FinaleIRC

An excellent choice if you’re new to IRC, it’s a breeze to set up, easy to use and adheres strictly to the mac interface guidlines, meaning it will look and feel like a regular MacOSX application. While advanced features are thin on the ground, this serves only to make it more appealing to newbies by removing the more esoteric options from the interface altogether.

A good choice for both newbies and power users. In use it lacks the finesse of Snak but has a very logical interface when run in “single windowed mode”. Be sure to set the option “No external messages” otherwise server messages appear in the channel window. While already a very capable IRC client this application is in active development and promises more to come.

IRCle is beginning to show its age a little, but remains a solid application which will appeal mainly to veteran IRC users. It pre-dates all the other OSX clients on this page, and is basically exactly the same as when it was ported over from OS9. It remains to be seen if the developer will continue to support it through new OS releases as it hasn’t been updated in a very long time.

Another excellent choice for the IRC newbie. Snak has a clean, uncluttered interface and an excellent connection wizard that carefully walks you through the setup process, step by step. There are plenty of advanced options and a few applescript extensions available - Snak will appeal to novices and power users alike. Well worth downloading and taking advantage of the 30 day free trial.

It’s fast, free and flexible but probably a little too daunting for newbies. The compact layout and fast, responsive feel are very welcome features if you’re going to leave IRC on in the background while you work. The default theme is black and uses the courier font - this really makes it feel like working in an old terminal application, a definite geeky touch.