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

Table of instant messaging protocols

ProtocolCreatorFirst public release dateLicenseIdentity (not inc. alias)Asynchronous message relayingTransport Layer SecurityEnd-to-end encryptionUnlimited number of contactsBulletins to all contactsOne-to-many routingSpam protectionGroup, channel or conference supportAudio/VoIP supportWebcam/VideoBatch file sharingMedia synchronizationServerlessProtocol 3GPP standards Friedhelm Hillebrand 1985 Phone number (e.g. +15550123) About 250 contacts in SIM, unlimited from phone. serial messages 3GPP standardsBitmessage Jonathan Warren 2012 Nov Alphanumeric address (through proof-of-work) Bitmessage Bonjour Apple Inc. 2002 August Freeware; portions under the Apache license Username Bonjour BriarBriarproject.org 2018 May 9Public & Private key (via QR Codes) Briar Discord Discord Inc. 2015 May 13 Discord ID Discord dm3corpus.io / dm3.network2022 ENS (Ethereum Name Service) dm3 Echo spot-on.sf.net / goldbug.sf.net 2013 Key Echo Gadu-Gadu GG Network 2000 Jul 17 UINe.g. 12345678 (simple) Gadu-Gadu IRC Jarkko Oikarinen 1988 Aug Nickname!Username@hostname(or "hostmask")e.g. [email protected] (everyone, multiple simultaneous, any size) IRC Jami (based on DHT and SIP) Savoir-faire Linux Inc. 2002 August 40-digit address Jami (based on DHT and SIP) Matrix Matrix.org 2014 Sep @Username:Hostname (MXID) (using pluggable server-side filtering modules and contact ignoring) (not yet but there is ongoing work on a p2p version: https://arewep2pyet.com/Matrix Mattermost Mattermost Inc 2015 October 2 Mattermost MSNP (Windows Live Messenger, etc.) Microsoft 1999 Jul Email address (Microsoft account) Only for certified robots MSNP (Windows Live Messenger, etc.) MTProto (Telegram) Telegram Messenger LLP 2013 Aug Phone number (e.g. +15550123), nickname (e.g. @example) , contact blocking MTProto (Telegram) Mumble Thorvald Natvig 1999 Jul Username Only for certified robots Mumble LINE LY Corporation 2011 June 23 LINE ID, Phone Number LINE OSCAR (AIM, ICQ) AOL 1997 (Discontinued 15-Dec-2017) Username, Email Address or UINe.g. 12345678 (Aim Pro, Aim Lite) (Multiple, simultaneous) OSCAR (AIM, ICQ) StoatStoat2021Username and discriminator (e.g. MysticPixie#7495)Stoat RVP (Windows Messenger, etc.) Microsoft 1997 Mar (Discontinued) Windows Active Directory Login ne RVP (Windows Messenger, etc.) Ricochet Invisible.im 2014 Mar Tor onion address Ricochet Serval Project Serval Project 2016 Digit address Serval Project Signal ProtocolSignal Foundation 2014 FebPhone number (e.g. +15550123), username with two added random trailing numbers (e.g. @example.12), client-side contact blocking; server-side protectionsSignal Protocol SIP/SIMPLE IETF 1996 user@hostname on implementationSIP/SIMPLE Skype Skype 2003 Aug (Discontinued) Username Skype Steam Friends Valve 2003 Sep 12 SteamID/Username or Unique Number Steam Friends TeamSpeakTeamSpeak Systems GmbH2001 AugUnique ID in base64 TeamSpeak TOC2 AOL 2005 Sep (Discontinued) Username or UINe.g. 12345678 paying members only TOC2 ThreemaThreema GmbH2012 December Threema TOX (based on DHT) irungentoo (GitHub user) 2013 June (GPL) version 3 or later Public & Private key Presence information is indicated to other users by a small coloured dot. TOX (based on DHT) Tuenti Tuenti 2006 Username Tuenti WeChat Tencent 2011 Username WeChat Windows Messenger service Microsoft 1990 (Discontinued) NetBIOS Windows Messenger service XMPP Jeremie Miller, standardized via IETF 1999 Jan Jabber ID (JID)e.g. [email protected]/home .eg route.all-resource in OpenFire XMPP YMSG (Yahoo! Messenger) Yahoo! 1998, March 9 Username YMSG (Yahoo! Messenger) Zephyr Notification Service MIT 1987 Kerberos principale.g. [email protected] Zephyr Notification ServiceProtocolCreatorFirst public release dateLicenseIdentity (not inc. alias)Asynchronous message relayingTransport Layer SecurityEnd-to-end encryptionUnlimited number of contactsBulletins to all contactsOne-to-many routingSpam protectionGroup, channel or conference supportAudio/VoIP supportWebcam/VideoBatch file sharingMedia synchronizationServerless (decentralized)Protocol

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

References