Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2007) |
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of instant messaging clients. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. External links lead to extensions that add a feature to a client.
General information
Basic general information about the real time communication services: creator/company, license/price, amongst others.
| Author / Creator | First public release | Type | Latest stable version | License | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adium | Adam Iser, Evan Schoenberg | 2001-09 | Multi-protocol | 1.5.10.4 (April 27, 2017) [±] (Mac OS X) | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) | AOL | 1997-05 | Multi-protocol | 7.5.8.2 (Windows) 7.5.5.7 Beta 2 (Win) 2.2.429 (Mac OS X) 1.5.286 (Linux) |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| aMSN | The aMSN team | 2002-05 | Single protocol | 0.98.4 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| AQQ | CT Creative Team S.A. | ? | Single protocol | 2.2.5.10 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Ayttm[1][2] | Colin Leroy and Philip Tellis | 2003-04 | Multi-protocol | 0.6.1 (Linux) 0.4.6-17 (Windows) |
GPL | ||||||||||||
| BitWise IM | BitWise Communications, LLC | 2002-03-17 | Single protocol/Encrypted | 2007 (v1.7.3) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| BitlBee | Wilmer van der Gaast | 2002-08-09 | IRC Gateway, Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/BitlBee | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Bombus (software) | Eugene Stahov | 2005-01-05 | Single-protocol | 2008 (v0.6) | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Bopup Messenger | B Labs | 2007-02 | Single protocol/Encrypted | 5.5 (October 2010) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Brosix | Brosix, Inc. | 2006-06 | Single protocol/Encrypted | 3.1.1 (January 2011) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Centericq | Konstantin Klyagin | 1999 | Multi-protocol | 4.21.0 (September 2, 2005) [±] | GPL | ||||||||||||
| climm | Mattew D. Smith (up to ICQv5); Rüdiger Kuhlmann | 1997(?); 2001 | Dual protocol | 0.7.1 (March 2010) | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| Coccinella[3][4] | Mats Bengtsson | 1999-12-01 | Single protocol | 0.96.16 (1 December 2009) | GPL v3 | ||||||||||||
| Cspace | Tachyon Technologies | 2008-02-22 | Single protocol | 1.27 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Digsby | Steven Shapiro | 2008-01 | Multi-protocol | 2011 Beta | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| eBuddy | Paulo Taylor | 2003-03-09 | Multi-protocol | 2011 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| eM Client | E&S Software Ltd. | 2006-11 | Single protocol | 2.5 | Free | ||||||||||||
| EQO | EQO Communications | 2006-02-06 | Multi-protocol | 1.4 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| emesene | Luis Mariano Guerra | 2006-05-24 | Multi-protocol | 2.11.9 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Empathy | GNOME | 2007-05 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Empathy | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Exodus | Peter Millard | 2002 | Single protocol | 0.10.0.0 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Fire | Eric Peyton | 1999-04-01 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Fire | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Fring | 2007 | Multi-protocol | 2011 | Clickwrap license | |||||||||||||
| Gabtastik | Mesa Dynamics, LLC | 2008-05 | HTTP | 0.2 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Gadu-Gadu | Łukasz Foltyn | 2000-08 | Single protocol | 10.0 build 10784 (Now Gadu-Gadu) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Gajim | Yann Le Boulanger | 2004-05-21 | Single protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Gajim | GPL | ||||||||||||
| GCN | Jason K. Resch | 2000-11-18 | Single protocol | 2.9.1 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| GOIM | Herbert Poul | 2005-08-16 | Single protocol | Template:Latest stable release/GOIM | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Goofey | Tim Mackenzie | 1990 (Early 1990s) | Single protocol | 2.08 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Google Talk | Google, Inc. | 2005-08-24 | Dual protocol | Windows Plugin: 3.19.1.13088 (May 14, 2013) [±] |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Gyachi | 2006-01-26 | Single protocol | 1.2.10 (2010-07-25) | GPL | |||||||||||||
| iChat | Apple Inc. | 2002-08 | Multi-protocol | 6.0 (927) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| IBM Lotus Sametime | IBM, Ubique | 1998 | Multi-protocol—proprietary T.120, SIP, XMPP | 8.5; December 2009 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| ICQ | Mirabilis (AOL) | 1996-11 | Single protocol | 7.6; August 14, 2011 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| IM+ | SHAPE Services | 2002 | Multi-protocol | 5.4 (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad); Sept, 2011 9.0.2 (BlackBerry); Sept, 2011 4.1.7 (Android); Sept, 2011 |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| imo.im | imo | 2007 | Multi-protocol | Clickwrap license | |||||||||||||
| IMVU | Will Harveyfq | 2001-07 | Single protocol | 3.0 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| InSpeak Communicator | Mark Jaafar GLobal Unicom, LLC |
2004 | Multi-protocol | 6.1.1 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Instantbird | Florian Quèze | 2007 | Multi-protocol | 1.5 (December 17, 2013) [±] | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| Jabbin | Jabbin Team | 2005-12 | Single protocol | jabbin 2.0 beta | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| Jitsi | Emil Ivov | 2003 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/SIP Communicator | LGPL | ||||||||||||
