Jabber (XMPP)
Ranked 4 of 4 chat protocols by recommenders
Long-established open chat protocol with many clients and servers, often recommended as a self-hosted option for private conversations.
Long-established open chat protocol with many clients and servers, often recommended as a self-hosted option for private conversations.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Recommended as private alternative to mainstream chat
“Consider instead using a code word or phrase to move sensitive conversations to something self hosted such as jabber”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “E2E encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after 8 May” “Move to Jabber or Matrix.”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “EU Parliament greenlights Chat Control 1.0 – Breyer: "Our children lose out"”
Other chat protocols people recommend
The three most recommended other chat protocols, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matrix | 257 | 265 | 49% | 13 | 5 yrs35 owners | — |
| XMPP | 120 | 53 | 69% | 12 | 10 yrs9 owners | Approved |
| IRC (Internet Relay Chat) | 109 | 47 | 70% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Jabber (XMPP)This page | 9 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Move to Jabber or Matrix.”
“Consider instead using a code word or phrase to move sensitive conversations to something self hosted such as jabber”
“i found https://github.com/rselbach/jabber and was lately use that”
“it just hits my sweet spot: it recognizes my speech faster than typing”
“well-known, well-established, with a ton of various clients and several servers”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.