Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients

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This article is about Internet Relay Chat clients. For a comparison of instant messaging clients (including multi-protocol clients that support IRC), see Comparison of instant messaging clients. For a comparison of mobile Internet Relay Chat clients, see Comparison of mobile Internet Relay Chat clients.

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

General[edit]

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 Last Stable Release
AdiIRC[1][2] Per Amundsen Freeware Proprietary GUI C#
Adium Thijs Alkemade Free software GPL GUI Objective-C and C March 9, 2016 (1.5.10.2)
AmIRC[3][4][5][6] Oliver Wagner, Jamie van den Berge Freeware Proprietary GUI C
AndChat Freeware Proprietary GUI
Bersirc[7] Jamie Frater, Nicholas Copeland Free software LGPL GUI C (Delphi originally) 12 August 2005 (2.2.14)
BitchX Colten Edwards Free software BSD TUI, GUI C November 14, 2014 (1.2.1)
ChatZilla Mozilla Foundation Free software MPL, GPL, LGPL
tri-license		 GUI[Note 1] JavaScript, XUL August 10, 2015 (0.9.92)
Colloquy Timothy Hatcher, Kiji Roshi Desktop: free software,
Mobile: commercial		 BSD: mobile,
GPL: desktop		 GUI Objective-C March 22, 2014 (2.4.3)
Convos Nordaaker Free software Artistic License 2.0 Web Perl
degesch[8] Přemysl Janouch Free software BSD equivalent:
ISC		 TUI C
DMDirc[9][10][11] Chris Smith, Greg Holmes, Shane McCormack[12] Free software GPL GUI Java
ERC Free software GPL TUI, GUI Emacs Lisp
f-irc[13] Folkert van Heusden Free software GPL TUI C
HexChat[14] Berke Viktor Free software GPL TUI, GUI C 1 May 2016 (2.12.1)
HydraIRC[15][16][17] Hydra Freeware Proprietary[18]
(source available)[19]		 GUI C++, WTL
IceChat[20][21] Paul Vanderzee Free software GPL GUI C# (Visual Basic until 2004)[22]
ii (IRC IT)[23][24][25] Nico Golde, Anselm Garbe Free software BSD equivalent:
MIT/X Consortium		 filesystem-based FIFO C
Instantbird Florian Quèze Free software GPL GUI C/C++, JavaScript, CSS, XUL
ircII Michael Sandrof Free software BSD TUI C
IRCjr[26][27][28] Michael Brutman Free software GPL TUI C++
IRCCloud RJ, James Freemium  ? Web Erlang, JavaScript
Ircle Onno Tijdgat Commercial 30-day trial Proprietary GUI C
Irssi Timo Sirainen Free software GPL TUI C 24 March 2016 (0.8.19)
jIRCii[29][30][31][32][33] Raphael Mudge, Serge Baranov, Andreas Ravnestad Free software Artistic License 2.0 GUI, TUI Java
KiwiIRC Darren Whitlen Free software AGPL Web Javascript frontend, Node.js backend
KVIrc Szymon Stefanek Free software GPL GUI C++
Konversation Free software GPL GUI C++
LeafChat[34] Samuel Marshall Free software GPL GUI Java
LeetIRC[35][36] Mike Chambers Free software GPL TUI QuickBasic
LimeChat[37][38][39] Satoshi Nakagawa Free software GPL[40] GUI RubyCocoa (2007–2010)[39][40]
Objective-C(2010–)[41]
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[42] Proprietary GUI C/C++ (Borland C++ originally)[43]
Neebly[44][45][46] Christos Constantinou Freeware ? GUI
Nettalk Nicolas Kruse Freeware Apache 2.0 GUI Visual Basic
Opera Freeware Proprietary GUI[Note 2] C++
PChat Zach Thibeau, Luis Miranda Free software GPL GUI C++
Pidgeon[47] Free software GPL GUI 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 3], GUI[Note 4] C++ 17 May 2016 (0.12.4)
qwebirc Chris Porter Free software GPL Web JavaScript front end,
Python backend
rIRC Risharde R. Freeware Proprietary GUI Visual Basic .NET
rcirc Ryan Yeske Free software GPL TUI Emacs Lisp
Scrollback Askabt Free software AGPL Web, embeddable[Note 5] JavaScript frontend,
Node.js backend
Smuxi Mirco Bauer Free software GPL GUI, TUI, server[Note 4] C#
Snak Kent Sorensen Commercial Proprietary GUI ?
Textual[48] Codeux Software, LLC Commercial BSD
(3-clause )[49]		 GUI Objective-C
Visual IRC Free software GPL GUI ?
WeeChat Sebastien Helleu Free software GPL TUI, GUI[Note 6] C
XChat (evolved into Hexchat)[Note 7] Unix/Linux: free software; Windows: commercial, 30-day trial[50]

