Does FaceTime count as a call?

On an iPhone, does FaceTime take away my minutes from my contract or is it a totally different thing? And does it take away minutes if I'm out and about and without Wi-Fi?

It takes your Internet like iMessage does

No. FaceTime is an iPhone/iPad/iPod native VoIP service. What this means is, it does not take away minutes off your plan. It uses the internet, so that means it will affect your 'data' plan (this is true if you are on iOS 6). Problem is FaceTime over 3G, as Apple calls it, is not possible if you are on iOS 5.0/5.x. You can use it only over wi-fi in such cases. But as I have said earlier, of you are on iOS 6, you can make FaceTime calls over your 3G.

So final answer is, no it does not take away minutes from your call plan.

I believe it's a totally different thing to a normal call

The voice call ends as soon as the FaceTime call connects. The FaceTime call is over Wi-Fi so does not use carrier minutes."FaceTime is a video calling software developed by Apple for iPhone 4 and the fourth generation iPod Touch. FaceTime uses about three megabytes of data per minute of conversation, so users with a limited data plan who use FaceTime over 3G (only on jailbroken devices as of right now) must be careful to not overextend their data limit.