Skype

Lasted

about 21 years

August 2003 → 5 May 2025

Cause of death: Killed by a successor; with killed by indifference as a contributing factor
Made by: Microsoft

Microsoft retired Skype on 5 May 2025 and directed remaining users to the free version of Microsoft Teams.

Skype made international calls free in 2003 and got big enough to become a verb, which is roughly when Microsoft bought it for 8.5 billion dollars. It then spent fourteen years being slowly replaced by an app Skype users had never asked for. On 5 May 2025 the service was retired in favor of free Teams, taking SMS, voicemail, call forwarding and caller ID with it. Leftover call credit survived. The brand did not.

Standing in the archive

Rank 67 of 127 by lifespan. Skype outlasted 48% of everything else on file.

Compare it with something

Cite this entry

"Skype." How Long It Lasted, https://www.howlongitlasted.com/thing/skype.

Died nearby

Internet Explorer26y 9m · killed by a successor
Kinectabout 6 years · killed by indifference
Mixerabout 3 years · killed by indifference
Zuneabout 4 years · killed by a successor
Adobe Flash Playerabout 24 years · killed by a successor

Sources

Microsoft is shutting down Skype in favor of Teams — The Verge (archived)
Microsoft is shutting down Skype after a 21-year run — CNBC
Skype is retiring in May 2025: What you need to know — Microsoft Support (archived)

Last checked by a human on 24 July 2026