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

[edit] 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 Other
Adium No Yes No No No No No No No
AIM Yes Yes [1] Dropped (1.5.286) No No Yes Yes Yes Palm OS, iPhone OS
aMSN Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Nokia N770, N800, N810
Ayttm Obsolete Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Beejive No No No No No Yes No Yes iPhone OS
BitlBee Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No AmigaOS
BitWise IM Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
Brosix Yes No No No No No No No No
Carrier (formerly Funpidgin) Yes No Yes No No No No No No
Centericq Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
climm Yes2 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No AmigaOS, BeOS
Coccinella Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Digsby Yes No No No No No No No No
eBuddy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes iPhone OS/PlayStation Portable/Nintendo DS/Palm OS
emesene Yes No Yes No No No No No No
Empathy No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No
EQO No No No No No Yes No Yes Symbian S40/S60/S80, Java ME
Exodus Yes No No No No No No No No
Fire No Yes No No No No No No No
fring No No Yes No Yes Yes No No Symbian OS, Java ME, iPhone OS
Gadu-Gadu Yes No No No No No No No Symbian OS, Java ME, web-based
Gajim Yes Yes1 Yes Yes Yes No No No No
GCN Yes No No No No No No No No
GOIM Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
Goofey6 No Yes7 Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Google Talk (standalone) Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes iPhone OS
Google Talk (Gmail) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Gyachi No No Yes No No No ? No No
IBM Lotus Sametime Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes [2], Nokia Eseries / Symbian OS, Sony Ericcson M600/P900/P1i Series
iChat No Included No No No No No No No
ICQ Yes Dropped (3.4.23) No No No Yes No Yes web-based
imeem Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No
imo.im Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No iPhone OS
IMVU Yes No No No No No No No No
Instan-t Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Instantbird Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
Jabberwocky No No No No No No No No AmigaOS, MorphOS
JClaim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Java
Kadu No (unofficial) Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
KMess Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Kopete Yes Yes1 Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Licq No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Mail.ru Agent Yes No No No No Yes No No Java ME
MCabber No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
MECA Messenger Yes No No No No No No No No
meebo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No iPhone OS
Meetro Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Mercury Messenger Yes Yes Yes No (Unofficially, Java) No (Unofficially, Java) No No No No
Microsoft Messenger for Mac No3 Yes No3 No3 No3 No No No No
MindSpring Yes No No No No No No No No
Miranda IM Yes No No No No No No No No
MSNP-Sharp Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
mundu messenger Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes Symbian(Nokia Phones), Palm OS, iPhone OS, J2ME(Sony Ericsson Phones)
MySpaceIM Yes No No No No No No No No
naim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Nimbuzz Yes No No No No Yes No Yes Java, Symbian OS, Palm OS
OctroTalk Yes No No No No Yes No No Symbian S60, iPhone OS
ooVoo Yes Beta No No No No No No No
OpenWengo Yes Yes5 Yes No No No No No No
Palringo Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes iPhone OS, Symbian S60, Java
Paltalk Yes No No No No No No No No
Pandion Yes No No No No No No No No
Pidgin formerly Gaim Yes Yes1 Yes Yes Yes No No No AmigaOS
Pivot Yes No No No No No No No No
PlayXpert Yes No No No No No No No No
pork No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Proteus No Yes No No No No No No No
Psi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
psyced Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
QIP Yes No No No No Yes No No Symbian S60/ UIQ3
QIP infium Yes No No No No No No No No
Qnext Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
QQ Yes Beta preview No No No No No Symbian S60 3rd Edition
qutIM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
RealTimeQuery Yes No No No No No No No No
Sim-IM Yes Yes Yes Yes ? (possible) No No No OS/2
Steam (content delivery) Yes No No No No No No No No
Skype Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No PlayStation Portable 2000, 30000, iPhone OS
talk Yes4 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Trillian Yes No No No No No No No No
Trillian Pro Yes No No No No No No No No
Trillian Astra Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No iPhone OS
Windows Live Messenger Yes No No No No Yes No Yes Xbox 360, SymbianS60
Windows Messenger Included (XP) Yes8 No No No Yes No No No
Xfire Yes No No No No No No No No
VoxOx Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Yahoo! Messenger Yes Yes No No No No No Yes iPhone OS
Yandex Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Zephyr Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Client Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix Windows Mobile Android 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

Many IRC-only clients are listed at Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients

[edit] Jabber Clients without any multi-protocol transports

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

[edit] Multiprotocol clients

Information on the instant messaging protocols that each client supports.

