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4.7 star rating
0
macOS
Chat
IRC
What are the best IRC clients for Mac?
12
Options
Considered
609
User
Recs.
Jan 25, 2024
Last
Updated
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9
Options
Considered
Best IRC clients for Mac
Price
License
Proxy server
85
LimeChat
Free
-
-
80
Textual
$7.99
-
-
--
WeeChat
Free
GPLv3
Yes
--
Irssi
Free
-
-
52
Linkinus 2
$32.00
-
-
See Full List
85
LimeChat
My Rec
ommendation
for
LimeChat
My Recommendation for
LimeChat
All
13
Experiences
5
Pros
6
Cons
2
Top
Pro
•••
Free and Open Source
See More
Top
Con
•••
Console based
If you're not familiar with a text based IRC client already, it is definitely not user friendly for learning.
See More
MotivatedRongomai's Experience
Probably fine for an experienced user, but I typo'd the host name, so it wouldn't connect. No obvious way to edit config or add a second host (despite a quick google) and even after uninstalling + reinstalling it still "helpfully" remembered the incorrect information.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Console-like interface
LimeChat has a nostalgic console feel that is still very functional. It features multiple themes including a three column layout.
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Top
Con
•••
No way to search chat logs within LimeChat
Chat logs are not viewable within the app. You must find the file in the directory and open it with a text editor.
See More
GregariousFerentina's Experience
Amazing client
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Native support for the Notification Center
See More
FlexibleKulla's Experience
Easy to setup & use. Stays connected. Like the console design.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Includes many useful features
LimeChat includes many features that any IRC user would need such as: The ability to Connect to multiple servers and rooms Auto join rooms on startup File Sending Native Notification Center support SSL authorization
See More
FunCeres's Experience
Github source outdated
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Full range of keyboard shortcuts
Limechat has a fully featured shortcut list that makes navigating the program quick and easy.
See More
ElatedAlLat's Experience
Really poor UX with this. Unable to copy contents of chat windows in any reasonable manner. Pasting text brings up a dialog rather than going into input box to be edited first. Terrible client
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Top
Pro
•••
Fast and lightweight
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Hide
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Free
Recommend
166
12
80
Textual
My Rec
ommendation
for
Textual
My Recommendation for
Textual
All
15
Experiences
3
Pros
9
Cons
3
Top
Pro
•••
Native to Mac
Textual was developed just for Mac, so there's no need to worry about compatibility issues. It can be downloaded straight from the App Store and takes full advantage of Macs native features such as the Notification Center.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No DCC chat support
See More
Ray's Experience
Textual is the only GUI IRC client I've used on macOS that has a customizable modern-looking UI. It's feature-complete with really straightforward configuration, and there's also full theming support. It's an amazing piece of open source software, and the best part is you can use it for free if you build it yourself (see: https://github.com/Codeux-Software/Textual#building-textual).
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Designed with simplicity in mind
Textual was built to be simple and easy to use. It is very clean and has features for both IRC newbies and power-users.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Requires payment (unless compiled from source)
Textual is a paid product, but can be used for free if you compile it yourself.
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LuckyCoeus's Experience
Lost connection every 10 minutes in idle
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Top
Pro
•••
Full-featured
Textual provides a wide range of features for any level of IRC user. It has basic options such as: Native Fullscreen support Native Notification Center support Wide range of keyboard shortcuts And plenty of other basic features you would expect from a quality IRC client. It also has a plethora of advanced features for those looking to get under the hood: SOCK4 and SOCK5 support Full, native support for IPv6 users. Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) file transfer support And many other customization options, such as theming.
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Top
Con
•••
Unreliable when having network issues
If you are using VPNs, your connectivity with the IRC servers may drop and you will find it almost useless. It is able to reconnect, but is not able to rejoin the channels when it reconnects.
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FascinatingOlodumare's Experience
The best IRC client i've found so far (and I've tried a lot)
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Top
Pro
•••
Regularly maintained and updated
The team at textual is always working on updating and getting rid of bugs in Textual which means its always improving.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can be used for free if you build it yourself
Textual is open source and includes instructions for building it. You can set the TEXTUAL_BUILT_WITH_LICENSE_MANAGER flag to 0 to skip trial/license popups.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Open source
Source code is available here.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Proxy support
Textual can proxy your connection to IRC servers through SOCKS4 / SOCKS5 on a per-server basis.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Full, native support for IPv6
See More
Top
Pro
•••
ZNC integration
Support for ZNC out of the box, including history.
