Comparison of instant messaging protocols

Short description: none

The following is a comparison of instant messaging protocols. It contains basic general information about the protocols.

## Table of instant messaging protocols

Protocol | Creator  | First public release date  | License  | Identity (not inc. alias)  | Asynchronous message relaying  | Transport Layer Security | End-to-end encryption | Unlimited number of contacts  | Bulletins to all contacts  | One-to-many routing[lower-alpha 1] | Spam protection  | Group, channel or conference support  | Audio/VoIP support  | Webcam/Video  | Batch file sharing  | Media synchronization  | Serverless[lower-alpha 2] | Protocol

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3GPP standards | Friedhelm Hillebrand  | 1985  | Proprietary | Phone number (e.g. +15550123)  | Yes  | No  | No  | About 250 contacts in SIM, unlimited from phone.  | No  | serial messages  | Medium  | No  | Yes  | 3G-324M/ViLTE  | RCS | No  | ?  | 3GPP standards
Bitmessage | Jonathan Warren  | 2012 Nov  | Open standard | Alphanumeric address  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes (through proof-of-work)  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Bitmessage
Bonjour | Apple Inc.  | 2002 August  | Proprietary Freeware; portions under the Apache license  | Username  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | multicast | Medium  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Bonjour
Briar | Briarproject.org  | 2018 May 9  | Open standard | Public & Private key (via QR Codes)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Briar
Discord | Discord Inc.  | 2015 May 13  | Proprietary | Discord ID[1] | Yes  | No  | No  | No[2] | No  | ?  | Medium  | ?  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | No  | Discord
dm3  | corpus.io / dm3.network  | 2022  | Open Source (BSD)  | ENS (Ethereum Name Service)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | dm3
Echo | spot-on.sf.net / goldbug.sf.net  | 2013  | Open standard | Key  | Yes  | Optional  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Echo
Gadu-Gadu | GG Network  | 2000 Jul 17  | Proprietary | UIN
e.g. 12345678  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | Centralistic  | Yes[lower-alpha 3] (simple)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Gadu-Gadu
IRC | Jarkko Oikarinen  | 1988 Aug  | Open standard | Nickname!Username@hostname
(or "hostmask")
e.g. user!~usr@a.b.com[lower-alpha 4] | Yes, via IRCv3[3] or MemoServ that differs from the main system  | Optional  | Many implementations which are mostly non-interoperable with other IRC clients[4][5][6] | No[lower-alpha 5] | No  | Simplistic multicast | Medium  | Yes (everyone, multiple simultaneous, any size)  | many implementations which are incompatible with other IRC clients[9][10] | No  | Yes  | via BNC  | yes, via DCC CHAT  | IRC
Jami (based on DHT and SIP)  | Savoir-faire Linux Inc.  | 2002 August  | Open Standard  | 40-digit address  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Medium  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Jami (based on DHT and SIP)
Matrix  | Matrix.org  | style="background: #9FF; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="free table-free"|Open standard | @Username:Hostname (MXID)  | Yes  | Yes, mandatory  | Yes, default for private conversations[12] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes (using pluggable server-side filtering modules and contact ignoring)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No (not yet but there is ongoing work on a p2p version: https://arewep2pyet.com/ | Matrix
Mattermost | Mattermost Inc  | 2015 October 2  | Open standard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Mattermost
MSNP (Windows Live Messenger, etc.)  | Microsoft | 1999 Jul  | Proprietary | Email address (Microsoft account)  | Yes  | No  | No  | Only for certified robots  | No  | Centralistic  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | MSNP (Windows Live Messenger, etc.)
MTProto (Telegram)  | Telegram Messenger LLP  | 2013 Aug  | Open standard | Phone number (e.g. +15550123), nickname (e.g. @example)  | Yes  | Yes  | No end-to-end encryption for group chats  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes, contact blocking  | Yes  | Yes[13] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | MTProto (Telegram)
Mumble | Thorvald Natvig  | 1999 Jul  | Open standard | Username  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Only for certified robots  | No  | Centralistic  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Mumble
