Skype (the personal edition) is a free web meeting, video conferencing, and VoIP software. The free version includes audio and video Skype-to-Skype calls, ability to call mobile phones and landlines, paid international calling, and conference calling capabilities for up to 25 people.
N/A
Whereby
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Norwegian company appear.in offers their flagship video conferencing platform to small teams, both in a free edition hosting up to 4 guests simultaneously in a session or a paid edition that supports up to 12 simultaneous meeting guests, among other features.
$0
per user
Pricing
Skype
Whereby
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
per user
Pro
$9.99
per user
Business
$59.99 and up
per user/room
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Skype
Whereby
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Skype
Whereby
Considered Both Products
Skype
Verified User
Manager
Chose Skype
Skype is less expensive because it does not cost anything and is free with Windows, if you just use the basic features. Whereby allows easier connections with people who do not have skype installed and allows up to 12 people in a room at the same time, and allows multiple …
Skype is a great app for various purposes, such as texting, calling, video chatting, and even holding virtual meetings. Regardless of connection speed, it provides the best quality and user experience. Skype's user base, reliability, and ease of use are unrivaled, and because …
Verified User
Team Lead
Chose Skype
As a business messaging solution, Skype for Business has been replaced by Microsoft Teams which has been a significant upgrade. But the normal Skype hasn't really changed or developed much over the years leading to a steady decline in its customer base as well. A few years back …
Since it has been longer out there it does not make mistakes that “newbie” tools can make. It is stable and trusted so both my team and my clients enjoy using it. It is simple and quick to hop on a call or have a short chat with Skype, and manage contacts.
When compared to the other VC platforms, we found Whereby the easiest to use for users and invitees. The only install from a recipient's point-of-view is a Chrome extension. Zoom requires a download and an account to sign into. Microsoft Teams is only for other members on the …
For me it was Zoom, Google Meet vs. Whereby. For me, the main idea was to make it easier for the clients (non-technical people) to join and starting to have a talk. For Zoom, it was too much, even for myself, and Google Meet always needs a calendar integration, but with Whereby …
It is a very simple tool. It can be accessed by all very fast. Sometimes we do more than one videoconference simultaneously and Whereby helps a lot as a second option, especially with few participants.
Whereby allows you to see everyone instead of just the last few people to talk. It also has no software to download and install. It works on any device that can access a website.
Skype is well suited for quick calls back and forth, in both video and audio, among team members who have it already installed and who know how to use it. It is less well-suited when trying to do a presentation for somebody who does NOT have it installed or who lacks internet speed.
If you cannot use another more common solution on the market or are looking for an alternative to the known solutions, it is a great alternative. If you have other tools already, and just want to test [them], that's fine, but I think the better-known ones have a better chance of using, knowing, and the learning curve will be shorter.
The instant chat function is great. Very straightforward, easy to use, easy to learn, no technical issues.
Video calls are pretty easy also, user friendly and a mostly stable connection with no issues.
Voice calls are easy also, eliminates the need for an external landline or the need to use your cell phone. Clear connections, not really any dropped calls.
This is really small, but I'd love to see the emoticons updated to emojis.
Make calling free like some other communications app providers.
Grant the ability to not show that you're online even when you are. Sometimes you want to make a call, but you don't want other people to see you're online and start messaging you.
The paid version may have dial-in. But I have always used the free version. Dial-in is typically required for an "official" multi-purpose teleconference platform.
I did have some trouble with larger groups (5+) when it was Appear.in but almost always use it for small 1-on-1 or 3 person meetings.
We are using a larger tool suite that already includes video conferencing instead of our older approach of using different apps from different vendors. appear.in has a simple but great set of features but its pricing scheme is not as scalable as we really need in a 500+ employee company.
Skype is not as good as Facetime in terms of ease to glance at it and figure out how it works. I think that's a result of Skype trying to be too many things at once. A lot of the menu and UI could be streamlined, and I would jettison some of the additional functions that have been tacked on over the years to simplify. That being said, while some options are slightly hard to find, they all work flawlessly once found.
I am not aware of the current support level for Skype for business, as I have never used even though I have the product. However, the support for Skype's personal paid users is not where it could be. Users who pay for Skype features do not have a clear path to reach out to support. So, rating 6, can be better as soon as I need to use Skype for business support and get a good experience. I will say that I will renew Skype for Business subscription, which is a significant inconsistency on my end. The explanation is that Skype for Business comes bundled with Office for Business, with no additional cost, so why not.
Never had to contact support, so we cannot give a rating for their overall support. When we noticed the audio was not always great quality, we simply educated our users to mute the mic and use the in-room conference phone which is connected via a dedicated VOIP link and had much better voice quality. The video performance varied by locations network speed and found it got much worse when the room size increased to over 4 connections.
Microsoft Teams provides basically the same services. Local number calling is not available (that I know of) but that only matters if you have any need to use it. Teams is a little more stable, especially with a lot of people on a call. Skype is easier to set up and to operate. Skype also has a larger install base.
For me it was Zoom, Google Meet vs. Whereby. For me, the main idea was to make it easier for the clients (non-technical people) to join and starting to have a talk. For Zoom, it was too much, even for myself, and Google Meet always needs a calendar integration, but with Whereby you can just share the URL whenever and people would remember your URL which is nice.
Overall Skype is a good investment. We use regular Skype so its a product that comes with Windows PC's as a standard app. We dont use Skype for Business so this cuts cost overall.
Using the basic functions of Skype and not Skype for business does have some downsides but you do save money. There are many other apps we use as well as Skype in order to accomplish all of our goals.
The downside of course is that the more you want Skype to do, the more money it will cost the organization as a whole. It does have many more functions which you have to upgrade to Skype for business for. That is my only criticism.