What are the best Jabber/XMPP clients for Mac OS X?

Question

6

Options
Considered

222

User
Recs.

Aug 28, 2023

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 6 OptionsWhy?

Best Jabber/XMPP clients for Mac OS X	Price	Platforms	Media
91 Adium	-	-	-
-- Pidgin	-	Windows, Linux	Video send/receive, Images
-- Jitsi	-	Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, Windows,	Yes
-- AstraChat	-	Windows , Linux , Mac , Android , iOS	Yes
-- Movim	-	-	-

See Full List

5 Other Options Considered

Pidgin

Top Pro

Free and open source

Pidgin and its code is completely free and open source. Pidgin has no ads and no features behind a paywall. See More

Top Con

Not a Mac OS client

There is NO Pidgin client native for Mac OS - only other apps based on Pidgin library - like Adium above. See More

CaffeinatedKaskuh's Experience

There is NO Pidgin client native for Mac OS - only other apps based on Pidgin library. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux

Media:Video send/receive, Images

Message history:Optional

Emoticons:Add-on

See All Specs

Top Pro

Cross platform

The Pidgin instant messaging client is cross platform, working on Linux, Windows and OSX. See More

Top Con

No native OTR encryption

Requires plug-in. See More

Top Pro

Highly customisable with plugins

Pidgin not only has a large plugin library built-in, but also an array of third party plugins for a variety of functions. See More

Top Con

Requires X11

Top Pro

Support for a wide range of additional chat services

Pidgin not only supports IRC, it also supports plenty of other services such as AIM, Google Talk, MSN, ICQ and plenty of others. This way, you can have all of your conversations in the same app and won't have to deal with multiple chat windows being open. See More

Top Con

Lacks OMEMO encryption

Not available natively nor via plug-in. Pidgin developers HOSTILE towards OMEMO. See More

Top Pro

Convenient notification features

Like other quality messaging clients, Pidgin features notifications that the user can set in order to have a variety of things happen when the users is mentioned, such as an audio cue or changing the system tray icon. See More

Top Con

No native VoIP support

While there are plugins there is no built in support for VoIP in Pidgin which is time consuming to implement instead of being baked in from the jump. See More

See All

Jitsi

Top Con

Crashes on MacOS Monterey

Top Pro

Open-source

Project available on github for anyone to contribute to or use. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, Windows,

Top Con

Abandoned Android development

They switched focus to Jitsi Meet client for Android. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

Mac, Windows & Linux availability. See More

Top Con

Uses Java

Not a native app, takes awhile to load. See More

Top Pro

Video calls

Top Con

Gui not as slick or streamlined as competitors

Top Pro

OMEMO encryption without plugin

Secure Jabber Texting, better than legacy sms texting. See More

Top Pro

Supports SIP accounts

well implemented SIP SIMPLE (texting), SIP presence, XCAP. See More

Top Pro

Supports XEP-0016 and privacy Lists

Jabber Texting apps without Privacy Lists are WOEFULLY deficient. See More

Top Pro

Encryption out of the box

Encryption for chat, desktop sharing, and web confrencing available. See More

See All

AstraChat

Top Pro

Jingle VoIP Calling

VoIP calling between clients using jingle occasionally mistakenly referred to as p2p calling See More

Top Con

Desktop client download requires phone number

Cannot download desktop client if phone number field is blank. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows , Linux , Mac , Android , iOS

Top Pro

OTR encryption

Top Con

Does not appear to be open source

Top Pro

Mobile & desktop message sync

Full message sync between all desktop and mobile clients. See More

Top Con

Elaborate desktop client download process

Top Pro

Direct connect

Without any proxies in between. See More

Top Con

Lack of OMEMO encryption

The new de facto option for Jabber Texting [xmpp]. See More

Top Pro

Voice message

Top Pro

Screen encryption

See All

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Adium

Top Con

Appears to be abandoned

Not Gatekeeper-compatible, SSL cert expired, social media presence is ancient. See More

Top Pro

Easy-to-use interface

InventiveLir's Experience

Bug has existed for 5+ years where chat rooms do not automatically scroll. See More

Top Con

Lack of OMEMO encryption

the de facto standard for Jabber Texting [xmpp] See More

Top Pro

OTR encryption

TrustingFecunditas's Experience

bug bug bug bug....... See More

Top Con

Release version has old OTR

The current release, version 1.5.10.4 only does OTR version 2, and version 3 has been out for a long time. See More

Top Pro

Open source

PrudentBorysthenis's Experience

Looks old but works well even on macOS Mojave See More

Top Con

Lack of multi-resource message capability

No carbon copy, for example. See More

Top Pro

Supports file transfers

Top Con

No antispam (built-in or by plugin)

It has no challenge-like antispam (such as seen on github.com/jesobreira/box-sentry plugin for pidgin). See More

See All

What are the best Jabber/XMPP clients for Mac OS X?

The Best 1 of 6 OptionsWhy?

Adium

My Recommendation for Adium

My Recommendation for Adium

Appears to be abandoned

Easy-to-use interface

Lack of OMEMO encryption

OTR encryption

Release version has old OTR

Open source

Lack of multi-resource message capability

Supports file transfers

No antispam (built-in or by plugin)

5 Other Options Considered

Pidgin

My Recommendation for Pidgin

My Recommendation for Pidgin

Free and open source

Not a Mac OS client

Cross platform

No native OTR encryption

Highly customisable with plugins

Requires X11

Support for a wide range of additional chat services

Lacks OMEMO encryption

Convenient notification features

No native VoIP support

Jitsi

My Recommendation for Jitsi

My Recommendation for Jitsi

Crashes on MacOS Monterey

Open-source

Abandoned Android development

Cross platform

Uses Java

Video calls

Gui not as slick or streamlined as competitors

OMEMO encryption without plugin

Supports SIP accounts

Supports XEP-0016 and privacy Lists

Encryption out of the box

AstraChat

My Recommendation for AstraChat

My Recommendation for AstraChat

Jingle VoIP Calling

Desktop client download requires phone number

OTR encryption

Does not appear to be open source

Mobile & desktop message sync

Elaborate desktop client download process

Direct connect

Lack of OMEMO encryption

Voice message

Screen encryption

Movim

My Recommendation for Movim

My Recommendation for Movim

Simple and social

Unclear what it actually is, seems to be complete server framework

Jingle video calling

Web-based

Jingle calling

OMEMO encryption support being developed

Actively developed

Elegant

Beautiful

Fluid

My Recommendation for Fluid

My Recommendation for Fluid

Webchat webapp services are connected to more protocols than desktop apps on the mac

Video chat will not work with FB Messenger

Separate webchat from your webbrowser

Hacky

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