What is Microsoft replacing Skype with?

Microsoft named Microsoft Teams (free) as the successor to Skype when it retired the service in May 2025. Signing into Teams with your Skype login carries your contacts and chats over, so Teams is the official migration path for anyone who wants their history.

Is there a free Skype alternative?

Yes, several. Flat.social is free for up to 5 people at once with no time limit and no account needed for guests, which suits hangouts, coworking and small teams. Microsoft Teams (free), Google Meet, Zoom, Jitsi Meet and Discord all have free tiers for their own use cases.

Can I call phone numbers with Flat.social?

No. Flat.social is a shared room for people on the web, not a dialer. For landlines and international mobile calls, pair it with a credit-based calling app such as Viber Out, Yolla, TextNow or Google Voice.

Does Flat.social have spatial audio?

Yes. Proximity audio is the core mechanic: voices get louder as you walk closer and fade as you walk away, so conversations form and dissolve naturally. Flat.social also has a conference-grid room type for presentations and all-hands, where everyone hears the speaker regardless of position, and text chat rooms alongside.

Do guests need a Flat.social account?

No. Anyone with the room link opens it in a browser, types a name and walks in. A guest uses one of your concurrent seats while they are in the room and frees it when they leave. That makes client workshops, candidate interviews and public events easy to run, because nobody has to sign up first.

How many people can be in one Flat.social space?

Up to 100 people at once on self-serve plans, chosen in steps from 6 to 100 seats, with larger events handled on request. The free plan allows 5 people at once. For a one-off event, a Day Pass gives you the same capacity for 24 hours at $2 a seat without a subscription.

Does Flat.social work for a family or a group of friends, not just teams?

Yes. Create a free room, share the link, and people open it in a browser, type a name and walk in. There is nothing to install and no sign-up for guests, so it works for relatives who found even Skype fiddly. Leave the room open and it becomes a place people drop into.

A Skype alternative for calls, hangouts and staying in touch

Flat.social is a browser-based spatial room: friends and teammates walk over to each other and talk, several conversations happen at once, and guests join from a link with no account. Free for 5 people. Watch the demo, then see how it compares with the other well-known options.

By Flat Team·July 7, 2026·Last updated: September 28, 2026

Get Started

Free up to 5 people, no credit card required

This is an independent guide. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft Corporation or Skype.

Microsoft retired Skype in May 2025 and points former users to Microsoft Teams. If you are looking for a Skype alternative, the right pick depends on what you used Skype for: scheduled meetings, calling phone numbers, or simply being around the people you like. This page is about the last one.

Flat.social is a browser-based spatial room. Instead of a grid of faces, everyone is a small avatar in a shared space: walk over to someone and their voice fades in, drift away and it fades out, and several conversations can happen at once the way they do at a real gathering. It works for a family Sunday, a virtual coworking room, a friend hangout or a small team. Free for up to 5 people at once with no time limit, $6 per seat per month after that up to 100 people, and a $2 per seat Day Pass for one-off events. It runs in the browser, nothing to install, and guests join from a link without creating an account. Full details on the pricing page. Further down, a table puts it beside the other well-known options.

What is a good Skype alternative for hanging out with people?

Flat.social is a browser-based spatial room where friends, family and teammates walk over to each other and talk, with voices that fade with distance so several conversations can run at once. Guests join from a link with no account and nothing to install. It is free for up to 5 people at once with no time limit, and $6 per concurrent seat per month for larger rooms.

What is the best free Skype alternative?

It depends on the job. Flat.social is free for 5 people at once for spatial hangouts and coworking, with no account needed to join. Microsoft Teams (free) is the official successor and carries over Skype contacts and chats. Google Meet and Zoom offer free tiers for scheduled video calls, Jitsi Meet is free, open source and needs no account, and Discord is free for communities with always-on voice channels.

Walk over and say hello

Proximity audio is the heart of Flat.social. Voices fade in as you approach and fade out as you walk away, so a room full of people can hold three conversations at once, like a kitchen at a party. Nobody schedules a call.

How spatial audio works

What you get in Flat.social

Games with real physics

Football with a live scoreboard, poker, chess, dice. A physics engine sits under the map, so the ball rolls and the dice tumble, right there in the room.

Speed networking with a timer

Timed rounds that reshuffle people automatically. Built for onboarding weeks, community mixers and conference socials.

Build mode, live

Drag desks, lounges, whiteboards and games into the map while your team is standing in it. No separate editor, no publish step.

One link for guests

Clients, candidates and event attendees type a name and walk in. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.

Day Pass for one-off events

Host a 100-person event for $2 a seat with no subscription. Cancel free until 24 hours before.

Three room types in one workspace

Open spatial rooms for wandering, a conference grid for all-hands and presentations, and text chat rooms. Switch without leaving the space.

See flat.social in Action

Six things people do in a flat, straight from the front page.

