Self-hosted alternatives to Skype
Want voice, video calls and chat without handing your data to Skype? These 30 self-hosted apps run on your own server (most are open source; licenses are listed below). Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $3.5/month.
About Skype: Microsoft's calling and chat app, retired in May 2025 in favor of Microsoft Teams.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket.Chat | Active | 46.4k | MIT | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Chatwoot | Active | 38.9k | ⊘ Proprietary | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Jitsi Meet | Active | 30.2k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Zulip | Active | 26.2k | Apache-2.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| SimpleX Chat | Active | 19.6k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| OpenWA | Active | 16.5k | MIT | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Tinode | Active | 13.6k | GPL-3.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Centrifugo | Active | 10.9k | MIT | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Fluxer | Active | 10.8k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| BigBlueButton | Active | 9.3k | LGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Mumble | Active | 8.4k | BSD-3-Clause | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| WorkAdventure | Active | 5.9k | AGPL-3.0, Commons-Clause | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| MiroTalk P2P | Active | 4.8k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| MiroTalk SFU | Active | 3.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Jitsi Video Bridge | Active | 3.1k | Apache-2.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Kamailio | Active | 3k | GPL-2.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Tuwunel | Active | 2.7k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Tox | Active | 2.7k | GPL-3.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Stoat | Active | 2.7k | AGPL-3.0, MIT | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Chitchatter | Active | 2.3k | GPL-2.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Live Helper Chat | Active | 2.3k | Apache-2.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| SIPCAPTURE Homer | Active | 2k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| RetroShare | Active | 2k | GPL-2.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Routr | Active | 1.7k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| openSIPS | Active | 1.5k | GPL-2.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Galene | Active | 1.4k | MIT | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Hyphanet | Active | 1.2k | GPL-2.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| FusionPBX | Active | 1.1k | MPL-1.1 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Conduit | Active | 964 | Apache-2.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Notifo | Active | 885 | MIT | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
The options in detail
1. Rocket.Chat
Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release 9.0.0-rc.4 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. Chatwoot
Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v4.19.1 (2026-10-24). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Jitsi Meet
WebRTC application that uses Jitsi Videobridge to provide high quality, scalable video conferences.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release stable/jitsi-meet_11248 (2026-09-14). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. Zulip
Powerful group chat application.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release 13.0-rc1 (2026-10-30). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. SimpleX Chat
Most private and secure chat and applications platform - now with double ratchet E2E encryption.
Active Last commit 2026-10-21. Latest release v7.1.0 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. OpenWA
WhatsApp API gateway exposing messaging as REST endpoints, with a web dashboard, multi-account sessions, and webhook events (alternative to WhatsApp Business API providers).
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v0.27.1 (2026-11-01). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
7. Tinode
Instant messaging platform. Backend in Go. Clients: Swift iOS, Java Android, JS webapp, scriptable command line; chatbots.
Active Last commit 2026-09-27. Latest release v0.25.3 (2026-07-04). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. Centrifugo
Language-agnostic real-time messaging (Websocket or SockJS) server.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v6.10.2 (2026-10-23). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
9. Fluxer
Instant messaging and VoIP platform built for friends, groups, and communities (alternative to Discord).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release fluxer-users@2026.1105.3118 (2026-11-05). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
10. BigBlueButton
Supports real-time sharing of audio, video, slides (with whiteboard controls), chat, and the screen. Instructors can engage remote students with polling, emojis, and breakout rooms.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v4.0.1 (2026-10-29). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
11. Mumble
Low-latency, high quality voice/text chat software.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v1.6.0-alpha2 (2026-10-25). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
12. WorkAdventure
Virtual office / virtual conference application presented as a 16-bit RPG video game.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v1.34.5 (2026-10-27). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
13. MiroTalk P2P
Simple, secure, fast real-time video conferences up to 4k and 60fps, compatible with all browsers and platforms.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
14. MiroTalk SFU
Simple, secure, scalable real-time video conferences up to 4k, compatible with all browsers and platforms.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
15. Jitsi Video Bridge
WebRTC compatible Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) that allows for multiuser video communication.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release stable/jitsi-meet_11248 (2026-09-14). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
16. Kamailio
Modular SIP server (registrar/proxy/router/etc).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release 6.1.5 (2026-10-15). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
17. Tuwunel
High-performance and feature-rich chat server for Matrix, and the successor to conduwuit (fork of Conduit).
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release v1.9.4 (2026-10-10). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
18. Tox
Distributed, secure messenger with audio and video chat capabilities.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release nightly (2025-01-27). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
19. Stoat
User-first chat platform built with modern web technologies.
Active Last commit 2026-10-07. Latest release v1.1.4 (2025-11-24). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
20. Chitchatter
Peer-to-peer chat app that is serverless, decentralized, and ephemeral.
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
21. Live Helper Chat
Live Support chat for your website.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release 4.98v (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
22. SIPCAPTURE Homer
Troubleshooting and monitoring VoIP calls.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release 11.0.375 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
24. Routr
Lightweight SIP proxy, location server, and registrar for a reliable and scalable SIP infrastructure.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v2.32.1 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
25. openSIPS
SIP proxy/server for voice, video, IM, presence and any other SIP extensions.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
26. Galene
Video conferencing server that is easy to deploy and that requires moderate server resources.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
27. Hyphanet
Anonymously share files, browse and publish freesites (web sites accessible only through Hyphanet) and chat on forums.
Active Last commit 2026-09-19. Latest release build01507 (2026-09-04). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
28. FusionPBX
Web interface for multi-platform voice switch called FreeSWITCH.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 2 releases in the past year. Latest release 5.6.5 (2026-09-21). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
29. Conduit
Simple, fast, and reliable chat server powered by Matrix.
Active Last commit 2026-10-18. 6 releases in the past year. Latest release v0.10.15 (2026-09-30). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
30. Notifo
Multichannel notification server with support for Email, Mobile Push, Web Push, SMS, messaging and a javascript plugin.
Active Last commit 2026-09-20. Latest release 1.3.0 (2022-11-30). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Skype?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
Skype is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.