Wikipedia:
Comparison of instant messaging clients
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.
A spreadsheet with the information in this article (as of 29 March 2006) is available here.
General information
Basic general information about the instant messengers: creator/company, license/price, amongst others.
| Author / Creator | First public release date | Type | Latest stable version | Cost (USD) | License | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Iser, Evan Schoenberg | 2001-09 | Multi-protocol | Free | GPL v2 | ||
| Agile Messenger | Agilemobile.com Limited | ? | Multi-protocol | 3.70 | Subscription | Proprietary |
| AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) | 1997-05 | Single protocol | 6.1.41.2 (Windows) 1.0.2 Build 110 Beta (Pro (Win)) 1.3.30.1 (Triton (Win)) 4.7.1333 (Mac OS X) 1.5.286 (Linux) |
Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary | |
| aMSN | Alvaro J. Iradier Muro | 2002-05 | Single protocol | 0.97RC1 | Free | GPL |
| Ayttm | Colin Leroy and Philip Tellis | 2003-04 | Multi-protocol | 0.4.6-17 | Free | GPL |
| BitWise IM | BitWise Communications, LLC | 2002-03-17 | Single protocol/Encrypted | 1.7.2 | Free | Proprietary |
| BitlBee | Wilmer van der Gaast | 2002-08-09 | IRC Gateway, Multi-protocol | 1.0.3 | Free | GPL |
| Centericq | Konstantin Klyagin | 1999 | Multi-protocol | Free | GPL | |
| climm | Mattew D. Smith (up to ICQv5); Rüdiger Kuhlmann | 1997(?); 2001 | Dual protocol | 0.6.0 | Free | GPL v2 |
| Coccinella | Mats Bengtsson | 1999-12-01 | Single protocol | Free | GPL | |
| Cspace | Cspace | 2006-07-28 | Single protocol | 1.26 | Free | GPL |
| Ebuddy | Paulo Taylor | 2003-03-09 | Multi-protocol | Beta v5.0.1 | Free | Proprietary |
| eMeSeNe | Luis Mariano Guerra | 2006-05-24 | Single protocol | 0.2.2.1 | Free | GPL |
| Exodus | Peter Millard | 2002 | Single protocol | 0.9.1.0 | Free | GPL |
| Fire | Eric Peyton | 1999-04-01 | Multi-protocol | Free | GPL | |
| Gajim | Yann Le Boulanger | 2004-05-21 | Single protocol | Free | GPL | |
| GCN | Jason K. Resch | 2000-11-18 | Single protocol | 2.9.1 | Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary |
| GOIM | Herbert Poul | 2005-08-16 | Single protocol | Free | GPL | |
| Goofey | Tim Mackenzie | 1990s (Early 1990s) | Single protocol | 2.08 | Free | ? |
| Google Talk | Google, Inc. | 2005-08-24 | Single protocol | Free | Proprietary | |
| iChat | Apple Inc. | 2002-08 | Multi-protocol | Free | Proprietary | |
| ICQ | Mirabilis (AOL) | 1996-11 | Single protocol | 6.0 | Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary |
| IM2 | IM2 Ltd. | 2003-04 | Multi-protocol | 2.0.0.268 | Free | Proprietary |
| imeem | IM2 Limited | 2003 | Multi-protocol | 1.24.14.17016 | Free | GPL |
| IMVU | Will Harvey | ? | Single-protocol | beta | Free | Proprietary |
| Inspeak | Mark Jaafar | 2005 | Single-protocol | 4.1.2.478 | Free | Proprietary |
| Instan-t | Interactive Networks Inc. | 2001-03 | Multi-protocol | 4.5 | Free | Proprietary |
| Interaction Chat | Auriance | 2006-08 | HTTP | 1.0 | Free | Proprietary |
| Jabbin | Jabbin Team | 2005-12 | Multi-protocol | none | Free | GPL v2 |
| Kadu | Kadu Team | 2001-08 | Single protocol | 0.5.0 | Free | GPL v2 |
| Konnekt | Stamina | 2002 | Multi-protocol | 0.6.22.137 | Free | Proprietary |
| Kopete | Kopete Team | 2002-03-03 | Multi-protocol | 0.12.7 | Free | GPL |
| Licq | Graham Roff (up to v1.0) Jon Keating |
1998-06-22 | Multi-protocol | 1.3.2 | Free | GPL |
| MCabber | Mikael Berthe | 2005-06-07 | Single-protocol | Free | GPL | |
