Software Alternatives & Reviews

Pidgin VS Skype

Compare Pidgin VS Skype and see what are their differences

Pidgin logo Pidgin

Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.

Skype logo Skype

Stay in touch with your family and friends for free on Skype. Download Skype today to chat and call on desktop and mobile.
  • Pidgin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-13
  • Skype Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-07

Pidgin videos

Pidgin IM Overview

More videos:

  • Review - Pidgin Review
  • Review - Pidgin IM - Instant Messenger Review

Skype videos

How to use Skype - Beginners Guide

More videos:

  • Review - How does Google Duo compare to Skype and Facetime?
  • Tutorial - How to Use Skype

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Pidgin and Skype)
Communication
18 18%
82% 82
Group Chat & Notifications
Messaging
32 32%
68% 68
Instant Messaging
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Pidgin and Skype

Pidgin Reviews

Franz Not Working ? Try These Best Franz Alternatives! [2023]
Pidgin is a well-known multi-platform, cross-platform instant messaging client that had to alter its name at the time owing to legal concerns with AOL. You can talk with users of Skype, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM, and even those in an IRC chat room via its user interface.
Source: viraltalky.com
The 7 Best Chat Apps and Clients Better Than Official Messengers
Given its many years and open-source nature, Pidgin supports a wide variety of chat networks, along with third-party plugins to enable many more. For example, there isn’t an official WhatsApp plugin, but you can get WhatsApp on Pidgin using third-party plugins.

Skype Reviews

20 Telegram Alternatives to Chat With in 2024
You can use Skype for messaging, including things like emojis and reactions. But the real strength of Skype is its calling features. It can do video calling and screen sharing between devices, but it also has a landline calling feature (for a price), meaning you can do both chats and old-school phone calls.
The 7 best apps you can use as a WhatsApp alternative
Part of Microsoft's office productivity suite, Skype has always had something of a business focus, so it might not spring to mind for casual users. It's a full-featured communication app, though, and suitable for both work and recreation. As you'd expect, it can easily do voice, video, and text chats, as well as exchange files. Thanks to a variety of plug-ins, you can record...
8 Tools You Need For Working Remotely in 2022
We use Google Meet because it’s free. Zoom, on the other hand, requires a fee for sessions longer than 40 minutes. And Skype is already obsolete and constantly glitches.
Source: hackernoon.com
Top 5 Skype Alternatives that you can Switch in 2021
Skype has been existing in the market for many years with once in a blue moon adapted feature updates. Few businesses continued with Skype adjusting to it just because they are used to it neglecting the fact that there are few best and better Skype alternatives in the market.
18 Best Discord Alternatives 2020 | Expert Reviews
Skype is one of the most usable Discord alternatives available. It allows you to have one-on-one as well as group chats. You can use the audio call or video chat options available, along with an option to share your screen. Skype has a very basic user interface, so it hardly requires any time to get your hands around the software and get fluent with it. It allows users to...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Pidgin seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 15 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Pidgin mentions (15)

  • Why so rude?
    As I mentioned earlier, this scenario happens to me all the time. This is precisely why I refuse to discuss why we don't use Git or GitHub for Pidgin. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Automattic is acquiring Texts and betting big on the future of messaging
    I did a find before posting my comment and found yours. >Cool I like Wordpress. But they bought a fancy Pidgin clone for 50mil...? https://pidgin.im/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • YOUR OPSEC SUCKS | UHQ SCHIZOID OPSEC GUIDE | BECOME BULLETPROOF
    XMPP XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol and is used for communications for message-oriented middleware based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Many more people are starting to use this as a main way of communication using programs such as Pidgin to accomplish this. Pidgin is an open-source multi-platform IM client which most people will recommend for XMPP. The main reason is... Source: about 1 year ago
  • Messaging is no longer Android’s mess, it’s an iPhone problem: Talking RCS with Hiroshi Lockheimer
    Pidgin is still a powerful messenger client for desktop once you get all the plugins needed for your particular use. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Discord, or the Death of Lore
    I note that if you are using one of the alternative clients (like Pidgin with purple-discord), they can store local logs that you can then index and search. There is also Harmony for managing your account without touching the Discord website. Note that using unofficial Discord clients can get you banned. https://pidgin.im/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

Skype mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Skype yet. Tracking of Skype recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pidgin and Skype, you can also consider the following products

Telegram - Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security. It’s superfast, simple and free.

Zoom - Equip your team with tools designed to collaborate, connect, and engage with teammates and customers, no matter where you’re located, all in one platform.

Trillian - Trillian is a decentralized and federated instant messaging platform that lets your whole company send private and group messages, keep tabs on what co-workers are doing, share files, and much more.

Adium - Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more.

WhatsApp - WhatsApp Messenger: More than 1 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family, anytime and anywhere.

HexChat - HexChat is a fork of XChat with bug fixes and new features.