What happened to Skype?
Microsoft retired the consumer Skype service on May 5, 2025. The retirement covered free and paid accounts alike, and skype.com now redirects to Microsoft Teams Free, the product Microsoft named as Skype's replacement. Signing in to Teams Free with an existing Skype account carries chats and contacts over. Microsoft's retirement notice is the reference for what ended and when.
This article used to compare Skype's calling plans. Those plans no longer exist, so it now covers what the retirement means for your wallet: where any leftover Skype money went, and what calls cost in a world without Skype.
Can you still use leftover Skype Credit?
Yes. Microsoft stopped selling Skype Credit, but existing balances still work through the Skype Dial Pad, available on the web and inside Teams Free. Sign in with the exact Microsoft account you used for Skype.
Two catches. Credit goes inactive after 180 days without a call, and Microsoft provides a reactivation page in the Skype account portal to switch it back on. And because no new credit can be purchased, a spent balance is gone for good.
What happened to Skype subscriptions and Skype Numbers?
Calling subscriptions stopped renewing on April 3, 2025, and ended at the close of their final paid period. Skype Numbers cannot move to Teams Free, which has no regular phone-network calling, so the only way to keep a number you had on Skype is to port it to another carrier.
One more change to plan around: Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions used to include 60 Skype minutes each month. Microsoft removed that benefit in March 2026.
What does internet calling cost in 2026?
App-to-app calling is still free. Teams, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Google Meet all place voice and video calls between their own users at no charge, which covers most personal calling.
The gap Skype left is inexpensive calls to ordinary landlines and mobiles. For personal use in the US, Google Voice still offers a free number and free domestic calling. For businesses, phone-network calling is sold as a per-user monthly subscription: Microsoft Teams Phone adds it to Microsoft 365, Google Voice has paid tiers for Google Workspace, and dedicated VoIP providers sell standalone seats. Per-minute international rates vary by provider and destination, so compare against the countries you actually call.
What should a nonprofit or small business use instead?
If your organization runs on Microsoft 365, you already own the replacement. Teams handles internal calls and meetings at no extra cost on the licenses you have, and the Teams Phone add-on gives staff direct numbers, call queues, and voicemail for reaching the outside world. Organizations on Google Workspace get the same result from Google Voice's business tiers.
The harder question is usually fit: how many staff need their own line, and what happens to the numbers you already publish. ETTE manages Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for nonprofits, associations, and small businesses, and we scope moves like this as part of everyday managed IT. If Skype's retirement stranded your calling setup, talk with an advisor and we will map the cheapest clean path off it.