Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients

The landscape for instant messaging involves cross-platform instant messaging clients that can handle one or multiple protocols.[1] The following table compares general and technical information for cross-platform instant messaging clients in active development, each of which have their own wikipedia page that provide further information.

    See also: Messaging apps

    Clients
    Client Developer First public release Monthly active users Registration requirement License Operating system E2EE 2-user chat E2EE group chat File transfer Voice recording Client Voice chat Video chat Read receipts Editing sent messages Deleting sent messages Custom

    emoji

    		 Stickers Self-destructing messages Lock screen Screenshot protection (Android only)[1] App screenshot notification User screenshot notification[2] Local encrypted Themes / skins Plugins Peer-to-peer text chat Open source servers Federated servers Privacy law compliant Client
    Windows macOS Linux Web Android iOS
    Discord Discord Inc. March 6, 2015 (2015-03-06) 250 million (2019)[2] Email Proprietary Freeware Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Discord Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No ? No No No No No No Discord
    eBuddy Paulo Taylor March 9, 2003 (2003-03-09) Phone number Proprietary Freeware No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes eBuddy Yes Yes Yes No Partial No No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No No No No No eBuddy
    Facebook Messenger Facebook, Inc. August 9, 2011 (2011-08-09) 1300 million (2019)[2] Facebook account Proprietary Freeware Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Optional No Yes Yes Facebook Messenger Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No No No No Facebook Messenger
    FireChat Open Garden March 2014 (2014-03) Email Proprietary Freeware No No No No Yes Yes Optional Yes Yes Yes FireChat Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No ? ? ? ? Yes No Optional Yes Yes No FireChat
    Gadu-Gadu Łukasz Foltyn / GG Network S.A. August 15, 2000 (2000-08-15) Proprietary Freeware Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Gadu-Gadu Yes No ? ? ? ? No No No Gadu-Gadu
    Gajim Yann Le Boulanger May 21, 2004 (2004-05-21) GPL Yes No Yes No No No Optional Plug-in Yes No Gajim Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Gajim
    ICQ Mail.Ru November 1996 (1996-11) Phone number Apache license Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No ICQ Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No ICQ
    Jami Savoir-faire Linux Inc. 2014 (2014) N/A GPLv3 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes[3] No groupchat Yes Yes Jami Yes Yes No No Partial No No No No ? ? ? ? Yes No Yes N/A N/A Yes Jami
    Jitsi Emil Ivov 2003 (2003) LGPL Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional Yes Yes Jitsi Yes Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? Yes No Yes Yes No Jitsi
    Kadu Kadu Team August 2001 (2001-08) GPLv2 Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No Kadu Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No No Kadu
    KakaoTalk Kakao Corp. March 18, 2010 (2010-03-18) 49 million (2018)[4] Proprietary Freeware Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Optional Optional Yes KakaoTalk No ? ? ? ? No No No No KakaoTalk
    Keybase Keybase February 8, 2017;

