General Information
| Client | Author, creator | First public release | Type | Latest stable version | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adium | Adam Iser, Evan Schoenberg | 2001-09 | Multi-protocol | 1.5.4 (OS X) | GPLv2 |
| AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) | AOL | 1997-05 | Multi-protocol | 7.5.14.8 | Clickwrap |
| aMSN | The aMSN team | 2002-05 | Single-protocol | 0.98.4 | GPL |
| Ayttm | Colin Leroy and Philip Tellis | 2003-04 | Multi-protocol | 0.6.1 (Linux) 0.4.6-17 (Windows) |
GPL |
| BitlBee | Wilmer van der Gaast | 2002-08-09 | Multi-protocol IRC gateway | 3.0.6 | GPL |
| Bombus | Eugene Stahov | 2005-01-05 | Single-protocol | 2008 (v0.6) | GPL |
| Centericq | Konstantin Klyagin | 1999 | Multi-protocol | 4.21.0 | GPL |
| climm | Mattew D. Smith (up to ICQv5); Rüdiger Kuhlmann | 1997(?); 2001 | Dual-protocol | 0.7.1 (March 2010) | GPLv2 |
| Coccinella | Mats Bengtsson | 1999-12-01 | Single-protocol | 0.96.16 (December 1, 2009; 2 years ago (2009-12-01)) | GPLv3 |
| eBuddy | Paulo Taylor | 2003-03-09 | Multi-protocol | 2011 | Clickwrap |
| emesene | Luis Mariano Guerra | 2006-05-24 | Multi-protocol | 2.12.5 | GPL |
| Empathy | GNOME | 2007-05 | Multi-protocol | 3.6.1 | GPL |
| FaceTime | Apple Inc. | 2010 | Single-protocol | 2.0 July 25, 2012; 4 months ago (2012-07-25) | Proprietary |
| Fire | Eric Peyton | 1999-04-01 | Multi-protocol | 1.5.6 | GPL |
| Firetalk | Multitude Communications | 1997 -2001 | voice/music chat program | ? | GPL |
| Gadu-Gadu | Lukasz Foltyn | 2000-08 | Single-protocol | 10.5.2 build 13164 (July 9, 2011) | Clickwrap |
| Gajim | Yann Le Boulanger | 2004-05-21 | Single-protocol | 0.15.2 | GPL |
| Google Talk | Google, Inc. | 2005-08-24 | Dual-protocol | Plugin Mac OS X: 2.5.6.4871 Plugin Windows: |
Clickwrap |
| IBM Lotus Sametime | IBM, Ubique | 1998 | Multi-protocol—proprietary T.120, SIP, XMPP | 8.5; December 2009 | Clickwrap |
| iCall | iCall, Inc. | 2012-05 | Multi-protocol | 7.1 (524) | Clickwrap |
| iChat | Apple Inc. | 2002-08 | Multi-protocol | 6.0.1 (1002) February 1, 2012; 9 months ago (2012-02-01) | Clickwrap |
| ICQ | Mirabilis (AOL) | 1996-11 | Single-protocol | 7.6; August 14, 2011 | Clickwrap |
| Instantbird | Florian Quèze | 2007 | Multi-protocol | 1.3 | GPLv2 |
| IMVU | Will Harvey | 2001-07 | Single-protocol | 3.0 | Clickwrap |
| Jitsi | Emil Ivov | 2003 | Multi-protocol | v1.0-alpha6 | LGPL |
| Kadu | Kadu Team | 2001-08 | Multi-protocol | 0.12 .0 June 25, 2012; 5 months ago (2012-06-25) | GPLv2 |
| Kopete | Kopete Team | 2002-03-03 | Multi-protocol | 1.2.3 | GPL |
| MCabber | Mikael Berthe | 2005-06-07 | Single-protocol | 0.10.1 | GPL |
| Meetro | Paul Bragiel & Samuel Stauffer | 2005 | Multi-protocol | 0.96 beta (Windows) 0.53 beta (OS X) |
Clickwrap |
| Messages (application) | Apple Inc. | 2012-07-25 | Multi-protocol | 7.0 July 25, 2012; 4 months ago (2012-07-25) | Clickwrap |
