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Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients

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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.

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[1] Per Amundsen Freeware Proprietary GUI .NET Framework/C#
Adium Thijs Alkemade Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI Objective-C and C
Ambassador[2] Isengrim Free software MPL GUI[Note 1] JavaScript, XUL
AmIRC Oliver Wagner, Nicolas Sallin, Costel Mincea Free software GNU General Public License GUI ?
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 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[5] Petr Bena Free software LGPL GUI C++
HexChat[6] Berke Viktor Free software GPL-2.0-or-later 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++, 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-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[12] Samuel Marshall Free software GPL-3.0-or-later GUI Java
LimeChat[13][14][15] Satoshi Nakagawa Free software GPL-2.0-only[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 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[Note 3], GUI[Note 4] 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[Note 4] C#
Snak Kent Sorensen Commercial Proprietary GUI ?
Thunderbird Mozilla Foundation Free software MPL-2.0 GUI C, C++, JavaScript
Tiny[21] Ömer Sinan Ağacan[22] 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[Note 5] 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

[change | change source]

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; 20 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; 12 years ago (2013-07-07)) [±]
Colloquy 2005 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014; 11 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)[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; 23 months 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; 7 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; 12 years ago (2013-04-26)[26]) [±]
Ircle 1995 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007; 18 years ago (2007-11-17)) [±]
Irssi 1999 0.8.15 (April 3, 2010; 15 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; 13 years ago (2012-07-03)[27]) [±]
Konversation 2002 1.10.24083[28] Edit this on Wikidata 7 November 2024; 14 months ago
LeafChat ? 1.0 2.5 (July 29, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-07-29)) [±]
LimeChat 2007 Mac OS X Mountain Lion / Lion

2.32 (July 30, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-07-30)) [±]

Mac OS X Snow Leopard
2.30 (January 20, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-01-20)) [±]

Linkinus 2007 2.4 (August 23, 2011; 14 years ago (2011-08-23)[29]) [±]
Mibbit 2008 web application, no version
mIRC 1995 7.32 (May 23, 2013; 12 years ago (2013-05-23)[30]) [±]
Nettalk 2004 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-10-30)[31]) [±]
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; 9 years ago (2016-05-17)) [±]
qwebirc 2009 0.81 0.92 (February 13, 2012; 13 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; 12 years ago (2013-05-22)) [±]
Snak 1997 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-03-11)[32]) [±]
Visual IRC 1995 2.0pl2 (200/187) (July 15, 2007; 18 years ago (2007-07-15)) [±]
WeeChat 2003 0.3.8 (June 3, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-06-03)[33]) [±]
Client Date Version Date Version Latest stable release
First public release First stable release

Operating system support

[change | change source]

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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bersirc Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BitchX Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
Colloquy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
degesch 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 ? ? ?
HexChat Yes Dropped (2.9.5) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
HydraIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
IceChat Yes Dropped (9.50) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ircII Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
IRCjr Yes Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 2] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ircle Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 3] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Konversation Partial Partial Partial Yes Partial Partial Yes ? Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[37] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[38] Yes Yes Yes
LeafChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LimeChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 4] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Linkinus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 3] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mibbit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
mIRC Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Partial ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nettalk Yes Yes ? Yes Partial[Note 5] Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
PIRCH Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
PJIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Quassel Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
qwebirc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
rIRC 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
Scrollback Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smuxi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Snak Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Visual IRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WeeChat Partial[Note 1] Partial[Note 1] Partial[Note 1] Yes Partial[Note 1] Partial[Note 1] Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
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[34][35]
  2. 1 2 Requires SwsVpkt[36]
  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[39]

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 ? Yes ? ? ?
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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Colloquy 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
HexChat ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes
HydraIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
IceChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ircle Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LimeChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Linkinus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mibbit ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes
mIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nettalk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
PIRCH Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Visual IRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WeeChat ? ? Yes[Note 2] ? ? ? ? Yes Partial[Note 3] ? Yes[Note 2] ? Yes ? ? ? Yes[Note 2] ?
Client 386BSD BSD/OS (BSD/386, BSDI) FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD SunOS ULTRIX AIX A/UX HP-UX IRIX SCO OpenServer Solaris UnixWare Linux NeXTSTEP OpenVMS OSF/1 QNX Tru64 UNIX
  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[40]
  3. In development[40]