| Kadu | Kadu Team | 2001-08 | Multi-protocol | 0.9.2 | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| KMess | The KMess team | 2002-04 | Single protocol | 2.0.6.1 (Februari 2011) | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| Konnekt | Stamina | 2002 | Multi-protocol | 0.6.22.137 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Kopete | Kopete Team | 2002-03-03 | Multi-protocol | 1.0.80 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Licq | Graham Roff (up to v1.0) Jon Keating |
1998-06-22 | Multi-protocol | 1.3.6 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Mail.ru Agent | Mail.ru | 2003-05 | Multi-protocol | 5.0 (Windows) 1.0 (Windows Mobile) 2.1 (Java ME) |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| MCabber | Mikael Berthe | 2005-06-07 | Single protocol | Template:Latest stable release/MCabber | GPL | ||||||||||||
| MECA Messenger | ? | Multi-protocol | 5.2 | Clickwrap license | |||||||||||||
| meebo | Meebo, Inc. | 2005 | Multi-protocol, web-based | alpha v19 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Meetro | Paul Bragiel & Samuel Stauffer | 2005 | Multi-protocol | 0.96 Beta (Win) 0.53 Beta (Mac OS X) |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Mercury Messenger | Danny | 2003 | Single protocol | 2011 (v2) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| MindSpring | EarthLink | 2006-04-03 | Multi-protocol | 1.0 (v53.0) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Miranda IM | Miranda IM project | 2000-02-06 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable software release/Miranda IM | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Microsoft Lync (formerly Microsoft Office Communicator) | Microsoft Corporation | 2005 | Single protocol | 2007 R2 (Windows) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Microsoft Messenger for Mac | Microsoft Corporation | ? | Single protocol | 8.0.1 (May 3, 2011) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| MySpaceIM | MySpace | 2006-05-09 | Single protocol | 1.0.754.0 (February 7, 2008) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Naim | Daniel Reed | 1998-10-05 | Multi-protocol | 0.11.8.3.1 (2007-07-09) | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Nimbuzz | Nimbuzz B.V. | 2006 | Multi-protocol | 2.0.1 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Ometheus | Ometheus | 2007 | Multi-protocol, web-based | alpha v0.1 | Commercial license | ||||||||||||
| Omegler | Flamefusion | 2009 | Single protocol | 1.001.003 | N/A | ||||||||||||
| Pandion | Dries Staelens, Sebastiaan Deckers | 2002-08-05 | Single protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Pandion | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Palringo | Palringo Ltd | 2006 | Multi-protocol | Clickwrap license | |||||||||||||
| Paltalk | Jason Katz | 1998 | Multi-protocol | 9.0 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| uTalk | Unio Group LLC | 2006 | Multi-protocol | Android v.4.0 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | Mark Spencer | 1998-11 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Pidgin | GPL | ||||||||||||
| PopNote | Mike Raymond | 2004-07 | Single Protocol | 3.6 | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| pork | Ryan McCabe | 2002-12-08 | AIM, IRC Gateway | 0.99.8.1 | GPL v2 | ||||||||||||
| Proteus | Justin Wood, et al. | 2001-11 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Proteus | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Psi | Justin Karneges | 2001 | Single protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Psi | GPL | ||||||||||||
| psyced | psyced.org Project | 1997 | IRC+XMPP+PSYC Gateway, Multi-protocol | 0.99 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| QIP | Ilgam Zyulkorneev | 2004 | Multi-protocol | 9030 (Windows) 2120 (Windows Mobile) 2000 (Symbian S60 and UIQ3) |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Qnext | Qnext Corp. | 2010-06 | Multi-protocol | 4.0.4 Windows, Mac, Linux (June, 2010) 1.0.0.61 iPhone (June, 2010) 2.0.1.55 Mobile Web (June, 2010) |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| QuteCom | QuteCom | 2004 | Multi-protocol | 2.1.2 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| qutIM[3][5] | Rustam Chakin, Ruslan Nigmatullin | 2008-06 | Multi-protocol | 0.2 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Tencent QQ | Ma Huateng (马化腾) | 1999-02 | Single protocol | QQ2011 Beta 2 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| RealTimeQuery | realtimequery.com | 2005–2007 | Single protocol | v3.0 - 2007 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Spark | Jive Software | 2006 | Multi-protocol | 2.6.3 (2011-07-01) | Apache License 2.0 | ||||||||||||
| Skype | Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis | 2003 | Single protocol |
|
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| talk | Kipp Hickman | 1982 | Single protocol | 1.7 (BSD version) | BSD | ||||||||||||
| Tkabber | Alexey Shchepin | 2002-07-03 | Single protocol | 0.11.1 | GPL | ||||||||||||
| Trillian | Cerulean Studios | 2000-07-01 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Trillian | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Trillian Pro | Cerulean Studios | 2002-09-10 | Multi-protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Trillian | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Trillian Astra | Cerulean Studios | ? | Multi-protocol | 4.1 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| VZOchat | Visicron Systems | 2005-02-14 | Single protocol | Template:Latest stable release/VZOchat | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) | Microsoft Corporation | 1999-07 | Dual protocol | 2011 (Build 15.4.3502.922) (Windows XP/Vista/7) 1.0.6141 (Windows Live for Nokia S60) |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Windows Messenger (Discontinued) | Microsoft Corporation | 2001-10-25 | Multi-protocol | 5.1.0701 (Windows XP SP2/2000/Sever 2003) | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| WTW | K2T.eu | 2008-12-20 | Multi-protocol | 0.8.0.1947 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Xfire | Xfire Inc. | 2004 | Dual protocol | Template:Latest stable release/Xfire | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Yahoo! Messenger | Yahoo! | 1999-06-21 | Dual protocol | 10.0.0.1102 (Win) 2.5.3 (Mac) 1.0.4 (Unix) |
Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| Zephyr | Project Athena | 1987 | Single protocol | 2.0 | MIT | ||||||||||||
| Sococo | Social Communications Company | 2008 | Multi protocol | 0.77.2.409 | Clickwrap license | ||||||||||||
| FaceTime | Apple Inc. | 2010 | Single protocol | 0.9- Beta | Proprietary | ||||||||||||
| Author / Creator | First public release date | Type | Latest stable version | License |
Operating system support
The operating systems the clients can run on without emulation or compatibility layers.
| Client | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Windows Mobile | Android | BlackBerry | iOS | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adium | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| AIM | Yes | Yes[14] | Dropped (1.5.286) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Palm OS, webOS |
| aMSN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Nokia 770, N800, N810, N900 |
| Ayttm | Obsolete | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| BayanICQ | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Symbian OS S60 |
| Beejive | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| BitlBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | AmigaOS |
| BitWise IM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Bombus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Symbian OS S60 and UIQ 3, Java ME |
| Bopup Messenger | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Brosix | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Carrier (formerly Funpidgin) | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Centericq | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| climm | Yes2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | AmigaOS, BeOS |
| Coccinella | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Digsby | Yes | in development | in development | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| eBuddy | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Palm OS, Java ME, web-based |
| eM Client | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| emesene | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Empathy | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| EQO | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Symbian OS S60, Java ME |
| Exodus | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| FaceTime | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fire | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Fring | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Symbian OS S60 and UIQ 3, Java ME |
| Gadu-Gadu | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Symbian OS S60, Java ME, web-based |
| Gajim | Yes | Yes1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| GCN | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| GOIM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Goofey6 | No | Yes7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Google Talk | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | webOS, web-based |
| Gyachi | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No |
| IBM Lotus Sametime | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Symbian OS S60 and UIQ 3[15] |
| iChat | No | Included | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| ICQ | Yes | Dropped (3.4.23) | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | web-based |
| IM+ | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows Phone, Palm OS, webOS, Symbian OS S60, Java ME, web-based |
| imo.im | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Symbian OS, web-based |
| InSpeak Communicator | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| IMVU | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Instan-t | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Instantbird | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Jabberwocky | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | AmigaOS, MorphOS |
| Jabiru | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| JClaim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Java |
| Jitsi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Kadu | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Haiku, N900 |
| KMess | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Kopete | No | Yes1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| LiveProfile | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Licq | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mail.ru Agent | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Java ME, Symbian OS S60 |
| MCabber | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| MECA Messenger | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| meebo | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | web-based |
| Meetro (Discontinued) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mercury Messenger | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Microsoft Lync (formerly Microsoft Office Communicator) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Microsoft Messenger for Mac | No3 | Yes | No3 | No3 | No3 | No | No | No | No | No |
| MindSpring | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Miranda IM | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| MSNP-Sharp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mundu IM | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Symbian OS S60, Palm OS, Java ME (Sony Ericsson Phones) |
| MySpaceIM | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| naim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Nimbuzz | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Java ME, Symbian OS S60, Palm OS |
| OctroTalk | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Symbian S60 |
| ooVoo | Yes | Beta | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Palringo | Yes | Yes | Yes9 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Symbian S60, Java ME |
