Boss Revolution vs Rebtel
Two of the best-established apps built specifically for calling home, competing for the same customer with broadly the same product. The terms are where they differ.
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Both dial real phone numbers, both bill per minute, and both sell prepaid credit and plans. Boss Revolution is run by IDT out of New Jersey and leans on access numbers as well as the app; Rebtel is Swedish, founded in 2006, and markets one-minute billing with no hidden fees.
The published difference to watch is Boss Revolution's 1.5 cents per minute surcharge when using toll-free access numbers — a real cost that does not appear in the headline rate and applies exactly to the customers using the access-number route rather than the app. Rebtel publishes no separate connection fee. Neither states a clear credit expiry policy, which is worth knowing before topping up a large balance with either.
Side by side
Pick what you care about and the differences reorder.
2 of 8 fields differ; 5 are the same.
How to read this comparison
Work down in this order and most comparisons resolve in under a minute. First, can it reach the number you actually need — a service that only calls its own users is not a cheaper version of one that dials a landline, it is a different thing. Second, what are the billing terms: the unit a call is measured in, and whether a fixed fee is added to each one. Third, what happens to money you do not spend.
The per-minute rate is deliberately not the first question here, and it is the only question most comparisons ask. At the same advertised rate, a service that rounds every call up to a whole minute and adds a per-call fee can cost close to double another on the short calls that make up most people's actual usage. The rate is the number that gets compared because it is the number that gets published.
Where they actually differ
Connection fee
Boss Revolution: Charged. Rebtel: None. A connection fee is a fixed amount added to every call regardless of length, which makes it proportionally largest on the short calls a per-minute comparison makes look cheapest. Ten one-minute calls with a five-cent fee cost fifty cents more than the headline implies; one ten-minute call costs five.
Platforms
Boss Revolution runs on iOS, Android, Web. Rebtel runs on iOS, Android. This decides more comparisons than it ought to: a service that is excellent and unavailable on the device in your hand is not a candidate at all, and a desktop client matters more than it sounds when the alternative is holding a phone against your ear for an hour.
Where they are the same
- Calls a phone number: both dials real phone numbers.
- Billing unit: both per minute.
- Credit expiry: both not published.
- Subscription: both offers a subscription.
- Account required: both account required.
What each one is
Boss Revolution
Boss Revolution is an international calling and mobile top‑up app and service that offers prepaid voice credit, calling plans, and access numbers for calls to mobile and landline numbers in many countries.
Rebtel
Rebtel is a mobile app and service that provides low‑cost international calls and mobile top‑ups, using local access numbers or data to connect calls to landlines and mobiles in over 190 countries.
How each one bills you
As published by Boss Revolution
- per minute for most destinations, plus surcharges when using toll‑free access numbers.
- A 1.5¢/min surcharge applies when using toll‑free access numbers; otherwise per‑minute rates are displayed without hidden fees.
- Marketing emphasises transparent per‑minute rates and no hidden charges; no publicly highlighted fixed expiry date for prepaid balances is visible in product pages.
As published by Rebtel
- per minute (Rebtel markets one‑minute billing).
- none (Rebtel markets 'no hidden fees' and does not list a separate connection fee).
- Marketing emphasizes no contracts and no hidden fees; public pages do not prominently document a fixed expiry period for purchased calling credit.
- Voice credit/top‑up minimum not clearly stated; some plans sold in fixed price bundles such as unlimited and minute packages.
What each one asks of you
As published by Boss Revolution
Users install the app, create an account, add funds or purchase Savings Passes, and then call via local access numbers or in‑app VoIP dialing.
As published by Rebtel
Users install the app on iOS or Android, create a Rebtel account, and verify with their phone number to start calling or sending top‑ups.
Plans, where each one sells them
As published by Boss Revolution
Offers prepaid credit and 'Savings Pass' calling plans providing bundled minutes or unlimited calls to certain countries, as well as regular pay‑as‑you‑go per‑minute rates.
As published by Rebtel
Offers Unlimited Country plans (e.g. India Unlimited), Global Unlimited, and minutes‑based plans, alongside pay‑per‑minute credit.
Published rates
The corridor prices each provider published at the time of the research. An empty list means the provider does not publish its rates outside its own app, which is itself worth knowing before you top up.
Boss Revolution
- Mexico, mobile: $0.04/min for mobiles and landlines is cited as a popular destination example in some rate lists; VAT/tax not specified.
- Nigeria, mobile: $0.13/min to Nigerian mobiles and $0.20/min to landlines in example rates from Talk360 comparison; Boss Revolution itself publishes similar competitive price points but exact numbers are shown per account.
Source, as recorded: Boss Revolution international calling product pages; specific per‑country tariffs are displayed in‑app and on web after entering numbers, while marketing pages emphasise transparency and sample rates.
Rebtel
- India, mobile: From about $0.0278/min pay‑as‑you‑go or included in unlimited India subscriptions; exact current per‑minute USD rate varies by plan.