LINE | LY Corporation  | 2011 June 23  | Proprietary | LINE ID, Phone Number  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | LINE
OSCAR (AIM, ICQ)  | AOL  | 1997  | Proprietary (Discontinued 15-Dec-2017)[14] | Username, Email Address or UIN
e.g. 12345678  | Yes  | Yes (Aim Pro, Aim Lite)  | No  | No  | No  | Centralistic  | client-based  | Yes (Multiple, simultaneous)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | OSCAR (AIM, ICQ)
Stoat  | Stoat  | 2021  | AGPLv3  | Username and discriminator (e.g. MysticPixie#7495)[15] | Yes  | Yes  | No  |  |  |  |  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |  | No  | Stoat
RVP (Windows Messenger, etc.)  | Microsoft | 1997 Mar  | Proprietary (Discontinued)  | Windows Active Directory Login  | No  | No  | ?  | No  | Centralistic  | None  | No  | ?  | ?  | No  | No  | No  |  | RVP (Windows Messenger, etc.)
Ricochet | Invisible.im  | 2014 Mar  | Open standard | Tor onion address  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Ricochet
Serval Project | Serval Project  | 2016  | Open Standard  | Digit address  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Serval Project
Signal Protocol | Signal Foundation | 2014 Feb[16] | Open standard | Phone number (e.g. +15550123), username with two added random trailing numbers (e.g. @example.12) [17][18][19] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | Yes  | Yes, client-side contact blocking; server-side protections  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Signal Protocol
SIP/SIMPLE | IETF | 1996  | Open standard | user@hostname  | Yes  | Yes  | Optional  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Medium  | ?  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Depends on implementation  | SIP/SIMPLE
Skype | Skype | 2003 Aug  | Proprietary (Discontinued)  | Username | Yes  | Proprietary | No  | No  | No  | Centralistic  | client-based  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Skype
Steam Friends | Valve | 2003 Sep 12  | Proprietary | SteamID/Username or Unique Number  | Yes  | Proprietary | ?  | No, although rising  | Yes  | ?  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Steam Friends
TeamSpeak | TeamSpeak Systems GmbH  | 2001 Aug  | Proprietary | Unique ID in base64  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | Yes  | Yes  | No  |  |  |  | TeamSpeak
TOC2 | AOL  | 2005 Sep  | Proprietary (Discontinued)  | Username or UIN
e.g. 12345678  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Centralistic  | No  | paying members only  | ?  | ?  | Partial  | ?  | No  | TOC2
Threema | Threema GmbH  | 2012 December  | Open standard |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Threema
TOX (based on DHT)  | irungentoo (GitHub user)  | 2013 June  | GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 or later  | Public & Private key  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[20][21] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[22] | Yes  | TOX (based on DHT)
Tuenti | Tuenti | 2006  | Proprietary | Username | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | ?  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | No  | Tuenti
WeChat | Tencent | 2011  | Proprietary | Username  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | WeChat
Windows Messenger service  | Microsoft | 1990  | Proprietary (Discontinued)  | NetBIOS  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Windows Messenger service
XMPP  | Jeremie Miller, standardized via IETF | 1999 Jan  | Open standard | Jabber ID (JID)
e.g. usr@a.b.c/home[lower-alpha 6] | Yes[23][24] | Yes[25] | Optional[26][27][28][29] | Yes  | Yes[30] | Yes[31][32] | Yes[33][34][35] | Yes[31] | Yes, via Jingle | Yes, via Jingle | Yes[36] | Yes[37] | Optional[38] | XMPP
YMSG (Yahoo! Messenger)  | Yahoo! | 1998, March 9  | Proprietary | Username | Yes  | No[needs update?] | No  | No  | Yes  | Centralistic  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | YMSG (Yahoo! Messenger)
Zephyr Notification Service | MIT  | 1987  | Open standard | Kerberos principal
e.g. user@ATHENA.MIT.EDU  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Zephyr Notification Service
Protocol  | Creator  | First public release date  | License  | Identity (not inc. alias)  | Asynchronous message relaying  | Transport Layer Security | End-to-end encryption | Unlimited number of contacts  | Bulletins to all contacts  | One-to-many routing[lower-alpha 1] | Spam protection  | Group, channel or conference support  | Audio/VoIP support  | Webcam/Video  | Batch file sharing  | Media synchronization  | Serverless[lower-alpha 2] (decentralized)  | Protocol

