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
AdiIRC[1][2] Per Amundsen Freeware Proprietary GUI C#
AmIRC[3][4][5][6] Oliver Wagner, Jamie van den Berge Freeware Proprietary GUI C
Bersirc[7] Jamie Frater, Nicholas Copeland Free software LGPL GUI C (Delphi originally)
BitchX Colten Edwards Free software BSD TUI, GUI C
ChatZilla Mozilla Foundation Free software MPL, GPL, LGPL
tri-license		 GUI[Note 1] JavaScript, XUL
Colloquy Timothy Hatcher, Kiji Roshi Desktop: free software,
Mobile: commercial		 Desktop: GPL,
Mobile: BSD		 GUI Objective-C
DMDirc[8][9][10] Chris Smith, Greg Holmes, Shane McCormack[11] Free software GPL GUI Java
ERC Free software GPL TUI, GUI Emacs Lisp
f-irc[12] Folkert van Heusden Free software GPL TUI C
HexChat[13] Berke Viktor Free software GPL TUI, GUI C (forked from XChat)
HydraIRC[14][15][16] Hydra Freeware Proprietary (source available)[17] GUI C++, WTL
IceChat[18][19] Paul Vanderzee Freeware GPL GUI C# (Visual Basic until 2004)[20]
ii (IRC IT)[21][22][23] Nico Golde, Anselm Garbe Free software MIT/X Consortium filesystem based FIFO C
ircII Michael Sandrof Free software BSD TUI C
IRCjr[24][25][26] Michael Brutman Free software GPL TUI C++
IRCCloud RJ, James Subscription service (free in alpha phase)  ? GUI Erlang, JavaScript
Ircle Onno Tijdgat Commercial 30-day trial Proprietary GUI C
Irssi Timo Sirainen Free software GPL TUI C
jIRCii[27][28][29][30][31] Raphael Mudge, Serge Baranov, Andreas Ravnestad Free software Artistic 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[32] Samuel Marshall Free software GPL GUI Java
LeetIRC[33][34] Mike Chambers Free software GPL TUI QuickBasic
LimeChat[35][36][37] Satoshi Nakagawa Free software GPL[38] GUI RubyCocoa (2007–2010)[37][38]
Objective-C(2010–)[39]
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[40] Proprietary GUI C/C++ (Borland C++ originally)[41]
Neebly[42][43][44] Christos Constantinou Freeware ? GUI
Nettalk Nicolas Kruse Freeware Apache 2.0 GUI Visual Basic
Opera Freeware Proprietary GUI[Note 2] C++
PChat[45] Zach Thibeau, Luis Miranda Free Software GPL GUI C++
Pidgeon[46] 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++
qwebirc Chris Porter Free software GPL Web JavaScript frontend,
Python backend
rIRC Risharde R. Free software Proprietary GUI Visual Basic .NET
rcirc Ryan Yeske Free software GPL TUI Emacs Lisp
Scrollback[47] 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] Michael Morris Commercial 3-clause BSD[49] GUI Objective-C
Visual IRC Free software GPL GUI ?
WeeChat Sebastien Helleu Free software GPL TUI, GUI[Note 6] C
XChat Unix/Linux: free software; Windows: commercial, 30-day trial[50] GPL; or proprietary for Windows TUI, GUI C
XChat-SE Freeware Proprietary (violates GPL) GUI C, C++
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 webpage.
  6. ^ In development

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 1.9.2 (November 30, 2013; 4 months ago (2013-11-30)[57]) [±]
AmIRC 1995 3.6.1 (July 14, 2012; 20 months ago (2012-07-14)[58]) [±]
Bersirc 1999 2.2.14 (August 12, 2005; 8 years ago (2005-08-12)) [±]
BitchX 1996 1.2-final (January 1, 2013; 15 months ago (2013-01-01)) [±]
ChatZilla 2001 0.9.90.1 (July 7, 2013; 9 months ago (2013-07-07)) [±]
Colloquy 2005 2.4.2 (5815) (May 20, 2013; 10 months ago (2013-05-20)) [±]
DMDirc 2007 0.7 (January 5, 2013; 15 months ago (2013-01-05)[59]) [±]
ERC 1999? ERC improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±]
f-irc 2006? 0.0.1 1.30 (January 1, 2014)
HexChat October 4, 2009 r249 October 9, 2009 2.86.0 2.9.6 (September 15, 2013)
HydraIRC 2002 0.3.165 (December 12, 2008; 5 years ago (2008-12-12)) [±]
IceChat 2002 3.0 April 8, 2002 3.0 9 RC8.3 (March 23, 2014; 28 days ago (2014-03-23)) [±]
ii (IRC IT) December 19, 2005 0.1 February 1, 2007 1.0
ircII 1990 20131230 (December 30, 2013; 3 months ago (2013-12-30)) [±]
IRCjr 2008 2008 mTCP_2013-04-26 (April 26, 2013; 11 months ago (2013-04-26)[60]) [±]
Ircle 1995 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007; 6 years ago (2007-11-17)) [±]
Irssi 1999 0.8.15 (April 3, 2010; 4 years ago (2010-04-03)) [±]
jIRCii  ?  ? 0.9 (July 20, 2011; 2 years ago (2011-07-20)) [±]
KVIrc 1998 0.6.0 December 21, 1999 1.0.0 4.2.0 (July 3, 2012; 21 months ago (2012-07-03)[61]) [±]
Konversation 2002 1.5 (15 January 2014; 3 months ago (2014-01-15)[62]) [±]
LeafChat  ? 1.0 2.41 (October 4, 2011; 2 years ago (2011-10-04)) [±]
LeetIRC 2006 1.1 (March 18, 2008; 6 years ago (2008-03-18)[63]) [±]
LimeChat 2007 Mac OS X Mountain Lion / Lion

2.32 (July 30, 2012; 20 months ago (2012-07-30)) [±]

Mac OS X Snow Leopard
2.30 (January 20, 2012; 2 years ago (2012-01-20)) [±]
Linkinus 2007 2.4 (August 23, 2011; 2 years ago (2011-08-23)[64]) [±]
Mibbit 2008 web application, no version
mIRC 1995 7.32 (May 23, 2013; 10 months ago (2013-05-23)[65]) [±]
Neebly December 13, 2008 1.0.1 1.0.4 (February 28, 2009; 5 years ago (2009-02-28)[66]) [±]
Nettalk 2004 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012; 17 months ago (2012-10-30)[67]) [±]
Opera 1996
Windows, OS X

20.0.1387.91 (April 2, 2014; 18 days ago (2014-04-02)[68]) [±]

Linux, FreeBSD

12.16 (July 4, 2013; 9 months ago (2013-07-04)[69]) [±]
PChat 2010 2010 1.4.3
PIRCH 1995 1.0.1.1190 (January 1, 2001; 13 years ago (2001-01-01)) [±]
PJIRC 2002 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004; 9 years ago (2004-11-29)) [±]
Quassel August 27, 2008 0.3.0 0.10.0 (April 7, 2014; 13 days ago (2014-04-07)) [±]
qwebirc 2009 0.81 0.92 (February 13, 2012; 2 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; 21 months ago (2012-06-10)) [±]
Smuxi July 29, 2008 0.6 September 3, 2010 0.8 0.10 (December 22, 2013; 3 months ago (2013-12-22)) [±]
Snak 1997 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012; 2 years ago (2012-03-11)[70]) [±]
Visual IRC 1995 2.0pl2 (200/187) (July 15, 2007; 6 years ago (2007-07-15)) [±]
Textual 2010 1.0.0[71] 2010 1.0.0 4.1.3 (February 13, 2014; 2 months ago (2014-02-13)[72]) [±]
WeeChat 2003 0.4.3 (February 9, 2014; 2 months ago (2014-02-09)[73]) [±]
XChat 1998 2.8.8 (source) (May 30, 2010; 3 years ago (2010-05-30)) [±]
2.8.9 (windows) (August 28, 2010; 3 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
ERC Yes Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? No No No No No ? ? ?
HexChat Yes Dropped (2.9.5) No No No No No No Yes[Note 2] 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 3] Yes[Note 3] 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 4] 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 Yes ? 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[77] Yes Yes No No No Yes[78] 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 5] No No No No No No No No
Linkinus No No No No No No No No Yes[Note 4] 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[80] No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Nettalk Yes Yes ? No Partial[Note 6] No No ? No No No No No No No No No
Opera Yes Yes Dropped (10.10) No Dropped Dropped Dropped No[82] Dropped[83] 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 4] Partial[Note 1][Note 4] Partial[Note 1][Note 4] No Partial[Note 1][Note 4] Partial[Note 1][Note 4] No ? Yes No No No Partial No No No No
XChat Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No ? Yes No No No ? ? No No No
XChat-SE Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No No No No 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[74][75]
  2. ^ Must be manually built on OSX.
  3. ^ a b Requires SwsVpkt[76]
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Requires OS X v10.4.3 or later
  5. ^ [79]
  6. ^ Does not support Windows 95 or Windows 98[81]

