Comparison of instant messaging clients

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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.

Contents

1 General information 2 Operating system support 3 Protocol support
3.1 Single protocol clients 3.2 Jabber Clients without any multi-protocol transports 3.3 Jabber Clients using server-side multi-protocol transports 3.4 Multiprotocol clients
4 Features 5 Features 2 6 See also 7 References

[edit] General information

Basic general information about the real time communication services: creator/company, license/price, amongst others.

Author / Creator First public release date Type Latest stable version License
Adium Adam Iser, Evan Schoenberg September 2001 Multi-protocol 1.3.1  (September 8, 2008) (Mac OS X) GPL v2
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) AOL May 1997 Single protocol 6.8.12.4 (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) Clickwrap license
aMSN The aMSN team May 2002 Single protocol 0.97.2 GPL
A-Talk Robert Edworthy 2006 Single protocol 1.0.3 GPL
Ayttm Colin Leroy and Philip Tellis April 2003 Multi-protocol 0.5.0-10 (Linux)
0.4.6-17 (Windows) GPL
BitWise IM BitWise Communications, LLC 2002-03-17 Single protocol/Encrypted 1.7.2 Clickwrap license
BitlBee Wilmer van der Gaast 2002-08-09 IRC Gateway, Multi-protocol 1.0.3 GPL
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 0.6.3 GPL v2
Coccinella Mats Bengtsson 1999-12-01 Single protocol 0.96.10  (September 24, 2008) GPL v3
Cspace Cspace 2006-07-28 Single protocol 1.26 GPL
Digsby Steven Shapiro Jan 2008 Multi-protocol Beta Clickwrap license
Ebuddy Paulo Taylor 2003-03-09 Multi-protocol Beta v5.0.1 Clickwrap license
EQO EQO Communications 2006-02-06 Multi-protocol 1.4 Clickwrap license
emesene Luis Mariano Guerra 2006-05-24 Single protocol 1.0.1 GPL
Exodus Peter Millard 2002 Single protocol 0.10.0.0 GPL
Fire Eric Peyton 1999-04-01 Multi-protocol 1.5.6  (February 15th, 2006) GPL
Fring Multi-protocol Clickwrap license
Gabtastik Mesa Dynamics, LLC May 2008 HTTP 0.2 Clickwrap license
Gadu-Gadu Åukasz Foltyn Single protocol 7.7 Clickwrap license (?)
Gajim Yann Le Boulanger 2004-05-21 Single protocol 0.11.4  (December 6, 2007) GPL
GCN Jason K. Resch 2000-11-18 Single protocol 2.9.1 Clickwrap license
GOIM Herbert Poul 2005-08-16 Single protocol 1.1.0  (July 2, 2006) GPL
Goofey Tim Mackenzie 1990s (Early 1990s) Single protocol 2.08 Clickwrap license
Google Talk Google, Inc. 2005-08-24 Dual protocol 1.0.0.104  (January 1, 2007) Clickwrap license
Gyachi 2006-01-26 Single protocol 1.1.35 June 15, 2008 GPL
iChat Apple Inc. August 2002 Multi-protocol 6.0 (601)  (October 26, 2007) Clickwrap license
IBM Lotus Sametime IBM, Ubique 1998 Multi-protocol -- proprietary T.120, SIP, XMPP 8.0; March 2008 Clickwrap license
ICQ Mirabilis (AOL) November 1996 Single protocol 6.0 Clickwrap license
IMVU Will Harvey July 2001 Single protocol beta Clickwrap license
Instantbird Florian Quèze and Quentin Castier 2007 Multi-protocol 0.1.2 GPL v2
Interaction Chat Auriance August 2006 HTTP 1.0 Clickwrap license
Jabbin Jabbin Team December 2005 Multi-protocol none GPL v2
Kadu Kadu Team August 2001 Single protocol 0.6.0.1 GPL v2
Konnekt Stamina 2002 Multi-protocol 0.6.22.137 Clickwrap license
Kopete Kopete Team 2002-03-03 Multi-protocol 0.50.2 GPL
Licq Graham Roff (up to v1.0)
Jon Keating 1998-06-22 Multi-protocol 1.3.2 GPL