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 One-to-many/many-to-many communications primarily comprise presence information, publish/subscribe and groupchat distribution. Some technologies have the ability to distribute data by multicast, avoiding bottlenecks on the sending side caused by the number of recipients. Efficient distribution of presence is currently however a technological scalability issue for both XMPP and SIP/SIMPLE.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Serverless protocols don't have any central entities (usually companies) controlling the network. Serverless network consists only of clients. Such systems are usually extremely resistant to surveillance and censorship.
3. ↑ There have been reports from users that the antispam filter is used to censor links to other IM programs and some websites.
4. ↑ In ~usr@a.b.com, the a.b.com part is known as the "hostmask" and can either be the server being connected from or a "cloak" granted by the server administrator; a more realistic example is ~myname@myisp.example.com. The tilde generally indicates that the username provided by the IRC client on signon was not verified with the ident service.
5. ↑ Scalability issue: The protocol gets increasingly inefficient with the number of contacts.[7][8]
6. ↑ In usr@a.b.c/home, the home part is a "resource", which distinguishes the same user when logged in from multiple locations, possibly simultaneously; a more realistic example is user@xmppserver.example.com/home.

## See also

* Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
* Comparison of IRC clients
* Comparison of LAN messengers
* Comparison of software and protocols for distributed social networking
* LAN messenger
* Instant messaging
* Comparison of user features of messaging platforms

## References

1. ↑ "Where can I find my User/Server/Message ID?" (in en). https://support.discord.com/hc/pl/articles/206346498-Where-can-I-find-my-User-Server-Message-ID-.
2. ↑ "Increase the Discord FRIENDS List Limits from 1000 to 2000 or more!". https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4407590964247-Increase-the-Discord-FRIENDS-List-Limits-from-1000-to-2000-or-more-.
3. ↑ "chathistory Extension". https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/chathistory.
4. ↑ Gioia, Antonio. "IRC with SSL and OTR encryption". https://www.antoniogioia.com/irc-with-ssl-and-otr/.
5. ↑ "Secure encryption layer for the IRC protocol based on OpenPGP.". https://weechat.org/scripts/source/ircrypt.py.html/.
6. ↑ "encrypted DCC - SDCC - SCHAT". https://forums.mirc.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/234584/encrypted-dcc-sdcc-schat.
7. ↑ RFC 1324, D. Reed, 1992. 2.5.1, Size
8. ↑ Functionality provided by systems for synchronous conferencing, C.v. Loesch, 1992. 1.2.1 Growth
9. ↑ "dcc.voice". http://www.kvirc.net/doc/cmd_dcc.voice.html.
10. ↑ "VoIRC". https://github.com/asiekierka/voirc.
11. ↑ Ermoshina, Ksenia; Musiani, Francesca; Halpin, Harry (September 2016). "End-to-End Encrypted Messaging Protocols: An Overview". in Bagnoli, Franco. INSCI 2016. Florence, Italy: Springer. pp. 244–254. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-45982-0_22. ISBN 978-3-319-45982-0.
12. ↑ "Cross-signing and End-to-end Encryption by Default is HERE!!!" (in en). https://matrix.org/blog/2020/05/06/cross-signing-and-end-to-end-encryption-by-default-is-here.
13. ↑ "Voice Calls: Secure, Crystal-Clear, AI-Powered". 30 March 2017. https://telegram.org/blog/calls.
14. ↑ "AOL INSTANT MESSENGER (AIM) — One Last Away Message". https://aimemories.tumblr.com/post/166091776077/aimemories.
15. ↑ "Usernames are Evolving - Revolt". https://revolt.chat/posts/evolving-usernames.
16. ↑ Marlinspike, Moxie (24 February 2014). "The New TextSecure: Privacy Beyond SMS". Open Whisper Systems. https://whispersystems.org/blog/the-new-textsecure/.
17. ↑ "Keep your phone number private with Signal usernames" (in en). https://signal.org/blog/phone-number-privacy-usernames/.
18. ↑ Greenberg, Andy. "Signal Finally Rolls Out Usernames, So You Can Keep Your Phone Number Private" (in en-US). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/signal-launches-usersnames-phone-number-privacy/. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
19. ↑ Lee, Micah (4 March 2024). "Signal's New Usernames Help Keep the Cops Out of Your Data". The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2024/03/04/signal-app-username-phone-number-privacy/.
20. ↑ "Groups : Chat, call, and share video and files with the whole gang in Tox's group chats." (in en). https://tox.chat/.
21. ↑ Presence information is indicated to other users by a small coloured dot."Tox clients" (in en). https://tox.chat/clients.html.
22. ↑ "File sharing : Trade files, with no artificial limits or caps." (in en). https://tox.chat/.
23. ↑ "XEP-0313: Message Archive Management". https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0313.html.
24. ↑ "XEP-0184: Message Delivery Receipts". https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0184.html.
25. ↑ "XEP-0368: SRV records for XMPP over TLS". 20 August 2019. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0368.html.
26. ↑ "XEP-0420: Stanza Content Encryption". https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0420.html.
27. ↑ "XEP-0027: Current Jabber OpenPGP Usage". 2014-03-14. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0027.html.
28. ↑ "XEP-0373: OpenPGP for XMPP". 2018-07-30. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0373.html.
29. ↑ "XEP-0384: OMEMO Encryption". 2018-07-31. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0384.html.
30. ↑ .eg route.all-resource in OpenFire
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "XEP-0045: Multi-User Chat". 2019-05-15. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0045.html.
32. ↑ "XEP-0060: Publish-Subscribe". 2019-10-06. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0060.html.
33. ↑ "Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence". March 2011. https://xmpp.org/rfcs/rfc6121.html#blocking.
34. ↑ "XEP-0159: Spim-Blocking Control". 2006-07-11. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0159.html.
35. ↑ "XEP-0161: Abuse Reporting". 2007-05-06. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0161.html.
36. ↑ "XEP-0363: HTTP File Upload". https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0363.html.
37. ↑ "XEP-0280: Message Carbons". 2017-02-16. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0280.html.
38. ↑ "XEP-0174: Serverless Messaging". 26 November 2008. https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0174.html.

