Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Abhyudaya63 (talk | contribs) at 09:29, 24 June 2020 (Chatzilla is not developed by Mozilla foundation. It is an extension of mozilla firefox browser.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client programs which have been discussed in independent published literature.

General

Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license, etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development.

Client Primary developers Distribution model Software license User interface Programming language
AdiIRC[1] Per Amundsen Freeware Proprietary GUI .NET Framework/C#
Adium Thijs Alkemade Free software GPL GUI Objective-C and C
Ambassador[2] Isengrim Free software MPL GUI[Note 1] JavaScript, XUL
AndroIRC[3] Madalynn Freeware Proprietary GUI ?
Bersirc[4] Jamie Frater, Nicholas Copeland Free software LGPL GUI C (Delphi originally)
BitchX Colten Edwards Free software BSD TUI, GUI C
ChatZilla James Ross, Robert Ginda, Samuel Sieb, Gijs Kruitbosch Free software MPL, GPL, LGPL
tri-license
GUI[Note 2] JavaScript, XUL
Colloquy Timothy Hatcher, Kiji Roshi Desktop: Free software,
mobile: commercial
BSD: mobile,
GPL: desktop
GUI Objective-C
ERC Alexander L. Belikoff, Sergey Berezin Free software GPL TUI, GUI Emacs Lisp
F-IRC Folkert van Heusden Free software GPL TUI C++
GrumpyChat[5] Petr Bena Free software LGPL GUI C++
HexChat[6] Berke Viktor Free software GPL TUI, GUI C
IceChat[7][8] Paul Vanderzee Free software GPL GUI C# (Visual Basic until 2004)[9]
Igloo[10] Jordan Koch Commercial Proprietary GUI Swift
Instantbird Florian Quèze Free software GPL GUI C/C++, JavaScript, CSS, XUL
IRCCloud[11] IRCCloud Ltd. Freemium Proprietary Web JavaScript frontend, Erlang backend
ircII Michael Sandrof Free software BSD TUI C
Ircle Onno Tijdgat Commercial, 30-day trial Proprietary GUI C
Irssi Timo Sirainen Free software GPL TUI C
Kiwi IRC Darren Whitlen Free software AGPL Web JavaScript frontend, Node.js backend
KVIrc Szymon Stefanek Free software GPL GUI C++
Konversation KDE Free software GPL GUI C++
LeafChat[12] Samuel Marshall Free software GPL GUI Java
LimeChat[13][14][15] Satoshi Nakagawa Free software GPL[16] GUI RubyCocoa (2007–2010)[15][16]
Objective-C (2010–)[17]
Linkinus Conceited Software Commercial, 15-day trial Proprietary GUI Objective-C
Mibbit Jimmy Moore Textual Adbar Proprietary Web JavaScript frontend,
Java backend
mIRC Khaled Mardam-Bey Shareware, 30-day trial[18] Proprietary GUI C/C++[19]
Monochrome[20] Peter Pawlowski Freeware GPLv2 GUI C#
Nettalk Nicolas Kruse Freeware Apache 2.0 GUI Visual Basic
Opera (until version 12.xx) [Note 3] Freeware Proprietary GUI[Note 4] C++
Pidgin Free software GPL GUI C
PIRCH Shareware Proprietary GUI Delphi
PJIRC Philippe Detournay Free software GPL GUI Java
Quassel Manuel Nickschas, Marcus Eggenberger, Alexander von Renteln Free software GPL TUI[Note 5], GUI[Note 6] C++
qwebirc Chris Porter Free software GPL Web JavaScript front end,
Python backend
rcirc Ryan Yeske Free software GPL TUI Emacs Lisp
Smuxi Mirco Bauer Free software GPL GUI, TUI, server[Note 6] C#
Snak Kent Sorensen Commercial Proprietary GUI ?
Thunderbird Mozilla Foundation Free software MPL 2.0 GUI C, C++, JavaScript
Visual IRC Jesse McGrew Free software GPL GUI Delphi
WeeChat Sebastien Helleu Free software GPL TUI, GUI[Note 7] C
XChat (evolved into HexChat)[Note 8] Peter Železný Unix/Linux: Free software; Windows: commercial, 30-day trial[21]

