OPEN-SOURCE TELEPHONY · SINCE 2006
Real-time voice and video since 2006. FreeSWITCH turns a server into a full telecom platform, powering carriers, contact centers, and communication products around the world.
* A free SignalWire account is required to access FreeSWITCH downloads and packages.
2006
Open source since day one
20+
Years of continuous development
Billions
Of calls handled every year
1000s
Of platforms built on FreeSWITCH
IN PRODUCTION INSIDE THE PLATFORMS YOU ALREADY KNOW
WHAT IS FREESWITCH?
FreeSWITCH turns a single server into a full telecom platform: routing calls, bridging video, transcoding media, and connecting protocols in real time.
Voice calling & routing
Video conferencing & bridging
Protocol translation & interop
Programmable call control
Carrier-grade media handling
HERITAGE
The original creators of FreeSWITCH founded SignalWire to bring the same engineering rigor to the cloud. Two decades of telecom infrastructure experience live in every release.
Today, FreeSWITCH is actively maintained by SignalWire. The same people who wrote it, still shipping it.
FROM FREESWITCH TO THE CONTROL PLANE
2005
The Origin
Anthony Minessale and a small team set out to prove telecom could be software, not the proprietary hardware vendors were charging fortunes for and locking customers out of. FreeSWITCH announced in January 2006, and now runs inside some of the largest telephony platforms in the world.
2017
The Platform
In 2017, the same team founded SignalWire and built a platform around the engine: private modules, a globally distributed network, and a programmable control plane that FreeSWITCH alone doesn't provide.
Now
Today
The open-source engine stays free and community-maintained. The commercial platform funds that work and extends the engine with the scale, redundancy, and infrastructure teams would otherwise build from scratch.
TWO PATHS
Which fits your situation?
Run FreeSWITCH yourself when:
You require granular media control
And custom C modules
And are committed to an existing FreeSWITCH solution
And have dedicated resources to commit to maintaining on-prem infrastructure
Scale with SignalWire
You require granular media control
And don’t want to maintain the infrastructure
And need to get to production fast
And are upgrading or building a new product
EDITIONS
Three ways to run FreeSWITCH.
From the free community engine to a fully managed cloud. The same team stands behind all three.
FREE · SELF-HOSTED
FreeSWITCH Open Source
The community engine.
PL 2.0
Community support
You run it
PAID · SELF-HOSTED
FreeSWITCH Advantage
The enterprise branch.
Commercial modules (G.729A, AMD)
Founder-level support
You run it
PAID · CLOUD-HOSTED
SignalWire Platform
The programmable cloud.
Programmable layer around FreeSWITCH media engines
Commercial-grade and built to scale
Runs in optimized SignalWire cloud
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What people ask about FreeSWITCH, from licensing to how it powers SignalWire.
Is FreeSWITCH really free?
Yes. FreeSWITCH is open source under the MPL license. You can download, modify, and run it in production at no cost. A free SignalWire account is required to access packages and downloads.
What is the relationship between FreeSWITCH and SignalWire?
SignalWire was founded by the original creators of FreeSWITCH and is the primary maintainer of the project today. SignalWire’s cloud platform runs on the same core engine.
Can I migrate from self-hosted FreeSWITCH to SignalWire?
Yes. Because SignalWire is built on the same engine, dialplans, and concepts, migrating workloads from self-hosted FreeSWITCH to SignalWire’s managed cloud is a natural path.
Where do I get commercial support?
SignalWire offers commercial support, hardened builds, and priority patches through FreeSWITCH Pro. Contact the team to discuss your production requirements.