Supported Protocols WLM
(formerly MSN)		 Y!M AIM ICQ XMPP
(Google Talk, Jabber, etc.)		 IRC IBM Lotus Sametime Novell GroupWise Messenger Bonjour
(formerly Rendezvous)		 Gadu-Gadu QQ OTR LAN Xfire Skype MySpaceIM Facebook LiveJournal Others
Adium 17 Partial16 Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial11 Yes Yes Partial10 Yes Yes Yes No With plugin With plugin4 Yes Yes Yes MobileMe, Yahoo! Japan, Zephyr, NateOn, Tlen
AIM 02 No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No With proxy No No No No No No No
Ayttm 03 Yes Yes Partial6 Partial6 Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Beejive 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No Yes No No No
bhsIM 07 Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No NateOn
BitlBee 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Indirect25 No No No No No With plugin20 No No With plugin28 No No No No
Carrier (formerly Funpidgin) 11 Partial16 Yes Yes Yes Partial15 Yes Yes Yes Partial10 Yes Yes With plugin1 No Yes No No No No SILC, Zephyr, Blizzard Battle-Net Chat (with plugins)
Centericq 06 Yes Yes Partial6 Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
climm 02 No No Partial12 Yes Partial13 No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Digsby 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial26 No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No
eBuddy 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No
Eyeball Chat 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Fire 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Partial10 No No No No No No No No No No
IBM Lotus Sametime 05 No Yes18 Yes18 No Yes18 No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No SIP
iChat 04 No No Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No MobileMe
ICQ 02 No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
imeem 04 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
IMVU 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No IMVU
Instan-t 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No instan-t
Instantbird 08 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
Jabberwocky 04 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
JClaim 08 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No SMS, Nate, Yahoo! Japan
Kopete 012 Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial15 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No With plugin4 (deprecated) No No No WinPopup
Licq 03 Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MECA Messenger 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
meebo 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Partial (via Jabber) No
Meetro 04 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Miranda IM 15 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes With plugin21 Yes Yes5 Yes With plugin4 Yes No No Tlen, Chat5
mundu messenger 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Naim 03 No No Yes Partial 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 01 No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
OpenWengo 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No SIP
Palringo 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Paltalk 03 No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Pidgin (formerly Gaim) 012 Partial16 Partial23 Yes Partial24 Partial15 Yes Yes Yes Partial10 Yes Yes With plugin1 No Yes With plugin4,19 Yes With plugin22 No Blizzard Battle-Net Chat, NateOn, SILC, Tlen, Zephyr (with plugins)
Pivot 02 No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
PlayXpert 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No Sony Station Friends
pork 02 No No Yes No No Yes No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Proteus 08 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Partial9 Yes No With proxy No No No No No No Yahoo! Japan
QIP 02 No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
QIP Infium 06 No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Mail.ru Agent, Euroset, Phoning
Qnext 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No Qnext
Sim-IM 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No
talk 02 No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ntalk, ytalk
Trillian Basic 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Trillian Pro 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial14, 15 Yes With plugin1 Yes Partial10 With plugin1 With plugin1 With plugin1 No With plugin Partial4 No No No No
Trillian Astra 011 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes14, 15 Yes Yes Yes Yes With plugin1 With plugin1 No No Yes Partial4 Yes Yes No ASTRA
VoxOx 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No
Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) 02 Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Windows Messenger 03 Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No SIP, EIM
Yahoo! Messenger 03 Yes17 Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No
Supported Protocols WLM
(formerly MSN)		 Y!M AIM ICQ XMPP
(Google Talk, Jabber, etc.)		 IRC IBM Lotus Sametime Novell GroupWise Messenger Bonjour
(formerly Rendezvous)		 Gadu-Gadu QQ OTR LAN Xfire Skype MySpaceIM Facebook LiveJournal Others

Note 1: Plugin available [3]

Note 2: Plugin available

Note 3: Interoperability with proprietary protocols can be achieved using server-side gateways (so-called transports) in Jabber.