(Hexchat is free of charge)

 GPL; or proprietary for Windows TUI, GUI C 28 August 2010 (2.8.9)
Client Primary developers Distribution model Software license User interface Programming language
  1. ^ Can be installed as part of a web browser
  2. ^ Web browser component
  3. ^ Incomplete, proof of concept
  4. ^ a b Separate client and daemon
  5. ^ Can be used to embed an IRC channel on a web page.
  6. ^ No official GUI, several options available (e.g. Glowing Bear, a web frontend)
  7. ^ 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[edit]

A brief overview of the release history.

First public release First stable release Latest stable release
Client Date Version Date Version
AdiIRC 2005 2.4 (August 20, 2016; 33 days ago (2016-08-20)[58]) [±]
AmIRC 1995 3.6.2 (December 24, 2015; 8 months ago (2015-12-24)[59]) [±]
Bersirc 1999 2.2.14 (12 August 2005; 11 years ago (2005-08-12)) [±]
BitchX 1996 1.2.1 (November 14, 2014; 21 months ago (2014-11-14)) [±]
ChatZilla 2001 0.9.92 (August 10, 2015; 13 months ago (2015-08-10)[60]) [±]
Colloquy 2005 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014; 2 years ago (2014-03-22)) [±]
Convos 2013 0.6 (June 9, 2014; 2 years ago (2014-06-09)) [±]
degesch 2015 0.9 2015 0.9
DMDirc 2007 0.7 (January 5, 2013; 3 years ago (2013-01-05)[61]) [±]
ERC 1999? ERC improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±]
f-irc 2006? 0.0.1 1.36 (February 23, 2014; 2 years ago (2014-02-23)) [±]
HexChat 2009-10-04 r249 2009-10-09 2.86.0 2.12.1 (May 1, 2016; 4 months ago (2016-05-01)) [±]
HydraIRC 2002 0.3.165 (December 12, 2008; 7 years ago (2008-12-12)) [±]
IceChat 2002 3.0 2002-04-08 3.0 9.13 (July 3, 2016; 2 months ago (2016-07-03)) [±]
ii (IRC IT) 2005-12-19 0.1 2007-02-01 1.0
ircII 1990 20150903 (September 3, 2015; 12 months ago (2015-09-03)) [±]
IRCjr 2008 2008 mTCP_2013-04-26 (April 26, 2013; 3 years ago (2013-04-26)[62]) [±]
Ircle 1995 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007; 8 years ago (2007-11-17)) [±]
Irssi 1999 0.8.20 (September 21, 2016; 1 day ago (2016-09-21)) [±][63]
jIRCii  ?  ? 0.9 (July 20, 2011; 5 years ago (2011-07-20)) [±]
KVIrc 1998 0.6.0 1999-12-21 1.0.0 4.2.0 (July 3, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-07-03)[64]) [±]
Konversation 2002 1.6.2 (4 August 2016; 49 days ago (2016-08-04)[65]) [±]
LeafChat  ? 1.0 2.41 (October 4, 2011; 4 years ago (2011-10-04)) [±]
LeetIRC 2006 1.1 (March 18, 2008; 8 years ago (2008-03-18)[66]) [±]
LimeChat 2007 Mavericks / Mountain Lion