Protocol support

[change | change source]

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

Client IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR
Bersirc Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
BitchX Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes
ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes script Yes
Colloquy Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes[41]
degesch Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes
DMDirc Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
ERC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes[Note 1] Yes
HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 2]
HydraIRC ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes
IceChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ircII Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes
IRCjr Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ircle ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes[42]
jIRCii Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Konversation Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
LimeChat Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes
Linkinus Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes
Mibbit Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes
mIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
Nettalk Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
PIRCH Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
PJIRC Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Quassel Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes[43]
qwebirc Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
rcirc Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes
Scrollback Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes
Smuxi Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes[44]
Snak Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Visual IRC Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
WeeChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes[45][46][Note 2]
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

[change | change source]

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 ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
BitchX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes
ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes[47] ? ? Yes Yes[Note 1] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Colloquy Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
degesch Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
DMDirc Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
ERC Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
HexChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes
HydraIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes
IceChat Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes
IRCCloud 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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Ircle ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Irssi Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes
KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Konversation Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 3] Yes
LimeChat ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Linkinus ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mibbit Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
mIRC Yes Yes Yes[Note 4] ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? Yes Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ?
Nettalk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes
PIRCH Yes Yes Yes[Note 4] ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
PJIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Quassel Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
qwebirc Yes Yes Yes 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
Smuxi ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Snak Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Visual IRC ? ? Yes[Note 4] ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes[Note 3] Yes
WeeChat Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? 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[48]
  4. 1 2 3 Supports the DCC Resume protocol[49]
  5. 1 2 Supported via a script[50]

IRCv3 Support

[change | change source]

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+YesYesYesYesYes3.9+3.4+Yes3.4+YesYes3.0+Yes3.9+3.4+YesYesYesYesYes??????
Adium?????????????????????????????????
AmbassadorYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
AndroIRC?????????????????????????????????
Bersirc?????????????????????????????????
BitchXYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
ChatSharpYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
ChatZilla?????????????????????????????????
ColloquyYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??YesYesYesYes
CommuniYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
CoreIRCYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes????YesYesYesYes
ERC?????????????????????????????????
F-IRC?????????????????????????????????
GlircYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
GogumaYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes????YesYesYesYes
GrumpyChat
HexChatYesYesYesYes2.16YesYesYesYesYesYes2.16YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes2.16YesYes2.16YesYesYes??????
IRC for AndroidYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes????YesYesYesYes
IRCCloudYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?YesYes?YesYesYesYesYesYes
IRCjr?????????????????????????????????
IceChatYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
Igloo?????????????????????????????????
Instantbird?????????????????????????????????
Ircle?????????????????????????????????
IrssiYesGitGitGitYesGitYesYesGitYesGitGitYesGitYesYesYesYesYesYesGitYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
KVIrcYesYesYesGitYesGitYesYesGitYesGitYesYesYesYesYesGitYesYesGitYesYesGitYesYesYesYes??????
Kitteh IRC Client LibraryYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
Kiwi IRCYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?YesYes?YesYesYesYesYesYes
KonversationYesv20.11.80+v21.03.80+YesYesYesYesYesv21.03.80+YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesv21.04.0+YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
LeafChat?????????????????????????????????
LimeChatYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??YesYesYesYes
Linkinus?????????????????????????????????
MibbitYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?YesYes?YesYesYesYesYesYes
Mobile?????????????????????????????????
Monochrome?????????????????????????????????
Mozilla ThunderbirdYes72.0+72.0+YesYesYesYesYesYes73.0+YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes72.0+60.0+YesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
Net::Async::IRCYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
Nettalk?????????????????????????????????
PIRC.pl web clientYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?YesYes?YesYesYesYesYesYes
PIRCH?????????????????????????????????
PJIRC?????????????????????????????????
PalaverYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesdraft capdraft capYesdraft tagYesYesYesYesdraft capYesYes?Yes????YesYesYesYes
Pidgin?????????????????????????????????
QuasselYesYesYesYes0.14+YesYesYesYes0.14+ (opt in)Yes0.14+Yes0.14+YesYesYesYesYes0.14+0.14+YesYesYesYesYesYes??????
QuasseldroidYesYesYesYes0.14+ coreYesYesYesYes0.14+ core (opt in)Yes0.14+ coreYes0.14+ coreYesYesYesYesYes0.14+ core0.14+ coreYesYes?Yes????YesYesYesYes
Rust ircYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
Smuxi?????????????????????????????????
Snak?????????????????????????????????
SrainYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
SwircYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
TextualYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesv7.1.1+YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
The LoungeYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?YesYes?YesYesYesYesYesYes
Tiny?????????????????????????????????
Visual IRC?????????????????????????????????
WarrenYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
WeeChatYes2.2+YesYesYesYesYesYes2.2+YesYes2.2+Yes3.3+YesYesYesYes3.3+Yes3.3+YesYesYesYes3.3+Yes??????
XiRCON?????????????????????????????????
catgirlYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesTLS-onlyYesYesYesYesYes??????
gamjaYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?YesYes?YesYesYesYesYesYes
gircYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
irc-frameworkYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
ircII?????????????????????????????????
ircrobotsYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
kirc?????????????????????????????????
mIRCYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes7.62+YesYesYesYesYesYesYes7.62+YesYesYesYesYesYes??????
pydleYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????
qwebirc?????????????????????????????????
rcirc?????????????????????????????????
senpaiYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??????
tri-license?????????????????????????????????
zIRCYes1.2.4+1.2.4+YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes1.2.4+YesYesYesYes?Yes??Yes?????

