When comparing Pidgin vs Chatwee, the Slant community recommends Pidgin for most people. In the question“What is the best chat software?” Pidgin is ranked 5th while Chatwee is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose Pidgin is:
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.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
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.
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.
Pro Cross platform
The Pidgin instant messaging client is cross platform, working on Linux, Windows and OSX.
Pro Convenient notification features
Like other quality IRC 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.
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.
Pro Has a free-forever option
A bit less options available but works nonetheless.
Pro Real-time media and file sharing
Including YouTube videos and pictures preview in the chat window.
Pro Plenty of customization options
Chat size, color, fonts, language, log in methods, notifications, emojis, privacy, powerful moderation and many more.
Pro Single Sign-on
Users, who log in to the site, are automatically logged in to the chat.
Pro Integrated with 25+ most popular CMS
Developers provide easy to follow, clear plugin installation instructions.
Pro Clean design
Chatwee has a clean and easy to use UI. On the left there's a clean and defined user list, each name has a flag next to it. It's also very easy to move from one side of the screen to the other. There's only the most useful information on the screen at any time and the design never feel overwhelming or cluttered.
Cons
Con Miserable IRC font controls (as of 2.13.0.17)
Does its best to avoid putting sensible default font controls in any place where you can get to it. And when it does grudgingly change it, based on system preferences (not local preferences), it does so in an inconsistent and unpredictable fashion.
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.