| Paltalk | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Pandion | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | Yes | Yes1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | AmigaOS, N800, N810, N900[16] |
| uTalk | Yes | Yes | Yes9 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Symbian S60, Java ME |
| PlayXpert | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| PopNote | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| pork | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Proteus | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Psi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Haiku[17] |
| psyced | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| QIP | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Symbian OS S60/ UIQ3 |
| Qnext | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | web-based |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Symbian S60 3rd&5th Edition | |
| Quicksilver | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| QuteCom | Yes | Yes5 | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| qutIM[18] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Haiku[19] |
| RealTimeQuery | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Steam Friends | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Skype | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | PlayStation Portable 2000, 3000, N900 |
| Sococo | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| talk | Yes4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Tkabber | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Trillian | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | web-based |
| VZOchat | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Windows Live Messenger | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Xbox 360, SymbianS60 |
| Windows Messenger (Discontinued) | Included (XP) | Yes8 | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | SymbianS60 |
| WTW | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Xfire | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| VoxOx | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Yahoo! Messenger | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ya.Online | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Java ME, Symbian OS S60 |
| Zephyr | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Client | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Windows Mobile | Android | BlackBerry | iOS | Other |
Note 1: Not a dedicated Mac OS X but a POSIX application: Will need an X server and additional libraries installed, and will not look like a native Mac OS X application.
Note 2: Requires ANSI terminal. See e.g. Windows ANSI driver problem on how to load ANSI.SYS.
Note 3: MSN Web Messenger can be used with a compatible browser and valid Windows Live ID account.
Note 4: Numerous talk/ytalk clients exist for Win32; others are available under the Cygwin environment.
Note 5: Only available in the upcoming version QuteCom already available through Subversion.
Note 6: Generally only available as source, not as a ready-to-install binary.
Note 7: Client will only work on Mac OS X within a Unix terminal session (Terminal.app, Xterm, iTerm, or similar.)
Note 8: It is called Messenger for Mac, currently version 7.
Note 9: Working with Wine (software), not natively.
Protocol support
Single protocol clients
- aMSN - MSNP
- BitWise IM
- Bopup Messenger
- Brosix
- eM Client
- Gale
- Goofey
- Google Talk
- Gyachi
- KMess - MSNP
- Mail.ru Agent
- Mercury Messenger - MSNP
- Microsoft Messenger for Mac - MSNP
- MSNP-Sharp - MSNP
- NateOn
- Skype
- Tencent QQ
- TerraIM
- VZOchat
- Zephyr
Many IRC-only clients are listed at Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients
XMPP clients
| Client | Instant messaging | Transports | File transfer | Jingle (voice) | Jingle (video) | Cryptography (Text) | Cryptography (Voice) | OAuth for Client Authorization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adium | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
| Bombus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial | No | ? |
| Candy | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | No | ? |
| Coccinella | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| eM Client | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Empathy | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Exodus | Yes | No | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Gajim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, except on Windows | Yes, except on Windows | Yes | ? | ? |
| Global Communications Network | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| GOIM | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Google Talk (Gmail) | Yes | Yes | ? | Partial2 | Partial2 | No | ? | ? |
| Google Talk (standalone) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial1 | No | No | ? | No |
| iChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Jappix | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Jitsi | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Kadu | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| MCabber | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? |
| MindSpring | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Nimbuzz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Pandion | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Pidgin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (via plugins) | No | ? |
| Psi | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? |
| psyced | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Quicksilver | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Tkabber | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
Note 1: Not really compatible with Jingle specification, does not work with all clients [1]
Note 2: Not compatible with Jingle specification and available for Windows only
Multiprotocol clients
Information on the instant messaging protocols that each client supports.
