 |
Google Voice vs Skype
March 08, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
22★
Google Voice is a telephone service that provides call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging as well as international call termination for Google Account owners and for G Suite customers.
28★
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and videoconferencing. Skype alternative for enterprise is called Skype for Business.
See also:
Top 10 VoIP services for business
Top 10 VoIP services for business
Google Voice and Skype are, at first glance, eerily similar. Both allow you to communicate with other humans (or very advanced AI pretending to be human), whether by voice, text or voicemail. They have apps, they work on computers and they let you call people in far-off lands for a bit of money. This is all quite useful if you’re the sort of person who enjoys talking to other people rather than, say, shouting into the void or training pigeons to carry your messages.
Google Voice, despite sounding like a futuristic AI assistant that might one day take over the world, is actually a rather practical tool launched in 2009 and mostly confined to the United States. It lets you have one number that rings on all your devices, which is great unless you’ve given that number to your dentist, your bank and your mother-in-law. It’s free for calls within the U.S. and Canada, which is nice, but if you ever need to call the outside world, you’ll have to pay up, much like when you need extra ketchup at a fast-food place.
Skype, on the other hand, is a relic from 2003, which in internet years makes it something like an ancient artifact buried beneath layers of outdated software and corporate takeovers. Originally Estonian (which is fun trivia for pub quizzes), it was later acquired by Microsoft and turned into a tool for both business meetings and awkward family video calls. Unlike Google Voice, Skype works almost everywhere on Earth and doesn’t really care what country you’re in, as long as you’ve got an internet connection and the patience to remember yet another password. It’s particularly good for free Skype-to-Skype calls, making it an excellent choice for people who have friends but don’t want to pay to talk to them.
See also: Top 10 VoIP services
Google Voice, despite sounding like a futuristic AI assistant that might one day take over the world, is actually a rather practical tool launched in 2009 and mostly confined to the United States. It lets you have one number that rings on all your devices, which is great unless you’ve given that number to your dentist, your bank and your mother-in-law. It’s free for calls within the U.S. and Canada, which is nice, but if you ever need to call the outside world, you’ll have to pay up, much like when you need extra ketchup at a fast-food place.
Skype, on the other hand, is a relic from 2003, which in internet years makes it something like an ancient artifact buried beneath layers of outdated software and corporate takeovers. Originally Estonian (which is fun trivia for pub quizzes), it was later acquired by Microsoft and turned into a tool for both business meetings and awkward family video calls. Unlike Google Voice, Skype works almost everywhere on Earth and doesn’t really care what country you’re in, as long as you’ve got an internet connection and the patience to remember yet another password. It’s particularly good for free Skype-to-Skype calls, making it an excellent choice for people who have friends but don’t want to pay to talk to them.
See also: Top 10 VoIP services
