IRCCloud vs WeeChat

IRCCloud has the ability to embed pictures, youtube videos, vines, etc straight within the chat window.

IRCCloud offers an option to keep idling in a channel even when the user is not connected. This way no conversations or mentions will be missed while away.

Files can be shared simply by dragging and dropping them into a channel. They will be hosted on IRCCloud's servers and linked.

IRCCloud has a simple two-pane interface with a chat window on the left and server and channel lists on the right. It includes colorized nicknames to easier tell users apart and allows customizing details such as clock format, usermode symbols and alerts.

IRCCloud will suggest putting long snippets of text on pastebin and link that instead of flooding the channel.

While IRCCloud is generally a subscription service, a limited free tier is available. It's limited to 2 external IRC networks besides irc.irccloud.com, accounts get disconnected after 2h while no frontend is used (does not apply for the first 7 days) and 100MB file sharing limit as well as it lacks a number of team and enterprise oriented features.

Never lose logs again, IRCCloud keeps them backed up and can email a zip of them to you on request.

All other irc clients are only connected to the network as long as you are online. IRCCloud provides a bouncer by default, i.e. an irc proxy that maintains your presence and logs all chat. Said BNC remains online for 3 hours by default, papering over connectivity losses, or for a small fee of 4€ per month, you can remain online forever (good for travels and such).

Available on android and apple stores. It's just as good as the desktop client, comparable with discord though not as fully featured, being IRC.

There is a primitive, but consistently updated web wrapper that can act as a desktop client available on github. They don't exactly publicize it, but it is being actively developed all the same. It will likely evolve into a full-featured dedicated desktop client in time.

Offers bounties for reporting security bugs through HackerOne.

WeeChat has a command line interface.

WeeChat has an easy to use interface and sane defaults, making it a great client for beginner users.

Easy to configure weechat connect to server using certificates

Many dotfiles are publicly available.

Weechat allows very flexible window splitting behavior to show multiple IRC channels at once. Windows can be split vertically and horizontally.

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.

Supports scripting in C, Python, Perl, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, Scheme and Javascript.

Works perfectly with a poor connection.

Smart filtering lets set a series of rules for IRC channels. For example, it allows instructing the client to show /quit and /join messages only if the user was speaking in the last 20 minutes.

WeeChat is a free program licensed under GPL with source code available on GitHub.

It's possible to leave WeeChat running at home/on a server, then connect to it with a smartphone client. This way a choppy mobile internet connection won't disconnect from IRC, and still allow using a touch screen optimized UI.

Weechat community can be found on #weechat @ Freenode. The community, including devs, is helpful in answering any WeeChat related questions.

WeeChat has a built-in tool for searching, downloading, installing and updating scripts and plugins.

By default WeeChat has a chat area surrounded by a nicklist on the right, title bar on top, and status and input bars at the bottom. The layout, though, can be completely customized and split vertically or horizontally. It supports 256 colors as long as the terminal supports 256 colors as well as bolded, italicized and underlined text. Even includes little touches as differently colored nicknames for people /away.

WeeChat scripts repository has hundreds of scripts including url shorteners, music player integrations and bandwidth monitors.

Mouse click and gestures are supported on a local terminal as well as remote terminal accessed via ssh regardless of screen/tmux. To enable mouse support use /mouse enable command or press alt+m.

You are able to modify configurations inside application or via modifying files(i.e. colors).

WeeChat has html5, qt, android, emacs and javascript remote interface options.

Text is searched through in real time as search terms are being written.