* v
* t
* e

Instant messaging

Protocols
(comparison)|

| Open|

* IMPP
* IRC
* Matrix
* MTProto
* RetroShare
* Signal Protocol
* SIP
* MSRP
* SIMPLE
* Tox
* XMPP
* Jingle
* WFP
* Zephyr
* DDP

|

Closed|

* MSNP
* OSCAR
* TOC
* Skype

Services|

* Band
* BBM
* Discord
* Facebook Messenger
* FireChat
* GroupMe
* Hike Messenger
* HipChat
* ICQ
* iGap
* iMessage
* IRC Networks
* Jongla
* KakaoTalk
* Kik
* Libon
* Line
* Marco Polo
* Palringo
* Signal
* Skype
* Slack
* Snapchat
* SNOW
* Tango
* Telegram
* QQ
* Textfree/Pinger
* The Palace
* Threema
* Tox
* Trillian
* Upptalk
* Viber
* Virtual Places Chat
* WeChat
* WhatsApp
* Wickr
* Windows Messenger service
* Yahoo Together
* Zulip

Clients
(comparison)|

| Single protocol|

* Allo
* Baidu Hi
* BBM
* CSipSimple
* Facebook Messenger
* FaceTime
* Fetion
* Gadu-Gadu
* GroupMe
* IBM Sametime
* ICQ
* IMVU
* Jami
* Jongla
* Linphone
* Palringo
* RetroShare
* Ricochet
* Riot.im
* Signal
* Skype
* Telegram
* Tencent QQ
* Tox
* WeChat
* WhatsApp
* Wickr
* Wire

|

Multi-protocol|

* Adium
* Ayttm
* BitlBee
* Centericq
* eBuddy
* Empathy
* Fire
* Instantbird
* Jitsi
* Kopete
* Messages/iChat
* Miranda IM
* Nimbuzz
* Pidgin
* QIP 2010
* Skype for Business
* Trillian
* Telepathy
* Upptalk

XMPP (Jabber)|

* Bombus
* ChatSecure
* Conversations
* Gajim
* Psi
* Tkabber
* Spark

MSNP|

* aMSN
* Skype

Defunct|

* List of defunct instant messaging platforms

See also|

* Backchannel
* Chat log
* Chatbot
* Contact list
* Emoticon
* File sharing
* Instant message service center
* LAN messenger
* Messaging apps
* Presence information
* Shoutbox
* SMS language
* Status message
* Videotelephony
* Voice over IP
* Webcam
* U-Report
* Web chat
* Circuit
* FirstClass
* Flock
* Fuze Box
* Glip
* Hall.com
* Yammer

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