Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients

The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client[broken anchor] programs. Please see the individual products pages for more information. This page is does not include everything and may not be current.

General

Basic general information about the notableclients: 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 Per Amundsen Freeware Proprietary GUI .NET Framework/C#
Adium Thijs Alkemade Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI Objective-C and C
Ambassador Isengrim Free software MPL GUI JavaScript, XUL
AmIRC Oliver Wagner, Nicolas Sallin, Costel Mincea Free software GNU General Public License GUI ?
AndroIRC Madalynn Freeware Proprietary GUI ?
Bersirc 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 JavaScript, XUL
Colloquy Timothy Hatcher, Kiji Roshi Free software Desktop: GPL
Mobile: BSD		 GUI Objective-C
ERC Alexander L. Belikoff, Sergey Berezin Free software GPL-3.0-or-later TUI, GUI Emacs Lisp
GrumpyChat Petr Bena Free software LGPL GUI C++
HexChat Berke Viktor Free software GPL-2.0-or-later TUI, GUI C
IceChat Paul Vanderzee Free software GPL GUI C# (Visual Basic until 2004)
Igloo Jordan Koch Commercial Proprietary GUI Swift
Instantbird Florian Quèze Free software GPL GUI C++, JavaScript, CSS, XUL
Irccloud 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-2.0-or-later TUI C
Kiwi Darren Whitlen Free software Apache-2.0 Web JavaScript frontend, Node.js backend
KVIrc Szymon Stefanek Free software GPL GUI C++
Konversation KDE Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI C++
LeafChat Samuel Marshall Free software GPL-3.0-or-later GUI Java
LimeChat Satoshi Nakagawa Free software GPL-2.0-only GUI RubyCocoa (2007–2010)
Objective-C (2010–)
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 Proprietary GUI C/C++
Monochrome Peter Pawlowski Free software GPL-2.0-only GUI C#
Nettalk Nicolas Kruse Free software Apache-2.0 GUI Visual Basic
Pidgin Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI C
PIRCH Northwest Computer Services Shareware Proprietary GUI Delphi
PJIRC Philippe Detournay Free software GPL GUI Java
Quassel Manuel Nickschas, Marcus Eggenberger, Alexander von Renteln Free software GPL-2.0-or-3.0 TUI, GUI C++
rcirc Ryan Yeske Free software GPL-3.0-or-later TUI Emacs Lisp
Smuxi Mirco Bauer Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI, TUI, server C#
Snak Kent Sorensen Commercial Proprietary GUI ?
Thunderbird Mozilla Foundation Free software MPL-2.0 GUI C, C++, JavaScript
Tiny Ömer Sinan Ağacan Free software MIT TUI Rust
Visual IRC Jesse McGrew Free software GPL GUI Delphi
WeeChat Sebastien Helleu Free software GPL-3.0-or-later TUI, GUI C
XiRCON Mark Hanson Free software Proprietary GUI Borland C++, scripted with Tcl
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. ↑ Incomplete, proof of concept
  4. 1 2 Separate client and daemon
  5. ↑ No official GUI, several options available (e.g. Glowing Bear, a web frontend)

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 4.2 (29 March 2022)
AmIRC 1995
Bersirc 1999 2.2.14 (August 12, 2005; 21 years ago (2005-08-12)) [±]
BitchX 1996 1.2-final (January 1, 2013; 13 years ago (2013-01-01)) [±]
ChatZilla 2001 0.9.90.1 (July 7, 2013; 13 years ago (2013-07-07)) [±]
Colloquy 2005 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014; 12 years ago (2014-03-22)) [±]
degesch 2015 0.9 2015 0.9
DMDirc 2007 0.7 (January 5, 2013; 13 years ago (2013-01-05)) [±]
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 Edit this on Wikidata (7 February 2024; 2 years ago (7 February 2024)) [±]
HydraIRC 2002 0.3.165 (December 12, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-12-12)) [±]
IceChat 2002 3.0 2002-04-08 3.0 9.21 (January 27, 2018; 8 years ago (2018-01-27)) [±]
ircII 1989 2.0.0 1989 2.0.0 20111115 (November 15, 2011; 14 years ago (2011-11-15)) [±]
IRCjr 2008 2008 mTCP_2013-04-26 (April 26, 2013; 13 years ago (2013-04-26)) [±]
Ircle 1995 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007; 18 years ago (2007-11-17)) [±]
Irssi 1999 0.8.15 (April 3, 2010; 16 years ago (2010-04-03)) [±]
jIRCii ? ? ?
kirc 2020 0.0.1
KVIrc 1998 0.6.0 1999-12-21 1.0.0 4.2.0 (July 3, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-07-03)) [±]
Konversation 2002 1.10.24083 Edit this on Wikidata 7 November 2024; 23 months ago
LeafChat ? 1.0 2.5 (July 29, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-07-29)) [±]
LimeChat 2007 Mac OS X Mountain Lion / Lion

