Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients

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The following comparison of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients gives an overview of features and differences between various IRC clients.

Client First public release date Latest stable Date of latest Cost (USD) Software license Programming language
0irc 2000 1.4.53 2007 Free Freeware  ?
AmIRC 1995 3.5.28 2007 $30 Proprietary  ?
BitchX 1996 1.1 2004 Free BSD License C
Bersirc 1999 2.2.14 2005 Free LGPL C
bnIRC [1] 2004 4 - Beta Free LGPL / ncurses-based  ?
ccorp-irc [2] 2004 3 - Alpha Free LGPL / ncurses-based  ?
ChatZilla 2001 0.9.83 2008 Free MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license JavaScript, XUL
ClicksAndWhistles 2008 2.0.9 2008 Free Freeware C++
Colloquy 2005 2.1 2007 Free GPL Objective-C
Conspire 2007 0.20 2008 Free GPL C
Coolsmile 2002 20080512 beta 2008 Free GPL Java
EPIC 1994 epic4-2.10 2008 Free BSD License C
HydraIRC 2002 0.3.160 2008 Free Proprietary C++
IceChat 2002 7.63 2008 Free Proprietary Visual Basic
ii 2006 1.1 2007 Free MIT/X Consortium License C
ircII 1990 20060725 2006 Free BSD License C
IRCle 1995 3.1.2 2005 $23, 30-day trial Proprietary  ?
Irssi 1999 0.8.12 2007 Free GPL C
JedIrc 2007 3.2.1 2008 Free Freeware  ?
Jini 2002 0.0.6  ? Free GPL Java
Klient 1999 2.2.1 2006 $24.95, 30-day trial (No Longer Servicing Keys) Proprietary Borland Delphi
Konversation 2002 1.1 2008 Free GPL C++
Kopete 2003 0.12.4 2007 Free GPL C++
KoroIRC 2004 0.3.080208 2008 Free Proprietary C
KSirc 1997 3.3.2-5  ? Free GPL  ?
KVIrc 1998 3.4.2 "Shiny"  (October 14, 2008) 2008 Free GPL C++
LeetIRC for DOS 2006 1.1 2006 Free GPL Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.5
LimeChat 2007 Mac OS X : 2.18 2008 Free GPL RubyCocoa
Linkinus 2007 1.3 2007 $20, 15-day trial (optional) Proprietary  ?
Mibbit 2008 No Version 2007 Free, Textual Adbar Website Javascript Frontend; Java Backend
Miranda IM 2000 0.7.13 2008 Free GPL C++
mIRC 1995 6.35 2008 $20, 30-day trial (optional) Proprietary C/C++ (originally Borland C++)[3]
Neebly [4] 2008 1.0.1 2008 Free Freeware WPF/XAML
Nettalk 2004 6.4.32 2007 Free Apache License v2.0 Visual Basic
nexIRC 2004 2.26 2004 $20 Proprietary
Opera 1996 9.63  (16 December 2008; 22 days ago) 2007 Free Proprietary C++
OrnateIRC 2001 1.6 Free Proprietary
PhibianIRC 2005 1.5.5 2008 Free Proprietary
Pidgin 2000 2.5.3  (20 December 2008; 18 days ago) 2008 Free GPL C
PIRCH 1995 1.0.1.1190 1998 Shareware $20 (optional) Proprietary
PJIRC 2002 2.2.1 2004 Free GPL Java
Quassel 2008 0.2 2008 Free GPL C++
savIRC 2001 2.1.0 2007 Free GPL Tcl/tk
ScrollZ 1994 1.9.99 2007 Free BSD License
ShadowIRC 1996 1.1.0b2 2001 Free GPL
Smuxi 2008 0.6.0 2008 Free GPL C#
Snak 1997 5.3.1 2007 $29 Proprietary
sushi 2008 1.0-beta1 2008 Free BSD License C, Python
Trillian 2000 3.1.0.121 2007 Free ($25 for Trillian Pro) Clickwrap license
TurboIRC 1998 7 2007 Free Proprietary
Visual IRC 1995 2.0pl2 2007 Free GPL
Vortec IRC 2001 0.8.34 2008 Free Proprietary Borland Delphi
WeeChat 2003 0.2.6 2007 Free GPL C
WookieChat 2004 2.9 2007 Free Freeware
XiRCON 1996 1.0B4 1997 Free Freeware
XChat 1998 2.8.6 (Linux) - 2.8.7c (Windows) 2008 UNIX/Linux versions: Free
Windows version: $20, 30-day trial (free builds available)		 GPL C
ThrashIRC 2003 2.1 2008 $10, 30-day trial Proprietary C++
First public release date Latest stable Date of latest Cost (USD) Software license Programming language