| Supported Protocols | WLM (formerly MSN Messenger) |
Y!M | AIM | ICQ | XMPP (Google Talk, etc.) |
Jingle (voice) | Jingle (video) | IRC | IBM Lotus Sametime | Novell GroupWise Messenger | Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous) |
Gadu-Gadu | OTR | LAN | Xfire | Skype | MySpaceIM | LiveJournal | Others | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adium | 17 | Partial17 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial11 | Yes | Yes | Partial10 | Yes | No | Yes | No | With plugin | With plugin4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | MobileMe, Yahoo! Japan, Zephyr, NateOn, Tlen, Twitter |
| AIM | 4 | No | No | Yes | Yes | GTalk | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | With proxy | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Ayttm | 3 | Yes | Yes | Partial6 | Partial6 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Beejive | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| bhsIM | 7 | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | NateOn |
| BitlBee | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Indirect25 | No | No | No | No | No | With plugin | No | No | With plugin28 | No | Yes | No | Twitter, and with libpurple, all protocols supported by Pidgin |
| Carrier (formerly Funpidgin) | 11 | Partial17 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial15 | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial10 | No | Yes | With plugin1 | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | SILC, Zephyr, Blizzard Battle-Net Chat (with plugins) |
| Centericq | 6 | Yes | Yes | Partial6 | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| climm | 2 | No | No | Partial12 | Yes | Partial13 | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Digsby | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial26 | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
| eBuddy | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| emesene | 3 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Empathy | 20 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | With plugin | Yes | Yes | No | Blizzard Battle-Net Chat, NateOn, SILC, Tlen, Zephyr (with plugins) |
| Eyeball Chat | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Fire | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Partial10 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Fring | 7 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Partial30 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yahoo |
| IBM Lotus Sametime | 5 | No | Yes18 | Yes18 | No | Yes18 | ? | ? | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | SIP |
| iChat | 6 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | MobileMe |
| ICQ | 2 | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| IM+ | 12 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Google Talk, Twitter, Jabber, VKontakte, Yandex IM |
| imo.im | 8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Hyves, Steam |
| IMVU | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | IMVU |
| Instan-t | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Instan-t |
| Instantbird | 15 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Netsoul, SIMPLE, Twitter, Yahoo! Japan |
| Jabberwocky | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| JClaim | 8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | SMS, Nate, Yahoo! Japan |
| Jitsi (formerly SIP Communicator) | 10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | SIP |
| Kadu | 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Kopete | 12 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial15 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | With plugin | With plugin | With plugin | No | Yes | No | WinPopup |
| Licq | 3 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MECA Messenger | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| meebo | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Partial (via XMPP) | MyYearbook |
| Meetro (Discontinued) | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Miranda IM | 19+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | With plugin21 | Yes | Yes5 | Yes | With plugin4 | Yes | With plugin29 | Yes | Twitter, Tlen, LAN5 |
| Mundu IM | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Naim | 3 | No | No | Yes | Partial | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Lily |
| Nimbuzz | 12 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Partial27 | Yes | Yes | No | StudiVZ, SchülerVZ, Hyves |
| ooVoo | 1 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| QuteCom | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | SIP |
| Palringo | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Paltalk | 3 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | 14 | Partial17 | Partial23 | Yes | Partial24 | Yes | Yes, except on Windows | Yes, except on Windows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial10 | Yes | With plugin | With plugin | No | Yes | With plugin4,19 | Yes | Yes | No | Blizzard Battle-Net Chat, SIPE, NateOn, SILC, Tlen, Zephyr (with plugins) |
| PlayXpert | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Sony Station Friends |
| uTalk | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| pork | 2 | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Proteus | 8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Partial9 | Yes | No | With proxy | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yahoo! Japan |
| QIP | 2 | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| QIP Infium | 6 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Mail.ru Agent, Euroset, Phoning |
| qutIM[20] | 6 | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Mail.ru Agent, VKontakte, Twitter |
| Qnext | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Qnext |
| talk | 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ntalk, ytalk |
| Trillian Basic | 5 | Partial17 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Trillian Pro | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial14, 15 | ? | ? | Yes | With plugin1 | Yes | Partial10 | With plugin1 | With plugin1 | With plugin1 | No | With plugin | Partial4 | No | Yes | No | No |
| Trillian Astra | 11 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes14, 15 | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | With plugin1 | With plugin1 | No | No | Yes | Partial4 | Yes | Yes | No | ASTRA |
| VoxOx | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) | 3 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Windows Messenger (Discontinued) | 3 | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | SIP, EIM |
| WTW | 6 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Yahoo! Messenger | 3 | Yes17 | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Supported Protocols | WLM (formerly MSN Messenger) |
Y!M | AIM | ICQ | XMPP (Google Talk, etc.) |
Jingle (voice) | Jingle (video) | IRC | IBM Lotus Sametime | Novell GroupWise Messenger | Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous) |
Gadu-Gadu | OTR | LAN | Xfire | Skype | MySpaceIM | LiveJournal | Others |
Note 1: Plugin available
Note 2: Plugin available
Note 3: Interoperability with proprietary protocols can be achieved using server-side gateways (so-called transports) in XMPP.
Note 4: Plugin available, but requires installed and running Skype.
Note 5: LAN and chat protocols supported for Miranda include NetSend, WinPopup, Novell Netware NCP, BattleNet, Vypress Chat, Quick Chat, and Walla Chat.
Note 6: Uses the AIM TOC2 protocol, which has fewer features than the Oscar protocol the official client uses. An Oscar plugin is available, but is still in early development.
