Mac IRC clients

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:50 am

Since I've recently 'switched' to Mac, I'd like to offer a few opinions on various Mac IRC clients. All clients have *only* been tested in 10.5.5.

Babbel : A very basic, but powerful IRC client, supports SSL. Please note, there doesn't immediately seem to be a way to change the default colors OR userlist sort, but it has an astounding customization potential for aliases and the like. This client also does not seem to have default services identification, and I believe you'd have to set that up as an 'event' in the settings dialog. This client also supports RegEx for filters, which is a really nice touch. If this client supported a white on black style, I'd certainly use it primarily. 4.5MB

Colloquy : Free/Open-source, donationware. Supports SSL. Very "Mac style", somewhat confusing interface for large channels, as the userlist is a dropdown from the channel list. Growl support is nice, but this client is not something I'd personally use, as I think it's a little too "cute." Other people on Mac seem to like it, give it a try. (download the latest nightly) 7MB download

Conversation : Extremely basic, Growl Support, does NOT support SSL. Has Applescript support, interface is almost impossible to get confused in. "Chrome" style interface, XDCC support (didn't test). Basic, usable, very intuitive. Donationware. 2MB

Ircle : Claims to have SSL support, couldn't test it with my network. I got frustrated with the multi-window setup and couldn't figure out a way to centralize everything, so I gave up on it. Unless you're absolutely in love with the way it does business, I wouldn't spend the 19 €. I tested version 3.5a6. 1.2MB

LimeChat : Requires RubyCocoa (1.6MB), builds in Xcode, but the basic client is still reasonably configurable. Very basic 'feeling' but very powerful underneath (since the code that runs it is essentially still ruby, which isn't that hard to pick up for small tasks). Very slim ram profile, considering (uses 108MB in my system, with 4 networks and 19 channels). There are some 'gotchas' to this client, but if you're a ruby coder or know some that'd be willing to help you hack it up, I'd highly recommend it. Cost: $0 (Open Source)

Linkinus : Don't waste your money. Theming is CSS, on top of HTML which uses the div tag to display which makes copy and paste of logs extremely difficult, as each div copies as a separate line, which means your timestamps, nicknames and message body are on 3 different lines. The only way to add 'plugins' to this is if you know objective-c, scripting available in AppleScript, SSL available. Opers are at the top of the userlist, and almost nothing about this client is intuitive. On top of the failings of this client, the developer seems to think that he's the most brilliant programmer on earth, which would explain why he's unwilling to share the source with anyone. My opinion is that if I pay you for a product, a certain level of support comes with said product. This product came with none. £12.5 7.7MB

Snak : Very basic, but configurable, ircii support, very lightweight, supports SSL. If you're used to x-chat or mIRC on other platforms, you might actually like Snak. There are other options out there that don't have a $29 registration fee, but this one donates all license fees to a non-profit organization that makes micro-loans to small businesses in developing countries, helping people get out of deep poverty. Kiva Pledge 4MB download

X-Chat Aqua : My favorite. Open source. Supports everything the 'big boy' X-Chat supports, only caveat is that you have to build from source from their SVN tree to get a 'recent' version. This (thankfully) is a point-and-click maneuver in XCode. Simply use something like Syncro to sync the X-Chat Aqua svn repo to someplace on your filesystem, navigate to that folder, double-click the "xcodeproj" file inside the X-Chat Aqua folder (inside trunk), and then select "build" inside Xcode. You'll be able to run the .app that you've built immediately (there should be no build errors). Size varies, Cost: $0

Xirc : $24. I could not get this client to connect to any servers. As I was inputting the information necessary to connect to an IRC server on v0.9.9, the application crashed. This happened on 2 different .dmgs downloaded from both the primary and alternate download sites. If you're the Xirc author, feel free to contact me via these forums if/when your application will not immediately crash upon initial configuration. (Claims to support SSL, I could not test) 4.2MB

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:11 pm

Hmmm - switched to Mac eh? I couldn't imagine why - lol. I'm back to XP, and when that runs out I expect it will be Ubuntu. Apple is too closed, and MS is hopeless.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:43 pm

Wow thanks for this, i just recently baught a mac book and these will be sure to help. i could have probably googled them Smile

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:56 pm

Adium should be added to this list. It's a multi-protocol client similar to Trillium for Windows.