Virtual Hangout

Move around, bump into friends, and chat naturally with spatial audio

Spatial Audio

Hear people louder as you get closer, just like in real life

Fun Activities

Play games, do icebreakers, and bond with interactive activities

Collaboration

Sketch on whiteboards and work side by side in shared spaces

Webinars & Conferences

Host presentations with screen sharing and Q&A

Customizable

Design your own space with custom maps, branding, and room layouts

Get Started For Free

See flat.social in Action

Six things people do in a flat, straight from the front page.

Move around, bump into friends, and chat naturally with spatial audio

Get Started For Free

Skype alternatives side by side

The table compares the basics of the tools people most often pick after Skype. It is a quick orientation, not a ranking; each is built for a different habit.

Skype alternatives compared on the basics

	Flat.social	MS Teams	Zoom	Google Meet	Jitsi Meet	Discord
Free plan	Yes, 5 people at once, no time limit
Imports your old Skype contacts
Runs in the browser, no install
No account needed to join
Open source
Always-on drop-in space
Spatial (proximity) audio
Games and activities built in	Football, poker, chess, dice, whiteboards, speed networking
Built for	Hangouts, coworking, small teams	Official Skype migration	Scheduled meetings	Browser video	Free private calls	Communities

Walk into a live Flat room

No account, no install. Open the demo room, walk up to someone and hear spatial audio work. Then create your own space, free for 5 people.

Try DemoGet Started

Flat.social pricing at a glance

Flat.social bills for the number of people who can be in the room at once, not for named users, and anyone with the link can use a free seat.

Free: up to 5 people at once, no time limit, no card
Monthly: $6 per seat per month, from 6 to 100 seats. A 25-seat room is $150 a month
Day Pass: $2 per seat for 24 hours, so a one-off get-together for 100 people is $200, with no subscription

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Jitsi Meet and Discord all offer free tiers; their paid plans and limits change often, so check each vendor's current pricing before you commit a group. Current Flat.social plans are on the pricing page.

Plans at a glance

Free: up to 5 people in your flat at once. Monthly: $6 per seat per month, from 6 to 100 seats. Day Pass: $2 per seat for a one-off event. A seat is one concurrent spot, not a named user, and every room holds up to 100 people. See pricing and plans & limits.

A living room, not a boardroom

Leave the room open and people drift in when they are free: a Sunday with family across time zones, a study group, a coworking afternoon. You see who is around, wander over and talk, and nobody had to send an invite.

Coming from Skype? Set up Flat.social in an afternoon

Most teams pick a template, shape it in build mode and run their first standup the same day.

1
Create a free workspace
Sign up with Google or email and name your space. The free plan covers 5 people at once with no time limit, so you can try it properly before paying anything.
2
Pick a map and shape it
Start from a template, then open build mode and drag in what you use: a standup corner, a couple of desk clusters, a lounge with a football pitch or a poker table, a whiteboard wall. Keep it compact; a snug office feels busier than a sprawling one.
3
Set roles
Decide who can build, who can moderate, and what guests can do. Roles and access controls are on the Monthly plan; on Free everyone can walk around and talk.
4
Share one link
Pin the room link in Slack or Teams. Teammates open it in a browser. Guests type a name and join without an account. Nobody installs anything.
5
Run the first real thing today
A standup, a Friday social, a speed-networking round for new hires. The habit forms around the first useful session, not the perfect layout.

Something to do together, not just talk

Flat.social puts a football pitch with a scoreboard, a poker table, chess and dice in the room itself, on a physics engine, so the ball rolls and the dice tumble. The quiet hangout turns into a match without anyone opening another app.

Team activities on Flat

The conference-grid room type: everyone hears the presenter wherever they stand, with screen sharing and Q&A. Switch back to the spatial map without leaving the space.

Other Skype alternatives worth knowing

Each of these is built for a different habit.

Microsoft Teams (free): the official migration path. Signing in with your Skype login carries over your contacts and chat history, and it is bundled with Microsoft 365. See our Microsoft Teams alternatives guide for the wider picture.
Zoom: the familiar choice for scheduled video meetings and webinars, with a link people already trust. See our Zoom alternatives guide.
Google Meet: browser-based video for Gmail and Google Workspace users, with nothing to download. See our free alternatives to Zoom roundup.
Jitsi Meet: free, open source and account-free; open a room, share the link, talk. Self-hostable for privacy-minded groups.
Discord: always-on voice channels and persistent text for communities, clubs and friend groups. See our Discord alternatives roundup.

Calling landlines and mobiles

If your Skype habit was calling phone numbers, especially overseas, you want credit-based calling rather than a meeting app. Viber Out, Yolla, TextNow and Google Voice are the names that come up most; rates and coverage vary by country and change often, so compare current pricing for the countries you call.

Skype alternative: common questions

Give your team a space to walk around

Spatial audio, built-in games, live build mode and one link for guests. Free for 5 people, $6 a seat after that. Set-up takes about a minute.