Note 7: Plugin available
Note 8: Can only enter one ICQ/AOL IM account, so users who have both an ICQ number and an AOL IM account name, can't use both.
Note 9: Text-based messaging only; does not support Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.
Note 10: Probably text-based messaging only, without support for Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.
Note 11: Only trunk builds of Adium have IRC support, which is very limited.
Note 12: AIM interoperability: can send/receive to AIM from an ICQ account.
Note 13: The support is optional. It currently isn't feature-complete, but basic operations should be fine.
Note 14: Claims to be supported, though frequently fails to receive or deliver messages, and tends to crash when receiving multiuser chat invites or file transfer requests.
Note 15: Feature incomplete. Lacks service discovery and transport support, making user search, multiuser chat, connections to other IM networks via XMPP difficult or impossible.
Note 16: Yahoo! Messenger interoperability (some bugs): can send/receive to Yahoo! Messenger from a Windows Live Messenger on-line account. No audio or video support as of yet.
Note 17: Windows Live Messenger interoperability: can always send/receive to Windows Live Messenger from a Yahoo! Messenger account.
Note 18: Using IBM Sametime Gateway you can establish a server to server communication to other IM communities.
Note 19: With plug-in, requires Skype to be running. [2]
Note 21: With using third-party plug-in MirandaQQ developed by Stark Wong from Hong Kong. [3]
Note 22: Facebook Chat plugin for Pidgin
Note 23: No audio or video, and generally poor support for anything beyond the very basic in the protocol. So there is chat and smileys, but no Photo Album Sharing, SMS and the rest. Also, although the official client does have the ability to embed the communication through HTTP there is no such option for Gaim.
Note 24: among others, the privacy settings are not working Note 24: Access is denied in the Yahoo network as it uses a deprecated protocol.
Note 25: Bitlbee does not provide access to IRC. Instead users connect to it as if it were an IRC server so Bitlbee and IRC will both be used from the same IRC client.
Note 26: Digsby does not support XMPP conferences.
Note 27: Nimbuzz does not support skype on the PC clients. Source: http://forum.nimbuzz.com/index.php?action=vthread&forum=11&topic=406
Note 28: Plugin available
Note 29: Plugin available
Note 30: Restricted to Google Talk only. [
Features
Information on what features each of the clients support.
| Client | Number of Features Included | Toolkits or SDKs | Encryption | File transfer | Proxy-server | Graphical smileys | Unicode (UTF-8) | Built-in games | Themes / skins | Plugin system 1 | Third party add-ons 2 | Scripting | Message Logging | Voice messaging | Voice Mail | Webcam Support | Offline messaging | Remote desktop application assistance | Whiteboard | Right-to-Left texting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adium | 11 | Cocoa | Yes 11 | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| AIM | 11 | W32 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| AIM for Mac | 4 | Cocoa | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| aMSN | 14 | Tcl/Tk | Yes 22 | Yes | http, socks5, msn gateway | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes 17 | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Ayttm | 9 | GTK2 | Yes | No | http, socks4, socks5 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial | Partial | No | No | No |
| BitlBee | 3 | — | Yes | Yes 27 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Partial 19 | Yes | No | No | Partial 19 | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| BitWise IM | 8 | W32, GTK2, Carbon | Yes 7 | Yes | ? | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Bombus | 10 | Java ME | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Bopup Messenger | 6 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Brosix | 14 | W32 | Yes | Yes | https, socks4, 4A, 5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Centericq | 5 | ncurses | Partial 9 | Partial | ? | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| climm | 7 | line based | Yes 5,11 | Yes | ? | — | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | Yes | — | No | ? |
| Coccinella | 11 | Tcl/Tk | Yes | Yes | http, socks4, 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| Digsby | 9 | ? | ? | Partial | ? | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| eBuddy | 6 | No | Yes | Partial | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| eM Client | 6 | W32 | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Empathy | 12 | GTK2 | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| EQO | 5 | — | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Exodus | 5 | W32 | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Fire | 9 | Cocoa | Yes 6 | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Gadu-Gadu | 8 | Qt 25 | Yes 24 | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes 23 | No | ? | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Gajim | 7 | GTK2 | Yes 9 | Yes | http | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| GCN | 5 | W32 | Yes 4 | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| GOIM | 5 | Java/SWT | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Google Talk | 8 | W32 | No | Yes | ? | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Third party plugin | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Gyachi | 9 | GTK2 | Yes | Yes | https | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| IBM Lotus Sametime | 15 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | available | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| iChat | 11 | Cocoa | Yes 21 | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial 3 | ? |