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 [4]

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. [5]

Note 19: With plug-in, requires Skype to be running. [6]

Note 20: See post 2008-02-19 02:39 at http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/115#comment:25

Note 21: With using third-party plug-in "MirandaQQ" developed by Stark Wong from Hong Kong. [7]

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 oficial 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 [8]

[edit] 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 09 Cocoa Yes 11 Partial ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Partial ? ? ?
AIM 11 W32 Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ?
aMSN 11 Tcl/Tk ? Yes http, socks5, msn gateway Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 17 No Yes Yes No No No
BitlBee 03 N/A No No ? No Yes No Partial 19 Yes No ? Partial 19 ? ? No Yes ? ? ?
BitWise IM 08 W32, GTK2, Carbon Yes 7 Yes ? No ? Yes Yes No No ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes ?
Brosix 013 W32 Yes Yes https, socks4, 4A, 5 Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Centericq 05 ncurses Partial 9 Partial ? No ? No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No No No Yes ? ? ?
climm 07 line based Yes 5,11 Yes ? N/A Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes N/A N/A N/A Yes N/A No ?
Coccinella 11 Tcl/Tk Yes Yes http, socks4, 5 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes ?
Digsby 09 ? ? Partial ? Yes ? No Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes ? ? ?
eBuddy 05 No Yes No ? Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No Yes No No ?
EQO 05 N/A Yes No ? Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No Yes No No ?
Exodus 05 W32 No Yes ? Yes Yes No No Yes No ? ? ? ? No Yes ? ? ?
Fire 09 Cocoa Yes 6 Yes ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Gadu-Gadu 06 W32 ? Yes ? Yes No No ? No Yes No Yes Yes ? ? Yes No No ?
Gajim 07 GTK2 Yes 9 Yes http Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No ? No Yes ? ? ?
GCN 05 W32 Yes 4 Yes ? Yes ? Yes Partial No Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GOIM 05 Java/SWT Yes No ? Yes Yes No Partial Yes No No No No ? No Yes ? ? ?
Google Talk 08 W32 No Yes ? Partial Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Third party plugin Yes No No Yes
Gyachi 09 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
imeem 02 ? No Partial ? Yes ? No No No No ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
IMVU 06 ? ? No ? Yes Yes Partial Yes No Yes 13 No Yes 14 No ? No Yes ? ? ?
Jabberwocky 01 No No Partial ? No No No No No No Yes 20 No No No No No No No ?
Kadu 07 Qt Yes Yes ? Yes ? No Partial Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No No ? ? ?
Kopete 08 Qt/KDE Yes 9,11 Partial No Yes Partial No Yes Yes Yes With plugin Yes With plugin (Partial) ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Licq 09 Qt Yes 5 Yes https Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
MCabber 04 Curses Yes 11 No ? No Yes No ? ? No ? Yes No No No Yes No No ?
MECA Messenger 05 ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Partial Yes No No No Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Meetro 04 ? 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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial 15 No Partial15 Yes No Yes ?
Microsoft Messenger for Mac 04 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 messenger 105 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No ?
Nimbuzz 07 No Yes Yes ? Yes No No No No No ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No ?
ooVoo 09 Yes Partial (signaling only) Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No ?
OpenWengo 06 Qt Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No Yes No No ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Palringo 03 ? No No ? Yes ? No Yes No No No No Yes No Partial (picture capture only) ? No No ?
Paltalk 09 N/A Yes Yes ? Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ?
Pandion 11 ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? No Yes ? ? ?
Pidgin formerly Gaim 07 GTK2 8,11 Partial ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Partial No Partial Yes
pork 03 ncurses ? Yes ? No ? ? No No No No Yes Yes ? No ? ? ? ?
Proteus 05 Cocoa ? Partial ? Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Psi 06 KDE/Qt Yes 9 Yes ? Yes Yes No Partial (Icon sets only) Not Yet No No Yes No No No Yes No No ?
psyced 07 N/A Yes No ? No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No ?
QIP 07 W32, VCL Yes Yes http(s), socks4, 4A, 5 Yes No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No ?
QIP Infium 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 10 Swing Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ?
QQ 11 W32 No Yes ? Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
qutIM 07 Qt Yes Yes http(s), socks 5 Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes No No ?
RealTimeQuery 03 N/A Not Yet Yes ? No No No Yes No No No Yes Not Yet No Not Yet Not Yet No ? ?
Sim-IM 08 Qt/KDE Yes 5,6 Yes ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Skype 12 Qt/KDE, W32 Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? With plugin (Windows only) Yes
talk 00 curses No No ? No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ?
Trillian Basic 3.0 07 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 ? ? ?
VoxOx 7 No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No
Windows Live Messenger