2.32 (July 30, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-07-30)) [±]

Mac OS X Snow Leopard
2.30 (January 20, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-01-20)) [±]

Linkinus 2007 2.4 (August 23, 2011; 15 years ago (2011-08-23)) [±]
Mibbit 2008 web application, no version
mIRC 1995 7.32 (May 23, 2013; 13 years ago (2013-05-23)) [±]
Nettalk 2004 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-10-30)) [±]
PIRCH 1995 1.0.1.1190 (December 31, 2000; 25 years ago (2000-12-31)) [±]
PJIRC 2002 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004; 21 years ago (2004-11-29)) [±]
Quassel 2008-08-27 0.3.0 0.12.4 (May 17, 2016; 10 years ago (2016-05-17)) [±]
qwebirc 2009 0.81 0.92 (February 13, 2012; 14 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 0.8.11 (May 22, 2013; 13 years ago (2013-05-22)) [±]
Snak 1997 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-03-11)) [±]
Visual IRC 1995 2.0pl2 (200/187) (July 15, 2007; 19 years ago (2007-07-15)) [±]
WeeChat 2003 0.3.8 (June 3, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-06-03)) [±]
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, 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 Yes Yes No Yes Yes 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 Dropped (9.50) 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 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? Yes No No No No No No ? No
IRCjr No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes
Ircle No No No No No No No No Yes 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 Yes Yes No No No Yes 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 No No No No No No No No
Linkinus No No No No No No No No Yes 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 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
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 Partial Partial No Partial Partial 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
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Requires Cygwin
  2. 1 2 Requires SwsVpkt
  3. 1 2 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

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 Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ?
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
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 ? ? ? ? Yes Partial ? 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 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. 1 2 3 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
  3. ↑ In development

Protocol support

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
degesch Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? No
DMDirc Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
ERC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No
HexChat Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes
HydraIRC ? No No ? No No ? No
IceChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No
ircII Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No
IRCjr No No No ? No No No No
Ircle ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes
jIRCii Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No
Konversation Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No
LimeChat Yes Yes ? ? ? ? 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
qwebirc No Yes No ? No No No No
rcirc No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No
Scrollback Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No
Smuxi Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No
Snak Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No
Visual IRC No No ? ? ? ? ? No
WeeChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
Client IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR
  1. ↑ Supported via patch
  2. 1 2 Supported via plugin

Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) support

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 ? ? No No No 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 Yes Yes ? ? No Yes No No No No Yes No No ? No
ERC Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
HexChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? No
HydraIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? No
IceChat Yes Yes ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? No
IRCCloud No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
ircII Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No
KiwiIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ? No
Konversation Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
LimeChat ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Linkinus ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mibbit No ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
mIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Nettalk Yes Yes Yes No No No No Partial No No No No ? ? ? No
PIRCH Yes Yes Yes ? ? 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
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 No ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes 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
  1. ↑ Planned for a later version
  2. 1 2 Supported via scripting
  3. 1 2 Incompatible with other IRC clients
  4. 1 2 3 Supports the DCC Resume protocol
  5. 1 2 Supported via a script

IRCv3 Support

This software is compliant natively; other software may be compliant with extensions.

