This article's
factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. (August 2012) |
This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's
quality standards. (November 2022) |
The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of notable IRC client programs which have been discussed in independent, reliable prior published sources.
Basic general information about the notableclients: creator/company, license, etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development.
A brief overview of the release history.
First public release | First stable release | Latest stable release | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Client | Date | Version | Date | Version | |
AmIRC | 1995 | ||||
Bersirc | 1999 | 2.2.14 (12 August 2005 [±] | )|||
BitchX | 1996 | 1.2.1 (November 14, 2014 [±] | )|||
ChatZilla | 2001 | 0.9.93 (November 8, 2016[6]) [±] | |||
Colloquy | 2005 | 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014 [±] | )|||
DMDirc | 2007 | 0.7 (January 5, 2013[7]) [±] | |||
ERC | 1999? | ERC improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] | |||
HexChat | 2009-10-04 | r249 | 2009-10-09 | 2.86.0 | 2.16.2 [8] [9] (7 February 2024 ) [±] |
ircII | 1989 | 2.0.0 | 1989 | 2.0.0 | 20210314 (March 14, 2021 [±] | )
Ircle | 1995 | 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007 [±] | )|||
Irssi | 1999 | 1.4.4 (March 31, 2023 [±] [10] | )|||
KVIrc | 1998 | 0.6.0 | 1999-12-21 | 1.0.0 | 5.2.0 (January 14, 2024[11]) [±] |
Konversation | 2002 | 1.9.23083 [12] 9 November 2023; 20 October 2023 | |||
LeafChat | ? | 1.0 | 2.5 (July 29, 2012 [±] | )||
Linkinus | 2007 | 2.4.3 (August 23, 2011[13]) [±] | |||
Mibbit | 2008 | web application, no version | |||
mIRC | 1995 | 7.76 (7 January 2024[14]) [±] | |||
Nettalk | 2004 | 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012[15]) [±] | |||
PIRCH | 1995 | 1.0.1.1190 (January 1, 2001 [±] | )|||
PJIRC | 2002 | 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004 [±] | )|||
Quassel | 2008-08-27 | 0.3.0 | 0.14.0 (January 1, 2022 [±] | )||
rcirc | ? | ? | rcirc improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] | ||
Smuxi | 2008-07-29 | 0.6 | 2010-09-03 | 0.8 | 1.2.1 (April 23, 2023 [±] | )
Snak | 1997 | 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012[16]) [±] | |||
Visual IRC | 1995 | 2.0pl2 (December 30, 2007 [±] [17] | )|||
WeeChat | 2003 | 4.2.1 (January 22, 2024[18]) [±] | |||
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 | macOS (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS, ArcaOS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | 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 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
ERC | Yes | Yes [21] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes [22] | Yes [23] | ? | ? | Yes [24] | |
HexChat | Yes | Dropped (2.9.5) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 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 2] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | 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 | Yes [25] | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes [26] | No | No | No | |
LeafChat | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Linkinus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [Note 2] | 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 | |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Partial [Note 3] | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 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 | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | 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] | Partial [Note 1] | Partial [Note 1] | No | Partial [Note 1] | Partial [Note 1] | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | |
Client | Windows 7, Vista | XP, 2000 | NT 4.0 | NT 3.x | Me, 98 | 95 | 3.1x | ReactOS | OS X (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS |
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 OpenServer | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | Yes [Note 1] | Yes | ? | 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 |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HexChat | ? | ? | 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 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Konversation | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
KVIrc | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LeafChat | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | 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 |
Nettalk | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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] | ? |
Client | 386BSD | BSD/OS (BSD/386, BSDI) | FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD | SunOS | ULTRIX | AIX | A/UX | HP-UX | IRIX | SCO OpenServer | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client.
Client | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | DANE | OCSP | CRL | SASL | OTR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
BitchX | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | script | No |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No [29] |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes [Note 1] | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes [Note 2] |
ircII | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Ircle | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes [30] |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No |
Linkinus | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
Mibbit | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
Nettalk | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
PIRCH | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
PJIRC | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No [31] |
rcirc | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No [32] |
Snak | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Visual IRC | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes [33] [34] [Note 2] |
Client | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | DANE | OCSP | CRL | SASL | OTR |
The Direct Client-to-Client Protocol (DCC) has been the primary method of establishing connections directly between IRC clients for a long time now. Once established, DCC connections bypass the IRC network and servers, allowing for all sorts of data to be transferred between clients including files and direct chat sessions.