2.42 (June 22, 2014; 2 years ago (2014-06-22)) [±]

Lion
2.38 (September 12, 2013; 3 years ago (2013-09-12)) [±]
Linkinus 2007 2.4 (August 23, 2011; 5 years ago (2011-08-23)[67]) [±]
Mibbit 2008 web application, no version
mIRC 1995 7.46 (August 1, 2016; 52 days ago (2016-08-01)[68]) [±]
Neebly 2008-12-13 1.0.1 1.0.4 (February 28, 2009; 7 years ago (2009-02-28)[69]) [±]
Nettalk 2004 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012; 3 years ago (2012-10-30)[70]) [±]
Opera 1996 40.0.2308.62 (September 21, 2016; 1 day ago (2016-09-21)[71]) [±]
PChat 2010 2010 1.4.3
PIRCH 1995 1.0.1.1190 (January 1, 2001; 15 years ago (2001-01-01)) [±]
PJIRC 2002 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004; 11 years ago (2004-11-29)) [±]
Quassel 2008-08-27 0.3.0 0.12.4 (May 17, 2016; 4 months ago (2016-05-17)) [±]
qwebirc 2009 0.81 0.92 (February 13, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-02-13)) [±]
rIRC 2010 Preview Release 1 2012 1.44 1.4.4 (January 16, 2012)
Scrollback 2013 2013
rcirc  ?  ? 24.1 (June 10, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-06-10)) [±]
Smuxi 2008-07-29 0.6 2010-09-03 0.8 1.0 (August 9, 2015; 13 months ago (2015-08-09)) [±]
Snak 1997 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-03-11)[72]) [±]
Visual IRC 1995 2.0pl2 (200/187) (July 15, 2007; 9 years ago (2007-07-15)) [±]
Textual 2010 1.0.0[73] 2010 1.0.0 5.1.2 (April 7, 2015; 17 months ago (2015-04-07)[74]) [±]
WeeChat 2003 1.5 (May 1, 2016; 4 months ago (2016-05-01)[75]) [±]
XChat 1998 2.8.8 (source) (May 30, 2010; 6 years ago (2010-05-30)) [±]
2.8.9 (windows) (August 28, 2010; 6 years ago (2010-08-28)) [±]
Client Date Version Date Version Latest stable release
First public release First stable release

Operating system support[edit]

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 OS X (Intel/PPC) OS 9 OS 8 System 7 (PPC/68k) BeOS, Haiku OS/2, eCS AmigaOS (68k) AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) DOS
AdiIRC Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
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
Convos Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
degesch No No No No No No No No ? No No No No No No No No
ERC Yes Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? No No No No No ? ? ?
HexChat Yes Dropped (2.9.5) No No No No No No Yes 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
ii (IRC IT) ? ? ? No ? ? No ? Yes No No No ? No No No Yes
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[79] Yes Yes No No No Yes[80] No No No
LeafChat Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No
LeetIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes
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
Neebly Yes Yes[82] No No No No No No 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[84] Dropped[85] Dropped Dropped No Dropped Dropped No No No
PChat Yes Yes No No No 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 No 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 ? 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
Textual No No No No No No No No Yes No No No 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][Note 3] Partial[Note 1][Note 3] Partial[Note 1][Note 3] No Partial[Note 1][Note 3] Partial[Note 1][Note 3] 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[76][77]
  2. ^ a b Requires SwsVpkt[78]
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Requires OS X v10.4.3 or later
  4. ^ [81]
  5. ^ Does not support Windows 95 or Windows 98[83]

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
AdiIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
AmIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
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
Convos Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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
f-irc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 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
ii (IRC IT) 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
LeetIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No 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
Neebly 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Smuxi ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Snak No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Textual 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[86]
  3. ^ In development[86]
  4. ^ XChat tested on HP-UX 10.20 and 11[87]

