Be small, easy to use, customizable and straightforward to live with. There are seven IRC clients for Windows and Linux in this list and they all seem to fulfill the core requirements. Despite not being developed any longer, it seems to work fine. HydraIRC seems simple enough with tabs for channels, lots of configuration options, customizations and theming.
As far as I can tell, HydraIRC is no longer developed but the existing source code is available online. It is a multi-platform IRC client that works in Windows and Linux and supports plugins and other features. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to HexChat and many of them are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. HydraIRC is another IRC client that has been recommended by someone I know. The best Windows alternative is Pidgin, which is both free and Open Source. There are a good number of them and most have decent documentation to back them up. WeeChat is another chat client that begins simple and then can become something much more by using plugins. This is a radical change from just a few years ago, when the best apps were shareware worth 30 or more. For more info, please read the Shareware background. Since XChat is open source, it’s perfectly legal. Most apps in this list are free or just a few dollars. HexChat is an IRC client based on XChat, but unlike XChat it’s completely free for both Windows and Unix-like systems. It also supports scripting, multiple languages, IPv6 and lots of other features. Mac IRC clients are all grown up and have entered the new era of free cloud computing and the Mac App Store.
It works with Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Unix, GNU Hard and Mac OS X so will have wide appeal. If you’re American, WeeChat is a solid little IRC chat client for Linux and Mac. ISBN 1-88.WeeChat is either small if you are Scottish or likened to urination if you are English. San Francisco, California: No Starch Press. The best alternative is Pidgin, which is both free and Open Source.
The Book of IRC: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Relay Chat (1st ed.). There are more than 50 alternatives to ScrollZ IRC Client for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Online / Web-based and Self-Hosted solutions. Pidgin 2.14.8 freeware download - Universal instant messenger client for AIM, ICQ, MSN, IRC, Yahoo, and Jabber - Freeware downloads - best freeware - Best Freeware Download.
^ 'Ircle AppleScript Resource Closing! Public Access Software Shifts Gears'. Depends on what you mean by 'best' I personally love irssi and use that in both windows and linux (but it is a command-line IRC client) There is a very nice GUI IRC client that is for windows and Linux and that is XChat as someone pointed out it is now nagware. Pidgin (Linux, Mac, Windows) These instructions apply to the free & open source Pidgin universal chat client.Dornfest, Rael Davidson, James Duncan (eds.). Archived from the original on March 4, 2000. It has been around the longest and has the most features, making it the de facto gold standard against which all other clients compare themselves.' See also References
One author described it as 'the godfather of Mac IRC clients. The 'one downside' to Ircle was 'a rather intimidating preferences dialog'. Ircle was once described as 'the most widely used IRC client for Macintosh computers', 'stable, full-featured', with 'good user support,' and 'one of the best' Mac IRC clients.