The following is a comparison of instant messaging protocols. It contains basic general information about the protocols.
Protocol | Creator | First public release date | License | Identity (not inc. alias) | Asynchronous message relaying | Transport Layer Security | End-to-end encryption | Unlimited number of contacts | Bulletins to all contacts | One-to-many routing [a] | Spam protection | Group, channel or conference support | Audio/VoIP support | Webcam/Video | Batch file sharing | Media synchronization | Serverless [b] | Protocol |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3GPP standards | Friedhelm Hillebrand | 1985 | Proprietary | Phone number (e.g. +1234567890) | Yes | No | No | About 250 contacts in SIM, unlimited from phone. | No | serial messages | Medium | No | Yes | 3G-324M/ ViLTE | RCS | No | ? | 3GPP standards |
Bitmessage | Jonathan Warren | 2012 Nov | Open standard | Alphanumeric address | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (through proof-of-work) | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Bitmessage |
Bonjour | Apple Inc. | 2002 August | Proprietary Freeware; portions under the Apache license | Username | No | No | No | Yes | No | multicast | Medium | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Bonjour |
Briar | Briarproject.org | 2018 May 9 | Open standard | Public & Private key (via QR Codes) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Briar |
Discord | Discord Inc. | 2015 May 13 | Proprietary | Discord ID [1] | Yes | No | No | No [2] | No | ? | Medium | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Discord |
dm3 | corpus.io / dm3.network | 2022 | Open Source (BSD) | ENS (Ethereum Name Service) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | dm3 |
Echo | spot-on.sf.net / goldbug.sf.net | 2013 | Open standard | Key | Yes | Optional | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Echo |
Gadu-Gadu | GG Network | 2000 Jul 17 | Proprietary | UIN e.g. 12345678 |
Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Centralistic | Yes [c] (simple) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Gadu-Gadu |
IRC | Jarkko Oikarinen | 1988 Aug | Open standard |
Nickname!
Username@
hostname (or "hostmask") e.g. user!~usr@a.b.com [d] |
Yes, via IRCv3 [3] or MemoServ that differs from the main system | Optional | many implementations which are mostly non-interoperable with other IRC clients [4] [5] [6] | No [e] | No | Simplistic multicast | Medium | Yes (everyone, multiple simultaneous, any size) | many implementations which are incompatible with other IRC clients [9] [10] | No | Yes | via BNC | yes, via DCC CHAT | IRC |
Jami (based on DHT and SIP) | Savoir-faire Linux Inc. | 2002 August | Open Standard | 40-digit address | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Medium | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Jami (based on DHT and SIP) |
Matrix | Matrix.org | 2014 Sep [11][ failed verification] | Open standard | @ Username: Hostname ( MXID) | Yes | Yes, mandatory | Yes, default for private conversations [12] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (using pluggable server-side filtering modules and contact ignoring) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Under development [13] | Matrix |
Mattermost | Mattermost Inc | 2015 October 2 | Open standard | |||||||||||||||
MSNP ( Windows Live Messenger, etc.) | Microsoft | 1999 Jul | Proprietary | Email address ( Microsoft account) | Yes | No | No | Only for certified robots | No | Centralistic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | MSNP ( Windows Live Messenger, etc.) |
MTProto ( Telegram) | Telegram Messenger LLP | 2013 Aug | Open standard | Phone number (e.g. +1234567890), nickname (e.g. @example) | Yes | Yes | No end-to-end encryption for group chats | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, contact blocking | Yes | Yes [14] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | MTProto ( Telegram) |
Mumble | Thorvald Natvig | 1999 Jul | Open standard | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Only for certified robots | No | Centralistic | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Mumble |
LINE | Line Corporation | 2011 June 23 | Proprietary | |||||||||||||||
OSCAR ( AIM, ICQ) | AOL | 1997 | Proprietary (Discontinued 15-Dec-2017) [15] |
Username, Email Address or
UIN e.g. 12345678 |
Yes | Yes (Aim Pro, Aim Lite) | No | No | No | Centralistic | client-based | Yes (Multiple, simultaneous) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | OSCAR ( AIM, ICQ) |
RVP ( Windows Messenger, etc.) | Microsoft | 1997 Mar | Proprietary (Discontinued) | Windows Active Directory Login | No | No | ? | No | Centralistic | None | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | RVP ( Windows Messenger, etc.) | |
Ricochet | Invisible.im | 2014 Mar | Open standard | Tor onion address | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Ricochet |
Serval Project | Serval Project | 2016 | Open Standard | Digit address | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Serval Project |
Signal Protocol | Signal Foundation | 2014 Feb [16] | Open standard | Phone number (e.g. +1234567890) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes, contact blocking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Signal Protocol |