| ICQ | 12 | W32 | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| imo.im | 10 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| InSpeak Communicator | 9 | — | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| IM+ | X | No | Yes | Partial | ? | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| IMVU | 6 | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | Yes 13 | No | Yes 14 | No | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Jabberwocky | 1 | No | No | Partial | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes 20 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| JClaim | 11 | JDK (Java) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Kadu | 10 | Qt | Yes 26 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| KMess | 7 | Qt/KDE | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Kopete | 8 | Qt/KDE | Yes 9,11 | Partial | No | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | With plugin | Yes | With plugin (Partial) | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
| Licq | 9 | Qt | Yes 5 | Yes | https | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| MCabber | 4 | Curses | Yes 11 | No | ? | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| MECA Messenger | 5 | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Meetro (Discontinued) | 4 | ? | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Mercury Messenger | 11 | Swing | Yes 4 | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Miranda IM | 12 | W32 | Yes 10,11 | Yes | Yes: socks4/5, HTTP(S) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial 15 | No | Partial15 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Messenger for Mac | 4 | Carbon | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| MSNP-Sharp | 11 | W32 | ? | Yes | http, socks5, msn gateway | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes 17 | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Mundu IM | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Nimbuzz | 7 | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| ooVoo | 9 | Yes | Partial (signaling only) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| QuteCom | 6 | Qt | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Palringo | 3 | ? | No | No | ? | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Partial (picture capture only) | ? | No | No | ? |
| Paltalk | 9 | — | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Pandion | 11 | ? | Yes | Yes | http | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | 7 | GTK2 | 8,11 | Partial | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial (XMPP in Linux) | No | Yes (XMPP in Linux) | Partial | No | Partial | Yes |
| PopNote | 21 | W32 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| pork | 3 | ncurses | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Proteus | 5 | Cocoa | ? | Partial | ? | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Psi | 6 | KDE/Qt | Yes 9 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial (Icon sets only) | Not yet | No | No | Yes | Partial (Linux & Unix) | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| psyced | 7 | — | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| QIP | 10 | W32, VCL | Yes | Yes | http(s), socks4, 4A, 5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Qnext | 15 | Swing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 11 | W32 | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | |
| qutIM | 7 | Qt | Yes | Yes | http(s), socks 5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| RealTimeQuery | 3 | — | Not yet | Yes | ? | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Not yet | No | Not yet | Not yet | No | ? | ? |
| Skype | 12 | Qt/KDE, W32 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | With plugin (Windows only) | Yes |
| Sococo | 6 | None | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| talk | 0 | curses | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Tkabber | 13 | Tcl/Tk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Trillian Basic 3.0 | 7 | W32 | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Trillian Pro 3.0 | 11 | W32 | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Trillian Astra | 12 | W32 | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No |
| VoxOx | 7 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| VZOchat | 7 | W32 | Yes | No | https, socks4, 4A, 5 | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Windows Live Messenger
(formerly MSN Messenger) |
15 | W32 | No | Yes | Yes: socks4/5, HTTP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Messenger (Discontinued) | 6 | W32 | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial | No | ? | No | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WTW | 10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Xfire | 6 | W32 | No | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Yahoo! Messenger | 11 | W32, Cocoa, GTK | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes (Flash based Doodle background) | Yes |
| Client | Number of Features Included | Toolkits or SDKs | Encryption | File transfer | Proxy-server | Graphical smileys | Unicode (UTF-8) | Built-in games | Themes / skins | Plugin system 1 | Third party add-ons 2 | Scripting | Message Logging | Voice messaging | Voice Mail | Webcam Support | Offline messaging | Remote desktop application assistance | Whiteboard | Right-to-Left texting |
Note 1: Plug-in system to add/expand the default features for the application, or protocol. Such as (but not limited to) Trillian chat client - Plugins.
Note 2: Third party add-ons which are usually not approved by the author of the application and are usually standalone. Such as (but not limited to) AOL Instant messenger - Third-party add-ons.
Note 3: Using third party add-on software. Consult the client's page for details.
Note 4: Proprietary; compatible only to itself.
Note 5: ICQ: SSL-encrypted direct connections; compatible between climm, Licq.
Note 6: Any protocol: GPG-encrypted messages.
Note 7: Blowfish-encrypted direct connection; compatible only to itself.
Note 8: Newer version Pidgin: Pidgin-encryption plugin, older version Gaim: Gaim-encryption plugin. This plugin is compatible with Pidgin/Gaim clients only.
Note 9: Compatible with all XMPP clients implementing XEP-0027 (standard XMPP encryption).
Note 10: SecureIM plugin provides 192 bits AES Encryption, compatible only between Miranda clients, and implements XEP-0027: Current Jabber OpenPGP Usage.
