When comparing IRC vs Wire, the Slant community recommends IRC for most people. In the question“What is the best team chat software?” IRC is ranked 12th while Wire is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose IRC is:
The IRC protocol is public and open, it is mature and stable, and has been implemented in numerous projects. This means that it can be used freely, for both open-source and commercial projects.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Open protocol
The IRC protocol is public and open, it is mature and stable, and has been implemented in numerous projects. This means that it can be used freely, for both open-source and commercial projects.
Pro Versatile
IRC offers choice. Choice in clients (mobile, desktop, web), in scripts those clients run, in servers and features those servers have. You can even set up your own server.
Pro Less distracting
Compared to other common solutions, IRC can be ignored when you are occupied doing something else. Most clients don't pester you with sounds or distracting visuals.
Pro Mentions
Every notable IRC client supports mentions - notifying you when your name is mentioned in the chat. The mentions in IRC are comparably better than Discord. Mentions used in Discord are easily abused; this doesn't happen in IRC. If someone's talking about you, you get a notification in IRC. This doesn't happen in something like Discord.
Pro Hundreds of avaliable clients
IRC has been around since 1988, so there is a ton of existing software to work with it. Everything from clients, to chat bots, to bouncers is already built.
Pro IRC networks are not centralized
You can choose your favorite server for an IRC network.
Pro No account necessary
No need to sign up for access, confirm your e-mail address. Just choose a nickname and you're done.
Pro User-friendly
IRC is user friendly if you use something like hexchat or kiwi webchat.
Pro DCC
Direct Client-to-Client allows users to share files in a similar way to torrenting.
Pro Great historic importance
Twitter hashtags came from IRC channel names.
Pro Upcoming IRCv3 will provide missing features
Pro Libre/open source
Pro End-to-end encryption
Pro Clean, modern interface
Pro Privacy-respecting
Pro Intuitive user interface
Wire's user interface is quite intuitive to use, still it has everything required for a complete experience. Settings are very clean and allows you to turn on/off some features which might be disturbing for some, like link previews and emoji conversion.
Pro Swiss legislation
Registered in Switzerland.
Cons
Con Complex and not user friendly
Con Assumes some level of prior knowledge
The features are not discoverable the way they are in other apps and services.
Con You have to "idle" to see what's going on
You will see a blank chat screen at first because there is no recent history kept on servers.
Con Can be addictive
Con Poor multimedia support
Sending anything besides text is not easy or intuitive and depends on the client.