Linevs
WeChat
WeChat: If your contacts are mainly in mainland China
Line
Messaging app that dominates Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, now run by LY Corporation under joint SoftBank and Naver ownership
As of 1 September 2026, Line is free to use. The default messenger in Japan rather than a global competitor to WhatsApp. Softwr lists it under Communication. Line is made by LY Corporation, available on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
Overview
What Line does
Line is a messaging app with voice and video calling, stickers, group chat, a payments product called Line Pay, and Official Accounts that businesses use to message customers directly. It also bundles a news and content feed and mini apps for services such as taxi booking in some markets. What matters commercially is regional concentration, not global reach. Line is the dominant consumer messenger in Japan, and holds a strong position in Taiwan and Thailand, but has negligible presence in most other markets, including the United States and most of Europe. Ownership has consolidated: Line merged with Yahoo Japan and other Z Holdings businesses to form LY Corporation, controlled by A Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBank and South Korea-based Naver. That merger followed a 2021 data leak in which some Line user data was found accessible from servers in China, which pushed Japanese regulators to demand tighter data governance and prompted the ownership restructuring away from Naver-only control. Buyers of this fact are individuals and businesses operating in Japan, Taiwan or Thailand who need the actual channel their customers use, plus anyone assessing where their data sits given the Naver, SoftBank and historical China server exposure.
What people use it 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
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Line
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- LinevsKakaoTalk
KakaoTalk: If your contacts are mainly in South Korea
- LinevsViber
Viber: If your contacts are mainly in Eastern Europe or the Philippines
Pricing
What Line costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Line
Free
- 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
- Line Pay transaction fees apply to merchants, not to consumer-to-consumer transfers
Capabilities
Features
Line Pay
In-app payments and QR code transfers accepted at partnered merchants
Official Accounts
Business messaging channel with broadcast and chatbot capability
Stickers and themes
A paid sticker and theme marketplace that is a meaningful revenue line on its own
Line News
An in-app aggregated news feed
Group and open chat
Standard group messaging plus larger interest-based open chat rooms
Timeline
A social feed similar to a status or moments feature
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
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.
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.
Keep looking
Where to go from Line
- Line alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Line pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Line badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Communication softwareThe full category
- Best Communication softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Communication software for
Compare Line with
- KakaoTalk
- Viber
- Naver Works
- LINE WORKS
- Disciple
- Messenger
- Gupshup
- Chatwork
- Zoom
- Loom
- Rocket.Chat
- Sessions
- Signal
- TeamViewer
- Textline
- Twist
Other Communication software
Chinese super-app combining messaging, payments, mini programs and identity, effectively required infrastructure in mainland China
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Free plan11 researched notesKorean and Japanese business messaging with mail, drive and approval workflows in one licence
Free, then 3,000/mo12 researched notesBusiness chat built on the LINE interface, aimed at Japanese firms whose staff and customers already use LINE
Free, then 450/mo13 researched notesWhite-label community apps published under your own brand on iOS, Android and web
From £599/mo12 researched notesMeta's standalone messaging app for Facebook, with end to end encryption on by default since 2023
Free plan9 researched notesConversational messaging and CPaaS with a flat platform fee stacked on top of Meta per-message rates
From $0.001/message12 researched notesGroup chat for global teams, built to replace email with real-time communication
Free, then $7/mo10 researched notesDeployment flexibility and compliance across regulatory frameworks
Pricing on request10 researched notesMeetings and webinars with a prepared agenda, interactive blocks and a recorded outcome
Free plan13 researched notesRemote access and support software from Germany, used for connecting to computers anywhere
Pricing on request8 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Line, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Line
Line alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Line pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Line
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Best Communication software alternatives
Chinese super-app combining messaging, payments, mini programs and identity, effectively required infrastructure in mainland China
Free to download, transaction fees on paymentsMessaging app with its strongest user base in Eastern Europe and the Philippines, owned by Japans Rakuten
Free to download, paid business messaging and out calls to landlines and mobilesMeta's standalone messaging app for Facebook, with end to end encryption on by default since 2023
Free, funded by Meta's advertising businessThe default messaging app in South Korea, bundled with payments, taxi hailing and other Kakao services
Free to download, paid emoticons, gifting and business messagingConversational messaging and CPaaS with a flat platform fee stacked on top of Meta per-message rates
Per message sent
Korean business messaging built on the KakaoTalk interface for domestic enterprise teams
Per user per monthWhite-label community apps published under your own brand on iOS, Android and web
Per month, flat fee with no transaction charge