10 of the Best VoIP Apps for Your Desktop

How to Use VoIP Software to Make Calls from Your PC

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is part of a continuing communications revolution swiftly challenging the supremacy of the traditional landline telephone. The popularity of services such as Skype has lead to an explosion of VoIP programs, apps, and hardware that let you bypass traditional phone switching networks in favor of digitized, over-the-internet voice calls, instant messaging, and video conferencing. Its ease of use and numerous applications have seen people from all walks of life embrace VoIP systems. From business executivesusing telepresence and video conferencing to cut down on travel costs, to online gamers looking for an easy means of in-game communication, and far-flung families looking for a means to get in touch with distant loved ones that won't cost an arm and a leg, VoIP is an integral part of life for many.

Here are 10 VoIP apps intended for a variety of users, from those looking for a quick and easy to use service, to more technically configurable programs and tools optimized for gaming.

Skype

One of the first popular applications of the Voice over IP revolution, Skype has changed hands a couple of times. What hasn't changed is the app's large user base, with more than 50 million users logged in at one time during January 2013. Free Skype-to-Skype audio and video calls, group calls, as well as text and voice messaging cover your telephony basics, while more advanced tools such as call forwarding, sending SMS messages, Caller ID, a Skype number, calling landline or mobile phones worldwide, and video conferencing can be enabled with Skype Credit or a subscription plan. Plugin support lets you add numerous extensions to further customize your Skype experience.

Verdict: A popular starting point for desktop VoIP, Skype features a large user base, excellent rates, and a good spread of VoIP and messaging features for a variety of users. Check out our Skype tips and tricks to make sure you're getting the best out of the service

!Google Voice & Google+ Hangouts

Google's own VoIP offerings are currently undergoing consolidation with two main products in the field: Google Voice and Google+ Hangouts. Google Voice (formerly GrandCentral) is a telecom service for making and receiving telephone calls, receiving and transcribing voicemail, SMS messaging, and more. Google plans to integrate Voice into its Google+ Hangouts service, which has already replaced Google Talk and features instant messaging, group chat, video calls and conferencing. 

Verdict: While individually, Google Voice and Google+ Hangouts both have good features, the split between a telephone-like experience (Voice) and instant messaging/video calls (Hangouts) means Google still has some work to unite its messaging experience.

ooVoo

ooVoo is an instant messaging and voice/video calling service featuring instant messaging, text chat, video calls and messaging, and 12-way video conferencing. Additional interesting features include the ability to invite non-ooVoo users to calls (prompting them to sign up and install), create browser-based "Call Me" buttons, as well as file and screen sharing, great for collaborative work or online meetings. Purchasing premium credits allows you to call landline numbers in over 70 countries at reasonable rates, as well as connect landline callers to conference calls (audio only).

Verdict: A great, full-featured VoIP app, though for optimal features, you'll really want caller and receiver to both have the app to take advantage of it.

Viber

Though it's better known as a mobile app, Viber has also released desktop clients for Windows and Mac (though it does require you to have the mobile app installed on one or more phones). Viber for Windows syncs with your Viber account and allows you to send free instant messages and audio or video calls to other Viber contacts over the internet. The desktop and mobile apps play nicely with each other, syncing contacts from your phone, with desktop users able to call mobile users and vice versa. It also supports the ability to transfer calls between desktop and mobile. The desktop app's one glaring weakness is that it requires you to have a Viber mobile account already.

Verdict: A great mobile VoIP app makes the leap to desktop. It's still firmly planted in mobile though, requiring an existing account. If you already use Viber, this is a great addition. If you don't, then move on.

Ekiga

Ekiga, formerly GnomeMeeting, is a free, open source, multi-platform softphone, instant messaging, and video conferencing app that supports some of the most popular internet telephony protocols (SIP and H.23). Featuring a newly updated UI, free audio and video calls over the internet, IM and SMS support, call holding, transfer, and forwarding, support for numerous audio and video codecs, and multiple account support. It does lack encryption, which is something the devs are working on.

Verdict: The newest release improves a great open source softphone, though the continuing lack of call or chat encryption is going to be a concern for the security and privacy conscious.

Jitsi

Jitsi, formerly known as SIP Communicator, is a free and open source program for instant messaging and VoIP. Primarily written in Java, Jitsi supports multipleoperating systems and a wide variety of internet telephony and chat protocols such as SIP, XMPP and YMSG. Jitsi allows audio and video calls, instant messaging, desktop streaming, and sharing, call hold, call recording, and encryption for calls and chats (OTR). 

Verdict: While its Java roots might make it a bit more sluggish, Jitsi's broad compatibility, combined with configurability, encryption support, and features such as desktop sharing make it a viable open source VoIP app for communication and collaboration.

MicroSIP

MicroSIP is a portable, open source softphone app for making calls using the SIP protocol. MicroSIP takes an extremely spartan approach with a small, portable client, configuration stored in a .ini file making it easy to bring around in a USB stick as part of a portable software suite. Its low resource drain and small drive footprint does mean it is also a bit light on features and user friendliness unlike a heavier (or more bloated) app like Skype. MicroSIP supports audio and video calls, instant messaging, call encryption, and more.

Verdict: Light and portable, if a little spartan in UI and features, MicroSIP lives up to its name, and would make a handy portable VoIP tool for stashing on a USB stick, though you will need a bit more familiarity to set it up compared to a moreuser friendly app.

Ventrilo

An old standby for online gamers, Ventrilo is a VoIP program that is resource-light, easy to use, and is free for groups of up to eight users. A fairly ubiquitous program commonly used by players across numerous games (including the likes of WoW), Ventrilo's popularity and relative ease of use and setup make it a popular choice for gamers. That said, there can be noticeable latency with Ventrilo, and adjusting audio settings can be a bit fiddly without an auto-leveling feature. Still, the fact that Ventrilo'sserver software is free for groups of up to eight players means that for small groups on a budget, it's a reasonable choice.

Verdict: Ubiquity and extremely small system resource impact and free server license for 8 users makes it a popular choice for gamers, but latency issues mean that communication isn't as smooth as it could be.

TeamSpeak 3

In direct competition with Ventrilo, TeamSpeak 3 is another popular VoIP program used by many online gamers. TeamSpeak 3 features improved sound quality and enhanced latency, the ability to connect to multiple servers, a customizable UI, encryption options, and a plugin system for potential feature growth. Audio features like noise and echo cancellation and automatic microphone adjustment mean you'll spend less time fidgeting with audio settings and more time gaming. TeamSpeak 3's server software license permits free use for up to 32 players before requiring licensing.

Verdict: Technical improvements to TeamSpeak's audio and latency puts it above Ventrilo in terms of quality.

Mumble

If you're looking for a free, open source alternative to Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, try out Mumble, a multi-platform VoIP app that features excellent sound quality and automatic audio leveling, encrypted communication, as well as (on certain games) positional audio that plays back audio based on the speaker's in-game position relative to your own. Mumble's free and open source nature means that you can set up your own server without having to worry about licensing fees, or rent out server slots like with other gaming VoIP systems.

Verdict: Mumble's excellent audio quality and low latency make for an excellent piece of open source VoIP software for gaming. Features such as encryption and positional audio are icing on the cake