Pidgin Alternatives

Pidgin is described as 'Chat program which lets you log into accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on XMPP and sitting in an IRC channel at the same time' and is a leading instant messenger in the social & communications category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Pidgin for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, Windows, Web-based and BSD apps. The best Pidgin alternative is Element. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Element or Matrix. Other great apps like Pidgin are Jami, Beeper, SeaMonkey and Element X.

filter to find the best alternatives

Pidgin alternatives are mainly Instant Messengers, but if you're looking for IRC Clients or Group Chat Apps you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Android, Android + Free, Linux and iPhone. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Pidgin.
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Alternatives list

  1. Kaidan icon
     4 likes
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    Kaidan is a simple, user-friendly Jabber/XMPP client providing a modern user interface using Kirigami and QtQuick. The back-end of Kaidan is written in C++ using the QXmpp XMPP client library and Qt 5.

    79 Kaidan alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Android
    • Ubuntu Touch
    • Plasma Mobile
    • Flathub
     
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    1
    Comments about Kaidan as an Alternative to Pidgin
    riveravaldez
    Positive
    0

    Modern interface for XMPP communications. Implements OMEMO:2. Works fine.

    Pidgin Icon
    Kaidan icon
    • Kaidan is Free and Open SourcePidgin is also Free and Open Source
  2. Finch icon
     21 likes
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    Finch is a console-based IM program that lets you sign on to AIM, Jabber, MSN, IRC, Yahoo!, and other IM networks. It runs on Unixes. It uses GLib and ncurses.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Xfce
     
  3. Utopia icon
     196 likes
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    Utopia P2P Ecosystem. Utopia is a feature-rich platform that is specifically designed to protect privacy of communication, confidentiality, and security of personal data. Utopia is a decentralized network, with no central server involved in data transmission or storage.

    52 Utopia alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  4. Instantbird icon
     42 likes
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    Instantbird is an instant messaging client based on Mozilla XULRunner and the open source library libpurple created by the software developers of Pidgin . Over 250 add-ons allow user customization of, and addition of, features.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • PortableApps.com
     
  5. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    jami-commander (jc for short) is a simple but convenient CLI-based Jami client app for setting up accounts and swarms as well as sending.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  6. Xabber icon
     53 likes
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    Open source Jabber (XMPP) client with multi-account support, clean and simple interface. Being both free (as in freedom!) and ad-free, Xabber is designed to be the best Jabber client for Android .

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • F-Droid
     
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    1
    Comments about Xabber as an Alternative to Pidgin
    Mister Hutchinson
    Negative
    0

    Only XMPP, while Pidgin works with multiple systems and protocols.

    Pidgin Icon
    Xabber icon
    • Xabber is Free and Open SourcePidgin is also Free and Open Source
  7. Ergo icon
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    Ergo (formerly known as Oragono) is a modern IRC server written in Go. Its core design principles are:

    54 Ergo alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Self-Hosted
    • FreeBSD
    • Docker
    • OpenBSD
     
  8. qutIM icon
     27 likes
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    qutIM - free open-source multiprotocol ( ICQ, Jabber/GTalk/Ya.Online/LiveJournal.com, Mail.Ru, IRC )

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Symbian S60
    • BSD
    • Haiku
     
  9. BitlBee icon
     11 likes
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    BitlBee brings IM (instant messaging) to IRC clients. It's a great solution for people who have an IRC client running all the time and don't want to run an additional MSN/AIM/whatever client.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  10. Halloy icon
     2 likes
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    Halloy is an open-source IRC client written in Rust, with the Iced GUI library. It aims to provide a simple and fast client for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Mac
    • Flathub
    • Snapcraft
     
  11. YakYak icon
     21 likes
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    Desktop client for Google Hangouts.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Hangouts
     
  12. Spark IM icon
     30 likes
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    Spark is an Open Source, cross-platform IM client optimized for businesses and organizations. It features built-in support for group chat, telephony integration, and strong security. It also offers a great end-user experience with features like in-line spell checking, group chat...

    18 Spark IM alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
     
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