Mail.ru Agent Mail.ru May 2003 Single protocol 5.0 (Windows)
1.0 (Windows Mobile)
2.1 (J2ME) Clickwrap license
MCabber Mikael Berthe 2005-06-07 Single protocol 0.9.7  (April 17, 2008) 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 1.9 Final  (October 20, 2007) 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 0.7.10 GPL
Microsoft Messenger for Mac Microsoft  ? Single protocol 7.0 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
Ometheus Ometheus 2007 Multi-protocol, Web-based alpha v0.1 Commercial license
OpenWengo Wengo 2004 Multi-protocol 2.1.2 GPL
Pandion Dries Staelens, Sebastiaan Deckers 2004-06-28 Single protocol 2.5  (2006-01-07) Clickwrap license
Paltalk Jason Katz 1998 Multi-protocol 9.0 Clickwrap license
Pidgin (formerly Gaim) Mark Spencer November 1998 Multi-protocol 2.5.1  (August 31, 2008) GPL
pork Ryan McCabe 2006-12-06 AIM, IRC Gateway 0.99.8.1 GPL v2
Proteus Justin Wood, et al. November 2001 Multi-protocol 4.20  (June 08, 2008) GPL
Psi Justin Karneges 2001 Single protocol 0.12  (August 07, 2008) GPL
psyced psyced.org Project 1997 IRC+XMPP+PSYC Gateway, Multi-protocol 0.99 GPL
QIP Ilgam Zyulkorneev 2004 Single protocol 8070 (Windows)
2000 (Windows Mobile)
1040 (Symbian S60 and UIQ3) Clickwrap license
QIP infium Ilgam Zyulkorneev 2007 Multi-protocol 9008 Clickwrap license
Qnext Qnext Corp. 2004-06-28 Multi-protocol 3.0.1.36 (Beta)(March 1, 2007) Clickwrap license
qutIM Rustam Chakin June 2008 Single protocol 0.1.1 GPL
Tencent QQ Tencent February 1999 Single protocol 2008 è´ºå²ç‰ˆ Clickwrap license
RealTimeQuery realtimequery.com 2005-2007 Single protocol v3.0 - 2007 Clickwrap license
Scrapboy Scrapboy Digital Media Corporation 2006-05-26 Single protocol 2.1.17 N/A
SIM SIM project  ? Multi-protocol 0.9.4.3  (March 5, 2007) GPL
Solixa www.solixa.com  ? Single protocol Template:Latest stable release/Solixa GPL
Skype Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis / eBay 2003 Single protocol 3.8.0.180 (Windows),
2.7.0.330 (Mac OS X),
2.0.0.72 (Linux x86),
2.2.0.45 (Windows Mobile Professional (Pocket PC)),
2.2.0.44 (Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone))  (August 14, 2008 (Windows),
May 14, 2008 (Mac OS X),
March 27, 2008 (Linux),
July 31, 2008 (Windows Mobile Professional (Pocket PC)),
May 9, 2008 (Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone))
) Clickwrap license
talk Kipp Hickman 1982 Single protocol 1.7 (BSD version) BSD
Trillian Cerulean Studios 2000-07-01 Multi-protocol 3.1.11.0  (October 2, 2008) Clickwrap license
Trillian Pro Cerulean Studios 2002-09-10 Multi-protocol 3.1.11.0  (October 2, 2008) Clickwrap license
Trillian Astra Cerulean Studios  ? Multi-protocol Alpha Clickwrap license
Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) Microsoft July 1999 Dual protocol 8.5.1302 (Windows XP/Vista)
1.0.6141 (Windows Live for Nokia S60) Clickwrap license
Windows Messenger Microsoft 2001-10-25 Multi-protocol 5.1.0701 (Windows XP SP2) Clickwrap license
Xfire Xfire Inc. 2004 Single protocol 1.92 Clickwrap license
Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! 1999-06-21 Dual protocol 9.0.0.1912 (Win)
2.5.3 (Mac)
1.0.4 (Unix) Clickwrap license
Zephyr Project Athena 1987 Single protocol 2.0 MIT
BigAnt Instant Messenger BigAntSoft 2008-02-20 Single protocol 2.2 Commercial license
Author / Creator First public release date Type Latest stable version License

