Microsoft retired classic Skype in 2025 and moved everyone toward Teams. That's a reasonable move for businesses already using Microsoft 365 — but a lot of people only ever used Skype to make a simple video call to one person, and Teams feels like a much bigger, more corporate tool for that. Videocall is built for that simpler need.
For a long time, Skype was the default answer to "let's video call." It's how a lot of people first talked to family overseas, kept in touch with old friends, or ran their earliest remote job interviews. That era is over: Microsoft retired classic Skype in 2025 and has been steering users toward Microsoft Teams instead.
Teams is a fine product, but it's built for organizations — channels, meetings, file storage, admin policies. If all you actually want is what Skype used to offer for personal use — call a specific person, see their face, hang up — Teams can feel like more machinery than the job calls for. That's the gap a lot of former Skype users are searching for a replacement for.
Videocall is aimed squarely at that gap. It's a free Chrome extension for 1:1 video calls: you pick a username, add the person you want to talk to by their username, and call them. No Microsoft account, no organization to join, no Teams tenant to be invited into.
A simple comparison, since Skype itself is no longer the active option.
| Videocall | Classic Skype | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Active, actively used | Retired by Microsoft in 2025, replaced by Teams |
| Setup | Pick a username — no password, no email verification | Required a Microsoft account and sign-in |
| Adding contacts | Add a contact by username | Added contacts by Skype Name or email — a similar feel |
| Download required | No — a Chrome extension | Yes — a separate desktop or mobile app |
| Price | Free, forever, no time limit | Was free for video calls, with paid credits for calling phones |
| Peer-to-peer | Yes, whenever possible (WebRTC) | Interestingly, early Skype was also famously peer-to-peer, before Microsoft moved it to cloud-based infrastructure |
| Screen sharing | Coming soon | Yes, in its later years |
| Best for | Simple 1:1 personal video calls | Was an all-in-one messaging and calling app |
If your reason for using Skype was actually work-related — Skype for Business, company chat, shared files and calendars — the honest answer is that Microsoft Teams is the official successor and the right place to look, since it's built to carry over that kind of organizational functionality.
But if what you're after is simply picking up where personal Skype calls left off — talking face-to-face with one person, without an enterprise product wrapped around it — that's exactly what Videocall is for.
See how Videocall compares to Zoom and Google Meet, or browse the full best free video call apps list. Or head to the Videocall homepage to see everything it offers.
Microsoft retired classic Skype in 2025 and pointed existing users toward Microsoft Teams. For people who used Skype for full-featured business collaboration, Teams is the official successor.
If what you used Skype for was simple 1:1 video calls with a friend or family member, yes. Videocall gives you that same lightweight, contact-by-username feel without needing a Microsoft or Teams account.
No. Videocall doesn't use Microsoft accounts at all. You pick a username in the extension, and the people you want to call add you by that username.
Free, simple, and right in your browser. Make your next call a Videocall.
Add to Chrome — it's free