Comparison of LAN messengers

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of LAN messengers.

General information

Basic general information about the LAN messengers: creator/company, license/price, among others.

Protocol Author, creator First public release date Latest stable version Cost (USD) Software license Programming language
AChat ? Michal Hruby 2005 beta 7 (v0.150) (January 24, 2007) Free[1] GNU GPL Delphi, C# version begun
Akeni LAN Messenger Akeni Network Protocol Akeni 2002 1.2.118 (May 22, 2014) Non-free, shareware $16.95 Proprietary C++
BigAnt Messenger ? BigAnt 2001 2.97 (February 4, 2013) Non-free, shareware $20.00 + server Proprietary ?
Bopup Messenger Bopup IM protocol B Labs 2001 6.3.2 (October 21, 2013) Non-free, shareware $12.90 + server (volume licensing available) Proprietary C++
BORGChat ? Ionut Cioflan 2002 v1.0.0 b438 (March 31, 2007) [±] Free[2] Freeware ?
DeskAlerts ? Softomate 2007 4.0 Non-free, commercial $1.00 + server[3] Proprietary ?
dMessage ? MGI Consultants 2007 6.20 (June 20, 2010) Non-free, shareware

(6 to 20 depending on number of stations)

 Proprietary ?
iChat Bonjour IM Protocol Apple Inc. 2003 5.0.3 (745), (April 26, 2010) Non-free, bundled with OS Proprietary Likely Objective-C
iptux Windows Messenger service Jally, ManPT, others 2008 0.51 (November 20, 2009) Free[4] GNU GPL ?
LAN Chat Enterprise ? KGY Soft 2001 3.3, (May 29, 2007) Non-free, shareware $12.00 Proprietary ?
LinPopUp Windows Messenger service Jean-Marc Jacquet 2000 1.2.0 (Debian, April 7, 2008) Free[5] GNU GPL C
Miranda IM[6][7] Windows Messenger service Roland Rabien 2000 0.9.3 Free GNU GPL C/C++
Net-C ? DGtalize 2008 0.2.0 (May 15, 2010) Free[8] GNU GPL Java
OMessenger ? Srimax Software System 2002 6.0.43 (March 25, 2010) Non-free, shareware $9.80 Proprietary ?
Output Messenger XMPP Srimax Software System 2015 1.0.64 (April 14, 2015) Non-free, shareware $14 Proprietary
Pichat ? Piratson Technologies 2002 0.4.2 b74 (March 31, 2011) Free[9] Freeware C++
Pidgin[10] ? Mark Spencer, others 1998 2.10.9 (February 2, 2014) Free GNU GPL C
PopNote ? K5HUM 2003 3.6 (July 1, 2009) Free[11] Freeware HotBasic
Qualia LAN Messenger LAN Messenger protocol Qualia Technologies 2010 1.2.35 (July 25, 2012) Free[12] GNU GPL C++
Softros LAN Messenger ? Softros Systems, Inc. 2000 6.4.1 (March 23, 2015) Non-free, shareware $12.95 Proprietary ?
Squiggle LAN Messenger ? Overroot 2010 3.3 (March 16, 2013) Free[13] Freeware C#
TSR LAN Messenger ? TSR Software 2012 1.1.5.124 (November 16, 2012) Free[14] Proprietary C#
Vypress Chat Vypress Chat network protocol VyPRESS Research, LLC 2000 2.1.8 (December 11, 2009) Non-free, shareware $19.00 Proprietary C/C++
Vypress Messenger Vypress instant messaging protocol VyPRESS Research, LLC 2000 4.0 (October 19, 2004) Non-free, shareware $19.90 Proprietary C/C++
WinMessenger Windows Messenger service VyPRESS Research, LLC 2001 2.8.04 (March 19, 2010) Non-free, shareware $14.00 Proprietary C/C++
Winpopup LAN Messenger ? Fomine Software 2002 5.3 (June 18, 2008) Non-free, shareware $14.95 Proprietary ?
LAN Messenger v3 ? Ken Ballentine (updated by Steven Cole) 2006 3.4 (May 21, 2011) Free Freeware Visual Basic .NET
BeeBEEP BeeBEEP Protocol [15] Marco Mastroddi 2010 0.9.7 (August 9, 2010) Free Freeware C++ and Qt

Operating system support

The operating systems the messengers can run on without emulators or compatibility layers.

Windows OS X Linux BSD Unix
AChat Yes No No No No
Akeni LAN Messenger Yes No Yes No No
BigAnt Messenger Yes Yes No No No
Bopup Messenger Yes No No No No
BORGChat Yes No No No No
DeskAlerts Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
dMessage Yes No No No No
iChat No Yes No No No
iptux No No Yes No No
LAN Chat Enterprise Yes No No No No
LinPopUp No No Yes No No
Miranda IM Yes No No No No
Net-C Yes Yes Yes Yes No
OMessenger Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Output Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Pichat Yes No Yes Yes No
PopNote Yes No No No No
Qualia LAN Messenger Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Softros LAN Messenger Yes Yes No No No
Squiggle LAN Messenger Yes No No No No
TSR LAN Messenger Yes No No No No
Vypress Chat Yes No No No No
Vypress Messenger Yes No No No No
WinMessenger Yes No No No No
Winpopup LAN Messenger Yes No No No No
LAN Messenger v3 Yes No No No No
BeeBEEP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Features

Information on what features each of the clients support.

Toolkits or SDKs Private messages Private chat Public chat Message board Encryption File transfer Unicode (UTF-8) Message filtration Graphical smileys Message logging Whiteboard Terminal Service Compatibility User base in Active Directory Serverless (No server required)
AChat No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No No No Yes
Akeni LAN Messenger No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
BigAnt Messenger W32 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No
Bopup Messenger W32 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
BORGChat No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
dMessage No Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes
iChat 1 No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No No No No No
iptux No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes
LAN Chat Enterprise No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes
LinPopUp No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No Yes
Miranda IM ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes
Net-C No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes
Overroot Squiggle LAN Messenger No Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes No No Yes Yes No No No Yes
OMessenger No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Output Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Pichat W32 + Linux Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
PopNote No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes No No No Yes
Qualia LAN Messenger No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes
Softros LAN Messenger W32 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
TSR LAN Messenger No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes
Vypress Chat No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
Vypress Messenger No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
WinMessenger No Yes No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Winpopup LAN Messenger W32 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Lan Messenger V3 No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes
BeeBEEP No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes

Note 1: Using Apple's Bonjour protocol

See also

References

  1. ↑ SourceForget AChat: GNU General Public License
  2. ↑ Softpedia BORGChat: Freeware
  3. ↑ Deskalerts: Alert software
  4. ↑ Freshmeat iptux: GPL 2+
  5. ↑ SourceForget LinPopUp-2: GNU General Public License
  6. ↑ Miranda able to work as LAN messenger but only in LAN with IM server, for example through OpenFire
  7. ↑ Miranda IM LAN plugins, may be old/buggy though
  8. ↑ SourceForget Net-C: GNU General Public License
  9. ↑ Brothersoft Pichat: Freeware
  10. ↑ Pidgin allows LAN chat over Bonjour protocol
  11. ↑ Softpedia PopNote: Freeware
  12. ↑ Sourceforge LAN Messenger: Freeware
  13. ↑ Squiggle LAN Messenger: Freeware
  14. ↑ TSR LAN Messenger: Free for personal use
  15. ↑ BeeBEEP on Sourceforge