Overview of free SIP clients for Windows

Earlier we published the article “ Phonerlite is the best free SIP client for Windows ”, after we received a dozen comments and even a couple of letters to the mail asking us to review all SIP clients.

We selected the seven most popular customers and used each of them for one day.

1) X-lite

For most people, this was the first SIP client they met. About four years ago there seemed to be no better alternative. Previously (and now for many) it looked like this:


Time passed and he was combed, tinted and pumped with proteins with silicone - now when installing it requires Microsoft NET Framework4 and Microsoft Visual C ++.

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He really grew fat, both in the consumption of resources and in the size of the window, against his background, the other clients seem to be fit athletes.

And advertising in the free version (offering to switch to the paid one) has not disappeared anywhere. There is a suspicion that CounterPath uses X-Lite to run-in its main product Bria, which greatly affects the stability of the new versions, and for communication this is a critical indicator. We were also very disappointed when we could not call to another domain, as it does not support direct calls. X-lite is no longer a cake.

2) Blink

Like the X-Lite, Blink has two versions, free (trimmed) and paid. For example, in the free version, the call transfer function is reduced, which makes it impossible to use the free version in the office. And for private use is even nothing.

3) MicroSIP

From the name, it is immediately clear what kind of client it is, it is really very light, after installation it takes only 2.5 MB and consumes only 5-12 MB of RAM in the process. There is support for video h264 and h263 +. This is the case when the name accurately describes the program.

This client will appeal to many.

4) 3CX Phone

Many people probably already know him, in general he is good, has all the necessary functions for working with him in the office. He has a chip that distinguishes him favorably, this is a BLF button, unfortunately the first time we did not manage to get them to work with our service, we will have time to try to figure it out.

5) Zoiper

There are versions for almost all operating systems. As well as the first two SIP clients has a paid version, for example, when you try to transfer a call, a notification pops up from the floor of the screen about the unavailability of this function and opens a page with an offer to buy a license. Work on it really did not work.

6) Linphone

Opensource project, now they are focused on mobile clients, and the desktop version does not develop slowly , confusing call management, the call transfer button appears when you make the second call, but there is little use for it. If you need to make a couple of calls a day, then come down.

7) SJ Phone

A good idea, has everything you need, but for almost six years it has not been updated (XPsp2, v.1.65.377a, 03.20.07 (NEW!)), There are a lot of bugs. You can use it, but nothing good will come of it.


Summary table

	Phonerlite	X-lite	Blink	Microsip	3CX Phone	Zoiper	Linphone	Sj phone
The ability to use multiple accounts simultaneously.	-	-	+	-	+	2	+	-
The number of simultaneously processed calls	eight	2	> 20	> 5	five	2	unlim	unlim
Number of participants in a local conference	eight	2	> 20	0	five	-	+	unlim
Encryption	SRTP, TLS, zRTP	-	SRTP	+	TLS, SRTP	TLS, SRTP	SRTP, ZRTP	-
Codecs	G711A / U, GSM, iLBC, Speex, G722, OpusG726	G711A / U, GSM, iLBC, BV-32	G711A / U, GSM, iLBC, Speex, G722	G711A / U, GSM, iLBC, Speex, G722, G729, SILK	G711A / U, GSM, Speex	G711A / U, GSM, iLBC, Speex, G726,	G711A / U, GSM, iLBC, G722, SILK, G729.	G711A / U, GSM, iLBC
Video support	-	+	+	+	+	±	-	-
License	freeware	freeware	freeware	opensource	freeware	freeware	opensource	freeware
Hotkeys	+	+	+ (fixed)	-	-	-	-	+
Extended contact options	google contact, CSV	CSV	google contact	-	-	separate web services	-	+
Convenience of daily use (subjective assessment)	five	2	four	five	four	2	3	3

Summarize:
If you need a SIP client for work, then you should look towards 3CX Phone, Phonerlite.
And for private communication - Blink and MicroSIP.
This is not the whole list of SIP-clients, in the future we will do more reviews.

Choose you, the good choice is.