Teams

Users can sign in to Microsoft Teams using their Skype credentials, and all of their data will be available from their account. Teams is more business-focused, supporting up to 10,000 participants in a single video call, while Skype supports up to 20 participants in one video call. While this could be the next alternative, users will benefit from Microsoft add-ons like OneDrive, Office 365, SharePoint, Salesforce, Trello, Evernote, and more.

How to transfer your Skype data to Microsoft Teams

-Open Skype and sign in.

-Click the three horizontal dots under your name in the top left.

-Go to Settings > Account & Profile > Your Account.

-You’ll be taken to Skype’s website. There, choose what you want to download:

Contacts (.csv)

Caller ID numbers (.csv)

Files and chat history

-If you want to save your conversations and shared files, choose “Export files and chat history.”

-Click Submit Request and then Continue.

-When the download is ready, click Download to get your data.

Here are the top 3 Apps you can use instead of Skype.

Google Meet

Google Meet is available for both private Gmail accounts and business mails. Google Meet allow users to hold meeting up to 100 participants with a critical features like record meetings, share screens, and more in both the android and desktops. Google workspace subscription plan get an extra feature of AI-powered tools through its Gemini assistant that would help Meet users take notes and create custom background images.

One downside of the free plan is that meetings with more than three people are limited to 60 minutes.

Zoom

Zoom is another widely used video conferencing tool that support upto 100 participants in both public and private groups and it’s equipped with tools like notes, a whiteboard, and screen-sharing capabilities, record meetings and access transcripts. Paid users can use Zoom’s AI Companion, which can summarize meetings and answer questions based on the meeting transcripts.

One drawback is that free plan users can only hold meetings for up to 40 minutes.

Signal

Signal provides group video calling and can accommodate up to 50 participants in a single call. Signal is an encrypted messaging app like WhatsApp, Apple Face Time and Facebook Messenger.

Signal is available in App and web and its free to use.

While the usage preference of every user is different, here is a bonus point that you may want to try in addition to the above selections.

Discord is more of gaming chat app that connects group for fun and gaming. This might be your next alternative to skype though It’s not ideal for larger businesses, as it restricts calls to a maximum of 25 participants.

A great thing about Discord is that it lets you hold meetings for as long as you want. It also comes with handy tools like screen sharing, meeting recording, and breakout rooms for smaller group discussions.

We’d love to hear what works best for you… Please share your preferred video calling platform in the comments below.