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The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of notable IRC client programs which have been discussed in independent, reliable prior published sources.
Basic general information about the notableclients: creator/company, license, etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development.
A brief overview of the release history.
First public release | First stable release | Latest stable release | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Client | Date | Version | Date | Version | |
AmIRC | 1995 | ||||
Bersirc | 1999 | 2.2.14 (12 August 2005) [±] | |||
BitchX | 1996 | 1.2.1 (November 14, 2014) [±] | |||
ChatZilla | 2001 | 0.9.93 (November 8, 2016 [6] ) [±] | |||
Colloquy | 2005 | 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014) [±] | |||
DMDirc | 2007 | 0.7 (January 5, 2013 [7] ) [±] | |||
ERC | 1999? | ERC improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] | |||
HexChat | 2009-10-04 | r249 | 2009-10-09 | 2.86.0 | 2.16.2 [8] [9] ![]() |
ircII | 1989 | 2.0.0 | 1989 | 2.0.0 | 20210314 (March 14, 2021) [±] |
Ircle | 1995 | 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007) [±] | |||
Irssi | 1999 | 1.4.4 (March 31, 2023) [±] [10] | |||
KVIrc | 1998 | 0.6.0 | 1999-12-21 | 1.0.0 | 5.2.0 (January 14, 2024 [11] ) [±] |
Konversation | 2002 | 1.9.23083 [12] ![]() | |||
LeafChat | ? | 1.0 | 2.5 (July 29, 2012) [±] | ||
Linkinus | 2007 | 2.4.3 (August 23, 2011 [13] ) [±] | |||
Mibbit | 2008 | web application, no version | |||
mIRC | 1995 | 7.76 (7 January 2024 [14] ) [±] | |||
Nettalk | 2004 | 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012 [15] ) [±] | |||
PIRCH | 1995 | 1.0.1.1190 (January 1, 2001) [±] | |||
PJIRC | 2002 | 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004) [±] | |||
Quassel | 2008-08-27 | 0.3.0 | 0.14.0 (January 1, 2022) [±] | ||
rcirc | ? | ? | rcirc improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] | ||
Smuxi | 2008-07-29 | 0.6 | 2010-09-03 | 0.8 | 1.2.1 (April 23, 2023) [±] |
Snak | 1997 | 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012 [16] ) [±] | |||
Visual IRC | 1995 | 2.0pl2 (December 30, 2007) [±] [17] | |||
WeeChat | 2003 | 4.2.1 (January 22, 2024 [18] ) [±] | |||
Client | Date | Version | Date | Version | Latest stable release |
First public release | First stable release |
The operating systems on which the clients can run natively (without emulation).
Client | Windows 7, Vista | XP, 2000 | NT 4.0 | NT 3.x | Me, 98 | 95 | 3.1x | ReactOS | macOS (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS, ArcaOS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AmIRC | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
Bersirc | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
BitchX | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | No | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | |
Colloquy | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
ERC | Yes | Yes [21] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes [22] | Yes [23] | ? | ? | Yes [24] | |
HexChat | Yes | Dropped (2.9.5) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | |
ircII | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | No | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | |
Ircle | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [Note 2] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | |
Konversation | Partial | Partial | Partial | No | Partial | Partial | No | ? | Partial | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes [25] | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes [26] | No | No | No | |
LeafChat | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Linkinus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [Note 2] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Mibbit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Partial [Note 3] | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
PIRCH | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Snak | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | |
Visual IRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
WeeChat | Partial [Note 1] | Partial [Note 1] | Partial [Note 1] | No | Partial [Note 1] | Partial [Note 1] | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | |
Client | Windows 7, Vista | XP, 2000 | NT 4.0 | NT 3.x | Me, 98 | 95 | 3.1x | ReactOS | OS X (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS |
Unix and Unix-like operating systems:
Client | 386BSD | BSD/OS (BSD/386, BSDI) | FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD | SunOS | ULTRIX | AIX | A/UX | HP-UX | IRIX | SCO OpenServer | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | ? |
BitchX | ? | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | ? | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | ? | Yes [Note 1] | Yes | Yes [Note 1] | Yes | ? | Yes [Note 1] | Yes [Note 1] | ? |
ChatZilla | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Colloquy | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HexChat | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
ircII | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ircle | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Konversation | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
KVIrc | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LeafChat | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Linkinus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Mibbit | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
mIRC | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Nettalk | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
PIRCH | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Quassel | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Smuxi | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Snak | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Visual IRC | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
WeeChat | ? | ? | Yes [Note 2] | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Partial [Note 3] | ? | Yes [Note 2] | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes [Note 2] | ? |
Client | 386BSD | BSD/OS (BSD/386, BSDI) | FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD | SunOS | ULTRIX | AIX | A/UX | HP-UX | IRIX | SCO OpenServer | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client.
