# XMPP 120 Hacker News commenters recommended XMPP and 53 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (9 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** A long-running, federated chat protocol with free clients and servers, encrypted calls and no phone number needed, though fragmented extensions and uneven clients make it rough. ## Why people recommend it - Federated with independent implementations (6 comments): "XMPP comes very close. You've got a healthy ecosystem of independent client and server implementers, and service providers to choose from." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49693512)) "The best part about XMPP, or rather "protocol not service" as the OP discusses, is that you can go beyond the intended use case of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47039697)) "Federativity, voice calls, E2EE, direct and offline file exchange, no sms verification and other bs, max privacy and convenience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46023768)) - Proven, mature, decades of use (4 comments): "I've used Jabber/XMPP for just over 15 years and while I've seen plenty of bullshit going on in various highly popular MUCs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49424844)) "It does everything you need it to do, has done so since the 90s, and doesn't require any PII, ever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46953323)) "From over a decade of using XMPP daily, this concern is more of philosophical nature than anything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49430555)) - Encrypted voice and video calls (4 comments): "Federativity, voice calls, E2EE, direct and offline file exchange, no sms verification and other bs, max privacy and convenience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46023768)) "It has all the guarantees you might desire from Signal without the hanging sword of Damocles hanging over your head." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46022886)) "Jabber/XMPP was used today to the satisfaction of everyone when I video-called my 90 years-old relative." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49702153)) - No phone number or PII (3 comments): "Federativity, voice calls, E2EE, direct and offline file exchange, no sms verification and other bs, max privacy and convenience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46023768)) "work everywhere, don't need a phone number (at all, ever), and have free as in freedom clients and servers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50316243)) "It does everything you need it to do, has done so since the 90s, and doesn't require any PII, ever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46953323)) ## What people warn about - Fragmented extensions, inconsistent clients (5 comments): "XMPP's biggest failure is that there is no client which is on advanced on most of it's compliance suites" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46959126)) "Second best option is XMPP with various cobbled together XEPs but that has its own set of problems." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49131387)) "I have yet to find a client that can replace Telegram's client on both desktop and mobile." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49426483)) - Complex to write clients (3 comments): "the extension component model being difficult to write clients for, which is true but not really a fault of the protocol" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49878454)) "nothing in XMPP is normal or comfortable. Everything has this weird particular flavor to it and more complexity than necessary." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49881178)) "writing an XMPP client is a full time job of solving weird problems that shouldn't exist in something better designed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49878521)) - Never achieved mainstream adoption (3 comments): "XMPP kinda has a Plan 9 or Amiga type of vibe, cult following "ahead of its time", but never took off totally how people hoped" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49429050)) "But I really do wish we had doubled down on XMPP. It was nearly everywhere in the late-00’s early-10’s." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46376727)) "XMPP sounds like a success story of diversity, but the cost of that is that normies don't even know what it is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46972660)) - Papercuts and missing modern features (5 comments): "papercuts like these need to be solved before I can recommend it even to technically open-minded friends" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49430669)) "I just think both need a modern UI that supports everything that Discord offers OOTB." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46964302)) "XMPP lacks official support for something as basic as "I want to log in on a new device and see the old, encrypted messages"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49145493)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Matrix](https://hackerapproved.com/p/matrix.md): 257 recommend - [Jabber (XMPP)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jabber.md): 9 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "XMPP", https://hackerapproved.com/p/xmpp/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).