Is Line or Viber better?

Neither clearly leads. Line starts at Free and Viber at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Line or Viber?

Line starts at Free and Viber at Free.

Does Line or Viber run on more platforms?

Both run on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Line for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Line best used for?

Line is most often used for a business selling to consumers in japan that needs an official account rather than email or sms to reach customers, an individual keeping in touch with contacts in japan, taiwan or thailand where line, not whatsapp, is the default, a brand running promotions through line stickers or timeline content aimed at a japanese audience, a company processing consumer payments in japan through line pay integration. Of those, a business selling to consumers in japan that needs an official account rather than email or sms to reach customers and an individual keeping in touch with contacts in japan, taiwan or thailand where line, not whatsapp, is the default are not what Viber is typically brought in for.

What can Line do that Viber cannot?

Line covers Line Pay, Official Accounts, Stickers and themes, Line News. Viber covers End to end encryption, Communities, Viber Business Messages, Free calling.

Communication · head to head

Line vs Viber

Line

Communication

Messaging app that dominates Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, now run by LY Corporation under joint SoftBank and Naver ownership

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Viber

Communication

Messaging app with its strongest user base in Eastern Europe and the Philippines, owned by Japans Rakuten

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Line line has negligible market share outside Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, so it is the wrong choice for reaching contacts in most other regions.; Viber viber has limited relevance outside its strong regions, so building a communication strategy around it in North America or most of Western Europe reaches almost nobody.
They diverge on capability: Line covers Line Pay, Viber covers End to end encryption.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Line and Viber actually diverge.

Attributes where Line and Viber differ
Attribute	Line	Viber
Pricing model	Free to download, paid stickers and business messaging tiers	Free to download, paid business messaging and out calls to landlines and mobiles

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Communication).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Line

Line Pay
Official Accounts
Stickers and themes
Line News
Group and open chat
Timeline

Only in Viber

End to end encryption
Communities
Viber Business Messages
Free calling
Self-destructing messages
Rakuten integration

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Line

A business selling to consumers in Japan that needs an Official Account rather than email or SMS to reach customersnot Viber
An individual keeping in touch with contacts in Japan, Taiwan or Thailand where Line, not WhatsApp, is the defaultnot Viber
A brand running promotions through Line stickers or Timeline content aimed at a Japanese audiencenot Viber
A company processing consumer payments in Japan through Line Pay integrationnot Viber

Viber

A business communicating with customers in Eastern Europe or the Philippines where Viber, not WhatsApp, is the default appnot Line
An individual making cheap international calls to family in a Viber-strong market before switching entirely to data callingnot Line
A brand running a Community channel to reach an established Viber audience in a specific countrynot Line
Someone wanting end to end encrypted chat on by default without configuring anythingnot Line

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Line

Line has negligible market share outside Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, so it is the wrong choice for reaching contacts in most other regions.
A 2021 incident exposed that some user data had been accessible from servers operated in China, which led to a formal restructuring of data governance and remains a reference point for privacy sensitive users.
Standard chats are not end to end encrypted by default in the way Signal is; Letter Sealing, an opt-in encryption feature, has to be manually enabled per chat.
Business messaging through Official Accounts becomes expensive quickly once a company exceeds the free monthly message allowance and moves to a metered plan.
Ownership sits inside a SoftBank and Naver joint venture with a history of governance disputes between the two partners, which creates strategic uncertainty for enterprise customers relying on the platform long term.

Viber

Viber has limited relevance outside its strong regions, so building a communication strategy around it in North America or most of Western Europe reaches almost nobody.
Ownership by Rakuten ties the app to a commerce and points ecosystem, and account data can be linked to Rakuten services in markets where that integration is active.
Business Messages pricing is metered per message, so a company sending high volumes of promotional content can find costs rise quickly compared with a flat fee model.
Viber has lost share even in some of its historically strong markets to Telegram and WhatsApp, so its regional dominance is not guaranteed to persist.
The desktop client depends on the phone app remaining active and connected, which is a limitation for anyone wanting a fully independent desktop messenger.

Pricing, plan by plan

Line

Free

LineFree
- Free messaging, voice and video calling
- Individual sticker sets typically cost a few hundred yen each
- Line Official Account has a free tier with message volume limits, then paid tiers by monthly message count

Viber

Free

ViberFree
- Free messaging and calling between Viber users
- Viber Out charges per minute for calls to non-Viber phone numbers
- Business Messages priced per message sent to businesses on a metered basis

Which should you pick?

Choose Line if

You need line pay.
You want to start without paying.
You work on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web.
You also want official accounts.

Line review

Choose Viber if

You need end to end encryption.
You want to start without paying.
You work on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web.
You also want communities.

Viber review

Questions people ask

Is Line or Viber better?: Neither clearly leads. Line starts at Free and Viber at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Line or Viber?: Line starts at Free and Viber at Free.
Does Line or Viber run on more platforms?: Both run on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Line for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Line best used for?: Line is most often used for a business selling to consumers in japan that needs an official account rather than email or sms to reach customers, an individual keeping in touch with contacts in japan, taiwan or thailand where line, not whatsapp, is the default, a brand running promotions through line stickers or timeline content aimed at a japanese audience, a company processing consumer payments in japan through line pay integration. Of those, a business selling to consumers in japan that needs an official account rather than email or sms to reach customers and an individual keeping in touch with contacts in japan, taiwan or thailand where line, not whatsapp, is the default are not what Viber is typically brought in for.
What can Line do that Viber cannot?: Line covers Line Pay, Official Accounts, Stickers and themes, Line News. Viber covers End to end encryption, Communities, Viber Business Messages, Free calling.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Line: Is Line encrypted by default?

Chats use standard transport encryption, but full end to end Letter Sealing encryption must be turned on manually per conversation, it is not the default.

Viber: Is Viber end to end encrypted?

Yes, by default for one-to-one and group chats, unlike Telegram where it is opt-in for secret chats only.

Line: Does Line work well outside Japan, Taiwan and Thailand?

Technically yes, but almost nobody uses it as their primary messenger outside those markets, so it is the wrong choice to reach most other audiences.

Viber: Is Viber popular in the United States?

No, it has a comparatively small footprint there. Its real strength is in specific markets including parts of Eastern Europe and the Philippines.

Line: Who owns Line now?

LY Corporation, formed from a merger of Line and Yahoo Japan businesses, controlled by A Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver.

Viber: Who owns Viber?

Rakuten Group, a Japanese e-commerce and internet services company, which bought Viber in 2014.

Line vs Viber

Line

Viber

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Line

Only in Viber

What people use each for

Line

Viber

Where each one falls short

Line

Viber

Pricing, plan by plan

Line

Viber

Which should you pick?

Choose Line if

Choose Viber if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Line

More on Viber

Keep looking

Other head to heads