ClientsCAPCAP 302Cap-notifyAccount-notifyaccount-tagAway-notifybatchBot Modechghostecho-messageextended-joinInvite-notifylabeled-responsemessage-tagsMonitormsgidmulti-prefixSASL v3.1SASL v3.2server-timesetnamestsuserhost-in-namesUTF8ONLYWHOX+typingdraft/chathistoryWebIRCdraft/account-registrationdraft/extended-monitordraft/multiline+draft/react+draft/reply
AdiIRCYes3.0+3.0+YesYesYes3.0+NoYesYesYesYes3.9+3.4+Yes3.4+YesYes3.0+Yes3.9+3.4+YesNoNoNoNo??????
Adium?????????????????????????????????
AmbassadorYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesNoNoNoNo??????
AndroIRC?????????????????????????????????
Bersirc?????????????????????????????????
BitchXYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo??????
ChatSharpYesYesYesYesNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesYesNoYesNoNoYes?No??No?????
ChatZilla?????????????????????????????????
ColloquyYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesYesNoYesNoNoYesNoYesNoNo??NoNoNoNo
CommuniYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYes?No??No?????
CoreIRCYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYes?No????NoNoNoNo
ERC?????????????????????????????????
F-IRC?????????????????????????????????
GlircYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesNoYesNoNoNoNoNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesNoNoNoNo??????
GogumaYesYesYesNoNoYesYesYesNoYesNoNoNoYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesNoNo?Yes????YesNoNoNo
GrumpyChat
HexChatYesYesYesYes2.16YesNoNoYesNoYes2.16NoNoYesNoYesYesYesYes2.16NoYes2.16YesNoNo??????
IRC for AndroidYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesYesNoNoNoNoNo?No????NoNoNoNo
IRCCloudYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?YesYes?NoNoYesYesYesYes
IRCjr?????????????????????????????????
IceChatYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesYesNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNo??????
Igloo?????????????????????????????????
Instantbird?????????????????????????????????
Ircle?????????????????????????????????
IrssiYesGitGitGitNoGitNoNoGitNoGitGitNoGitNoNoYesYesNoNoGitNoNoNoYesNoNo??????
KVIrcYesNoNoGitNoGitNoNoGitNoGitNoNoNoNoNoGitYesNoGitNoNoGitNoNoNoNo??????
Kitteh IRC Client LibraryYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?No??Yes?????
Kiwi IRCYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoYesNoYesYesYesYesYesNoNoYes?YesNo?NoNoNoNoNoNo
KonversationYesv20.11.80+v21.03.80+YesNoYesNoNov21.03.80+NoYesNoNoNoNoNoYesYesv21.04.0+YesNoNoYesNoYesNoNo??????
LeafChat?????????????????????????????????
LimeChatYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo??NoNoNoNo
Linkinus?????????????????????????????????
MibbitYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNo?NoNo?NoNoNoNoNoNo
Mobile?????????????????????????????????
Monochrome?????????????????????????????????
Mozilla ThunderbirdYes72.0+72.0+NoNoNoNoNoNo73.0+NoNoNoNoYesNoYesYes72.0+60.0+NoNoNoNoNoNoNo??????
Net::Async::IRCYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo?No??No?????
Nettalk?????????????????????????????????
PIRC.pl web clientYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesNoYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYes?YesYes?NoNoNoNoNoNo
PIRCH?????????????????????????????????
PJIRC?????????????????????????????????
PalaverYesYesYesNoYesNoYesNoYesYesNoYesdraft capdraft capYesdraft tagYesYesYesYesdraft capYesYes?No????NoNoYesNo
Pidgin?????????????????????????????????
QuasselYesYesYesYes0.14+YesNoNoYes0.14+ (opt in)Yes0.14+No0.14+NoNoYesYesYes0.14+0.14+NoYesNoYesNoNo??????
QuasseldroidYesYesYesYes0.14+ coreYesNoNoYes0.14+ core (opt in)Yes0.14+ coreNo0.14+ coreNoNoYesYesYes0.14+ core0.14+ coreNoYes?Yes????NoNoNoNo
Rust ircYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYes?No??No?????
Smuxi?????????????????????????????????
Snak?????????????????????????????????
SrainYesYesYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoYesYesYesNoNoNoYesNoNoNo??????
SwircYesNoNoYesNoYesNoNoNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoYesNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNo??????
TextualYesYesNoNoNoYesYesNov7.1.1+YesNoNoNoNoYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoNoNoNo??????
The LoungeYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?NoNo?YesNoNoNoNoNo
Tiny?????????????????????????????????
Visual IRC?????????????????????????????????
WarrenYesYesYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesYesNoNoYesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYes?No??No?????
WeeChatYes2.2+YesYesNoYesNoNo2.2+NoYes2.2+No3.3+YesNoYesYes3.3+Yes3.3+NoYesNoYes3.3+No??????
XiRCON?????????????????????????????????
catgirlYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoYesYesNoYesNoNoYesYesNoYesYesTLS-onlyYesNoNoNoNo??????
gamjaYesYesYesYesNoYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoNo?YesNo?NoYesYesNoNoNo
gircYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYes?No??Yes?????
irc-frameworkYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYes?No??No?????
ircII?????????????????????????????????
ircrobotsYesYesYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesNoYesYesYes?No??No?????
kirc?????????????????????????????????
mIRCYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesNoYesYes7.62+YesYesYesYesYesYesYes7.62+YesYesNoYesNoNo??????
pydleYesYesNoYesYesYesNoNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesNoYesYesNoNoNoNoYes?No??No?????
qwebirc?????????????????????????????????
rcirc?????????????????????????????????
senpaiYesYesYesNoNoYesYesNoNoYesNoYesNoYesNoNoYesYesYesYesYesNoNoNoNoYesYes??????
tri-license?????????????????????????????????
zIRCYes1.2.4+1.2.4+NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoYes1.2.4+NoNoNoNo?No??No?????

