The following is acomparison of instant messaging protocols. It contains basic general information about the 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[a] | Spam protection | Group, channel or conference support | Audio/VoIP support | Webcam/Video | Batch file sharing | Media synchronization | Serverless[b] | Binary format | Protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 (throughproof-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[c] (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[d] | 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[e] | No | Simplisticmulticast | 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 onDHT andSIP) | 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 onDHT andSIP) |
| Matrix | Matrix.org | 2014 Sep[11][failed verification] | 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 | ? | |||||||||||||||
| 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 | ? | ||||||||||||||
| OSCAR (AIM,ICQ) | AOL | 1997 | Proprietary (Discontinued 15-Dec-2017)[14] | Username, Email Address orUIN 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) |
| Revolt | Revolt | 2021 | AGPLv3 | Username and discriminator (e.g. MysticPixie#7495)[15] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | Revolt | |||||
| 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) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes, contact blocking | 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 | ? | ||||
| TOC2 | AOL | 2005 Sep | Proprietary (Discontinued) | Username orUIN e.g. 12345678 | Yes | No | No | No | No | Centralistic | No | paying members only | ? | ? | Partial | ? | No | ? | TOC2 |
| Threema | Threema GmbH | 2012 December | Open standard | ? | |||||||||||||||
| TOX (based onDHT) | irungentoo (GitHub user) | 2013 June | GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 or later | Public & Private key | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[17][18] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[19] | Yes | ? | TOX (based onDHT) |
| Tuenti | Tuenti | 2006 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | Tuenti |
| Tencent | 2011 | Proprietary | Username | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ||
| 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 viaIETF | 1999 Jan | Open standard | Jabber ID (JID) e.g. usr@a.b.c/home[f] | Yes[20][21] | Yes[22] | Optional[23][24][25][26] | Yes | Yes[27] | Yes[28][29] | Yes[30][31][32] | Yes[28] | Yes, viaJingle | Yes, viaJingle | Yes[33] | Yes[34] | Optional[35] | Yes[36] | 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[a] | Spam protection | Group, channel or conference support | Audio/VoIP support | Webcam/Video | Batch file sharing | Media synchronization | Serverless[b] (decentralized) | Binary format | Protocol |