Client | CHAT | SEND | RESUME | TSEND | SEND T | XMIT | Passive DCC | Server | RDCC | REVERSE | RSEND | Reverse / Firewall DCC | File servers (FSERVs) | XDCC | VOICE | Whiteboard |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BitchX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | No [35] | ? | ? | No | No [Note 1] | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | No |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
ERC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No |
ircII | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Ircle | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [Note 3] | No |
Linkinus | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Mibbit | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | No |
PIRCH | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
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 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Visual IRC | ? | ? | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes [Note 3] | Yes |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
Client | CHAT | SEND | RESUME | TSEND | SEND T | XMIT | Passive DCC | Server | RDCC | REVERSE | RSEND | Reverse / Firewall DCC | File servers (FSERVs) | XDCC | VOICE | Whiteboard |
This software is compliant natively; other software may be compliant with extensions. [39] [40]
Clients | CAP | CAP 302 | Cap-notify | Account-notify | account-tag | Away-notify | batch | Bot Mode | chghost | echo-message | extended-join | Invite-notify | labeled-response | message-tags | Monitor | msgid | multi-prefix | SASL v3.1 | SASL v3.2 | server-time | setname | sts | userhost-in-names | UTF8ONLY | WHOX | +typing | draft/chathistory | WebIRC | draft/account-registration | draft/extended-monitor | draft/multiline | +draft/react | +draft/reply |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BitchX | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2.16 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | 2.16 | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2.16 | No | Yes | 2.16 | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | Git | Git | Git | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | Git | Git | No | Git | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Git | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
KVIrc | Yes | No | No | Git | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | Git | No | No | No | No | No | Git | Yes | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Konversation | Yes | v20.11.80+ | v21.03.80+ | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | v21.03.80+ | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | v21.04.0+ | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Mibbit | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | 72.0+ | 72.0+ | No | No | No | No | No | No | 73.0+ | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 72.0+ | 60.0+ | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Quassel IRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.14+ | Yes | No | No | Yes | 0.14+ (opt in) | Yes | 0.14+ | No | 0.14+ | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.14+ | 0.14+ | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
WeeChat | Yes | 2.2+ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | 2.2+ | No | Yes | 2.2+ | No | 3.3+ | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 3.3+ | Yes | 3.3+ | No | Yes | No | Yes | 3.3+ | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 7.62+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.62+ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
IRC SASL authentication primarily uses the same mechanisms as SASL in other protocols. Most commonly:
Client | EXTERNAL | PLAIN | SCRAM-SHA-256 |
---|---|---|---|
BitchX | No | Yes | No |
Colloquy | No | Yes | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | No |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | No |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | No |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | No | Yes | No |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | 3.2+ |
catgirl | Yes | Yes | No |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | 7.68+ |
pydle(lib.) | No | Yes | No |
senpai | No | Yes | No |
zIRC(lib.) | Yes | Yes | No |
Information on what features each of the clients support.
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | — | |
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 | |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [41] | Yes [Note 3] | Emacs Lisp | |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua [Note 4], JavaScript, C, C++, and via D-Bus. | |
ircII | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? | ? | IrcII script | |
Ircle | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript | |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Perl | |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Shell script, Ruby, Python, Perl, Java, C++, C#, JavaScript [Note 6] | |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | KVS (custom), Perl, Python, C++ | |
LeafChat | Yes | Yes | ? | — | Yes | Java | |
Linkinus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AppleScript, Cocoa | |
Mibbit | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | — | — | |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 7] | mIRC script | |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | SOCKS | Yes | Yes | VBScript, custom | |
PIRCH | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | Yes | |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Partial, JavaScript | |
Quassel | style="background:#9EFF9E;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Emacs Lisp | |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes (language agnostic) | |
Snak | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript, IrcII script | |
Visual IRC | style="background:#9EFF9E;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Versus | |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | C, Perl, Python, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, Scheme ( Guile) | |
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language |
This article's
factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. (August 2012) |
This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's
quality standards. (November 2022) |
The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of notable IRC client programs which have been discussed in independent, reliable prior published sources.
Basic general information about the notableclients: creator/company, license, etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development.
A brief overview of the release history.
