The smartphone market has great potential for VoIP technology. Every mobile app posted on iPhone's AppStore or Android's PlayStore gets a huge response from the community. There are several VoIP apps that have become popular among mobile phone users including Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, and Tango to name a few. In this article, we will explore what are the features to look for in a VoIP mobile app while choosing between free or commercial offerings.

Most people are aware of many free apps for communicating with others but they are not much familiar with the costs associated with such free offers. The main reason for people to choose these free communications apps is to cut down on calling expenses. Free apps bring down the calling expenses up to half as compared to using commercial and paid solutions.

The most popular form of communication type in which free apps are used is a text messaging and instant messaging. Whereas the least used communication types are video calling and video conferencing. Overall, free mobile apps are more popular among people as compared to paid apps.

However, when you compare free and paid in terms of features, you will see a big difference in the number of features offered by paid apps. There are many areas of functionality that are not provided in free apps but they are available in paid apps. These include integration with other software, customization according to specific business needs, and federation with communication solutions of partner companies. There may be few open source apps that also offer these types of features but they usually require an extensive technical background. For a common, it is very difficult to configure these apps. For example, CSIPSimple is an open-source VoIP application with lots of features but it is not easy for a novice to configure this app with full potential.

On a closing note, there is a neck to neck competition between free and paid VoIP mobile apps. The criteria for selecting which app is right for you comes down to features offered, setup and usage cost, and type of communication you needed for your business (such as text, IM, voice, video, conferencing, etc).