Stefan Angrick

Since Google decided to replace Google Talk with Hangouts and drop XMPP support in the process, many have been looking for alternative XMPP servers that allow connecting through standards-based clients and support federation. Below a list of alternatives I've come across.

• Jabber.org — Jabber.org has been around since 1999, originally hosting much of the community and development of the XMPP protocol. I've used their server on and off over the last couple of years. Despite the occasional hiccup, Jabber.org has been a reliable constant in the ever-changing world of XMPP servers.
• DuckGo.com — Released only a few days ago by the folks at DuckDuckGo, this public XMPP server is relatively new, so there is not much that can be said about their quality of service yet. Given DuckDuckGo's active community of developers and commitment to the principles of free software, they have the potential to become one of the most popular servers out there.
• Jabber.ccc.de — Hosted by the German hackers association Chaos Computer Club, this is one of the most popular XMPP servers in Germany. The server is well-maintend and uptime is excellent, so there are generally very few issues. Although their website is available in German only, account registration works the same as on any other XMPP server, so there shouldn't be any problems for international users.
• Jabber.fsfe.org — The Free Software Foundation Europe also runs an XMPP server, which is available to all of its fellows. Aside from an @fsfe.org email alias, an OpenPGP smart card and access to the FSFE blogging platform, this is one of the goodies you get as a fellow of the FSFE.
• Conversations.im — XMPP server by the people behind the great Android XMPP messenger app Conversations.
• Gultsch.de server compliance ranking — A great overview of different XMPP servers and their features.

Now, just to be clear, this is only a small subset of XMPP servers. There is a large number of public XMPP servers with different features (see this list for example), some even allow you to connect to your ICQ or Yahoo Messenger accounts, or to send SMS or email. Which server is best for you pretty much depends on what you want and what you need.