ZNC

Advanced IRC bouncer.

Slowing · 50
50/100
Slowing

Activity has dropped noticeably. Check the repository before committing to it.

Maintenance 15/40
Releases 13/25
Community 10/20
Momentum 12/15

Commit activity more than 37% of tracked projects; popularity more than 50%. How this is calculated.

Commits, last 11 months

2025-10: 12 commits 2025-11: 17 commits 2025-12: 7 commits 2026-01: 5 commits 2026-02: 2 commits 2026-03: 7 commits 2026-04: 28 commits 2026-05: 13 commits 2026-06: 18 commits 2026-07: 21 commits 2026-08: 10 commits
2025-10 140 total 2026-08
Stars2.1k
Latest release—
Repo updated22 Sept 2026
LicenceApache-2.0
Built withC++, deb

Is ZNC actively maintained?

Development is ongoing. The repository recorded 140 commits over the same window, and the last three months alone account for 49 of them.

No tagged releases are published, so there is no stable version to pin to — you would deploy from the default branch or a container image built from it.

ZNC ranks #5 of 11 in Communication - IRC, placing it mid-table for maintenance activity.

What ZNC actually does

ZNC is an IRC bouncer designed to sit between your chat client and one or more servers. It maintains persistent connections so you do not miss messages when your client disconnects, and it can relay chat history across multiple devices.

Best fit: It suits users who rely heavily on IRC and need a reliable proxy to stay connected to networks continuously from various endpoints.

Worth knowing: The codebase has a moderate maintenance tempo and lacks recent tagged releases, meaning you should check if it meets your stability and security requirements before adoption.

Deployment notes

As a C++ application packaged as a Debian artifact, it typically runs as a persistent daemon requiring local storage for configuration and logs, and usually sits behind a reverse proxy to handle client TLS connections securely.


Alternatives to ZNC

Projects in the same categories, ordered by health score.