SimpleX Messaging Protocol | Evgeny Poberezkin | 2020 | AGPLv3 | No user identifiers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, through WebRTC [17] | Yes, through WebRTC [17] | Yes | No | SimpleX Messaging Protocol | ||||
SIP/ SIMPLE | IETF | 1996 | Open standard | user@hostname | Yes | Yes | Optional | Yes | Yes | No | Medium | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Depends on implementation | SIP/ SIMPLE |
Skype | Skype | 2003 Aug | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Proprietary | No | No | No | Centralistic | client-based | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Skype |
Steam Friends | Valve | 2003 Sep 12 | Proprietary | SteamID/Username or Unique Number | Yes | Proprietary | ? | No, although rising | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Steam Friends |
TeamSpeak | TeamSpeak Systems GmbH | 2001 Aug | Proprietary | Unique ID in base64 | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ||||
TOC2 | AOL | 2005 Sep | Proprietary (Discontinued) |
Username or
UIN e.g. 12345678 |
Yes | No | No | No | No | Centralistic | No | paying members only | ? | ? | Partial | ? | No | TOC2 |
Threema | Threema GmbH | 2012 December | Open standard | |||||||||||||||
TOX (based on DHT) | irungentoo (GitHub user) | 2013 June | GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 or later | Public & Private key | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [18] [19] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [20] | Yes | TOX (based on DHT) |
Tuenti | Tuenti | 2006 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Tuenti |
Tencent | 2011 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ||
Windows Messenger service | Microsoft | 1990 | Proprietary (Discontinued) | NetBIOS | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Windows Messenger service |
XMPP | Jeremie Miller, standardized via IETF | 1999 Jan | Open standard |
Jabber ID (JID) e.g. usr@a.b.c/home [f] |
Yes [21] [22] | Yes [23] | Optional [24] [25] [26] [27] | Yes | Yes [28] | Yes [29] [30] | Yes [31] [32] [33] | Yes [29] | Yes, via Jingle | Yes, via Jingle | Yes [34] | Yes [35] | Optional [36] | XMPP |
YMSG ( Yahoo! Messenger) | Yahoo! | 1998, March 9 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | No[ needs update?] | No | No | Yes | Centralistic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | YMSG ( Yahoo! Messenger) |
Zephyr Notification Service | MIT | 1987 | Open standard |
Kerberos principal e.g. user@ATHENA.MIT.EDU |
Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Zephyr Notification Service |
Protocol | Creator | First public release date | License | Identity (not inc. alias) | Asynchronous message relaying | Transport Layer Security | End-to-end encryption | Unlimited number of contacts | Bulletins to all contacts | One-to-many routing [a] | Spam protection | Group, channel or conference support | Audio/VoIP support | Webcam/Video | Batch file sharing | Media synchronization | Serverless [b] (decentralized) | Protocol |
The following is a comparison of instant messaging protocols. It contains basic general information about the protocols.
Protocol | Creator | First public release date | License | Identity (not inc. alias) | Asynchronous message relaying | Transport Layer Security | End-to-end encryption | Unlimited number of contacts | Bulletins to all contacts | One-to-many routing [a] | Spam protection | Group, channel or conference support | Audio/VoIP support | Webcam/Video | Batch file sharing | Media synchronization | Serverless [b] | Protocol |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3GPP standards | Friedhelm Hillebrand | 1985 | Proprietary | Phone number (e.g. +1234567890) | Yes | No | No | About 250 contacts in SIM, unlimited from phone. | No | serial messages | Medium | No | Yes | 3G-324M/ ViLTE | RCS | No | ? | 3GPP standards |
Bitmessage | Jonathan Warren | 2012 Nov | Open standard | Alphanumeric address | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (through proof-of-work) | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Bitmessage |
Bonjour | Apple Inc. | 2002 August | Proprietary Freeware; portions under the Apache license | Username | No | No | No | Yes | No | multicast | Medium | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Bonjour |
Briar | Briarproject.org | 2018 May 9 | Open standard | Public & Private key (via QR Codes) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Briar |
Discord | Discord Inc. | 2015 May 13 | Proprietary | Discord ID [1] | Yes | No | No | No [2] | No | ? | Medium | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Discord |
dm3 | corpus.io / dm3.network | 2022 | Open Source (BSD) | ENS (Ethereum Name Service) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | dm3 |
Echo | spot-on.sf.net / goldbug.sf.net | 2013 | Open standard | Key | Yes | Optional | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Echo |
Gadu-Gadu | GG Network | 2000 Jul 17 | Proprietary | UIN e.g. 12345678 |
Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Centralistic | Yes [c] (simple) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Gadu-Gadu |
IRC | Jarkko Oikarinen | 1988 Aug | Open standard |
Nickname!
