Vibervs
WeChat
WeChat: If your contacts are mainly in mainland China
Viber
Messaging app with its strongest user base in Eastern Europe and the Philippines, owned by Japans Rakuten
As of 1 September 2026, Viber is free to use. A free voice, video and messaging app that is not a leader in most Western markets but holds a genuinely dominant position in parts of Eastern Europe, the Philippines and some Middle Eastern markets. Softwr lists it under Communication. Viber is made by Rakuten Group, available on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
Overview
What Viber does
Viber offers free messaging and calling over data, group chats, communities that work like public channels, and a business messaging product for companies to reach customers. It has offered end to end encryption on one-to-one and group chats since 2016. The fact that matters is regional concentration rather than feature depth. Viber is not a global leader against WhatsApp or Telegram, but it has real, durable dominance in specific markets, including several Eastern European countries and the Philippines, where it has historically been the default free calling and messaging app because it undercut the cost of international calling and SMS. Rakuten bought Viber in 2014 for roughly 900 million dollars and has since connected it to Rakuten Points and other Rakuten commerce services in some markets, which is a different strategic use of a messenger than a company like Meta pursuing global reach with WhatsApp. The buyer of this fact is a business or individual who needs to reach people specifically in Viber-strong markets and would otherwise assume WhatsApp is the default everywhere; it is not.
What people use it for
- A business communicating with customers in Eastern Europe or the Philippines where Viber, not WhatsApp, is the default app
- An individual making cheap international calls to family in a Viber-strong market before switching entirely to data calling
- A brand running a Community channel to reach an established Viber audience in a specific country
- Someone wanting end to end encrypted chat on by default without configuring anything
Related searches
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 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Viber
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.
- VibervsLine
Line: If your contacts are mainly in Japan, Taiwan or Thailand
- VibervsKakaoTalk
KakaoTalk: If your contacts are mainly in South Korea
Pricing
What Viber costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Viber
Free
- 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
Capabilities
Features
End to end encryption
On by default for one-to-one and group chats since 2016
Communities
Public or private broadcast-style channels for large audiences
Viber Business Messages
A channel businesses use to send transactional and promotional messages
Free calling
Voice and video calls over data between Viber users
Self-destructing messages
Timed message deletion available in chats
Rakuten integration
Points and commerce tie-ins in markets where Rakuten operates other services
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 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.
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.
Who owns Viber?
Rakuten Group, a Japanese e-commerce and internet services company, which bought Viber in 2014.
Keep looking
Where to go from Viber
- Viber alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Viber pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Viber 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 Viber with
- Line
- KakaoTalk
- Messenger
- Disciple
- Naver Works
- Gupshup
- Chanty
- LINE WORKS
- Sessions
- Signal
- Telegram
- Webex by Cisco
- Flock
- Google Chat
- Disciple
- Chanty
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Viber, 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 Viber
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Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
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Put it head to head with anything we hold
Viber badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Communication software alternatives
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Per message sent
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