(formerly MSN Messenger)

 15 W32 No Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Windows Messenger 06 W32 No Yes ? Yes Yes No No Partial No ? No Yes ? No No Yes Yes Yes
Xfire 06 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 No ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? 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

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 and Sim-IM.

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, available at pidgin-encrypt.sf.net. This plugin is compatible with Pidgin/Gaim clients only.

Note 9: Compatible with all Jabber clients implementing JEP-0027 (standard Jabber encryption).

Note 10: SecureIM plugin provides 192 bits AES Encryption, compatible only between Miranda clients.

Note 11: End to end encryption via "Off The Record" (OTR) encryption. Adium: Plugin (built-in), Kopete: Plugin (kopete-otr.follefuder.org), Pidgin: Plugin (www.cypherpunks.ca/otr), Miranda: Plugin (addons.miranda-im.org/details.php?action=viewfile&id=2644), climm: built-in since (mICQ) 0.5.4, Trillian Pro: Plugin (trillianotr.kittyfox.net)

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

[edit] Features 2

Client Handwriting mode Dockable Multiaccount Spell check User-Defined Graphical Smileys Animations
Adium No Yes Yes Yes Partial Partial
AIM No Yes No No  ? Partial
aMSN Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BitlBee No  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
BitWise IM  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Brosix  ?  ?  ?  ? Yes Yes
Centericq  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
climm N/A  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?
Coccinella  ? Yes Yes Yes  ?  ?
Digsby No Yes Yes Yes No No
EQO n/a n/a Yes No No No
Exodus  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Fire  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Gajim  ?  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?
GCN  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
GOIM  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Goofey6  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Google Talk (standalone) No Yes 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
IMVU  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
imeem  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Jabberwocky  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?  ?
Kadu  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Kopete No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes:smileys
Licq  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
MECA Messenger  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
meebo  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Meetro  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Mercury Messenger Yes Yes Yes No  ?  ?
Miranda IM Yes 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  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
OpenWengo  ?  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?
Pandion  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Paltalk  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Pidgin formerly Gaim No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes:smileys and user icons
pork  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Proteus  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Psi No  ? Yes Yes  ?  ?
psyced No No No No  ?  ?
Qnext  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
QIP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes:smileys
QIP Infium Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes:smileys
QQ No Yes Yes No Yes  ?
qutIM No Yes Yes No Yes Yes:Animated emoticons
RealTimeQuery No  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?
Sim-IM  ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Skype No No No No  ?  ?
talk  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Trillian Yes Yes Yes No  ?  ?
Trillian Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes  ?  ?
Trillian Astra Yes Yes Yes Yes  ?  ?
VoxOx No No Yes Yes No No
Windows Live Messenger Yes No Yes No Yes Yes: Animated emoticons, winks
Windows Messenger No No No No  ?  ?
Yahoo! Messenger  ?  ?  ? No  ?  ?
Zephyr  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Client Handwriting mode Dockable Multiaccount Spell check User-Defined Graphical Smileys Animations

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources (ideally, using inline citations). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)
v • d • e
Instant messaging clients (and comparison of clients and protocols)
Proprietary and/or
single protocol
Multi-protocol
XMPP (Jabber)
Coccinella · Exodus · Gajim · Google Talk · Jabbim · JAJC · JWChat · Psi · Tkabber · Gizmo
ICQ
ICQ · Licq
.NET Messenger
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_clients"
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