Username@
hostname (or "hostmask") e.g. user!~usr@a.b.com [d] |
Yes, via IRCv3 [3] or MemoServ that differs from the main system | Optional | many implementations which are mostly non-interoperable with other IRC clients [4] [5] [6] | No [e] | No | Simplistic multicast | Medium | Yes (everyone, multiple simultaneous, any size) | many implementations which are incompatible with other IRC clients [9] [10] | No | Yes | via BNC | yes, via DCC CHAT | IRC |
Jami (based on DHT and SIP) | Savoir-faire Linux Inc. | 2002 August | Open Standard | 40-digit address | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Medium | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Jami (based on DHT and SIP) |
Matrix | Matrix.org | 2014 Sep [11][ failed verification] | Open standard | @ Username: Hostname ( MXID) | Yes | Yes, mandatory | Yes, default for private conversations [12] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (using pluggable server-side filtering modules and contact ignoring) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Under development [13] | Matrix |
Mattermost | Mattermost Inc | 2015 October 2 | Open standard | |||||||||||||||
MSNP ( Windows Live Messenger, etc.) | Microsoft | 1999 Jul | Proprietary | Email address ( Microsoft account) | Yes | No | No | Only for certified robots | No | Centralistic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | MSNP ( Windows Live Messenger, etc.) |
MTProto ( Telegram) | Telegram Messenger LLP | 2013 Aug | Open standard | Phone number (e.g. +1234567890), nickname (e.g. @example) | Yes | Yes | No end-to-end encryption for group chats | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, contact blocking | Yes | Yes [14] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | MTProto ( Telegram) |
Mumble | Thorvald Natvig | 1999 Jul | Open standard | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Only for certified robots | No | Centralistic | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Mumble |
LINE | Line Corporation | 2011 June 23 | Proprietary | |||||||||||||||
OSCAR ( AIM, ICQ) | AOL | 1997 | Proprietary (Discontinued 15-Dec-2017) [15] |
Username, Email Address or
UIN e.g. 12345678 |
Yes | Yes (Aim Pro, Aim Lite) | No | No | No | Centralistic | client-based | Yes (Multiple, simultaneous) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | OSCAR ( AIM, ICQ) |
RVP ( Windows Messenger, etc.) | Microsoft | 1997 Mar | Proprietary (Discontinued) | Windows Active Directory Login | No | No | ? | No | Centralistic | None | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | RVP ( Windows Messenger, etc.) | |
Ricochet | Invisible.im | 2014 Mar | Open standard | Tor onion address | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Ricochet |
Serval Project | Serval Project | 2016 | Open Standard | Digit address | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Serval Project |
Signal Protocol | Signal Foundation | 2014 Feb [16] | Open standard | Phone number (e.g. +1234567890) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes, contact blocking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Signal Protocol |
SimpleX Messaging Protocol | Evgeny Poberezkin | 2020 | AGPLv3 | No user identifiers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, through WebRTC [17] | Yes, through WebRTC [17] | Yes | No | SimpleX Messaging Protocol | ||||
SIP/ SIMPLE | IETF | 1996 | Open standard | user@hostname | Yes | Yes | Optional | Yes | Yes | No | Medium | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Depends on implementation | SIP/ SIMPLE |
Skype | Skype | 2003 Aug | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Proprietary | No | No | No | Centralistic | client-based | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Skype |
Steam Friends | Valve | 2003 Sep 12 | Proprietary | SteamID/Username or Unique Number | Yes | Proprietary | ? | No, although rising | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Steam Friends |
TeamSpeak | TeamSpeak Systems GmbH | 2001 Aug | Proprietary | Unique ID in base64 | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ||||
TOC2 | AOL | 2005 Sep | Proprietary (Discontinued) |
Username or
UIN e.g. 12345678 |
Yes | No | No | No | No | Centralistic | No | paying members only | ? | ? | Partial | ? | No | TOC2 |
Threema | Threema GmbH | 2012 December | Open standard | |||||||||||||||
TOX (based on DHT) | irungentoo (GitHub user) | 2013 June | GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 or later | Public & Private key | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [18] [19] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [20] | Yes | TOX (based on DHT) |
Tuenti | Tuenti | 2006 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Tuenti |
Tencent | 2011 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ||
Windows Messenger service | Microsoft | 1990 | Proprietary (Discontinued) | NetBIOS | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Windows Messenger service |
XMPP | Jeremie Miller, standardized via IETF | 1999 Jan | Open standard |
Jabber ID (JID) e.g. usr@a.b.c/home [f] |
Yes [21] [22] | Yes [23] | Optional [24] [25] [26] [27] | Yes | Yes [28] | Yes [29] [30] | Yes [31] [32] [33] | Yes [29] | Yes, via Jingle | Yes, via Jingle | Yes [34] | Yes [35] | Optional [36] | XMPP |
YMSG ( Yahoo! Messenger) | Yahoo! | 1998, March 9 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | No[ needs update?] | No | No | Yes | Centralistic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | YMSG ( Yahoo! Messenger) |
Zephyr Notification Service | MIT | 1987 | Open standard |
Kerberos principal e.g. user@ATHENA.MIT.EDU |
Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Zephyr Notification Service |
Protocol | Creator | First public release date | License | Identity (not inc. alias) | Asynchronous message relaying | Transport Layer Security | End-to-end encryption | Unlimited number of contacts | Bulletins to all contacts | One-to-many routing [a] | Spam protection | Group, channel or conference support | Audio/VoIP support | Webcam/Video | Batch file sharing | Media synchronization | Serverless [b] (decentralized) | Protocol |