Gizmo Project is a free Internet telephone that allows you to make and receive phone calls on your computer. It looks and feels a lot like an instant messenger. Gizmo Project is a free Internet telephone that allows you to make and receive phone calls on your computer. It looks and feels a lot like an instant messenger.

It is also the softphone part of SIPphone's VOIP service offering. SIPphone is a VOIP service provider that offers a pay-as-you-go approach to voice-over-IP. Instead of subscribing to a monthly plan, you buy SIP minutes.

Calls between Gizmo Project users are completely free, but calls to regular phones have a small per minute fee. Like Skype, Gizmo Project has Call Out service, in which users can call any traditional phone in the world, and Call In service to receive calls from any traditional phone.

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In January 2006, Gizmo/SIPphone announced compatibility with GoogleTalk, the search engine giant's instant messaging service. This means that Gizmo users and GoogleTalk users can converse, exchange information, and send messages with each other. Without open and seamless cooperation between the two networks, GoogleTalk users could only talk to other GoogleTalk users. This is a decided advantage over closed networks like MSN, Yahoo, Skype and AOL.

Compared to Skype, some VOIP reviewers prefer the look and feel of Gizmo as well as the abundance of advanced features:

• Instant messaging, which allows users of Google Talk and Gizmo Project to communicate across networks.
• Full address book management, including the ability to send invitations to members of other networks.
• Presence (online, offline, away) so you can see if your contacts are available to chat.
• Add Sound Effects to your calls.
• Check call quality see bandwidth quality.
• Color-coded online status.
• Display a detailed map call locations.
• Instant Messaging (IM) to chat instantly with your contacts.
• Person being called receives call subject. Let them know immediately the purpose of your call.
• Record call on your Gizmo Project phone with the click of a button.

Since its debut in July 2005, Gizmo Project has had over 350,000 sign-ups and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.