IRCv3 SASL Mechanisms

IRC SASL authentication primarily uses the same mechanisms as SASL in other protocols. Most commonly:

ClientEXTERNALPLAINSCRAM-SHA-256
AdiIRCYesYes3.4+
AmbassadorNoNoNo
BitchXNoYesNo
ChatSharp (lib.)NoNoNo
ColloquyNoYesNo
ColloquyNoYesNo
Communi(lib.)NoYesNo
CoreIRCYesYesYes
GlircYesYesYes
GogumaNoYesNo
HexChatYesYesNo
IRC for AndroidNoNoNo
IRCCloudNoYesYes
IceChatNoYesNo
IrssiYesYesNo
KVIrcYesYesNo
Kitteh IRC Client Library(lib.)YesYesNo
Kiwi IRCNoYesNo
KonversationYesYesNo
LimeChatNoYesNo
LimeChatNoYesNo
MibbitNoYesNo
Mozilla ThunderbirdNoYesNo
Net::Async::IRC(lib.)NoNoNo
PIRC.pl web clientNoYesNo
PalaverNoYesNo
QuasselYesYesNo
QuasseldroidNoYesNo
Rust irc(lib.)NoYesNo
SrainYesYesNo
SwircNoYesYes
TextualYesYesNo
The LoungeYesYesNo
Warren(lib.)NoYesNo
WeeChatYesYes3.2+
catgirlYesYesNo
gamjaNoYesNo
girc(lib.)YesYesNo
irc-framework(lib.)NoYesNo
ircrobots(lib.)NoYesYes
mIRCYesYes7.68+
pydle(lib.)NoYesNo
senpaiNoYesNo
zIRC(lib.)YesYesNo
ClientEXTERNALPLAINSCRAM-SHA-256

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 ? ? ? N/a
BitchX Yes No ? ? ? Enhanced IrcII script
ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes JavaScript
Colloquy Yes Yes ? Yes Yes AppleScript, Cocoa, F-Script, JavaScript, Python
degesch Yes Yes Yes N/a N/a Lua
DMDirc Yes Partial ? Yes Yes Custom Actions system, Java plugins
ERC Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Emacs Lisp
HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua, JavaScript, C, C++, and via D-Bus.
HydraIRC Yes Yes ? ? Yes No
IceChat Yes Yes No Yes Yes VBScript
ircII Yes Yes ? ? ? IrcII script
IRCjr No No No No No N/a
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes N/a JavaScript
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
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes No KVS (custom), Perl, Python, C++
LeafChat Yes Yes ? N/a Yes Java
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
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
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)
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.

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. Archived from the original on 2021-03-19. 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.[permanent dead link]
  14. ↑ "LimeChat: IRC Client for Mac" Archived 2014-11-25 at the Wayback Machine. Official site.
  15. 1 2 "LimeChat for the Mac releases version 1.5". IRC-Junkie.org. February 3, 2010. Archived from the original on August 31, 2011.
  16. 1 2 "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. ↑ "Tiny - Yet another terminal IRC client". GitHub. 28 July 2022.
  22. ↑ "Tiny - Yet another terminal IRC client". GitHub. 8 November 2021.
  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. ↑ jhall1. "FreeDOS Software List: Networking". Retrieved 2012-04-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ↑ "KVIrc 4.2.0 released". Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  28. ↑ "Release 1.10.24083 of Konversation".
  29. ↑ "Release Notes – Linkinus". Conceited Software. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  30. ↑ "mIRC: Latest News". mirc.com. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  31. ↑ "Nettalk - www.ntalk.de - IRC-Client". Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  32. ↑ "Snak - IRC for Mac". Retrieved 2012-03-11.
  33. ↑ "Version 0.3.8 - WeeChat dev news". weechat.org. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
  34. ↑ "SourceForge: BitchX files See "INSTALL" included with BitchX". Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  35. ↑ "WeeChat cygwin". Archived from the original on 2009-09-12. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  36. ↑ "SwsVpkt". Archived from the original on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  37. ↑ Connect to the ReactOS IRC Channels
  38. ↑ 2012-07-03: 4.2.0 Released!
  39. ↑ "Nettalk: Download". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  40. 1 2 "WeeChat: Supported OS". Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  41. ↑ "Ticket 3915 requesting OTR support". Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  42. ↑ "Irssi 1.2.0 OTR Migration Path". Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  43. ↑ "Issue 1418 requesting OTR support".
  44. ↑ "Issue 651 requesting OTR support".
  45. ↑ "Cypherpunks - OTR-Enabled Software". Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  46. ↑ "GitHub - weechat-otr - WeeChat script for Off-the-Record messaging". GitHub. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  47. ↑ "Mozilla ChatZilla: Bugzilla Bug 285630: chatzilla does not support resume for dcc downloads". 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  48. ↑ "DCC negotiation and connection". Retrieved 2014-12-16.
  49. ↑ "DCC Resume protocol". Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  50. ↑ "SysReset mIRC FileServer". Retrieved 2009-07-14.