Client Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD / Unix AmigaOS
0irc Yes No No No No
AmIRC No No No No Yes
BitchX Partial Partial Yes Yes Yes
Bersirc Yes No Yes Yes Yes
ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes No
ClicksAndWhistles Yes No No No No
Colloquy No Yes No No No
Conspire No No Yes Yes No
Coolsmile Yes Yes Yes Yes No
EPIC Partial Partial Yes Yes No
HydraIRC Yes No No No No
IceChat Yes No No No No
ii No Partial Yes Yes No
ircII No Partial Yes Yes No
IRCle No Yes No No No
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Klient Yes No No No No
Konversation No Partial Yes Yes No
Kopete Partial Partial Yes Yes No
KoroIRC Yes No No No No
KSirc No No Yes Yes No
KVIrc Yes Partial Yes Yes No
LimeChat No Yes No No No
Linkinus No Yes No No No
Mibbit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Miranda IM Yes No No No No
mIRC Yes No No No No
Neebly Yes No No No No
Nettalk Yes No No No No
nexIRC Yes No No No No
Opera Yes Yes Yes Yes No
OrnateIRC Yes No No No No
PhibianIRC Yes No No No No
Pidgin Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes (Cygnix X11 engine)
PJIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Quassel Yes Yes Yes Yes No
savIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes No
ScrollZ Partial Partial Yes Yes No
Smuxi Yes Partial Yes Yes No
Snak No Yes No No No
sushi No Yes Yes Yes No
Trillian Yes No No No No
TurboIRC Yes No No No No
Visual IRC Yes No No No No
Vortec IRC Yes No No No No
WeeChat No Partial Yes Yes No
WookieChat No No No No Yes
XiRCON Yes No No No No
XChat Yes Yes Yes Yes No
ThrashIRC Yes No No No No
Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD / Unix AmigaOS

Client UTF-8 Text UI GUI Scripting Notes
0irc No Yes No None
AmIRC No No Yes ARexx
BitchX No Yes Yes Enhanced IrcII script
Bersirc No No Yes None
ChatZilla Yes No Yes JavaScript Part of a web browser
ClicksAndWhistles Yes No Yes None
Colloquy Yes No Yes AppleScript, Cocoa, F-Script, JavaScript, Python
Conspire Yes Yes Yes C
Coolsmile Partial [5] No Yes None Either software or web based
EPIC Yes Yes No Enhanced IrcII script, Perl, Ruby, Tcl
HydraIRC No [5] No Yes C++
IceChat No No Yes VBScript
ii Yes No No Shell script
ircII Yes [6] Yes No Own language
IRCle No No Yes AppleScript
Irssi Yes Yes No Perl
Klient No No Yes VBScript, JScript, Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP [7]
Konversation Yes No Yes Shell script, Ruby, Python, Perl, Java, C++, C#, JavaScript [8]
Kopete Yes No Yes Shell script, Python, Perl, Ruby, JavaScript Multi-IM
KoroIRC Yes No Yes None [5]
KSirc Yes No Yes Perl
KVIrc Yes No Yes KVIrc script, Perl
LimeChat Yes No Yes None
Linkinus Yes No Yes AppleScript, Cocoa
Mibbit Yes No Yes None web based
Miranda IM Yes No Yes PHP Multi-IM
mIRC Partial [9] No Yes mIRC script
Neebly No No Yes None
Nettalk Yes Yes Yes VBScript, Custom
nexIRC No No Yes VBScript, Custom
Opera Yes No Yes None Part of a web browser
OrnateIRC No No Yes Pascal Script/Own Language (OSL)
PhibianIRC Yes No Yes Pascal Script, PSI
Pidgin Yes Yes Yes Perl, Tcl/Tk Multi-IM
PJIRC [10] Yes No Yes JavaScript
Quassel Yes No Yes None Separate client and daemon
savIRC Yes No Yes Tcl/Tk
ScrollZ Yes Yes No Enhanced IrcII script
Smuxi Yes Partial [11] Yes None Separate client and daemon
Snak Yes No Yes AppleScript, IrcII script
sushi Yes Partial [11] Yes Python Separate client and daemon
Trillian No No Yes Own language, C++ Multi-IM
TurboIRC Yes No Yes Own language, VBScript, JScript[7]
Visual IRC No No Yes Versus
Vortec IRC No No Yes Pascal Script, Custom
WeeChat Yes Yes No C, Perl, Python, Ruby, Lua
XiRCON No No No Tcl
XChat Yes Yes Yes Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby, C++, Scheme (Guile)[12], ECMAScript
ThrashIRC No No Yes None
Client UTF-8 Text UI GUI Scripting Notes

Client Multiserver DCC Passive DCC DCC Server SSL IPv6
0irc Yes Yes No No No No
AmIRC No Yes No No No No
BitchX Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Bersirc Yes Partial No No No No
ChatZilla Yes Yes No [5] No Yes Yes
ClicksAndWhistles Yes Yes No No No No
Colloquy Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Conspire Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Coolsmile No No No No No [5] Yes
EPIC Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
HydraIRC Yes Yes ? ? No [5] No [13]
IceChat Yes Yes No No No Yes [12]
ii Yes No No No No No
ircII Yes Yes No No No Yes
IRCle Yes Yes ? ? Yes ?
Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Klient Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [12] No
Konversation Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Kopete Yes ? No No Yes Yes
KoroIRC Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
KSirc Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
KVIrc Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
LimeChat Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Linkinus Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
Mibbit Yes Partial [14][15] No No Yes No
Miranda IM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
mIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [16] Wrapper [17]
Neebly No Yes No No No No
Nettalk Yes Yes No No No No
nexIRC Yes Yes No No No No
Opera Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
OrnateIRC Yes Yes No No OpenSSL (Partially) No
PhibianIRC Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes No
Pidgin Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
PJIRC [18] Yes Partial [14] No No Yes [12] ?
Quassel Yes No No No Yes Yes
savIRC Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
ScrollZ Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Smuxi Yes No No No No No
Snak Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
sushi Yes Partial [11] No No No ?
Trillian Yes Yes ? ? No No
TurboIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Visual IRC Yes Yes Yes No No No
Vortec IRC Yes Yes No / Yes [19] No / Yes [20] Yes [12] No
WeeChat Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
XiRCON Yes Yes No No No No
XChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ThrashIRC Yes Yes No No No Yes
Client Multiserver DCC Passive DCC DCC Server SSL IPv6

  1. ^ freshmeat.net: Project details for bnIRC
  2. ^ freshmeat.net: Project details for ccorp-irc
  3. ^ "Khaled's Nutshell: Frequently Asked Questions". Retrieved on 2008-06-21.
  4. ^ Neebly IRC Client Homepage
  5. ^ a b c d e f Planned for a later version.
  6. ^ Supported as of version 20050921.
  7. ^ a b Uses the Windows Active Scripting technology, and supports any scripting language with the appropriate interface.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Channel and query support only.
  10. ^ Can be run as a Java applet, Java Web Start or standalone application.
  11. ^ a b c Not complete, proof of concept
  12. ^ a b c d e Supported via a plugin.
  13. ^ Marked as completed, but not included yet.
  14. ^ a b DCC is not always successful at this stage.
  15. ^ Can only receive files up to 2MB. Can't send files
  16. ^ Requires the OpenSSL DLLs; see http://www.mirc.co.uk/ssl.html. Pre-compiled DLLs can found at http://remus.oru.se/tsub/mirc-ssl/.
  17. ^ Wrapper available at http://users.skynet.be/jaguar/mircv6.html.
  18. ^ Can be run as a Java applet, Java Web Start or standalone application.
  19. ^ Marked as completed, but not included yet.
  20. ^ Marked as completed, but not included yet.
v • d • e
IRC clients comparison of clients
AmigaOS
Mac OS
Colloquy · Fire · LimeChat · Linkinus · Ircle · MacIrssi · Snak
Microsoft Windows
MS-DOS
Unix-like
Multi-platform
BitchX · Instantbird · ircII-EPIC · Irssi · jIRC · KVIrc · naim · ScrollZ · XChat
*Emacs
Embedded systems
Multi-IM
Part of a Web browser
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