file://localhost/Users/mray/LR/irc.html1 of 25/2/08 9:34 AM

OSX IRC Client ShootoutMy IRC needs are quite basic, I need an OSX IRC client I can leave open all day withouthaving it crash or consume 100% of my CPU and/or memory. I'll be hanging out on the#zenoss channel on the irc.freenode.net servers as part of mynew job. Open Source ispreferred, and I'd like configurableGrowlintegration and detailed, searchable logging; butstability is my #1 priority. Below is my 15-minute per client IRC shootout.

The Contestants

:Colloquy 2.1Irssix .7Ircle 3.1.2Snak 5.3.3X-Chat Aqua .16Colloquy 2.1: Colloquy was the first I tried because I remembered it seemed pretty goodfrom a few years ago, but then my company started blocking IRC and I never got around tousing it again. It is GPL and configuration seemed to go fine except for the fact thateverytime the window lost focus, it started bouncing on the Dock. After I fixed thatannoyance, after about 10 minutes of IRC, my CPU hit 100% and Colloquy was the culprit.That could be related tothis ticket, but that was a major strike against it. After switching tomy new MacBook Pro, I figured the PPC bug would be gone and it would be OK, but thenchannels would open and stay empty, so I decided I'd had enough.Irssix .7: Very minimal and GPL, I got online with no fuss. No themes, just black on whiteand it seemed to resist my attempts at applying different fonts. No Growl or offline loggingeither. Never noticed CPU or memory usage. It set a very stable, no-frills baseline.Ircle 3.1.2: 30-Day shareware, interesting project because they still support OS 9 and the68K platform. Kinda ugly and complicated out of the box, with an annoying sound theme onby default. irc.freenode.net wasn't on the list of 2300+ servers as far as I could tell.Configuration was also complicated, didn't see Growl integration, but auto-logging wasavailable (and I assume searchable outside the application). Crashed when I shut it down(report sent).Snak 5.3.3: 30-Day shareware, but the money is donated to charity so that's a positive. Thefirst run started with a setup assistant, which seemed innocuous enough and it workedimmediately. Themes were mostly pleasing pastels and there was a nice transparencyslider. Growl integration in the action list, where you could trigger highlighting or otheractions based on input was a very slick feature. Memory and CPU usage seemed minimal.Logging sent to an external file with configuration for the formatting. Everything seemedstable and straightforward, no complaints in my 15 minutes.X-Chat Aqua .16I used to use XChat for Linux back in the day, this is the GPL OSX Aquaupdate. For eye-candy it had a transparency slider and extensive color support but nothemes. Logging to external files is supported. The event notifications configuration is quitenice. You can choose Growl, indicate on or bounce the Dock or a sound file for just abouteverything IRC related with toggling for when XChat is the foreground application. I nevernoticed memory or CPU usage. Apparently it hasn't been updated in awhile, but it seems tobe working just fine. Occasionally OSX's Spaces will forget to pin it to all desktops, butthat's just an odd bug for now.

And the winner is...