(HexChat is free software)

GPL; or proprietary for Windows TUI, GUI C
Client Primary developers Distribution model Software license User interface Programming language
  1. ^ Can be used as a standalone application or as part of a XUL-based web browser
  2. ^ Can be installed as part of a web browser
  3. ^ Opera 12.xx was the last version with IRC support. When Opera was rebased from Opera's own Presto layout engine to the Chromium browser, IRC and Mail were not ported.
  4. ^ Web browser component
  5. ^ Incomplete, proof of concept
  6. ^ a b Separate client and daemon
  7. ^ No official GUI, several options available (e.g. Glowing Bear, a web frontend)
  8. ^ xChat is no longer being developed by its original creators. Hexchat is entirely based on xChat and is now designed by new people.

Release history

A brief overview of the release history.

First public release First stable release Latest stable release
Client Date Version Date Version
AdiIRC 2005 1.0 Template:Latest stable software release/AdiIRC
Bersirc 1999 2.2.14 (12 August 2005; 18 years ago (2005-08-12)) [±]
BitchX 1996 1.2.1 (November 14, 2014; 9 years ago (2014-11-14)) [±]
ChatZilla 2001 0.9.93 (November 8, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-11-08)[22]) [±]
Colloquy 2005 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-03-22)) [±]
degesch 2015 0.9 2015 0.9
DMDirc 2007 0.7 (January 5, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-01-05)[23]) [±]
ERC 1999? ERC improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±]
F-IRC 2006? 0.1 1.36 (February 23, 2014)
HexChat 2009-10-04 r249 2009-10-09 2.86.0 2.16.2[24][25] Edit this on Wikidata (7 February 2024; 3 months ago (7 February 2024)) [±]
HydraIRC 2002 0.3.165 (December 12, 2008; 15 years ago (2008-12-12)) [±]
IceChat 2002 3.0 2002-04-08 3.0 9.54[26] Edit this on Wikidata (1 June 2023; 11 months ago (1 June 2023)) [±]
ircII 1990 20210314 (March 14, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-03-14)) [±]
IRCjr 2008 2008 mTCP_2023-03-31 (March 31, 2023; 13 months ago (2023-03-31)[27]) [±]
Ircle 1995 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007; 16 years ago (2007-11-17)) [±]
Irssi 1999 1.4.4 (March 31, 2023; 13 months ago (2023-03-31)) [±][28]
jIRCii ? ? ?
KVIrc 1998 0.6.0 1999-12-21 1.0.0 5.2.0 (January 14, 2024; 4 months ago (2024-01-14)[29]) [±]
Konversation 2002 Template:Latest stable software release/Konversation
LeafChat ? 1.0 2.5 (July 29, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-07-29)) [±]
LimeChat 2007 Mavericks / Mountain Lion

2.43 (January 26, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-01-26)[30]) [±]

Lion
2.38 (September 12, 2013; 10 years ago (2013-09-12)) [±]

Linkinus 2007 2.4.3 (August 23, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-08-23)[31]) [±]
Mibbit 2008 web application, no version
mIRC 1995 7.76 (7 January 2024; 4 months ago (2024-01-07)[32]) [±]
Nettalk 2004 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-10-30)[33]) [±]
Opera 1996 100.0.4815.21 (June 20, 2023; 10 months ago (2023-06-20)[34][35][36])


PIRCH 1995 1.0.1.1190 (January 1, 2001; 23 years ago (2001-01-01)) [±]
PJIRC 2002 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004; 19 years ago (2004-11-29)) [±]
Quassel 2008-08-27 0.3.0 0.14.0 (January 1, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-01-01)) [±]
qwebirc 2009 0.81 0.92 (February 13, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-02-13)) [±]
rIRC 2010 Preview Release 1 2012 1.44 1.4.4 (January 16, 2012)
Scrollback 2013 2013
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; 12 months ago (2023-04-23)) [±]
Snak 1997 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-03-11)[37]) [±]
Visual IRC 1995 2.0pl2 (December 30, 2007; 16 years ago (2007-12-30)) [±][38]
WeeChat 2003 4.2.1 (January 22, 2024; 3 months ago (2024-01-22)[39]) [±]
XChat 1998 Template:Latest stable software release/XChat
Client Date Version Date Version Latest stable release
First public release First stable release

