Pidgin
Hacker ApprovedRanked 14 of 48 messaging apps by recommenders
Lets you chat across many networks from one app, with plugins for many protocols; critics say its XMPP and encryption support lag behind.
Lets you chat across many networks from one app, with plugins for many protocols; critics say its XMPP and encryption support lag behind.
42 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 30
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 30 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 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
Many chat networks in one app
“I can chat with my SO over Jabber/Telegram with Biltbee+IRC or Pidgin thanks to Libpurple plugins.”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore” “Linux user could just install Gaim (later renamed Pidgin) and connect to most any of those”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “Early 2000s were peak of humanity” “you can still use Pidgin and libpurple plugins to connect to a huge array of protocols”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore” - Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux”
- Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “IRCv3”
- Comment from 25 Apr 2026 in “Using the internet like it's 1999”
- Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026”
- Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026”
Praised as well-built, polished software
“The UI and brand was so good, too, for Linux back in the day”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp” “And that's good. We still had UI/UX standards in 1999.”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Pidgin 3.0.0 Alpha 4 (2.98.0) has been released” “Pidgin was such a great piece of software”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Running My Own XMPP Server” - Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp”
- Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026”
- Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp”
Plugins for many protocols
“I can chat with my SO over Jabber/Telegram with Biltbee+IRC or Pidgin thanks to Libpurple plugins.”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore” “you can still use Pidgin and libpurple plugins to connect to a huge array of protocols”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore” “Interesting, there are apparently working plugins for both Signal and Whatsapp!”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026” - Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “WhatsApp will become interoperable with other messaging apps in Europe”
- Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Jabber/XMPP: How Do We Gain Traction?”
- Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026”
Still maintained and in use
“Pidgin is still being maintained/developed, one of the devs actively streams on twitch too IIRC.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026” “I am still a heavy user of pidgin”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Preparing for KDE Plasma's Last X11-Supported Release”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Dated codebase and look
“Pidgin 2.x (latest stable branch) is unfortunately over a decade behind at this point.”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Jabber/XMPP: How Do We Gain Traction?” “Pidgin's XMPP support today remains stuck in the 90s.”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “IRCv3” “relies on gtk2 which is pretty dead”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Jabber/XMPP: How Do We Gain Traction?” - Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Pidgin 3.0.0 Alpha 4 (2.98.0) has been released”
Lags behind on XMPP features
“Pidgin's XMPP support today remains stuck in the 90s.”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “IRCv3” “Pidgin can't connect to any of them AFAIK.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026” “Pidgin being very far behind in XMPP”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Running My Own XMPP Server” - Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Jabber/XMPP: 25 Years of Digital Independence”
Weak encryption support
“you don't have proper cross-platform E2EE chats, especially for groups”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp” “Pidgin doesn't even show "I sent you an OMEMO encrypted message"”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Jabber/XMPP: 25 Years of Digital Independence” Unresolved crashes and bugs
“the few tickets I raised, including crash-related ones, are still in submitted status”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Jabber/XMPP: 25 Years of Digital Independence” “Pidgin crashed on me today”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Jabber/XMPP: 25 Years of Digital Independence”
Other messaging apps people recommend
The four most recommended other messaging apps, 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.
See all 48 messaging apps, rankedWhat people said
40 of the 50 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“And that's good. We still had UI/UX standards in 1999.”
“Still looks like an app from 1999”
“Pidgin's XMPP support today remains stuck in the 90s.”
“let you send and receive on all the services from one app, which was very handy”
“Pidgin 2.x (latest stable branch) is unfortunately over a decade behind at this point.”
“See pidgin.im/plugins for modern protocol support.”
“relies on gtk2 which is pretty dead”
“Linux user could just install Gaim (later renamed Pidgin) and connect to most any of those”
“the few tickets I raised, including crash-related ones, are still in submitted status”
“Pidgin still doesn't do MAM today.”
“Pidgin crashed on me today”
“Pidgin doesn't even show "I sent you an OMEMO encrypted message"”
“I can chat with my SO over Jabber/Telegram with Biltbee+IRC or Pidgin thanks to Libpurple plugins.”
“you can still use Pidgin and libpurple plugins to connect to a huge array of protocols”
“I am still a heavy user of pidgin”
“I loved having a single app for all of my messages across all of the networks”
“Interesting, there are apparently working plugins for both Signal and Whatsapp!”
“could make run machine run well with 64MB at really fast speeds”
“have support for modern protocols”
“Pidgin can't connect to any of them AFAIK.”
“Pidgin was really top tier software”
“Multi-protocol clients like Adium and Pidgin offered unified messaging”
“unlike Pidgin at the time and maybe half of apps today”
“Pidgin is still being maintained/developed, one of the devs actively streams on twitch too IIRC.”
“A dozen chat networks, all on one app.”
“Pidgin being very far behind in XMPP”
“Pidgin was such a great piece of software”
“I remember using pidgin to talk to friends on google chat, facebook and my work contacts. It was glorious.”
“Jabber/Pidgin/XMPP. There was a brief moment around 2010?”
“I still fondly remember using it when it was still called Gaim”
“Just as good on Windows, honestly.”
“The UI and brand was so good, too, for Linux back in the day”
“you don't have proper cross-platform E2EE chats, especially for groups”
“I was a big fan of pidgin, but this premise makes me feel iffy.”
“it was like a breath of fresh air for me”
“Pidgin is still here and does work (to some level) with all of those protocols.”
“Before ~2007 they allowed you to use open-source Pidgin to connect to the Domino servers.”
“it'd automatically log into every single service I use”
“Pidgin still has lots of plugins for many different chat protocols”
“you could use 3rd party apps like Trillian and Pidgin instead of the official clients”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.