erkThe state of IRC, at a glance.
erkstats tracks live and historical statistics for 138 IRC networks and 20,054 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 #kampung, #linux and #sohbet.
Climbing fast beyond the headline names: #Geveze on EfesNet is up 212% and ChatSansar is up 23% in the last day.
People online
273,190
-4.4% vs yesterday
Active channels
103,296
+0.6% vs yesterday
Networks tracked
138
135 reporting · updated 6 mins ago
275k
284k
293k
301k
07:3313:3319:3301:33now
No data in this period yet.
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
+4.1%
31,547 people
HybridIRC
+5.6%
21,540 people
Undernet
+2.8%
16,852 people
SkyChatz
-3.7%
16,781 people
OFTC
+8.1%
15,279 people
IRCnet
-8.6%
14,655 people
FreeUniBG
+22.8%
13,000 people
Global-Irc.Eu
+8.2%
12,381 people
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.
#kampung
+95.1%
2,458 people
#linux
-0.1%
2,332 people
#sohbet
-15.4%
1,813 people
#chat
+244.3%
1,732 people
#archlinux
+1.7%
1,601 people
#libera
+5.2%
1,545 people
#python
+0.7%
1,344 people
#kde
-0.5%
1,263 people
Frequently asked questions
Is IRC still used in 2026?
Yes. IRC is still active: erkstats counts 273,190 people online right now across 138 networks and 20,054 channels, refreshed every few hours.
What is the largest IRC network right now?
Libera.Chat is currently the largest IRC network erkstats tracks, with 31,547 users online. See the full ranking of IRC networks.
How many IRC networks are there?
erkstats tracks 138 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 #kampung, #linux and #sohbet. 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 6 mins ago.