Operating system support

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 AmigaOS (68k) AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) DOS
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
degesch No No No No No No No No ? No No No No No No No No
ERC Yes Yes ? No ? ? No ? Yes No No No No No ? ? ?
HexChat Yes Dropped (2.9.5) No No No No No No No No No No ? No No No No
HydraIRC Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No
IceChat Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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
IRCjr No Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 2] No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes
Ircle No No No No No No No No Yes[Note 3] Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Irssi Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? Yes No No No Yes Yes ? Yes No
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes No
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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[43] Yes Yes No No No Yes[44] No No No
LeafChat Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No
LimeChat No No No No No No No No Yes[Note 4] No No No No No No No No
Linkinus No No No No No No No No Yes[Note 3] 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 5] No No ? No No No No No No No No No
Opera Yes Yes Dropped (10.10) No Dropped Dropped Dropped No[46] Dropped[47] Dropped Dropped No Dropped Dropped 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
qwebirc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
rIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No No No No No No No No No
rcirc Yes Yes ? ? No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No
Scrollback Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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
XChat Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No ? Yes No No 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
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Requires Cygwin[40][41]
  2. ^ a b Requires SwsVpkt[42]
  3. ^ a b Requires OS X v10.4.3 or later
  4. ^ Requires RubyCocoa 1.0.0 or later
  5. ^ Does not support Windows 95 or Windows 98[45]

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
degesch ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ?
DMDIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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
HydraIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
IceChat No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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
IRCjr No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
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
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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
LimeChat No No No No No No No No No No No No No 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
Opera No No Yes No No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No Dropped 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 ? ? ? ? ?
qwebirc ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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] ?
XChat ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes[Note 4] Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes
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
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k BitchX is known to work on BSDI 2.0, 2.1, 3.1, 4.0; FreeBSD 2.x, 3.x, 4.0; NetBSD 3.x, 4.x; SunOS 4.1.4; Ultrix; AIX; HP-UX 9.x, 10.x; IRIX 5.x, 6.x; Solaris 5.x and later; Linux; OSF/1 (DEC Alpha); QNX
  2. ^ a b c WeeChat tested on FreeBSD 4.11, 5.4, 6.0; NetBSD 2.0, 2.1; OpenBSD 3.6, 3.7, 3.8; Solaris 5.10; QNX 6.3[48]
  3. ^ In development[48]
  4. ^ XChat tested on HP-UX 10.20 and 11[49]

Protocol support

What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client.

Client CTCP DCC IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR
Bersirc ? Partial No No ? ? ? ? ? No
BitchX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No
ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes script No
Colloquy Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No[50]
degesch Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? No
DMDirc Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
ERC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes[Note 1] No
HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes[Note 2]
HydraIRC Yes Yes ? No No ? No No ? No
IceChat Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No
IRCCloud Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No
ircII Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
IRCjr Yes No No No No ? No No No No
Ircle Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes[51]
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
KiwiIRC Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No
Konversation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No
LimeChat ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No
Linkinus Yes Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? No No
Mibbit ? Partial[Note 3][Note 4] No Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No
mIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No
Nettalk Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? No
Opera Yes[52] Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No
PIRCH Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? No
PJIRC ? Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? No
Quassel Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No[53]
qwebirc Yes No No Yes No ? No No No No
rcirc Partial No No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No
Scrollback Partial No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No
Smuxi Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No[54]
Snak Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
Visual IRC Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? No
WeeChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes[55][56][Note 2]
XChat Yes Yes Partial[Note 4] Yes ? No ? ? script Yes[55][57][Note 2]
Client CTCP DCC IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR
  1. ^ Supported via patch
  2. ^ a b c Supported via plugin
  3. ^ Cannot send files, can receive files up to 2 MB only
  4. ^ a b DCC does not always succeed at this stage

Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) support

Client CHAT Whiteboard SEND RESUME TSEND SEND T XMIT Passive DCC Server RDCC REVERSE RSEND Reverse / Firewall DCC File servers (FSERVs) XDCC VOICE
Bersirc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
BitchX Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
ChatZilla Yes No Yes No[58] ? ? No No[Note 1] No No No No No No ? ?
Colloquy Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
degesch No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
DMDirc Yes No Yes Yes ? ? No Yes No No No No Yes No No ?
ERC Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
HexChat Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
HydraIRC Yes No Yes Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ?
IceChat Yes No Yes ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ?
IRCCloud No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
ircII ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
IRCjr No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ?
Ircle ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Irssi Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
KiwiIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ?
Konversation Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ?
KVIrc Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 3]
LimeChat ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 No Yes Yes No No No No Partial No No No No ? ? ?
Opera No ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
PIRCH Yes No Yes Yes[Note 4] ? ? No No No No No No No No No ?
PJIRC Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Quassel No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ?
qwebirc 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 ? Yes[Note 4] ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes[Note 3]
WeeChat Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
XChat Yes ? Yes Yes No No ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? Yes[Note 6] ?
Client CHAT Whiteboard SEND RESUME TSEND SEND T XMIT Passive DCC Server RDCC REVERSE RSEND Reverse / Firewall DCC File servers (FSERVs) XDCC VOICE
  1. ^ Planned for a later version
  2. ^ a b Supported via scripting
  3. ^ a b Incompatible with other IRC clients[59]
  4. ^ a b c Supports the DCC Resume protocol[60]
  5. ^ a b Supported via a script[61]
  6. ^ Supported via scripts and plugins[62]

Features

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
degesch Yes Yes Yes Lua
DMDirc Yes Partial ? Yes Yes Custom Actions system, Java plugins
ERC Yes Yes Yes[Note 2] ? Yes[Note 3] Emacs Lisp
HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua[Note 4][Note 4][./Comparison_of_Internet_Relay_Chat_clients#cite_note-Features_HexChat_A-88 [Note 4]], JavaScript, C, C++, and via D-Bus.
HydraIRC Yes Yes ? ? Yes No
IceChat Yes Yes No ? Yes VBScript
ircII Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? ? IrcII script
IRCjr No No No No No
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes JavaScript
Ircle Yes No ? ? ? AppleScript
Irssi Yes Yes Yes No No Perl
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? No Sleep
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes JavaScript, Node.js
Konversation Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Shell script, Ruby, Python, Perl, Java, C++, C#, JavaScript[Note 6][Note 6][./Comparison_of_Internet_Relay_Chat_clients#cite_note-Features_Konversation_A-90 [Note 6]]
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes No KVS (custom), Perl, Python, C++
LeafChat Yes Yes ? Yes Java
LimeChat Yes Yes ? ? ?
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
Opera Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
PIRCH Yes No ? ? No Yes
PJIRC Yes Yes ? ? No Partial, JavaScript
Quassel Yes Yes Yes ? No No
qwebirc No Yes No Yes Yes 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)
XChat Yes Yes Yes Yes No Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby, C++, ECMAScript, Scheme (Guile)
Client Multi-server UTF-8 Proxy server irc:// URI scheme Automatic updates Scripting language
  1. ^ Automatically updates via the Sparkle framework
  2. ^ Can be added with separate packages.
  3. ^ Supports automatic updates via the Emacs package manager
  4. ^ Since 2.9.5 HexChat is shipped only with Perl and Python.
  5. ^ Supported as of version 20050921
  6. ^ Any language which supports DCOP may be used for Konversation scripting. Virtually any language can be made to support Konversation scripting by executing the command line "dcop" program.
  7. ^ Only looks for updates, they need to be manually downloaded and installed.