Client | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | DANE | OCSP | CRL | SASL | OTR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
BitchX | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | script | No |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No [29] |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes [Note 1] | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes [Note 2] |
ircII | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Ircle | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes [30] |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No |
Linkinus | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
Mibbit | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
Nettalk | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
PIRCH | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
PJIRC | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No [31] |
rcirc | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No [32] |
Snak | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Visual IRC | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes [33] [34] [Note 2] |
Client | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | DANE | OCSP | CRL | SASL | OTR |
The Direct Client-to-Client Protocol (DCC) has been the primary method of establishing connections directly between IRC clients for a long time now. Once established, DCC connections bypass the IRC network and servers, allowing for all sorts of data to be transferred between clients including files and direct chat sessions.
Client | CHAT | SEND | RESUME | TSEND | SEND T | XMIT | Passive DCC | Server | RDCC | REVERSE | RSEND | Reverse / Firewall DCC | File servers (FSERVs) | XDCC | VOICE | Whiteboard |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BitchX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | No [35] | ? | ? | No | No [Note 1] | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | No |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
ERC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No |
ircII | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Ircle | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [Note 3] | No |
Linkinus | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Mibbit | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | No |
PIRCH | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Quassel | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
rcirc | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
Smuxi | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Snak | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Visual IRC | ? | ? | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes [Note 3] | Yes |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
Client | CHAT | SEND | RESUME | TSEND | SEND T | XMIT | Passive DCC | Server | RDCC | REVERSE | RSEND | Reverse / Firewall DCC | File servers (FSERVs) | XDCC | VOICE | Whiteboard |
This software is compliant natively; other software may be compliant with extensions. [39] [40]
Clients | CAP | CAP 302 | Cap-notify | Account-notify | account-tag | Away-notify | batch | Bot Mode | chghost | echo-message | extended-join | Invite-notify | labeled-response | message-tags | Monitor | msgid | multi-prefix | SASL v3.1 | SASL v3.2 | server-time | setname | sts | userhost-in-names | UTF8ONLY | WHOX | +typing | draft/chathistory | WebIRC | draft/account-registration | draft/extended-monitor | draft/multiline | +draft/react | +draft/reply |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BitchX | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2.16 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | 2.16 | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2.16 | No | Yes | 2.16 | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | Git | Git | Git | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | Git | Git | No | Git | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Git | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
KVIrc | Yes | No | No | Git | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | Git | No | No | No | No | No | Git | Yes | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Konversation | Yes | v20.11.80+ | v21.03.80+ | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | v21.03.80+ | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | v21.04.0+ | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Mibbit | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | 72.0+ | 72.0+ | No | No | No | No | No | No | 73.0+ | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 72.0+ | 60.0+ | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Quassel IRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.14+ | Yes | No | No | Yes | 0.14+ (opt in) | Yes | 0.14+ | No | 0.14+ | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.14+ | 0.14+ | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
WeeChat | Yes | 2.2+ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | 2.2+ | No | Yes | 2.2+ | No | 3.3+ | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 3.3+ | Yes | 3.3+ | No | Yes | No | Yes | 3.3+ | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 7.62+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.62+ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
IRC SASL authentication primarily uses the same mechanisms as SASL in other protocols. Most commonly:
Client | EXTERNAL | PLAIN | SCRAM-SHA-256 |
---|---|---|---|
BitchX | No | Yes | No |
Colloquy | No | Yes | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | No |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | No |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | No |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | No | Yes | No |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | 3.2+ |
catgirl | Yes | Yes | No |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | 7.68+ |
pydle(lib.) | No | Yes | No |
senpai | No | Yes | No |
zIRC(lib.) | Yes | Yes | No |
Information on what features each of the clients support.