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Hide
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$7.99
Recommend
180
20
--
WeeChat
My Rec
ommendation
for
WeeChat
My Recommendation for
WeeChat
All
13
Pros
9
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Keyboard shortcuts not working out of the box
On MacOS many of the keyboard shortcuts for WeeChat do not work out of the box, because they are in use by MacOS. This requires remapping keys.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Supports SASL and SSL
See More
Specs
License:
GPLv3
Proxy server:
Yes
Top
Con
•••
No official GUI option
While there are some unofficial remote graphical interfaces available for WeeChat, it is intended to be used as a terminal client. As such it might be challenging to use to those accustomed to graphical interfaces.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Open-source
All the source code is available on github.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Scripting API allows poorly written scripts to be used as attack vectors
Plugin documentation includes the following warning: In many functions, for speed reasons, WeeChat does not check if your pointer is correct or not. It’s your job to check you’re giving a valid pointer, otherwise you may see a nice crash report ;)
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Top
Pro
•••
Terminal-based
WeeChat has a command line interface.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Fully keyboard driven
Weechat can be fully driven by keyboard shortcuts. Navigating between buffers, switching between windows and changing text styling can all be achieved with keyboard shortcuts.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Extensible via plugins and scripts
Supports scripting in C, Python, Perl, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, Scheme and Javascript.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Highly customizable and configurable
An many dotfiles are publicly available.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Has scripting plugins
Has plugins for Perl, Python and other languages to write your scripts in.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Incredibly extendable
Has an inbuilt user scripting repository.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Very lightweight
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
38
1
--
Irssi
My Rec
ommendation
for
Irssi
My Recommendation for
Irssi
All
8
Pros
7
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
Free and open-source
See More
Top
Con
•••
Not the easiest to get going
Tough to use at first. Having a large fanbase and many tutorials make it somewhat easy.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Terminal-based
Screen multiplexing and remote connection options with screen or tmux.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Themes
Allows the modification of IRSSI's look and feel.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Has a plugin for encrypted communications
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Perl Scripting
Allows the user to create and use perl scripts to perform actions.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Persistent connection
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Send command line outputs to a channel or message.
/exec -o figlet "Slant.co"
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
26
52
Linkinus 2
My Rec
ommendation
for
Linkinus 2
My Recommendation for
Linkinus 2
All
6
Pros
3
Cons
3
Top
Pro
•••
Major improvements over first version
With the new version release, Linkinus 2 is up to 10 times faster. It also has new core features such as auto reconnect, proxy support and much more.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Abandonware
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Searchable logs
Linkinus 2 lets you search chat logs by keyword within the app. You can also enable or disable logging on a per-channel basis.
See More
Top
Con
•••
More expensive than most IRC clients
At $7.99 USD on the App Store, Linkinus 2 is more expensive than most IRC clients. While the extensive features may justify the price for some, basic users probably do not need to pay for a commercial client.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
An extensive feature set
For those looking for a feature packed client, Linkinus 2 is for you. The $8 USD price point is almost justifiable by the feature list. It frovides features not seen in other IRC clients such as embedded media(Youtube, Vimeo, etc.) and can automatically expand shortened URLs.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No Notification Center support.
Linkinus 2 does not support OSX's Notification Center meaning you'll have to keep an eye on the window as you won't be getting alerts straight to your desktop.
See More
Hide
See All
$32.00
Recommend
17
5
--
XChat Azure
My Rec
ommendation
for
XChat Azure
My Recommendation for
XChat Azure
All
2
Experiences
1
Cons
1
Top
Con
•••
Does not remember preferences, crashes frequently
See More
ResourcefulGeras's Experience
I had to completely remove and reinstall the app to change the download folder.
See More
Hide
Free
Recommend
23
6
--
Quassel
My Rec
ommendation
for
Quassel
My Recommendation for
Quassel
All
2
Pros
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Distributed
It's possible for a front-end client or multiple front-end clients to connect to a single core client. This allows setting up an always on-line core that can be accessed from anywhere.
See More
Specs
License:
GPL
Proxy server:
Yes
Interface:
GUI, TUI
IPv6:
Yes
See All Specs
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
6
--
KVIrc
My Rec
ommendation
for
KVIrc
My Recommendation for
KVIrc
All
1
Specs
Specs
License:
GPL
Proxy server:
Yes
Interface:
GUI
IPv6:
Yes
See All Specs
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
4
--
Smuxi
My Rec
ommendation
for
Smuxi
My Recommendation for
Smuxi
All
1
Cons
1
Top
Con
•••
Runs on mono
See More
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
Don't see your favorite option? Add it.
57
Colloquy
My Rec
ommendation
for
Colloquy
My Recommendation for
Colloquy
Free
Recommend
47
8
--
Adium
My Rec
ommendation
for
Adium
My Recommendation for
Adium
Free
Recommend
25
--
mIRC
My Rec
ommendation
for
mIRC
My Recommendation for
mIRC
Get it
here
Recommend
24
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