First public release | First stable release | Latest stable release | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Client | Date | Version | Date | Version | |
AmIRC | 1995 | ||||
Bersirc | 1999 | 2.2.14 (12 August 2005 [±] | )|||
BitchX | 1996 | 1.2.1 (November 14, 2014 [±] | )|||
ChatZilla | 2001 | 0.9.93 (November 8, 2016[6]) [±] | |||
Colloquy | 2005 | 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014 [±] | )|||
DMDirc | 2007 | 0.7 (January 5, 2013[7]) [±] | |||
ERC | 1999? | ERC improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] | |||
HexChat | 2009-10-04 | r249 | 2009-10-09 | 2.86.0 | 2.16.2 [8] [9] (7 February 2024 ) [±] |
ircII | 1989 | 2.0.0 | 1989 | 2.0.0 | 20210314 (March 14, 2021 [±] | )
Ircle | 1995 | 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007 [±] | )|||
Irssi | 1999 | 1.4.4 (March 31, 2023 [±] [10] | )|||
KVIrc | 1998 | 0.6.0 | 1999-12-21 | 1.0.0 | 5.2.0 (January 14, 2024[11]) [±] |
Konversation | 2002 | 1.9.23083 [12] 9 November 2023; 20 October 2023 | |||
LeafChat | ? | 1.0 | 2.5 (July 29, 2012 [±] | )||
Linkinus | 2007 | 2.4.3 (August 23, 2011[13]) [±] | |||
Mibbit | 2008 | web application, no version | |||
mIRC | 1995 | 7.76 (7 January 2024[14]) [±] | |||
Nettalk | 2004 | 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012[15]) [±] | |||
PIRCH | 1995 | 1.0.1.1190 (January 1, 2001 [±] | )|||
PJIRC | 2002 | 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004 [±] | )|||
Quassel | 2008-08-27 | 0.3.0 | 0.14.0 (January 1, 2022 [±] | )||
rcirc | ? | ? | rcirc improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] | ||
Smuxi | 2008-07-29 | 0.6 | 2010-09-03 | 0.8 | 1.2.1 (April 23, 2023 [±] | )
Snak | 1997 | 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012[16]) [±] | |||
Visual IRC | 1995 | 2.0pl2 (December 30, 2007 [±] [17] | )|||
WeeChat | 2003 | 4.2.1 (January 22, 2024[18]) [±] | |||
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 | macOS (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS, ArcaOS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | 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 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
ERC | Yes | Yes [21] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes [22] | Yes [23] | ? | ? | Yes [24] | |
HexChat | Yes | Dropped (2.9.5) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 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 2] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | 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 | Yes [25] | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes [26] | No | No | No | |
LeafChat | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Linkinus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes [Note 2] | 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 | |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Partial [Note 3] | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 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 | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | 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] | Partial [Note 1] | Partial [Note 1] | No | Partial [Note 1] | Partial [Note 1] | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | |
Client | Windows 7, Vista | XP, 2000 | NT 4.0 | NT 3.x | Me, 98 | 95 | 3.1x | ReactOS | OS X (Intel/PPC) | OS 9 | OS 8 | System 7 (PPC/68k) | BeOS, Haiku | OS/2, eCS | AmigaOS (68k) | AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) | DOS |
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 OpenServer | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | Yes [Note 1] | Yes | ? | 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 |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HexChat | ? | ? | 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 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Konversation | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
KVIrc | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LeafChat | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | 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 |
Nettalk | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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] | ? |
Client | 386BSD | BSD/OS (BSD/386, BSDI) | FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD | SunOS | ULTRIX | AIX | A/UX | HP-UX | IRIX | SCO OpenServer | Solaris | UnixWare | Linux | NeXTSTEP | OpenVMS | OSF/1 | QNX | Tru64 UNIX |
What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client.
Client | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | DANE | OCSP | CRL | SASL | OTR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
BitchX | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | script | No |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No [29] |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes [Note 1] | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes [Note 2] |
ircII | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Ircle | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes [30] |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No |
Linkinus | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
Mibbit | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
Nettalk | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
PIRCH | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
PJIRC | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Quassel | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No [31] |
rcirc | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No [32] |
Snak | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Visual IRC | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes [33] [34] [Note 2] |
Client | IPv6 | SSL | TLS | DANE | OCSP | CRL | SASL | OTR |
The Direct Client-to-Client Protocol (DCC) has been the primary method of establishing connections directly between IRC clients for a long time now. Once established, DCC connections bypass the IRC network and servers, allowing for all sorts of data to be transferred between clients including files and direct chat sessions.