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | — | |
BitchX | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Enhanced IrcII script | |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | JavaScript | |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes [Note 1] | AppleScript, Cocoa, F-Script, JavaScript, Python | |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [41] | Yes [Note 3] | Emacs Lisp | |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua [Note 4] , JavaScript, C, C++, and via D-Bus. | |
ircII | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? | ? | IrcII script | |
Ircle | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript | |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Perl | |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Shell script, Ruby, Python, Perl, Java, C++, C#, JavaScript [Note 6] | |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | KVS (custom), Perl, Python, C++ | |
LeafChat | Yes | Yes | ? | — | Yes | Java | |
Linkinus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AppleScript, Cocoa | |
Mibbit | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | — | — | |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 7] | mIRC script | |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | SOCKS | Yes | Yes | VBScript, custom | |
PIRCH | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | Yes | |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Partial, JavaScript | |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Emacs Lisp | |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes (language agnostic) | |
Snak | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript, IrcII script | |
Visual IRC | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Versus | |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | C, Perl, Python, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, Scheme (Guile) | |
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language |
BitchX is a free IRC client that has been regarded as the most popular ircII-based IRC client. The initial implementation, written by "Trench" and "HappyCrappy", was a script for the IrcII chat client. It was converted to a program in its own right by panasync. BitchX 1.1 final was released in 2004. It is written in C and is a TUI application utilizing ncurses. GTK+ toolkit support has been dropped. It works on all Unix-like operating systems, and is distributed under a BSD license. It was originally based on ircII-EPIC, and eventually it was merged into the EPIC IRC client. It supports IPv6, multiple servers and SSL, and a subset of UTF-8 with an unofficial patch.
Irssi is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client program for Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Microsoft Windows. It was originally written by Timo Sirainen, and released under the terms of the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later in January 1999.
Pidgin is a free and open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple that has support for many instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to simultaneously log in to various services from a single application, with a single interface for both popular and obsolete protocols, thus avoiding the hassle of having to deal with new software for each device and protocol.
Centericq is a text mode menu- and window-driven instant messaging interface that supports the ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, XMPP, LiveJournal, and Gadu-Gadu protocols.
Bersirc is a discontinued open-source Internet Relay Chat client for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Linux and Mac OS X versions were "in development". Bersirc uses the Claro toolkit, which aims to provide an interface to native windowing systems and widgets on all operating systems. Microsoft .NET and Qt toolkit ports were also planned. The final version of Bersirc was 2.2.14.
cURL is a computer software project providing a library (libcurl) and command-line tool (curl) for transferring data using various network protocols. The name stands for "Client for URL".
Colloquy is an open-source IRC, SILC, ICB and XMPP client for Mac OS X. Colloquy uses its own core, known as Chat Core, although in the past it used Irssi as its IRC protocol engine. One of the primary goals behind Colloquy was to create an IRC, SILC and ICB client with Mac OS X visuals. Colloquy contains a user interface that follows Apple's Human interface guidelines in addition to containing support for traditional IRC command-line controls such as /nick and /join.
BitlBee is a cross-platform IRC instant messaging gateway, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
The following is a comparison of instant messaging protocols. It contains basic general information about the protocols.
pisg, short for Perl IRC Statistics Generator is a popular open-source Internet Relay Chat (IRC) log file analysis and statistical visualization program. It is written in perl by Morten Brix Pedersen. It analyzes various formats of log files from IRC clients and bots and generates HTML pages containing statistics about the channel the logs were taken from. It is often considered a competitor to mIRCStats, a similar shareware program.
CGI:IRC is a CGI program written in Perl that allows access to IRC via a web browser. It is designed to be flexible and has many uses such as an IRC gateway for an IRC network, a chat-room for a website or to access IRC when stuck behind a restrictive firewall.
ircII is a free, open-source Unix IRC and ICB client written in C. Initially released in the late 1980s, it is the oldest IRC client still maintained.
WeeChat is a free and open-source Internet Relay Chat client that is designed to be light and fast. It is released under the terms of the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later and has been developed since 2003.
CommuniGate Pro (CGatePro) is a highly scalable carrier grade unified communications server, as well as a development platform. The system is Internet Protocol based. The server is a single process, multi-threaded application written entirely in C++. APIs are available for authentication, helper applications and directory services.
Ayttm is a multi-protocol instant messaging client. It is the heir of the EveryBuddy project.
KVIrc is a graphical IRC client for Linux, Unix, Mac OS and Windows. The name is an acronym of K Visual IRC in which the K stands for a dependency to KDE, which became optional from version 2.0.0. The software is based on the Qt framework and its code is released under a modified GNU General Public License.
Quassel IRC, or Quassel, is a graphical, distributed, cross-platform IRC client, introduced in 2008. It is released under the GNU General Public License version 2 and version 3, for GNU and Unix-like operating systems, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. It has also been ported to OS/2 Warp due to its cross-platform nature. Since the release of Kubuntu 9.04 Quassel is Kubuntu's default IRC client. Quassel uses the Qt application framework.
wolfSSH is a small, portable, embedded SSH library targeted for use by embedded systems developers. It is an open-source implementation of SSH written in the C language. It includes SSH client libraries and an SSH server implementation. It allows for password and public key authentication.