What is Profanity used for?

Profanity is a console-based XMPP chat client for the terminal, inspired by Irssi and supporting OTR, PGP, OMEMO and OX encryption. It is a good fit for chatting over XMPP from the terminal and privacy-focused federated messaging.

Is Profanity open source?

Yes. Profanity is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at profanity-im/profanity and is written mainly in C.

Yes. Profanity is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host Profanity?

Yes. Profanity can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What are some alternatives to Profanity?

Similar open-source tools in the Team Chat category include Converse.js, ChatSecure and SimpleX Chat. SaaS products in the same category include Beeper, Kik and Signal.

Is Profanity actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Profanity was on 28 August 2026, and the latest release is 0.18.2, published on 8 June 2026. The project has 1.5k stars on GitHub.

Profanity: open-source team chat

About Profanity

Profanity is a console-based XMPP client written in C and inspired by Irssi. It uses ncurses to provide a text interface for chatting over the XMPP protocol, which is decentralized, so anyone can run their own server and contacts on different servers can still talk to each other.

The project says it is about freedom, privacy and choice, and it supports several encryption options: OTR, PGP, OMEMO and OX. A user guide covers installing and using Profanity and building from source, and there is a FAQ and a blog with articles about contributing and debugging. Development is supported by sponsorship, and the project has a mailing list and a chat room.

Profanity runs on your own computer, and the license is listed as Other, so check the repository terms. It suits users who prefer a terminal-based messenger and want standards-based, federated chat rather than a single vendor's network.

Key features

Terminal XMPP client with ncurses
OTR, PGP, OMEMO and OX encryption
Federated chat on any XMPP server
Irssi-inspired interface
User guide and FAQ
Written in C

Good fit for

→Chatting over XMPP from the terminal
→Privacy-focused federated messaging

Built with: C
Tags: xmpp; chat; terminal; ncurses; omemo; privacy; messaging; federation

Profanity: questions and answers

What is Profanity used for?: Profanity is a console-based XMPP chat client for the terminal, inspired by Irssi and supporting OTR, PGP, OMEMO and OX encryption. It is a good fit for chatting over XMPP from the terminal and privacy-focused federated messaging.
Is Profanity open source?: Yes. Profanity is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at profanity-im/profanity and is written mainly in C.
Is Profanity free?: Yes. Profanity is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host Profanity?: Yes. Profanity can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What are some alternatives to Profanity?: Similar open-source tools in the Team Chat category include Converse.js, ChatSecure and SimpleX Chat. SaaS products in the same category include Beeper, Kik and Signal.
Is Profanity actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Profanity was on 28 August 2026, and the latest release is 0.18.2, published on 8 June 2026. The project has 1.5k stars on GitHub.