Best Open Source Instant Messaging Software
Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time communication between two or more individuals based on typed text. The text is conveyed via devices connected over a network such as the Internet.
Skype has revolutionized the communications world with its supreme internet telephony / instant messaging / video-conferencing functionality. Unfortunately, Skype cannot be featured in the recommendations below as it is released under a proprietary license. Similarly, both Hangouts and WhatsApp are excellent instant messaging software. Again neither are released under an open source license. A special mention is warranted for Telegram — a very popular tool particularly among developers. But it’s only partially open source. The API specification and the end client are open source, but the backend infrastructure regrettably remains closed.
Let’s get straight down to our open source software award winners in this category.
 | Signal is a marvelous secure messaging app that is popular among privacy-focused users. It lets users send high-quality group, text, voice, video, document, and picture messages anywhere in the world without SMS or MMS fees. There are no ads, no affiliate marketers, no nasty tracking. Signal has recently received $50 million funding from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton. https://signal.org/ License: GNU General Public License v3, Affero General Public License (server) |
 | Franz is a good alternative to Signal, combining chat and messaging services into a single application. The software supports Slack, WhatsApp, WeChat, HipChat, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Google Hangouts,GroupMe, Skype and many more. Franz moved to an open source license from version 5. https://meetfranz.com/ License: Apache License v2 |
 | Wire is a cross-platform, encrypted instant messaging client. It allows users to exchange text, voice, photo, video and music messages. The application also supports group messaging. https://wire.com/ License: Components licensed under open-source licenses, Affero General Public License (server) |
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