The state of IRC, at a glance.

erkstats tracks live and historical statistics for 100 IRC networks and 20,399 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 #zurna, #sohbet and #kampung.

Climbing fast beyond the headline names: #kal on Undernet is up 113% and CyberIRC is up 26% in the last day.

People online
259,376
+2.0% vs yesterday
Active channels
96,864
+1.1% vs yesterday
Networks tracked
100
98 reporting · updated 1 min ago
People online, all networks
Last 24 hours
24h 7d 30d 1y 10y All
248k
252k
255k
259k
19:2401:2407:2413:24now

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
+0.4%
31,276 people
22,397 channels
HybridIRC
+1.0%
21,804 people
445 channels
Undernet
+7.1%
16,730 people
5,483 channels
SkyChatz
+23.8%
16,160 people
1,175 channels
IRCnet
+4.4%
15,236 people
9,161 channels
OFTC
+11.4%
14,542 people
3,993 channels
Global-Irc.Eu
+41.6%
11,442 people
205 channels
FreeUniBG
-27.6%
10,109 people
751 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.

#zurna
+79.2%
2,685 people
EfesNet
#sohbet
+51.4%
2,478 people
EfesNet
#kampung
-0.2%
2,451 people
HybridIRC
#radyo
+87.7%
2,395 people
EfesNet
#linux
-3.9%
2,387 people
Libera.Chat
#kampung
-0.2%
2,379 people
WixChat
#sohbet
+856.7%
2,210 people
CyberIRC
#KualaLumpur
+4.4%
2,132 people
SkyChatz

Frequently asked questions

Is IRC still used in 2026?
Yes. IRC is still active: erkstats counts 259,376 people online right now across 100 networks and 20,399 channels, refreshed every few hours.
What is the largest IRC network right now?
Libera.Chat is currently the largest IRC network erkstats tracks, with 31,276 users online. See the full ranking of IRC networks.
How many IRC networks are there?
erkstats tracks 100 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 #zurna, #sohbet and #kampung. 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 1 min ago.