Source, as recorded: Rebtel official rates and India calling explainer pages; detailed per‑country tables are in the in‑app rate lookup and web 'rates' tool.
What each one does
Boss Revolution
- Provides international calls to mobiles and landlines, with per‑minute rates that vary by destination.
- Offers Savings Passes and other calling plans including unlimited options for certain countries.
- Supports mobile top‑ups to international numbers from within the app.
- Rates and surcharges are displayed before calls, with emphasis on 'no hidden charges'.
- App uses local access numbers or VoIP over data depending on configuration and location.
- Service connects billions of minutes of international calls per year according to marketing.
- Available apps for iOS and Android smartphones.
- Supports English and Spanish IVR access via different toll‑free numbers in the US.
Rebtel
- Places international calls to landlines and mobiles in more than 190 countries.
- Uses local access numbers when available so calls can work without an active data connection.
- Offers unlimited calling subscriptions and destination‑specific minute bundles as well as pay‑as‑you‑go credit.
- Supports mobile top‑ups to international numbers from within the app.
- Markets 'no contracts or hidden fees' and transparent per‑minute pricing.
- Provides apps for iOS and Android; no separate desktop app is promoted.
- Targets migrants and international nomads as primary user segments.
- Calls can be routed over 3G/4G, Wi‑Fi, or local phone lines depending on configuration.
What users complain about
Boss Revolution
- User reviews point to occasional quality issues and dropped calls for some destinations.
- Some customers report confusion about surcharges when using toll‑free access numbers.
- There are complaints in app‑store reviews about promotional credits and bonuses not being applied as expected.
Rebtel
- Some app‑store reviews report occasional call drops and variable call quality, especially on weaker mobile data connections.
- Users have complained about promotional offers or 'unlimited' plans having fair‑usage conditions they found unclear.
- Several reviews mention issues with billing or being charged unexpectedly when local access numbers are treated as chargeable calls by mobile carriers.
About each company
| Founded | — | 2006 (described as a Swedish technology company founded in 2006). |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Newark, New Jersey, United States (IDT/BOSS Revolution brand). | Stockholm, Sweden (company described as Swedish with international operations). |
| Users | — | Rebtel cites 'more than 2 million users' on its App Store description. |
| Store rating | — | Approximately 4.2–4.6 out of 5 with several hundred thousand reviews, according to Google Play and APK aggregators. |
| Minimum purchase | — | Voice credit/top‑up minimum not clearly stated; some plans sold in fixed price bundles such as unlimited and minute packages. |
Website: Boss Revolution Rebtel
If neither of them fits
Both of the services above bill per minute or cannot dial a phone at all. If what you need is to call an ordinary number and pay only for the seconds you talk, that is what we publish — and the same nine fields are in the table above, in the first row, marked as ours.
Rates from $0.03 a minute across 41 destinations, billed per second with no connection fee and credit that does not expire.
What Telvio does and does not doSources and dates
Every value on this page is quoted from the provider's own published material, gathered in a structured research pass on 2026-03-18. Where a provider published no answer, the page says so rather than estimating. Nothing here is a review: call quality, reliability and support are not assessed, because they cannot be established from published material.
Bottom line
Both are per-minute prepaid calling services aimed at people calling family abroad, and both dial real telephone numbers.
Boss Revolution applies a 1.5 cents per minute surcharge on calls made through toll-free access numbers. Rebtel publishes no separate connection fee and markets one-minute billing.
Neither publishes a clear credit expiry policy. Buy small until you know how much you actually use.
Frequently asked questions
Can Boss Revolution call a landline or mobile number?
Yes. Boss Revolution dials ordinary landline and mobile numbers, so the person you are calling does not need to install anything.
Can Rebtel call a landline or mobile number?
Yes. Rebtel dials ordinary landline and mobile numbers, so the person you are calling does not need to install anything.
Does Boss Revolution charge a connection fee?
Yes. Boss Revolution publishes a charge applied to each call on top of the per-minute rate, which costs proportionally most on short calls.
Does Rebtel charge a connection fee?
No separate connection fee is published for Rebtel, so the cost of a call is the per-minute rate applied to the billed time.
Does unused credit expire on Boss Revolution or Rebtel?
Credit on Boss Revolution has no published expiry policy, so it could not be confirmed. Credit on Rebtel has no published expiry policy, so it could not be confirmed. Expiry costs most when you top up in large amounts and call infrequently.
Which is cheaper for short calls, Boss Revolution or Rebtel?
Neither publishes per-country rates in a form that allows a like-for-like table, so the comparison rests on billing terms. Boss Revolution bills per minute, Rebtel bills per minute. On calls of under a minute the billing unit and any per-call fee change the total more than the headline rate does.
Do Boss Revolution and Rebtel require an account?
Boss Revolution: Account required. Rebtel: Account required. Every service in this comparison set except one requires you to identify yourself before you can call.
Which devices do Boss Revolution and Rebtel run on?
Boss Revolution runs on iOS, Android, Web. Rebtel runs on iOS, Android. These are the platforms each provider publishes.