Note 11: End to end encryption via "Off The Record" (OTR) encryption. Adium: Plugin (built-in), Kopete: Plugin, Pidgin: Plugin, Miranda: Plugin, climm: built-in since (mICQ) 0.5.4, Trillian Pro: Plugin
Note 13: While IMVU does not allow add-ons to extend the client, registered accounts can create new content for use inside the simulation.
Note 14: IMVU logs all actions perceived by the client, including actions that do not have a textual result, making the log difficult to use for reading of messages.
Note 15: WebCam Video, a plugin for Miranda IM, allows for video chat between two users of the Miranda IM client through a different method than whichever protocol they may currently use.
Note 16: AES256-encrypted direct connection; compatible only to itself.
Note 17: Voice clips are fully supported in the stable version, while the audio conference feature is available only in the development version.
Note 19: The IRC client connecting to the bitlbee server should take care of this feature.
Note 20: The Jabberwocky client allows scripting in the ARexx language.
Note 21: Only for members of MobileMe
Note 22: GPG Encryption with Kryptonite plugin
Note 23: Since version 8.0
Note 24: Official support since version 10 build 10784
Note 25: Prior to version 8.0 Gadu-Gadu was written in Win32
Note 26: End-to-end encryption using a combination of Blowfish and RSA algorithms (official Encryption plugin)
Note 27: Depends heavily on libpurple
Features 2
| Client | Handwriting mode | Dockable | Multiaccount | Spell check | User-Defined Graphical Smileys | Animations | OAuth for Client Authorization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adium | Yes:Receive Only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | ? |
| AIM | No | Yes | No | No | ? | Partial | ? |
| aMSN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Ayttm | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| BitlBee | No | — | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| BitWise IM | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Brosix | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Centericq | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| climm | — | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Coccinella | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Digsby | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| eM Client | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Empathy | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| EQO | n/a | n/a | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| Exodus | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Fire | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Gajim | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| GCN | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| GOIM | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Goofey6 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Google Talk (standalone) | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Google Talk (Gmail) | No | ? | ? | No | No | Yes | ? |
| Gyachi | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
| iChat | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| ICQ | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes: tZer | ? |
| InSpeak Communicator | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
| IMVU | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| IM+ | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| imo.im | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Jabberwocky | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| JClaim | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| Kadu | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes:smileys | No |
| KMess | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Kopete | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes:smileys | ? |
| Licq | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MECA Messenger | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Meebo | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Meetro (Discontinued) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Mercury Messenger | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Miranda IM | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Microsoft Messenger for Mac | No | ? | ? | No | Yes | Partial | ? |
| MindSpring | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MySpaceIM | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Naim | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Nimbuzz | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| ooVoo | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| QuteCom | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Pandion | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Paltalk | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes:smileys and user icons | ? |
| PopNote | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| Pork | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Proteus | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Psi | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| psyced | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Qnext | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes: animated user icons, emoticons, themes | ? |
| QIP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes:smileys | ? |
| No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | |
| qutIM | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes:Animated emoticons | ? |
| RealTimeQuery | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Skype | No | No | No | No | ? | Yes:Animated emoticons | ? |
| talk | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Trillian | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes:Animated emoticons | ? |
| Trillian Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes:Animated emoticons | ? |
| Trillian Astra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes:Animated emoticons | ? |
| VoxOx | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| VZOchat | No | No | No | No | No | Yes: Animated user icons | ? |
| Windows Live Messenger | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes: Animated emoticons, winks | ? |
| Windows Messenger (Discontinued) | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| WTW | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Yahoo! Messenger | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Client | Handwriting mode | Dockable | Multiaccount | Spell check | User-Defined Graphical Smileys | Animations | OAuth for Client Authorization |
See also
- Comparison of instant messaging protocols
- Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients
- Comparison of LAN messengers
- LAN messenger
- Messenger service
References
- ^ Ayttm: Universal Instant Messaging Client
- ^ Initial revision
- ^ a b XMPP Software: Clients
- ^ Voice over IP (VoIP) Questions
- ^ Порт qutIM 0.1 (SVN: rev. 111)
- ^ a b c d "Release Notes for Skype for Windows, Mac and Linux". Skype Support. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ a b c "Get Skype". Skype. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Skype". Microsoft Apps. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Install Skype on Linux". Snap Store. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ a b "Release Notes for Skype on Mobile". Skype Support. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Skype". Google Play. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Skype 8.150.0.125". APKMirror. 2025-05-05. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Skype". App Store. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ AIM Download Mac - AIM
- ^ Lotus Sametime Mobile Version 8.0 User Guide
- ^ http://maemo.org/packages/view/pidgin/
- ^ Psi port to Haiku
- ^ qutIM's supported OS page
- ^ qutIM port to Haiku
- ^ qutIM - Gitorious