| MECA Messenger | ? | Multi-protocol, Web-based | 5.2 | Free | Proprietary | |
| meebo | Meebo, Inc. | 2005 | Multi-protocol, Web-based | alpha v19 | Free | ? |
| Meetro | Paul Bragiel & Samuel Stauffer | 2005 | Multi-protocol | 0.96 Beta (Win) 0.53 Beta (MacOSX) |
Free | ? |
| Mercury Messenger | Danny | 2003 | Multi-protocol | Free | Proprietary | |
| MindSpring | Earthlink | 2006-04-03 | Multi-protocol | 1.0 (v53.0) | Free | Proprietary |
| Miranda IM | Miranda IM project | 2000-02-06 | Multi-protocol | 0.7.0 | Free | GPL |
| Microsoft Messenger for Mac | Microsoft | ? | Single protocol | 6.0.3 | Free | Proprietary |
| MySpaceIM | MySpace | 2006-05-09 | Single protocol | (beta) | Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary |
| Naim | Daniel Reed | 1998-10-05 | Multi-protocol | http://naim.n.ml.org/download | Free | GPL |
| OctroTalk | Octro Inc. (octro.com) | 2007 | Multi-protocol | 1.19 | Free | Proprietary |
| OpenWengo | Wengo | 2004 | Multi-protocol | 2.1.2 | Free |
GPL |
| Pandion | Dries Staelens, Sebastiaan Deckers | 2004-06-28 | Single protocol | Free |
Proprietary | |
| Paltalk | Jason Katz | 1998 | Multi-protocol | 9.0 | Free |
Proprietary |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | Mark Spencer | 1998-11 | Multi-protocol | Free | GPL | |
| pork | Ryan McCabe | 2006-12-06 | AIM, IRC Gateway | 0.99.8.1 | Free | GPL v2 |
| Proteus | Justin Wood, et al. | 2001-11 | Multi-protocol | Free | GPL | |
| Psi | Justin Karneges | 2001 | Single protocol | Free | GPL | |
| psyced | psyced.org Project | 1997 | IRC+XMPP+PSYC Gateway, Multi-protocol | 0.99 | Free | GPL |
| QIP | Ilgam Zyulkorneev | 2004 | Single-protocol | 8030 | Free | Proprietary |
| Qnext | Qnext Corp. | 2004-06-28 | Multi-protocol | 3.0.1.36 (Beta)(March 1, 2007) | Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary |
| Tencent | 1999-02 | Single protocol | 2007 Beta2 | Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary | |
| RealTimeQuery | realtimequery.com | 2005-2007 | Single protocol | v3.0 - 2007 | $99.95 | Proprietary |
| SIM | SIM project | ? | Multi-protocol | Free | GPL | |
| Skype | Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis / eBay | 2003 | Single protocol | Free | Proprietary | |
| talk | Kipp Hickman | 1982 | Single protocol | 1.7 (BSD version) | Free | BSD |
| TaoTalk | ~2000 | 3.14 | Free | ? | ||
| Trillian | Cerulean Studios | 2000-07-01 | Multi-protocol | Free | Proprietary | |
| Trillian Pro | Cerulean Studios | 2002-09-10 | Multi-protocol | $25 | Proprietary | |
| Trillian Astra | Cerulean Studios | ? | Multi-protocol | Alpha | ? | Proprietary |
| Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) | Microsoft | 1999-07 | Dual protocol | 8.1.0178 (Windows XP/Vista) 1.0.6141 (Windows Live for Nokia S60) |
Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary |
| Windows Messenger | Microsoft | 2001-10-25 | Multi-protocol | 5.1.0701 (Windows XP SP2) | Free | Proprietary |
| Xfire | Xfire.inc | 2004 | Single protocol | 1.38 | Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary |
| Yahoo! Messenger | Yahoo! | 1999-06-21 | Dual protocol | 8.1.0.244 (Win) 2.5.3 (Mac) 1.0.4 (Unix) |
Free Ad-supported |
Proprietary |
| YSM | rad2k | 2001 | Single protocol | 2.9.6 | Free | GPL |
| Zephyr | Project Athena | 1987 | Single protocol | 2.0 | Free | MIT |
| Author / Creator | First public release date | Type | Latest stable version | Cost (USD) | License |
Operating system support
The operating systems the clients can run on without emulation or compatibility layers.
| Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Windows Mobile | BlackBerry | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ||
| Agile Messenger | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Symbian OS, Palm OS. |
| AIM | Yes | Dropped (4.7.1333) | Dropped (1.5.286) | No | No | Yes | ? | Palm |
| aMSN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Nokia N770, N800 |
| BitlBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| BitWise IM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | |
| Centericq | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| climm | Yes2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | AmigaOS |
| Coccinella | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Ebuddy | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | iPhone/Sony PSP/Nintendo DS |
| Exodus | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Fire | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Gajim | Yes | Yes1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| GCN | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| GOIM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Goofey6 | No | Yes7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Google Talk (standalone) | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | Yes | |
| Google Talk (Gmail) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | |
| iChat | No | Included | No | No | No | No | No | |
| ICQ | Yes | Dropped (3.4.23) | No | No | No | Yes | ? | |
| IM2 | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| IMVU | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Instan-t | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Interaction Chat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| imeem | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Jabberwocky | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | AmigaOS, MorphOS |
| Kadu | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Kopete | Not Yet | Yes1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Licq | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| MCabber | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | |
| MECA Messenger | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| meebo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Meetro | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Mercury Messenger | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Unofficially, Java) | Yes (Unofficially, Java) | ? | ? | |
| Miranda IM | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Microsoft Messenger for Mac | No3 | Yes | No3 | No3 | No3 | No | No | |
| MindSpring | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| MySpaceIM | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Naim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| OctroTalk | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Symbian OS. |
| OpenWengo | Yes | Yes5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Pandion | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Paltalk | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | Yes | Yes1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | AmigaOS |
| pork | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Proteus | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Psi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| psyced | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| QIP | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Qnext | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ||
| RealTimeQuery | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| SIM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Skype | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | |
| talk | Yes4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Trillian | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Trillian Pro | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Trillian Astra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | iPhone |
| Windows Live Messenger | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | S60 on Symbian OS |
| Windows Messenger | Included (XP) | Yes8 | No | No | No | ? | ? | |
| Yahoo! Messenger | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | |
| YSM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Zephyr | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
| Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Windows Mobile | BlackBerry |
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 Microsoft Passport Network 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 OpenWengo-ng 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 OS X within a Unix terminal session (Terminal.app, Xterm, iTerm, or similar.)
Note 8: It is called Messenger for Mac, currently version 6.
Protocol support
Single Protocol Clients
- AMSN
- BitWise IM
- Interaction Chat
- Kadu (instant messenger)
- Microsoft Messenger for Mac
- Skype
- YSM (ICQ)
- Zephyr protocol
Jabber Clients without any multi-protocol transports
Jabber Clients using server-sided multi-protocol transports
- Coccinella (software)
- Gajim
- Global Communications Network
- iChat
- MCabber
- Mercury Messenger
- Psi (instant messaging client)
- psyced
Multiprotocol Clients
Information on the instant messaging protocols that each client supports.
| Number of Supported Protocols | AIM | ICQ | Windows Live Messenger /previously MSN Messenger | Yahoo! Messenger | IRC | XMPP /many compatible services, incl. Google Talk | Bonjour /formerly Rendezvous |
Novell GroupWise Messenger | Lotus Sametime | Gadu-Gadu | OTR | Others | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Yes | Yes | Yes 16 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes 10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | LiveJournal, Yahoo! Japan, .Mac, Zephyr; extendable through plugins | |
| Agile Messenger | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial15 | No | No | No | No | on request | No | Wireless Village (on request) |
| AIM | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| BitlBee | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Centericq | 6 | Partial6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? |
| climm | 2 | Partial12 | Yes | No | No | No | Partial13 | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Ebuddy | 5 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | MySpace IM |
| Fire | 7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes 10 | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| ICQ | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| IM2 | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| imeem | 4 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| [[IM+ Messenger]] | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Skype in a separate application |
| IMVU | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | IMVU |
| Instan-t | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Instan-t network |
| Jabberwocky | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Kopete | 10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial15 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Skype, WinPopup |
| Licq | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| MECA Messenger | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| meebo | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Meetro | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Miranda IM | 16 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Skype, Tlen, LAN,5 Chat,5 |
| Naim | 3 | Yes | Partial | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Lily |
| OctroTalk | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| OpenWengo | 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | SIP/SIMPLE |
| Paltalk | 3 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | 14 | Yes | Yes | Yes 16 | Yes | Yes | Partial15 | Yes 10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | With plugin1 | SILC, XFire, Zephyr, Blizzard Battle-Net Chat (with plugin) |
| pork | 2 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
| Proteus | 8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial9 | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yahoo! Japan |
| QIP | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |