European alternatives to Skype
The video-calling pioneer that Microsoft acquired and then retired in 2025 in favour of Teams. Effectively end-of-life, its users pushed toward Microsoft's US-governed ecosystem.
Company information about Skype
- Company
- Microsoft Corporation
- Headquarters
- Redmond, United States
- Founded
- 2003
- Data jurisdiction
- United States
- Ownership
- Publicly traded
- GDPR
- No
- Open source
- No
- Infrastructure
- Own infrastructure
Why people switch away from Skype
European alternatives to Skype
Norwegian browser-based video conferencing tool founded as appear.in inside Telenor. No app download needed, permanent room links, and a clean API for embedding video into products.
Open-source browser-based video conferencing with no account or download needed. Originally founded in France, now owned by US company 8x8. Self-host for full data sovereignty.
Want more options? Browse all European Video conferencing alternatives →
People also replace
Webex 
Zoom 
Google Meet 
Microsoft Teams Start somewhere.
Switching everything overnight is not realistic. Start where it matters most: your email, your cloud storage, your business tools. Replace one thing at a time.
The European Alternative already exists.
Pick Europe.
Why avoid United States-owned services?
CLOUD Act
Forces US companies to hand over data stored anywhere in the world upon government request, including data on European servers.
FISA Section 702
Authorises mass surveillance of non-US persons using data held by US tech platforms, without a warrant or notification.
GDPR vs US law conflict
EU courts have repeatedly found that US surveillance law conflicts with European fundamental rights. Schrems I and II both invalidated EU-US data transfer agreements.