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
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

mIRC will run on *NIX systems under WINE: confirmed

  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[84]
  3. ^ In development[84]
  4. ^ XChat tested on HP-UX 10.20 and 11[85]

Protocol support[edit]

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

Client CTCP DCC IPv6 SSL TLS OCSP CRL SASL OTR
AdiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? script No
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
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 Yes No
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 No ? ? ? ? No
IRCjr Yes No No No No No No No No
Ircle Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? script Yes[86][87][Note 2]
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No
KiwiIRC Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No
Konversation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes No
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No
LeetIRC[34] 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 Partial[90][Note 5] ? ? ? script No
Neebly Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? No
Nettalk Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? No
Opera Yes[91] 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 6] Yes[Note 6] Yes No
Visual IRC Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? No
WeeChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes[86][92][Note 2]
XChat Yes Yes Partial[Note 4] Yes ? ? ? script Yes[86][87][Note 2]
XChat-SE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ?
Client CTCP DCC IPv6 SSL TLS OCSP CRL SASL OTR
  1. ^ a b c d 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
  5. ^ Wrapper library available
  6. ^ 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
AdIRC 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
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 ? 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]
LeetIRC[34] No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No
LimeChat ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Linkinus ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mibbit ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
mIRC Yes ? Yes Yes[Note 4] ? ? ? 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 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 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Textual Yes No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No
Visual IRC ? Yes ? Yes[Note 4] ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? Yes ? ?
WeeChat Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? Yes
XChat Yes ? Yes Yes No No ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? Yes[Note 5]
Client CHAT Whiteboard SEND RESUME TSEND SEND T XMIT Passive DCC Server RDCC REVERSE RSEND Reverse / Firewall DCC File servers (FSERVs) XDCC
  1. ^ a b c d Supported via a script[100]
  2. ^ Planned for a later version
  3. ^ a b Supported via scripting
  4. ^ a b c Supports the DCC Resume protocol[99]
  5. ^ Supported via scripts and plugins[101]

