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Converse vs Pidgin: catalog facts
Converse	Pidgin
Free Free and open source under the MPL-2.0 licence.	Free Free and open source under the GPL. The project states it is free and contains no ads.
Web, Self-hosted	Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with any standard XMPP server OMEMO end-to-end encryption	Signs in to several chat networks at once from one window XMPP, IRC, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, GroupWise, Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE and Zephyr built in
Needs an XMPP account or server to be useful Some features such as URL previews depend on server support	The interface is unmistakably from another era Support for modern commercial networks depends on plugins that break when APIs change
Downloadable app, Web application, Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: MPL-2.0	License: GPL-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.