[edit] 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
Adium No Yes No No No No No
AIM Yes Dropped (4.7.1333) Dropped (1.5.286) No No Yes ? Palm, iPhone
aMSN Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Nokia N770, N800, N810
A-Talk Yes No No No No No No
Ayttm Old version Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
BitlBee Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? AmigaOS
BitWise IM Yes Yes Yes No No No ?
Centericq Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
climm Yes2 Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? AmigaOS
Coccinella Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Digsby Yes 0TBA 0TBA No No No No
Ebuddy Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes iPhone/Sony PSP/Nintendo DS/Palm/Mobile Phones
EQO No No No No No Yes Yes Symbian S40/S60/S80, Java mobile
Exodus Yes No No No No ? ?
Fire No Yes No No No ? ?
fring No No Yes No Yes Yes No Symbian OS, Java mobile, iPhone
Gadu-Gadu Yes No No No 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 ?
Gyachi No No Yes No No No No
IBM Lotus Sametime Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [1], Nokia Eseries / Symbian OS, Sony Ericcson M600/P900/P1i Series
iChat No Included No No No No No
ICQ Yes Dropped (3.4.23) No No No Yes Yes
IMVU Yes No No No No ? ?
Instantbird Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
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 ? ?
Mail.ru Agent Yes No No No No Yes No Java Mobile
MCabber No Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
MECA Messenger Yes No No No No ? ?
meebo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? iPhone
Meetro Yes Yes No No No ? ?
Mercury Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes (Unofficially, Java) Yes (Unofficially, Java) ? ?
Miranda IM Yes No 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 ? ?
Ometheus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
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 No No 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 S60 and UIQ3 on Symbian OS
QIP infium Yes No No No No No No
Qnext Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
QQ Yes Yes (beta) Yes (preview) No No ? ?
qutIM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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 Yes ?
Xfire Yes No No No No No No
Yahoo! Messenger Yes Yes No No No ? Yes
Zephyr Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
BigAnt Instant Messenger Yes No No No No No No
Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix Windows Mobile BlackBerry 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 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 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.

[edit] Protocol support

[edit] Single protocol clients

aMSN - MSNP BitWise IM Gale Messaging Google Talk Gyachi Kadu (instant messenger) - GG Mail.ru Agent Microsoft Messenger for Mac - MSNP qutIM Tencent QQ TerraIM Skype Zephyr (software) Mercury Messenger - MSNP

[edit] Jabber Clients without any multi-protocol transports

Akeni (instant messaging client) Exodus (instant messaging client) GOIM MindSpring Pandion (software)

[edit] Jabber Clients using server-side multi-protocol transports

Coccinella (software) Gajim Global Communications Network Google Talk iChat MCabber Psi (instant messaging client) psyced

[edit] 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 /Jabber, Google Talk, etc Bonjour
/formerly Rendezvous Novell GroupWise Messenger Lotus Sametime Gadu-Gadu QQ OTR Others
Adium 18 Yes Yes Yes 16 Yes No Yes Yes 10 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes .Mac, LiveJournal, Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo! Japan, Zephyr; NateOn, Skype, Tlen, XFire (with plugins)
AIM 02 Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No With proxy No
Ayttm 06 Partial6 Partial6 Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No No No
BitlBee 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes Indirect25 Yes No No No No No Yes 20 No
Carrier (formerly Funpidgin) 14 Yes Yes Yes 16 Yes Yes Partial15 Yes 10 Yes Yes Yes Yes With plugin1 SILC, XFire, Zephyr, Blizzard Battle-Net Chat (with plugins)
Centericq 06 Partial6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No ?
climm 02 Partial12 Yes No No No Partial13 No<