The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client programs which have been discussed in published literature.
Contents |
Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license/price etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development.
A brief overview of the release history.
Client | First public release | First stable release | Latest stable release | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Version | Date | Version | ||
AmIRC | 1995 | 3.6 (September 5, 2011[44]) | |||
Bersirc | 1999 | 2.2.14 (August 12, 2005 ) | |||
BitchX | 1996 | 1.1-final (May 26, 2004 ) | |||
ChatZilla | 2001 | 0.9.88 (December 18, 2011 ) | |||
Colloquy | 2005 | 2.3 (4617) (August 20, 2009 ) | |||
DMDirc | 2007 | 0.6.5 (January 25, 2011[45]) | |||
ERC | 1999? | 5.3 (March 26, 2008[46]) | |||
HydraIRC | 2002 | 0.3.165 (December 12, 2008 ) | |||
IceChat | 2002 | 3.0 | 2009 RC1 (July 5, 2011 ) | ||
ii (IRC IT) | December 19, 2005 | 0.1 | February 1, 2007 | 1.0 | 1.6 (January 31, 2011[47]) |
ircII | 1990 | 20110228 (March 1, 2011 ) | |||
Ircle | 1995 | 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007 ) | |||
Irssi | 1999 | 0.8.15 (April 3, 2010 ) | |||
jIRCii | ? | ? | 07.20.11 (July 20, 2011 ) | ||
KVIrc | 1998 | 0.6.0 | December 21, 1999 | 1.0.0 | 4.0.4 (March 19, 2011[48]) |
Konversation | 2002 | 1.4 (4 December 2011[49]) | |||
LeetIRC | 2006 | 1.1 (March 18, 2008[50]) | |||
LimeChat | 2007 | 2.23 (April 19, 2011[51]) | |||
Linkinus | 2007 | 2.4 (August 23, 2011[52]) | |||
Mibbit | 2008 | web application, no version | |||
mIRC | 1995 | 7.22 (October 14, 2011[53]) | |||
Neebly | December 13, 2008 | 1.0.1 | 1.0.4 (February 28, 2009[54]) | ||
Nettalk | 2004 | 6.7.8 (August 1, 2010[55]) | |||
Opera | 1996 | 11.60 (Build 1185) (December 6, 2011 ) | |||
PIRCH | 1995 | 1.0.1.1190 (January 1, 2001 ) | |||
PJIRC | 2002 | 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004 ) | |||
Quassel | August 27, 2008 | 0.3.0 | 0.7.1 (September 23, 2010 ) | ||
rcirc | ? | ? | 22.1 (1.50) (July 29, 2009[56][57]) | ||
Smuxi | 2008 | 0.8 (September 1, 2010 ) | |||
Snak | 1997 | 5.3.3 (November 15, 2007[58]) | |||
Visual IRC | 1995 | 2.0pl2 (200/187) (July 15, 2007 ) | |||
WeeChat | 2003 | 0.3.6 (October 22, 2011[59]) | |||
XChat | 1998 | 2.8.8 (source) (May 30, 2010 ) 2.8.9 (windows) (August 28, 2010 ) |
|||
Client | Date | Version | Date | Version | Latest stable release |
First public release | First stable release |
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 | Mac OS X (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 [Note 2] | 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 [Note 3] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
ERC | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | |
HydraIRC | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
IceChat | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
ii (IRC IT) | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | |
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 | |
Ircle | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [Note 3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | |
jIRCii | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | 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 | No | Yes | Yes | 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 3] [Note 4] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Linkinus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [63] | 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 [64] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Partial [Note 5] | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Opera | Yes | Yes | Dropped (10.10) | No | Dropped | Dropped | Dropped | No[66] | Yes | Dropped | Dropped | No | Dropped | Dropped | 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 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | ? | 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 [Note 1] [Note 3] | Partial [Note 1] [Note 3] | Partial [Note 1] [Note 3] | No | Partial [Note 1] [Note 3] | Partial [Note 1] [Note 3] | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | |
XChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | |
Client | Windows 7, Vista | XP, 2000 | NT 4.0 | NT 3.x | Me, 98 | 95 | 3.1x | ReactOS | Mac OS X (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS | Other |
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 UNIX | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 [Note 1] | ? | ? | 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 |
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 |
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 | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Konversation | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
KVIrc | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
rcirc | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
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 [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 UNIX | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
mIRC will run on *NIX systems under WINE — Confirmed
What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client.
Client | CTCP | DCC | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | OCSP | CRL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AmIRC | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Bersirc | ? | Partial | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
BitchX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
DMDirc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
ERC | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
HydraIRC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
IceChat | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
ii (IRC IT) | ? | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
ircII | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? |
Ircle | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
jIRCii | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
LeetIRC[26] | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | No |
LimeChat | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? |
Linkinus | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Mibbit | ? | Partial [Note 1] [Note 2] | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Partial [Note 3] | Partial [71] [Note 3] | ? | ? | ? |
Neebly | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Opera | Yes[72] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
PIRCH | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
PJIRC | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Quassel | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
rcirc | Partial | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Smuxi | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Snak | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Visual IRC | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
XChat | Yes | Yes | Partial [Note 2] | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Client | CTCP | DCC | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | OCSP | CRL |
Client | CHAT | Whiteboard | SEND | RESUME | TSEND | SEND T | XMIT | Passive DCC | Server | RDCC | REVERSE | RSEND | Reverse / Firewall DCC | File servers (FSERVs) | XDCC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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[75] | ? | ? | No | No [Note 1] | 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 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
HydraIRC | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
IceChat | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
ii (IRC IT) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ircII | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Ircle | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
KVIrc | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [Note 2] |
LeetIRC[26] | 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 3] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] |
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 3] | ? | ? | 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 |
rcirc | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Smuxi | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Snak | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Visual IRC | ? | Yes | ? | Yes [Note 3] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
WeeChat | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
XChat | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 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 |
Information on what features each of the clients support.
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | ? | ? | No | Emacs Lisp |
HydraIRC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No |
IceChat | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Visual Basic Scripting |
ii (IRC IT) | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Shell script |
ircII | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | ? | ? | ? | IrcII script |
Ircle | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Perl |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Shell script, Ruby, Python, Perl, Java, C++, C#, JavaScript [Note 3] |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | KVS (Custom), Perl, Python, C++ |
LeetIRC | No | No | ? | N/A | No | No |
LimeChat | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | N/A |
Linkinus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AppleScript, Cocoa API |
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 |
Pidgin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
PIRCH | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | Yes |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Partial, Javascript |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Emacs Lisp |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Snak | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript, IrcII script |
Visual IRC | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Versus |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | C, Perl, Python, Ruby, Lua, Tcl |
XChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby, C++, ECMAScript, Scheme (Guile) |
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language |
|