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
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 ? ? Yes VBScript
ii (IRC IT) Yes Yes ? ? ? 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 ? Perl
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? No Sleep
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes No 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)
XChat-SE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua, C, C++
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. ^ "Introducing DMDirc - official site". DMDirc.com. 
  9. ^ "DMDirc 0.6.3 released". irc-junkie.org. 
  10. ^ Mead, Nick (February 26, 2008). "DMDirc 0.5.5 - Java IRC client for multiple platforms (review)". Softonic.com. 
  11. ^ "About DMDirc". DMDirc.com. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-08-20. 
  12. ^ f-irc
  13. ^ "HexChat website". 
  14. ^ "HydraIRC website". 
  15. ^ Vincent, Bill (December 5, 2007). "Software Review - IRC Clients Part Three: HydraIRC". WinExtra. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. 
  16. ^ Scott, Spencer (July 28, 2007). "My Top 5 Free Software Picks". LockerGnome. Archived from the original on 2008-05-10. 
  17. ^ "HydraIRC releases version 0.3.165 and opens access to its sourcecode". IRC-Junkie.org. January 24, 2009. 
  18. ^ "IceChat Networks website". 
  19. ^ "IceChat IRC Client 7 review". download.com. CNET. October 16, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-05-26. 
  20. ^ IceChat History. IceChat.net
  21. ^ IRC IT (ii) IRC client. Official webpage. suckless.org.
  22. ^ 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)
  23. ^ Schlitt, Tobias (November 27, 2008). "Tool of the year: ii (irc it)". Dinslaken, Germany: schlitt.info. (rationale)
  24. ^ Hall, Jim. "mTCP". freedos.org. 
  25. ^ 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)
  26. ^ Brutman, Michael (2011). "IRCjr". brutman.com.  official page.
  27. ^ Mudge, Raphael. "jIRCII - The Ultimate IRC Client". oldschoolirc.com. 
  28. ^ Rasson, Damien (September 22, 2009). "Robusto cliente IRC con scripts" (in Spanish). Softonic.  (English).
  29. ^ Magic (November 20, 2004). "jIRCii review". mirc.net.
  30. ^ Mudge, Raphael (2008). Sleep 2.1 Manual. CreateSpace. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-4382-2723-8. 
  31. ^ "Scripting Java Applications with Sleep". Dr. Dobbs Journal (M&T Publications) 30: 38. July 1, 2005. 
  32. ^ "Download leafChat Free". Mac.softpedia.com. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2012-11-18. 
  33. ^ Hall, Jim. "LEETIRC". freedos.org. 
  34. ^ a b c Chambers, Mike (2006). "leetIRC". rubbermallet.org.  official page.
  35. ^ Cooper, Peter (2009). Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional. Apress. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4302-2363-4. Retrieved April 14, 2011. 
  36. ^ "LimeChat: IRC Client for Mac". Official site.
  37. ^ a b "LimeChat for the Mac releases version 1.5". IRC-Junkie.org. February 3, 2010. 
  38. ^ a b "Limechat". Github.
  39. ^ “do not load RubyCocoa” Commit on GitHub.
  40. ^ "mIRC: Register mIRC". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  41. ^ "mIRC: Personal FAQ". Retrieved 2011-04-09. 
  42. ^ Neebly website.
  43. ^ Mead, Rick (January 20, 2009). "Freeware Ribbon menu based IRC client". Softonic. 
  44. ^ "Neebly IRC Client 1.0.4". Softpedia. March 8, 2009. 
  45. ^ PChat-IRC website.
  46. ^ Pidgeon website.
  47. ^ Scrollback website.
  48. ^ "Textual: IRC for Mac OS X". 
  49. ^ "Textual".  GitHub.
  50. ^ "XChat for Windows". Retrieved 2010-11-27. 
  51. ^ "AmIRC Download". Per Amundsen. Retrieved 2014-02-26. 
  52. ^ "About AmIRC". Harry Sintonen. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  53. ^ Mc Cormack, Shane (January 25, 2013). "DMDirc 0.7". Retrieved 2013-05-08. 
  54. ^ jhall1. "FreeDOS Software List: Networking". Retrieved 2012-04-26. 
  55. ^ "KVIrc 4.2.0 released". Retrieved 2012-07-04. 
  56. ^ "Konversation Homepage". Retrieved 15 January 2014. 
  57. ^ jhall1 (2008-03-18). "SourceForge.net: News: leetIRC v1.1". SourceForge. Retrieved 2009-04-24. 
  58. ^ "Release Notes – Linkinus". Conceited Software. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
  59. ^ "mIRC: Latest News". mirc.com. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  60. ^ "Neebly ChangeLog". Retrieved 2009-10-08. 
  61. ^ "Nettalk - www.ntalk.de - IRC-Client". Retrieved 2013-03-23. 
  62. ^ "Opera stable 20.0.1387.91". 2014-04-02. Retrieved 2014-04-03. 
  63. ^ "Opera 12.16 changelog". 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2013-11-13. 
  64. ^ "Snak - IRC for Mac". Retrieved 2012-03-11. 
  65. ^ "Textual v1.0.0 commit".  GitHub.
  66. ^ "Mac App Store - Textual IRC Client". Retrieved 2014-02-13. 
  67. ^ "Version 0.4.3 - WeeChat news". weechat.org. Retrieved 2014-02-09. 
  68. ^ "SourceForge: BitchX files See "INSTALL" included with BitchX". Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
  69. ^ "WeeChat cygwin". Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
  70. ^ "SwsVpkt". Retrieved 2012-04-14. 
  71. ^ Connect to the ReactOS IRC Channels
  72. ^ 2012-07-03: 4.2.0 Released!
  73. ^ Requires RubyCocoa 1.0.0 or later
  74. ^ Requires Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later
  75. ^ "Nettalk: Download". Retrieved 2009-10-09. 
  76. ^ "ReactOS compatibility database: Opera". Retrieved 2010-01-05. 
  77. ^ "Features removed from Opera 12 on Mac (IRC, BitTorrent)". Retrieved 2012-08-02. 
  78. ^ a b "WeeChat: Supported OS". Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
  79. ^ "X-Chat README". Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
  80. ^ a b c "Cypherpunks - OTR-Enabled Software". Retrieved 2014-03-16. 
  81. ^ a b "Irssi-OTR and XChat-OTR homepage". Retrieved 2014-03-16. 
  82. ^ "Using SSL with mIRC". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  83. ^ "mIRC SSL How-to". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  84. ^ Requires the OpenSSL library[88][89]
  85. ^ "Changelog for Opera 9.0 for Windows". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  86. ^ "Github - weechat-otr - WeeChat script for Off-the-Record messaging". Retrieved 2014-03-16. 
  87. ^ "Mozilla ChatZilla: Bugzilla Bug 285630: chatzilla does not support resume for dcc downloads". 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  88. ^ "DCC Resume protocol". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  89. ^ "SysReset mIRC FileServer". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
  90. ^ "XChat: Scripts + Plugins". Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
 
Common terms
Lists and comparisons
Related protocols
See also
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