    3 years ago

    		 Nothing required New BSD License Yes Yes Yes No, partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Keybase No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes, on by default but optional No No ? Yes, only 2 official skins No No No No Yes Keybase
    Kik Messenger Medialab October 2010 (2010-10) 15 million (2017)[5] Email Proprietary Freemium adware No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes Kik Messenger Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No No No Kik Messenger
    Line LINE Corporation March 2012 (March 2012) 203 million (2018)[4] Phone number Proprietary Freemium Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Partial Yes[6] Yes Yes Line Yes Yes Yes No Partial No Yes No No ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No No No No Line
    Mattermost Mattermost Inc 2015 AGPLv3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Plug-in Mattermost Plug-in Plug-in No Yes Yes Yes No No No ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Mattermost
    MCabber Mikael Berthe June 7, 2005 (2005-06-07) GPL No Yes Yes No No No No No No No MCabber No No No ? ? ? ? No No MCabber
    Messages Apple Inc. July 25, 2012 (2012-07-25) Part of macOS and iOS No Yes No No No Yes Optional Optional Yes Messages Yes Yes No No No ? ? ? ? No No No N/A N/A Messages
    Movim Timothée Jaussoin March 3, 2011 (2011-03-03) Nothing required AGPLv3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Movim Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No ? ? ? ? No No No No Yes Yes Movim
    Palringo Palringo Ltd 2006 (2006) N/A Proprietary Freemium No No No No Yes Yes No No No No Palringo Yes No No ? ? ? ? Yes No No No Palringo
    Paltalk AVM Software, Inc June 1998 (1998-06) Email Proprietary Freeware Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes Paltalk Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes No No No Paltalk
    Pidgin Mark Spencer November 1998 (1998-11) GPL Yes Yes Yes No No No Optional No No Pidgin Partial Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Optional Yes Yes Pidgin
    Psi Psi and Psi+ developers 2001 (2001) GPL Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Psi Partial Partial Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No Psi
    RetroShare Cyril Soler, Gioacchino Mazzurco 2006 (2006) GPL Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes RetroShare No ? ? ? ? Yes N/A N/A RetroShare
    Ricochet Invisible.im June 2014 (2014-06) BSD Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Ricochet No ? ? ? ? Yes N/A N/A Ricochet
    Element New Vector Limited July 2016 (2016-07) N/A Apache License Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional Optional Yes No Element Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes Element
    Sicher SHAPE GmbH June 2014 (2014-06) Phone number Proprietary Freeware No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Sicher No Yes ? ? ? ? No No No Sicher
    Signal Signal Messenger July 2014 (2014-07) Phone number GPLv3 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Signal Yes Yes Yes No Partial No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No No Yes[7] No Yes Signal
    Silent Phone Silent Circle January 16, 2013 (2013-01-16) N/A Proprietary commercial software No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes[8] Yes Silent Phone No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No No Silent Phone
    Skype Skype Technologies, a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation 2003 (2003) 300 million (2018)[4] Proprietary Freemium adware Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional No Yes Yes Skype Yes Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? No Yes No No No Skype
    Slack Slack Technologies August 2013 (2013-08) Email Proprietary Freemium Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Slack Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No No No Slack
    Snapchat Snap Inc. November 2011 (2011-11) 294 million (2019)[2] Email / Phone number Proprietary Freeware No No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes Snapchat Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No Yes No No No Snapchat
    Surespot Surespot LLC 2013 (2013) N/A GPLv3 No No No No Yes Yes Yes No groupchat Yes Yes Surespot Yes No No No ? ? ? ? Yes No No No No Surespot
    Telegram Telegram Messenger LLP 2013 (2013) 400 million (2020)[9] Phone number GPLv2, GPLv3[10] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional No Yes Yes Telegram Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes*only in secret chats Yes*only in secret chats Yes*only in secret chats ? Yes No No No No No Telegram
    Tencent QQ Tencent Holdings February 1999 (1999-02) 823 million (2019)[2] Proprietary Adware Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Tencent QQ Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes No No No No No Tencent QQ
    Threema Threema GmbH December 2012 (2012-12) Proprietary commercial software No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Threema No No ? ? ? ? No No No Threema
    Trillian Cerulean Studios July 1, 2000 (2000-07-01) N/A Proprietary Freemium adware Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Partial Trillian Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes No No Yes Trillian
    Viber Rakuten Viber December 2, 2010 (2010-12-02) 260 million (2019)[2] Phone number Proprietary Freemium Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Optional Optional Yes Yes Viber Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes*only in secret chats Yes*only in secret chats Yes*only in secret chats ? Yes Yes No No No Viber
    WeChat Tencent Holdings Limited January 21, 2011 (2011-01-21) 1112 million (2019)[2] Phone number / QQ number Proprietary Freeware Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes WeChat Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? No No No No WeChat
    WhatsApp WhatsApp Inc., a subsidiary of Facebook January 2009 (2009-01) 2000 million (2020)[11] Phone number Proprietary Freeware Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes WhatsApp Yes Yes Yes No Partial No Yes No No ? ? ? ? No No No No No No WhatsApp
    Wickr Wickr Inc. June 2012 (2012-06) N/A Proprietary Trialware Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Wickr Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes[12] ? ? ? No Yes No Yes[13] No Yes Wickr
    Wire Wire Swiss GmbH December 3, 2014 (2014-12-03) Email / Phone number GPLv3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Wire Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes[14] No ? ? ? ? No No No Yes[15] No Wire
    Client Developer First public release Monthly active users Registration requirement License Windows macOS Linux Web Android iOS E2EE 2-user chat E2EE group chat File transfer Voice recording Client Voice chat Video chat Read receipts Editing sent messages Deleting sent messages Custom

    emoji

    		 Stickers Self-destructing messages Lock screen Screenshot protection App screenshot notification User screenshot notification Local encrypted Themes / skins Plugins Peer-to-peer text chat Open source servers Federated servers Privacy law compliant Client
    Operating system
    gollark: <@!319753218592866315> does not consider you people. How mean of them.
    gollark: ++tel connect_to_assassinational_bees
    gollark: I will inform them of this.
    gollark: Rude.
    gollark: Do you count GTech™'s assassinational bees (they remain on standby, to clarify) as "people"?

    See also

    References
    1. "History of Instant Messaging". The top 6 best Instant Message client apps on any platform. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
    2. "Most popular messaging apps 2019 - Statista". Statista.
    3. "About Ring". Savoir-faire Linux Inc. Retrieved 8 December 2017. Your communications will be encrypted without any exception with the most advanced current techniques (see our page dedicated to security). Ring stores your secrets (private key for encryption and identity) only on the machine that runs it.
    4. "Most popular messaging apps 2018 - Statista". Statista.
    5. Ponciano, Jonathan. "Billion-Dollar Kik Taps $125 Million Token Offering To Energize User Base".
    6. Shin, Ki Bin (11 August 2016). "The next step for even safer messaging: Letter Sealing". Line Corporation. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
    7. "Signal · GitHub". 26 February 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
    8. "Silent Phone 6.0 is Here!". Silent Circle. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
    9. "Telegram Blog". telegram.org. 2020-04-24.
    10. "Telegram license info". Retrieved 22 October 2015.
    11. "WhatsApp". WhatsApp.com.
    12. "Why don't you disable screen capture?". Wickr Inc.
    13. "GitHub - WickrInc/wickr-crypto-c: An implementation of the Wickr Secure Messaging Protocol in C". 26 February 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
    14. "Safe and tidy with Timed Messages". Wire Swiss. 25 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
    15. "Wire server code now 100% open source – the journey continues". Medium. Wire Swiss GmbH. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
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