| Miranda IM | Miranda IM project | 2000-02-06 | Multi-protocol | 0.10.8 | GPL |
| Microsoft Lync | Microsoft Corporation | 2005 | Single-protocol | 2010 November 14, 2010; 2 years ago (2010-11-14) | Clickwrap |
| MySpaceIM | MySpace | 2006-05-09 | Single-protocol | 1.0.754.0 (February 7, 2008) | Clickwrap |
| naim | Daniel Reed | 1998-10-05 | Multi-protocol | 0.11.8.3.1 (2007-07-09) | GPL |
| Nimbuzz | Evert Jaap Lugt and Martin Smink | 2006 | Multi-protocol | Microsoft Windows: 2.4.0 October 23, 2012; 37 days ago (2012-10-23); Blackberry: 1.4.1 October 12, 2012; 48 days ago (2012-10-12); iOS: 2.5.1 August 21, 2012; 3 months ago (2012-08-21); Android: 2.2.2 August 1, 2012; 3 months ago (2012-08-01); Mac OS X: 2.2.1 April 24, 2012; 7 months ago (2012-04-24); Windows Phone: 1.1.1 November 13, 2012; 16 days ago (2012-11-13); Symbian: 3.4.0 August 1, 2012; 3 months ago (2012-08-01) | GPL |
| Palringo | Palringo Ltd | 2006 | Single-protocol | Microsoft Windows: 2.7.9 July 4, 2012; 4 months ago (2012-07-04); Windows Mobile: 2.6.6 March 30, 2012; 7 months ago (2012-03-30); iOS: 4.12 August 6, 2012; 3 months ago (2012-08-06); Android: 5.2.8 August 1, 2012; 3 months ago (2012-08-01); Mac OS X: 4.6.4 July 24, 2012; 4 months ago (2012-07-24); Windows Phone: 0.11.0.0 February 14, 2012; 9 months ago (2012-02-14); | Clickwrap |
| Paltalk | Jason Katz | 1998 | Multi-protocol | Version 10.2 Build 455 | Clickwrap |
| Pidgin | Mark Spencer | 1998-11 | Multi-protocol | 2.10.6 | GPL |
| Psi | Justin Karneges | 2001 | Single-protocol | 0.15 | GPL |
| QIP | Ilgam Zyulkorneev | 2004 | Multi-protocol | QIP 2012 (Build 7210) | Clickwrap |
| Qnext | Qnext Corp. | 2010-06 | Multi-protocol | 4.0.4 Windows, Macintosh, Linux (June, 2010) 1.0.0.61 iOS (June, 2010) 2.0.1.55 Mobile Web (June, 2010) |
Clickwrap |
| QuteCom | QuteCom | 2004 | Multi-protocol | 2.2.1 | GPL |
| Skype | Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis | 2003 | Single-protocol | Android 3.0.0.6181 iOS |
Clickwrap |
| TerraIM | George Vulov | 2002-09 | Single-protocol | 1.2.6 | GPL |
| Tkabber | Alexey Shchepin | 2002-07-03 | Single-protocol | 0.11.1 | GPL |
| Trillian | Cerulean Studios | 2000-07-01 | Multi-protocol | Windows: 5.2 (build 13) Mac OS X: iOS: BlackBerry: Android: Web-Based: |
Clickwrap |
| Windows Live Messenger | Microsoft Corporation | 1999-07 | Dual-protocol | 2012 (Build 16.4.3503.728) (Windows XP/Vista/7/8) August 7, 2012; 3 months ago (2012-08-07) | Clickwrap |
| WhatsApp Inc. | ? | Single-protocol | ? | ? | |
| Xfire | Xfire Inc. | 2004 | Dual-protocol | 1.149 | Clickwrap |
| Yahoo! Messenger | Yahoo! | 1999-06-21 | Dual-protocol | 11.5.0.228 (Windows) 3.0.1 (Mac) 1.0.4 (Unix) |
Clickwrap |
| Zephyr | Project Athena | 1987 | Single-protocol | 2.0 | MIT |
| Client | Author, creator | First public release date | Type | Latest stable version | License |
Read more about this topic: Comparison Of Instant Messaging Clients
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