Protocol support[edit]

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

Client CTCP DCC IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR
AdiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes script
AmIRC Yes Yes No No No ? No No ? No
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
Convos ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
degesch Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? No
DMDirc Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
ERC Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes[Note 1] No
f-irc Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? 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
ii (IRC IT) ? No Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] ? ? ? ? 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 ? script Yes[88][89][Note 2]
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
LeetIRC[36] No Partial No No No ? No No ? 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 ? ? ? script No
Neebly Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? No
Nettalk Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? No
Opera Yes[90] 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
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
Snak Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
Textual Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes[Note 5] Yes[Note 5] Yes Yes[91]
Visual IRC Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? No
WeeChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes[88][92][Note 2]
XChat Yes Yes Partial[Note 4] Yes ? No ? ? script Yes[88][89][Note 2]
Client CTCP DCC IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR
  1. ^ a b c d Supported via patch
  2. ^ a b c d 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
  5. ^ a b OS X supports this natively for SSL sockets

Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) support[edit]

Client CHAT Whiteboard SEND RESUME TSEND SEND T XMIT Passive DCC Server RDCC REVERSE RSEND Reverse / Firewall DCC File servers (FSERVs) XDCC VOICE
AdiIRC Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No Yes[Note 1] ? ? ? ? Yes[Note 1] ?
AmIRC Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No Yes No ? ?
Bersirc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
BitchX Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
ChatZilla Yes No Yes No[98] ? ? No No[Note 2] No No No No No No ? ?
Colloquy Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
Convos ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
f-irc No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No ?
HexChat Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
HydraIRC Yes No Yes Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ?
IceChat Yes No Yes ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ?
ii (IRC IT) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 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 ? ? ?
KVIrc Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 3] Yes[Note 3] Yes[Note 4]
LeetIRC[36] No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No ?
LimeChat ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Linkinus ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mibbit No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
mIRC Yes ? Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes[Note 1] ? ? Yes Yes Yes[Note 1] ?
Neebly ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Nettalk Yes No Yes Yes No No No No Partial No No No No ? ? ?
Opera No ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
PIRCH Yes No Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Textual No No Yes[102] No No No No No No No No No Yes[102] No No No
Visual IRC ? Yes ? Yes[Note 5] ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes[Note 4]
WeeChat Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes 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. ^ a b c d Supported via a script[101]
  2. ^ Planned for a later version
  3. ^ a b Supported via scripting
  4. ^ a b Incompatible with other IRC clients[99]
  5. ^ a b c Supports the DCC Resume protocol[100]
  6. ^ Supported via scripts and plugins[103]

Features[edit]

Information on what features each of the clients support.

