erkThe state of IRC, at a glance.
erkstats tracks live and historical statistics for 143 IRC networks and 20,323 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 SkyChatz, and the busiest channels include #clients, #linux and #SkyChatz.
Climbing fast beyond the headline names: #cyberworld on KampungChat is up 1288% and ChatSansar is up 26% in the last day.
People online
274,248
-0.2% vs yesterday
Active channels
102,948
-0.1% vs yesterday
Networks tracked
143
140 reporting · updated 11 secs ago
257k
271k
285k
300k
Sep 22Sep 29Oct 7Oct 14now
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
-2.1%
31,401 people
HybridIRC
-14.3%
19,185 people
SkyChatz
-11.7%
18,965 people
Undernet
+5.4%
16,775 people
OFTC
+5.4%
15,665 people
IRCnet
-5.4%
14,881 people
FreeUniBG
+44.7%
14,340 people
Global-Irc.Eu
+39.4%
11,798 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.
#clients
-24.5%
2,379 people
#linux
-0.9%
2,312 people
#SkyChatz
-12.3%
2,039 people
#KualaLumpur
-19.8%
1,871 people
#SpiderMaster
-15.5%
1,635 people
#archlinux
-0.3%
1,577 people
#libera
+1.9%
1,536 people
#medan
+2,229.2%
1,514 people
Frequently asked questions
Is IRC still used in 2026?
Yes. IRC is still active: erkstats counts 274,248 people online right now across 143 networks and 20,323 channels, refreshed every few hours.
What is the largest IRC network right now?
Libera.Chat is currently the largest IRC network erkstats tracks, with 31,401 users online. See the full ranking of IRC networks.
How many IRC networks are there?
erkstats tracks 143 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 #clients, #linux and #SkyChatz. 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 11 secs ago.