Client | CHAT | SEND | RESUME | TSEND | SEND T | XMIT | Passive DCC | Server | RDCC | REVERSE | RSEND | Reverse / Firewall DCC | File servers (FSERVs) | XDCC | VOICE | Whiteboard |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BitchX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No |
ChatZilla | Yes | Yes | No [35] | ? | ? | No | No [Note 1] | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | No |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
ERC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No |
ircII | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Ircle | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [Note 3] | No |
Linkinus | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Mibbit | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | No |
PIRCH | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
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 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Visual IRC | ? | ? | Yes [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes [Note 3] | Yes |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
Client | CHAT | SEND | RESUME | TSEND | SEND T | XMIT | Passive DCC | Server | RDCC | REVERSE | RSEND | Reverse / Firewall DCC | File servers (FSERVs) | XDCC | VOICE | Whiteboard |
This software is compliant natively; other software may be compliant with extensions. [39] [40]
Clients | CAP | CAP 302 | Cap-notify | Account-notify | account-tag | Away-notify | batch | Bot Mode | chghost | echo-message | extended-join | Invite-notify | labeled-response | message-tags | Monitor | msgid | multi-prefix | SASL v3.1 | SASL v3.2 | server-time | setname | sts | userhost-in-names | UTF8ONLY | WHOX | +typing | draft/chathistory | WebIRC | draft/account-registration | draft/extended-monitor | draft/multiline | +draft/react | +draft/reply |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BitchX | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Colloquy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2.16 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | 2.16 | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2.16 | No | Yes | 2.16 | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Irssi | Yes | Git | Git | Git | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | Git | Git | No | Git | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Git | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
KVIrc | Yes | No | No | Git | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | Git | No | No | No | No | No | Git | Yes | No | Git | No | No | Git | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Konversation | Yes | v20.11.80+ | v21.03.80+ | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | v21.03.80+ | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | v21.04.0+ | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Mibbit | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | 72.0+ | 72.0+ | No | No | No | No | No | No | 73.0+ | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 72.0+ | 60.0+ | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Quassel IRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.14+ | Yes | No | No | Yes | 0.14+ (opt in) | Yes | 0.14+ | No | 0.14+ | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.14+ | 0.14+ | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
WeeChat | Yes | 2.2+ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | 2.2+ | No | Yes | 2.2+ | No | 3.3+ | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 3.3+ | Yes | 3.3+ | No | Yes | No | Yes | 3.3+ | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 7.62+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.62+ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
IRC SASL authentication primarily uses the same mechanisms as SASL in other protocols. Most commonly:
Client | EXTERNAL | PLAIN | SCRAM-SHA-256 |
---|---|---|---|
BitchX | No | Yes | No |
Colloquy | No | Yes | No |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | No |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | No |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | No |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | No | Yes | No |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | 3.2+ |
catgirl | Yes | Yes | No |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | 7.68+ |
pydle(lib.) | No | Yes | No |
senpai | No | Yes | No |
zIRC(lib.) | Yes | Yes | No |
Information on what features each of the clients support.
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bersirc | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | — | |
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 | |
ERC | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 2] | Yes [41] | Yes [Note 3] | Emacs Lisp | |
HexChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Perl, Python, Tcl, Lua [Note 4], JavaScript, C, C++, and via D-Bus. | |
ircII | Yes | Yes [Note 5] | ? | ? | ? | IrcII script | |
Ircle | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript | |
Irssi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Perl | |
Konversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Shell script, Ruby, Python, Perl, Java, C++, C#, JavaScript [Note 6] | |
KVIrc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | KVS (custom), Perl, Python, C++ | |
LeafChat | Yes | Yes | ? | — | Yes | Java | |
Linkinus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AppleScript, Cocoa | |
Mibbit | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | — | — | |
mIRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 7] | mIRC script | |
Nettalk | Yes | Yes | SOCKS | Yes | Yes | VBScript, custom | |
PIRCH | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | Yes | |
PJIRC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Partial, JavaScript | |
Quassel | style="background:#9EFF9E;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | |
rcirc | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Emacs Lisp | |
Smuxi | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes (language agnostic) | |
Snak | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | AppleScript, IrcII script | |
Visual IRC | style="background:#9EFF9E;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | Versus | |
WeeChat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | C, Perl, Python, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, Scheme ( Guile) | |
Client | Multi-server | UTF-8 | Proxy server | irc:// URI scheme | Automatic updates | Scripting language |