Client Multi-server UTF-8 Proxy server irc:// URI scheme Automatic updates Scripting language
AdiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes C#, mIRC script
AmIRC No No ? No No ARexx
Bersirc Yes No ? ? ? N/A
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
Convos ? ? ? ? ? ?
degesch Yes Yes Yes N/A N/A Lua
DMDirc Yes Partial ? Yes Yes Custom Actions system, Java plugins
ERC Yes Yes Yes[Note 2] ? Yes[Note 3] Emacs Lisp
f-irc Yes Yes No No No N/A
HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua[Note 4], Javascript, C, C++, and via D-Bus.
HydraIRC Yes Yes ? ? Yes No
IceChat Yes Yes No ? Yes VBScript
ii (IRC IT) Yes Yes ? ? ? any, Shell script
ircII Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? ? IrcII script
IRCjr No No No No No N/A
Ircle Yes No ? ? ? AppleScript
Irssi Yes Yes Yes No No Perl
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? No Sleep
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Javascript, Node.js
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 ? N/A Yes Java
LeetIRC No No ? N/A No No
LimeChat Yes Yes ? ? ? N/A
Linkinus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes AppleScript, Cocoa
Mibbit Yes Yes ? Yes N/A N/A
mIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes mIRC script
Neebly No No ? ? ? N/A
Nettalk Yes Yes SOCKS Yes Yes VBScript, custom
Opera Yes Yes ? Yes Yes N/A
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
Textual Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes AppleScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Objective-C, shell 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.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "AdiIRC website". 
  2. ^ "AdiIRC - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com". download.com. CNET. October 23, 2013. 
  3. ^ Bouma, Mike (August 19, 2002). "Classic AmigaOS Emulation - A Guide for WinUAE". OS News. Retrieved March 24, 2010. 
  4. ^ Sallin, Nicolas. "AmIRC". www.biclodon.com. Retrieved March 24, 2010. 
  5. ^ Charalabidis, Alex (1999-12-15). "Odds and Ends: IRC for Other Platforms: Amiga". The Book of IRC: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Relay Chat (1st ed.). San Francisco, California: No Starch Press. p. 249. ISBN 1-886411-29-8. AmIRC is probably the most popular client for the Amiga. It supports all the basics, emphasizing well-developed standard features rather than modern toys, and provides a stable and secure chat environment. 
  6. ^ Jeacle, Karl (May 1996). "Running the Best Software: Internet Relay Chat: AmIRC". First Steps Amiga Surfin'. Bedford, Bedfordshire: Bookmark Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 1-85550-007-8. AmIRC is the aforementioned competition to Grapevine. As with the other "Am" applications, it is the Amiga Technologies choice for inclusion in the A1200 Surfer pack. 
  7. ^ Bersirc IRC Client - about Bersirc
  8. ^ [1]. GitHub.
  9. ^ "Introducing DMDirc - official site". DMDirc.com. 
  10. ^ "DMDirc 0.6.3 released". irc-junkie.org. 
  11. ^ Mead, Nick (February 26, 2008). "DMDirc 0.5.5 - Java IRC client for multiple platforms (review)". Softonic.com. 
  12. ^ "About DMDirc". DMDirc.com. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-08-20. 
  13. ^ f-irc
  14. ^ "HexChat website". 
  15. ^ "HydraIRC website". 
  16. ^ Vincent, Bill (December 5, 2007). "Software Review - IRC Clients Part Three: HydraIRC". WinExtra. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. 
  17. ^ Scott, Spencer (July 28, 2007). "My Top 5 Free Software Picks". LockerGnome. Archived from the original on 2008-05-10. 
  18. ^ http://www.hydrairc.com/content/developers
  19. ^ "HydraIRC releases version 0.3.165 and opens access to its sourcecode". IRC-Junkie.org. January 24, 2009. 
  20. ^ "IceChat Networks website". 
  21. ^ "IceChat IRC Client 7 review". download.com. CNET. October 16, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-05-26. 
  22. ^ IceChat History. IceChat.net
  23. ^ IRC IT (ii) IRC client. Official webpage. suckless.org.
  24. ^ Lederer, Christian ("phrozen77") (September 13, 2010). "ii – A Filesystem-based IRC Client". irc-junkie.org. Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany: IRC-Junkie.org: Your daily dose of IRC related news. Retrieved 2011-05-11. (rationale)
