IRC Chat for Engineering compared with Slack, Discord and Microsoft Teams| IRC Chat for Engineering | Slack | Discord | Microsoft Teams |
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| Access and set-up: A browser-based IRC client built on KiwiIRC. You pick a nickname, a network and a channel, with nothing to install. Each session connects to one network, so five networks need five logins. | Access and set-up: Workspace-based. A team creates a workspace and invites members, so you cannot simply join public engineering rooms from a browser. | Access and set-up: Apps for Windows and Mac, plus a browser version. Public servers can be found through a Server Directory. | Access and set-up: Accounts belong to organisations or to a free Teams version. Joining an external community normally requires a guest invitation. |
| Networks and communities: Five networks are offered: IRCnet, DALnet, EFnet, Freenode and Libera.chat. Suggested channels include ##engineering, #kicad, #freecad, #openscad, #solidworks, #electronics and #robotics. Libera.chat was founded on 19 May 2021 by former Freenode staff and is limited to free and open source software projects. | Networks and communities: Communities are private workspaces run by companies or groups. There is no shared public directory of engineering channels comparable to IRC. | Networks and communities: Communities are servers, with a public directory and a gaming origin. Engineering servers exist but the platform is not oriented towards a single technical field. | Networks and communities: Aimed at organisational collaboration with meetings, calls and files, not at open public technical rooms. |
| Privacy and registration: You chat under a nickname. On Libera.chat the connection address uses ircs on port 6697, and registration of an account requires a verified email and a non-VPN address. The page does not describe encryption of messages. | Privacy and registration: Accounts and workspaces tie identity to a work or personal email address. | Privacy and registration: Accounts are required. Nitro is an optional paid membership. | Privacy and registration: Identity is tied to a Microsoft or organisational account. |
| Cost: Free. The innovation.world client and the networks above charge nothing. | Cost: Free plan, limited to 90 days of searchable history and 10 app integrations. Pro is a paid subscription. | Cost: Free to use. Nitro Basic and Nitro are paid subscriptions, with larger uploads (50 MB and 1 GB). | Cost: A free version exists. Teams Essentials is a paid per-seat subscription, billed yearly. |
| When to choose it: Choose it to ask a question of practising engineers and open source maintainers in public channels without creating an account on a product. | When to choose it: Choose it for the internal communication of a company with integrations and searchable history. | When to choose it: Choose it for informal voice and text communities with a large audience. | When to choose it: Choose it when meetings, files and calendar are needed inside a Microsoft environment. |
