The state of IRC, at a glance.

erkstats tracks live and historical statistics for 94 IRC networks and 20,355 active channels: how many people are online, which communities are largest, and how that is changing over time. Updated every few hours.

Right now the biggest networks are Libera.Chat, HybridIRC and Undernet, and the busiest channels include #radyo, #turkey and #zurna.

Climbing fast beyond the headline names: #AllNiteCafe on EfesNet is up 860% and EfesNet is up 250% in the last day.

People online
239,889
-3.6% vs yesterday
Active channels
94,912
+0.5% vs yesterday
Networks tracked
94
89 reporting · updated 22 secs ago
People online, all networks
Last 12 months · data begins 26 Jul 2026
24h 7d 30d 1y 10y All
68.7k
124k
179k
234k
Sep 25Dec 25Mar 26Jun 26now

Largest networks

Browse all IRC networks →

The biggest IRC networks by users online, with a 30-day trend for each. Click any network for its full history, server list and channels.

Libera.Chat
-3.5%
30,512
people · 22,216 channels
HybridIRC
-9.6%
18,030
people · 398 channels
Undernet
+8.1%
16,319
people · 5,483 channels
SkyChatz
+14.5%
15,888
people · 1,178 channels
IRCnet
+0.3%
15,488
people · 9,014 channels
OFTC
+10.3%
13,979
people · 3,962 channels
Global-Irc.Eu
+52.9%
12,301
people · 205 channels
Rizon
+0.2%
9,244
people · 6,626 channels

Largest channels

See the busiest channels →

The most active IRC channels across every tracked network, ranked by the number of people in them right now.

#radyo
+2,743.7%
2,929
people · EfesNet
#turkey
+116.2%
2,575
people · SkyChatz
#zurna
+666.8%
2,538
people · EfesNet
#kampung
-0.1%
2,376
people · WixChat
#sohbet
+566.0%
2,331
people · EfesNet
#linux
-5.7%
2,329
people · Libera.Chat
#Unifi
+35.8%
2,057
people · SkyChatz
#KualaLumpur
+32.8%
2,038
people · SkyChatz

Frequently asked questions

Is IRC still used in 2026?
Yes. IRC is still active: erkstats counts 239,889 people online right now across 94 networks and 20,355 channels, refreshed every few hours.
What is the largest IRC network right now?
Libera.Chat is currently the largest IRC network erkstats tracks, with 30,512 users online. See the full ranking of IRC networks.
How many IRC networks are there?
erkstats tracks 94 public IRC networks that it has connected to and gathered statistics from. Browse them all on the networks page.
What are the most active IRC channels?
The busiest channels right now include #radyo, #turkey and #zurna. Explore the largest IRC channels across every network.
How often are the statistics updated?
Network and channel figures refresh every few hours. The most recent sweep was 22 secs ago.