  25. ^ Schlitt, Tobias (November 27, 2008). "Tool of the year: ii (irc it)". Dinslaken, Germany: schlitt.info. (rationale)
  26. ^ Hall, Jim. "mTCP". freedos.org. 
  27. ^ Lederer, Christian ("phrozen77") (March 7, 2012). "IRCjr – An IRC Client for DOS". irc-junkie.org. Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany: IRC-Junkie.org: Your daily dose of IRC related news. Retrieved 2012-04-14. (rationale)
  28. ^ Brutman, Michael (2011). "IRCjr". brutman.com.  official page.
  29. ^ Mudge, Raphael. "jIRCII - The Ultimate IRC Client". oldschoolirc.com. 
  30. ^ Rasson, Damien (September 22, 2009). "Robusto cliente IRC con scripts" (in Spanish). Softonic.  (English).
  31. ^ Magic (November 20, 2004). "jIRCii review". mirc.net.
  32. ^ Mudge, Raphael (2008). Sleep 2.1 Manual. CreateSpace. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-4382-2723-8. 
  33. ^ "Scripting Java Applications with Sleep". Dr. Dobbs Journal. M&T Publications. 30: 38. July 1, 2005. 
  34. ^ "Download leafChat Free". Mac.softpedia.com. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2012-11-18. 
  35. ^ Hall, Jim. "LEETIRC". freedos.org. 
  36. ^ a b c Chambers, Mike (2006). "leetIRC". rubbermallet.org.  official page.
  37. ^ Cooper, Peter (2009). Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional. Apress. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4302-2363-4. Retrieved April 14, 2011. 
  38. ^ "LimeChat: IRC Client for Mac". Official site.
  39. ^ a b "LimeChat for the Mac releases version 1.5". IRC-Junkie.org. February 3, 2010. 
  40. ^ a b "Limechat". Github.
  41. ^ “do not load RubyCocoa” Commit on GitHub.
  42. ^ "mIRC: Register mIRC". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  43. ^ "mIRC: Personal FAQ". Retrieved 2011-04-09. 
  44. ^ Neebly website.
  45. ^ Mead, Rick (January 20, 2009). "Freeware Ribbon menu based IRC client". Softonic. 
  46. ^ "Neebly IRC Client 1.0.4". Softpedia. March 8, 2009. 
  47. ^ Pidgeon website.
  48. ^ "Textual: IRC for Mac OS X". 
  49. ^ "Textual".  GitHub.
  50. ^ "XChat for Windows". Retrieved 2010-11-27. 
  51. ^ "AdiIRC Download". Per Amundsen. Retrieved 2016-08-20. 
  52. ^ "About AmIRC". Harry Sintonen. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  53. ^ "ChatZilla :: Versions :: Add-ons for Firefox". Retrieved 2015-10-04. 
  54. ^ Mc Cormack, Shane (January 25, 2013). "DMDirc 0.7". Retrieved 2013-05-08. 
  55. ^ jhall1. "FreeDOS Software List: Networking". Retrieved 2012-04-26. 
  56. ^ Irssi 0.8.20 Released
  57. ^ "KVIrc 4.2.0 released". Retrieved 2012-07-04. 
  58. ^ "Konversation Homepage". Retrieved 4 August 2016. 
  59. ^ jhall1 (2008-03-18). "SourceForge.net: News: leetIRC v1.1". SourceForge. Retrieved 2009-04-24. 
  60. ^ "Release Notes – Linkinus". Conceited Software. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
  61. ^ "mIRC: Latest News". mirc.com. Retrieved 2016-08-01. 
  62. ^ "Neebly ChangeLog". Retrieved 2009-10-08. 
  63. ^ "Nettalk - www.ntalk.de - IRC-Client". Retrieved 2013-03-23. 
  64. ^ "Opera Stable 38.0.2220.31 update". 2016-06-14. Retrieved 2016-06-16. 
  65. ^ "Snak - IRC for Mac". Retrieved 2012-03-11. 
  66. ^ "Textual v1.0.0 commit".  GitHub.
  67. ^ "Mac App Store - Textual IRC Client". Retrieved 2015-04-08. 
  68. ^ "Version 1.5". weechat.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01. 
  69. ^ "SourceForge: BitchX files See "INSTALL" included with BitchX". Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
  70. ^ "WeeChat cygwin". Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
  71. ^ "SwsVpkt". Retrieved 2012-04-14. 
  72. ^ Connect to the ReactOS IRC Channels
  73. ^ 2012-07-03: 4.2.0 Released!
  74. ^ Requires RubyCocoa 1.0.0 or later
  75. ^ Requires Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later
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  80. ^ "X-Chat README". Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
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  82. ^ a b "Irssi-OTR and XChat-OTR homepage". Retrieved 2014-03-16. 
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  91. ^ "XChat: Scripts + Plugins". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
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