| Mumble | Ventrilo | Skype | |
| Latency | Extremely low: communications happen in milliseconds, not seconds. | High: even low-ping servers have a 1 - 2 second delay due to the Ventrilo protocol | High: Skype is optimized for casual chatter, not realtime-when-it-counts communications. |
| Platform Support | Windows, Linux, and OS X | Windows, partial OS X support (some codecs not available), no Linux support | Windows, Linux, and OS X |
| Authentication | Certificate and password-based authentication. Strong certificate authentication ensures account security and user authenticity. | Password-based | Password-based |
| Voice Quality | Great-Mumble uses the cutting-edge CELT codec for maximum clarity. | Good-Ventrilo uses several codecs, such as Speex and GSM, though not all codecs are available on all platforms. | Average-Lower bitrate and high encryption overhead reduce quality. |
| Noise canceling | Automatic | Not available | Automatic |
| Push-to-talk | Available | Available | Not available |
| Linked channels | Available | Not available | Not available |
| User groups | Available | Not available | Not available |
| Text messages | Per-channel and per-user (private messages) | Not available | Per-conference and per-user |
| Administration | Done in the client. Add channels, manage users, and modify permissions in realtime. | Requires external web interface. | Not available |
| Access Control | Great-powerful ACLs allow for fine-grained control over all aspects of the server. | Coarse-users are either administrators or normal users. | Not available |
| Volume Attenuation | Mumble will automatically lower other system sounds when someone is talking. Play with music and game sound on-you’ll never miss a message. | Not available | Not available |
| Customizability | Very high. Create custom layouts or skin the client to match your preferences. | Not available | Not available |
| Maximum users | Unlimited | 8 for free server; unlimited with licensed server | 10 on conference call |
| Comments & Channels | Rich text-include images and links as desired | Plain text | Not available |
| Scriptability | Great-Mumble is scriptable from many languages, including C++, Java, .NET, Python, PHP, Ruby, and Objective-C. | Not available | Not available |