This post was originally written by Garrett Smith in 2008, and edited by Ying-Hui (Evy) Chen on Oct. 30th, 2020.
I occasionally run into folks who are looking to deploy softphones versus traditional, desktop-based IP hard phones….and am often asked what softphone technologies are out there that are compatible with SIP based IP PBX platforms such as Asterisk and Trixbox. Below is list of the more popular SIP softphones, all of which are completely free to use.
QuteCom Previously known as WengoPhone, Qutecom is a free, SIP compatible VoIP softphone initially developed by Wengo. QuteCom supports a range of VoIP codecs including G.729, G.711, iLBC, G.722 (wideband) and Speex. H.263 for video is also supported.
Counterpath Bria is a Unified Communications (UC) solution that helps you stay connected to phone calls and messages wherever you are.
Bria Solo is the new XLite softphone, a very popular, free SIP softphone supporting a range of codecs and also offering great support for desktop business video conferencing.
The 3CX softphone is a free softphone designed to make and receive VoIP phone calls directly from your PC. It comes with an easy to use interface and cost-saving plans.
ZoIPer Features support for both SIP and IAX, and includes free and paid versions of their software.
The Grandstream Wave app offers the most popular telephony features and supports up to 6 SIP accounts.
Damaka Self described “peer to peer” SIP softphone.
AdoreSoftphone Supports SIP RFC 3261 compliant stack.
MiniPAX Supports g729, g723.1, speex, gsm, and g711. It is the newest generation of Vidosystem Softphone.
MizuPhone Has extra features like HD video, Remote Desktop over SIP and UltraWideband codec.
FlashPhone Unique Adobe Air , web based SIP softphone.
FaramPhone SIP softphone which utilizes the NGN, 3G network standards to make it be the potential communication terminal in both NGN & 3G networks. Users can use the softphone to make Audio, Audio & Video calls and conference among these networks.
Mirial Softphone Supports SIP and HD Quality, 720P video transmission.
WXCommunicator SIP Windows, C++, based on sipXtapi.
Twinkle SIP softphone for Linux users.
IAXComm IAX softphone for Windows, Linux & Mac OS X
SJLabs SJPhone is a softphone which allows you to speak over Internet using any desktops, notebooks, PDAs, stand-alone IP phones, and even any traditional landline or mobile phones. It supports both SIP and H.323 industry open standards and is fully interoperable with most major Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSP) and software and hardware manufacturers.
Phoner Phoner is a free but not opensource Windows SIP softphone. It also supports ISDN cards using a CAPI interface.
DIAX Another free, open source softphone supporting both SIP and IAX. This one aint pretty, but has amasses a loyal following amongst hardcore, technical types due to the wide range of tweaking and configuration options it affords.
ExpressTalk Offers STUN and SIP support.
T-Max Dialer is a free SIP Softphone for companies looking for an easy software-based communication solution. T-Max Dialer is compatible with almost any SIP-based IP PBX platforms such as Blue Box, Free PBX, Asterisk, and Trixbox
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This was posted at the perfect time. Thank you for this great post. G.722 on mac's, windows, tigers, and bears. Oh my!
Fred were you looking for something with which to participate on Friday's VoIP User Conference on HDVoice?
Yes sir.
Well, This article is very intersant, I have looked it...but ever i found X-Lite, SJLabs...and others i know not about any softphons wich as: WXCommunicator, Mirial Softphone, etc...I prefered the FaramPhone is very atractive im going to probe with my Central Asterisk...
Thanks for this...
Do any of these support distinctive ring features?
Another (Asterisk-compatible) GPL softphone is Kiax (kiax.org) - Not a SIP softphone, but an IAX one, runs on Windows, Linux and Mac (intel x86).
Interesting article. Thank you for sharing this information.
As softphone I always use X-Lite and Voixphone.
Some notes on G.722 capable softphones: It seems that QuteCom will work via asterisk 1.4 between softphone clients, but though the audio range sounds great, there are noticeable stutters during a wideband call.
Some softphones don't seem to be able to make direct calls between themselves and Polycom Wideband phones. Audio spoken into the softphone will not come out the Polycom. I've heard it works fine in a conference bridge.
Also, don't bother buying Bria or Eyebeam direct from counterpath if you want g722 codec. They only include it on versions sold to OEM resellers. In particular, look at the one from ZipDX, who offer wideband conferencing services.
Also, I heard there is no g722 for the Mac version of Eyebeam OEM.
One very good open source softphones are missing :
- ippi messenger based on the great SIP communicator.
http://www.ippi.fr/index.php?page=software&lang=33