IRCv3 SASL Mechanisms

[change | change source]

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

ClientEXTERNALPLAINSCRAM-SHA-256
AdiIRCYesYes3.4+
AmbassadorYesYesYes
BitchXYesYesYes
ChatSharp (lib.)YesYesYes
ColloquyYesYesYes
ColloquyYesYesYes
Communi(lib.)YesYesYes
CoreIRCYesYesYes
GlircYesYesYes
GogumaYesYesYes
HexChatYesYesYes
IRC for AndroidYesYesYes
IRCCloudYesYesYes
IceChatYesYesYes
IrssiYesYesYes
KVIrcYesYesYes
Kitteh IRC Client Library(lib.)YesYesYes
Kiwi IRCYesYesYes
KonversationYesYesYes
LimeChatYesYesYes
LimeChatYesYesYes
MibbitYesYesYes
Mozilla ThunderbirdYesYesYes
Net::Async::IRC(lib.)YesYesYes
PIRC.pl web clientYesYesYes
PalaverYesYesYes
QuasselYesYesYes
QuasseldroidYesYesYes
Rust irc(lib.)YesYesYes
SrainYesYesYes
SwircYesYesYes
TextualYesYesYes
The LoungeYesYesYes
Warren(lib.)YesYesYes
WeeChatYesYes3.2+
catgirlYesYesYes
gamjaYesYesYes
girc(lib.)YesYesYes
irc-framework(lib.)YesYesYes
ircrobots(lib.)YesYesYes
mIRCYesYes7.68+
pydle(lib.)YesYesYes
senpaiYesYesYes
zIRC(lib.)YesYesYes
ClientEXTERNALPLAINSCRAM-SHA-256

Features

[change | change source]

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 Yes ? ? ? N/a
BitchX Yes Yes ? ? ? 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 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
HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua[Note 4], JavaScript, C, C++, and via D-Bus.
HydraIRC Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
IceChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes VBScript
ircII Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? ? IrcII script
IRCjr Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/a
IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes N/a JavaScript
Ircle Yes Yes ? ? ? AppleScript
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Perl
jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? Yes 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 Yes 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[Note 7] mIRC script
Nettalk Yes Yes SOCKS Yes Yes VBScript, custom
PIRCH Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
PJIRC Yes Yes ? ? Yes Partial, JavaScript
Quassel Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
qwebirc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
rcirc Yes Yes ? ? Yes Emacs Lisp
Smuxi Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes (language agnostic)
Snak Yes Yes ? ? ? AppleScript, IrcII script
Visual IRC Yes Yes ? ? ? 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

[change | change source]
  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.