See also

References

  1. ^ "AdiIRC - Free IRC Client". www.adiirc.com. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  2. ^ Ambassador release statement
  3. ^ "AndroIRC - The best IRC client for Android your device need". www.androirc.com. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  4. ^ Bersirc IRC Client - about Bersirc Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ GitHub project.
  6. ^ "HexChat website".
  7. ^ "IceChat Networks website".
  8. ^ "IceChat IRC Client 7 review". download.com. CNET. October 16, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-05-26.
  9. ^ IceChat History. IceChat.net
  10. ^ "Igloo website".
  11. ^ "IRCCloud website".
  12. ^ "Download leafChat Free". Mac.softpedia.com. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  13. ^ Cooper, Peter (2009). Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional. Apress. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4302-2363-4. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  14. ^ "LimeChat: IRC Client for Mac". Official site.
  15. ^ a b "LimeChat for the Mac releases version 1.5". IRC-Junkie.org. February 3, 2010. Archived from the original on August 31, 2011.
  16. ^ a b "Limechat". GitHub.
  17. ^ “do not load RubyCocoa” Commit on GitHub.
  18. ^ "mIRC: Register mIRC". Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  19. ^ "mIRC: Personal FAQ". Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  20. ^ "Monochrome website".
  21. ^ "XChat for Windows". Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  22. ^ "ChatZilla :: Versions :: Add-ons for Firefox". Retrieved 2016-11-11.
  23. ^ Mc Cormack, Shane (January 25, 2013). "DMDirc 0.7". Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  24. ^ "2.16.2, The Final Release". 9 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  25. ^ "HexChat ChangeLog". 7 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  26. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  27. ^ mbbrutman. "mTCP TCP/IP applications for DOS PCs". Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  28. ^ "Irssi 1.4.4 Released". 31 March 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  29. ^ "2024-01-14: KVIrc 5.2.0 "Quasar" Released". Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  30. ^ "limechat/LimeChat.xcodepro at master". 2018-01-26. Archived from the original on 2020-04-26. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  31. ^ "Release Notes – Linkinus". Conceited Software. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  32. ^ "mIRC: Latest News". mirc.com. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
  33. ^ "Nettalk - www.ntalk.de - IRC-Client". Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  34. ^ "Thanks for downloading Opera". Opera Norway. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  35. ^ "Thanks for downloading Opera". Opera Norway. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  36. ^ "Index of /ftp/pub/opera/desktop/100.0.4815.21/". Opera Norway. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  37. ^ "Snak - IRC for Mac". Retrieved 2012-03-11.
  38. ^ https://sourceforge.net/projects/visualirc/files/ViRC/2.0pl2/
  39. ^ "Version 4.2.1". weechat.org. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  40. ^ "SourceForge: BitchX files See "INSTALL" included with BitchX". Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  41. ^ "WeeChat cygwin". Archived from the original on 2009-09-12. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  42. ^ "SwsVpkt". Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  43. ^ Connect to the ReactOS IRC Channels
  44. ^ 2012-07-03: 4.2.0 Released!
  45. ^ "Nettalk: Download". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  46. ^ "ReactOS compatibility database: Opera". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  47. ^ "Features removed from Opera 12 on Mac (IRC, BitTorrent)". Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  48. ^ a b "WeeChat: Supported OS". Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  49. ^ "X-Chat README". Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  50. ^ "Ticket 3915 requesting OTR support".
  51. ^ "Irssi 1.2.0 OTR Migration Path". Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  52. ^ "Changelog for Opera 9.0 for Windows". Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  53. ^ "Issue 1418 requesting OTR support".
  54. ^ "Issue 651 requesting OTR support".
  55. ^ a b "Cypherpunks - OTR-Enabled Software". Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  56. ^ "GitHub - weechat-otr - WeeChat script for Off-the-Record messaging". Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  57. ^ "Irssi-OTR and XChat-OTR homepage". Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  58. ^ "Mozilla ChatZilla: Bugzilla Bug 285630: chatzilla does not support resume for dcc downloads". 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  59. ^ "DCC negotiation and connection". Retrieved 2014-12-16.
  60. ^ "DCC Resume protocol". Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  61. ^ "SysReset mIRC FileServer". Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  62. ^ "XChat: Scripts + Plugins". Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2009-07-14.