Pidgin vs Trillian

From WikiVS, the open comparison website

Pidgin		Trillian
	VS
http://pidgin.im/		http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/

Pidgin and Trillian are multi-protocol instant messaging clients. Trillian is closed source and, while Pidgin is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. Trillian comes in two versions: Basic (free) and Pro ($25)[1].

Contents 1 User Interface 2 Size 3 Performance 4 Portability 5 Features 5.1 Encryption 5.2 Plugins 5.3 Video chat 6 Links

[edit] User Interface

Pidgin uses GTK+ and uses a very familiar, "regular application" appearance. Trillian more unique, polished user interface. Some users prefer the more flashy and customized appearance of Trillian, while others the less obtrusive, and for most operating systems more visually integrated, appearance of Pidgin.

[edit] Size

Pidgin, on windows (the only platform trillian is available on), is massive and uses many dll's compared to trillian.

[edit] Performance

Pidgin is faster than Trillian. Trillian is dead, long live Pidgin! This link is over 2 years old. Trillian Astra is out, and it rocks. There are regular updates as well, adding new features (FB chat is available out of the box - probably the only client that can offer this).

[edit] Portability

Pidgin has been ported to many operating systems, including BSD Unix, Linux, and MS Windows systems. While the Pidgin application itself has not been ported to MacOS X at this time, the libpurple library -- which provides its core functionality -- has, and is in fact the basis of the MacOS X multiprotocol IM client called Adium X.

[edit] Features

[edit] Encryption

While both Pidgin and Trillian support encryption, the free Trillian Basic client does not support end-to-end OTR encryption. The paid-for Trillian Pro and open source Pidgin clients both support OTR via a plugin.

[edit] Plugins

Pidgin and Trillian Pro both provide plugin support. Trillian Basic does not. Probably because of social factors related to its open source development model, Pidgin enjoys a far greater selection of available plugins than Trillian Pro, however.

[edit] Video chat

Pidgin supports audio chat for XMPP/Jabber only.

[edit] Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_clients