Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of instant messenger programs and protocols used for communication between one or more people. Please see the individual products articles for further information.
Clients
| Instant messenger: | AIM | ICQ | MSN | Yahoo! | iChat | Trillian | Trillian Pro | Gaim | Miranda | Proteus | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | AOL | Mirabilis | Microsoft | Yahoo! | Apple Computer | Cerulean Studios | Cerulean Studios | Mark Spencer | Martin Öberg | Defaultware | Eric Peyton |
| First public release date | ? | November 1996 | ? | ? | ? | ? | September 2002 | November 1998 | 2000 | ? | ? |
| Type | Specialist program | Specialist program | Specialist program | Specialist program | Non-specialist program | Non-specialist program | Non-specialist program | Non-specialist program | Non-specialist program | Non-specialist program | Non-specialist program |
| General | |||||||||||
| Current stable version | 5.9 | 4 | 6.2 | 6.0 (Win) 2.5.3 (Mac) |
2.1 | 0.74i | 2.0 | 1.0.2 | 0.3.3.1 | 4.07 | 1.0.4 |
| Cost | Free Adware |
Free Adware |
Free Adware |
Free Adware |
Free | Free | $25 USD | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | GPL | GPL | Proprietary | GPL |
| Network/Protocol Support | |||||||||||
| AIM | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ICQ | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MSN Messenger | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yahoo! | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IRC | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Jabber | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rendezvous | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Support Platforms | |||||||||||
| Windows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Mac OS X | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| BSD | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Unix | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Features | |||||||||||
| File transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | ? |
| Graphical smileys | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| In-built Games | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Voice and webcam conversations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| Themes/skins | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Plugin system1 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Third-party addons2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Instant messenger: | ICQ | AIM | MSN | Yahoo! | iChat | Trillian | Trillian Pro | Gaim | Miranda | Proteus | Fire |
- 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
- 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
Protocols
| Protocol: | IRC | Jabber | OSCAR protocol | Rendezvous | .NET Messenger Service | YMSG12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Jarkko Oikarinen | Jeremie Miller | AOL | Apple Computer | Microsoft | Yahoo |
| First public release date | August 1988 | May 2000 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| General | ||||||
| License | Open standard | Open standard | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Identity (not inc. alias) | Username@hostname ("hostmask") e.g. [email protected]1 |
JID e.g. [email protected]/home2 |
Username or UIN e.g. 12345678 |
Username@hostname | E-mail address (.NET Passport) | Username |
| Features | ||||||
| Asynchronous message relaying | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- 1 IRC: [email protected] means [email protected] (where myisp.example.com is known as the "hostmask" and can be the server being connected from or an "cloak" granted by the server administrator)
- 2 Jabber: [email protected]/home means [email protected]/home (where home is a "resource", denoting the same user's ability to log in from multiple locations)