# Alternatives to AIM

AOL Instant Messenger. AIM has been discontinued; the active alternatives listed here are maintained products you can switch to.

None of its 12 checklist rows are verified yet.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/aim/
Category: Personal messaging

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Casual home computer users and early internet chatters, particularly teenagers and young adults, who wanted to message friends and family online in real time.
- **What you get**: AIM offered instant text messaging with a customizable buddy list showing who was online, away messages and status notes, buddy icons, and group chat rooms. Later versions added file transfer, voice and video chat, and third-party plugin support. It ran as a free desktop client (and later mobile app) tied to a unique AIM screen name.
- **How it works**: Users created a free screen name, added contacts to a buddy list, and saw in real time who was online, idle, or away. Clicking a buddy opened a chat window for instant text messaging, or users could join topic-based chat rooms.

## Profile


## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Beeper](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/beeper.md) | building | Proprietary | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 2 | [Delta Chat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/delta-chat.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 3 | [Jami](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/jami.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 4 | [Session](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/session.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 5 | [Signal](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/signal.md) | building | AGPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 6 | [SimpleX Chat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/simplex-chat.md) | building | AGPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 7 | [Telegram](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/telegram.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 8 | [Threema](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/threema.md) | building | AGPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 9 | [Viber](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/viber.md) | building | Proprietary | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 10 | [WhatsApp](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/whatsapp.md) | building | Proprietary | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
| 11 | [Wire](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wire.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/