Everybody knows that MSN Messenger on Mac is never as polished as it is on the PC. Still, that doesn't mean you should give up chat clients altogether, as the Mac offers excellent alternatives, like Adium X.

This messaging client is the perfect example of an excellent open source program. It's very regularly updated and has a strong and active community. Adium X works with almost all the IM services you'll find out there, including Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger.

The interface is simple yet colorful and multiple chats can be tabbed all into one window. If you want to engage in a private conversation with another user, Adium X support Off The Record (OTR) encrypted messaging.

As I said before, Adium X has generated an active community, which generates all sorts of extras for the client like icons, sounds, plugins or applescripts.

True, file transfer is a little flaky, and Adium X still doesn't offer voice or video chat, but it's very enjoyable to use and extremely flexible.

Adium X is a free and highly customizable IM client, that allows you to connect to almost any online chat service and engage in multiple conversations simultaneously.

Download Adium 1.5.6 in Softonic

Firstly, note that if you install Messages, it replaces iChat although Apple has assured that iChat services will continue to work. In a further move towards iOS, Messages provides better integration with iMessage on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch running iOS 5.

Some of the benefits include unlimited iMessages to these devices, the ability to start a conversation on your Mac and then continue it on your iOS device and launch FaceTime video calls. You can also send photos, videos, attachments, contacts, locations, and more.

You can also connect Messages to other chat protocols. It supports AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts.

If you want iMessage for Mac then Messages brings OS X and iOS one step closer to make sure you can always keep in contact with your friends and family.

Download Messages (iMessage for Mac) Beta in Softonic

Nimbuzz can log you in directly to MSN, ICQ or Yahoo! and allows you to chat, send files to other users or start conferencing with friends. Social networks like Facebook , MySpace or Twitter are also supported by the client .

After installing Nimbuzz, you need to create a new account or log onto a pre-existing one. With the help of the setup wizard, your login information for service providers such as Skype, Google Talk, MSN, ICQ, Jabber orAIM. You'll quickly be notified whether your login has been successful or not.

Nimbuzz imports contacts from the respective messenger services. You can then send messages, photos or files to one or more friends through the Nimbuzz menu as well as make phone calls. However, this feature is one of the most unreliable, and you may find it difficult to establish a connection.

Nimbuzz is an interesting free chat client for Mac but is still a little rough around the edges.

Download Nimbuzz 1.2.0 in Softonic

I use Adiumfor Instant Messaging on my Mac simply because its flexible, powerful and ridiculously easy to use.

However, Trillian is another option for those seeking to connect over multiple networks. Trillian has been available on Windows for quite some time now, but the developers have now released it for Mac. Firstly, note that it only works on Intel-based Mac, Mac OS X 10.6 or later so PPC users or those on older OS X versions are out of luck - at least for now. You also need to sign up for a Trillian Astra Account which is quite lengthy and annoying.

Once you've got through the registration however, the biggest problem you will have is adding a new IM network. It should be as easy as clicking the "+" symbol in the client window but its not - this only allows you to add a new contact or a new group. As a result, I found it impossible to add any of my favorite IM networks such as MSN and Google Chat. Try to access the Help file and you get the message "Help is not available for Trillian".

Apart from that, the interface of Trillian is at least very simple. However, there is no support for video or audio and I can't see any reason why anyone would really want to change from Adium to this - not at this Alpha stage anyway.

Download Trillian 1.1.0.6 in Softonic

Simply choose the IM protocol that you'd like to connect to including SIP, Google Talk, XMPP/Jabber, MSN or Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Bonjour, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger and Facebook chat. In the main window, you'll find all your personal contacts.

In the Jitsi chat window, you can exchange IM messages or initiate video or audio chats including group chats. There are a limited number of emoticons and the Jitsi keeps a history of your chats. Although the interface isn't quite as intuitive as Adium. However, the fact that you can initiate audio and video chats gives it a serious advantage.

Note that this download link takes you to the nightly build page because Jitsi is being updated so regularly, that you can choose the latest version more easily.

Jitsi might not be quite as slick as other IM clients but wide support of IM protocols plus audio and video chatting makes it a very interesting option.

Download Jitsi 1.0 Beta 1 in Softonic

Coccinella is an open source jabber client with a nice set of features.

Coupled with a whiteboard, Coccinella becomes a useful tool to chat and work on projects with other people on a network. Although it won't let you use multiple accounts, the client is highly flexible, and will allow you to connect to any Jabber/XMPP server, including popular IMs like Messenger, ICQ and even Google Talk. However you won't be able to make use of the VoIP capabilities and webcam support of these IM services, as Coccinella does not handle them. We also did suffer some stalls when launching the application. However, general performances of the client were good.

The client's interface is simple and uncluttered and you can keep all your messages in an inbox, making them easy to browse by subject, sender or date. Coccinella also offers file transfers, and you can choose your own avatars. Apart from the decent collection of emoticons, you can also import new ones if you have them in jisp format.

The whiteboard is really fun to use and easy to share with as many other users as you want. Coccinella also offers up connections to chatrooms, something we've never really been convinced of, but at least, for people interested, it's there.

Coccinella is a good open source jabber client with a whiteboard and loads of emoticons that can connect to any server. A recommended IM tool.

Download Coccinella 0.96.16 in Softonic

Remember how messenger used to be so popular only a few years back? Now it seems most people prefer to chat with friends on social networks like Facebook. Not only can you much more things, but most of them also include a built chat tool, that replaces the need for an IM client.

Gabtastik is a site specific browser (SSB) built so you can use these online chat services in a separate window. To translate: Gabtastik lets you use online chat services just like if they were separate applications.

The interface is clean and Gabtastik lets you open up multiple chats in multiple tabs. So far it only works with Google Talk, Facebook Chat and meebo. If you use an iPhone you'll probably be interested in learning that it also handles the Hahlo iPhone Twitter webapp.

Gabtastik uses very little RAM and its nice having all these online chat services in a separate window, instead of hidden away between various tabs of your browser. Obviously it's only limited to certain services, but if you use meebo, you'll have access to many more like MSN or ICQ.

Gabtastik lets you use online chat services in your very own browser window.

Download Gabtastik 0.4.2 in Softonic

People tend to stick to the more known messaging clients when there are so many excellent open source alternatives out there like Psi.

This client was built to connect to multiple Jabber accounts and more known IM accounts like Yahoo or MSN. It's simple to set up, thanks to startup tips and guides found in the forum and wiki.

This last point is one of the main strengths of Psi. The open source project benefits from a strong community which has really helped make it a solid messaging client over the years. One of the examples of that is all the localized version of Psi that are available.

Psi is easy to use, yet discreet and features lots of iconsets and emoticons. You can also fully customize the interface and add your own icons. You can work with hotkeys and create command lines to insert in your chats, however more technical users will probably feel more comfortable working with these.

Users worried about their security or working with Psi in a public environment will be glad to know that it features SSL encryption and lets you use OpenPGP to send encrypted messages.

Psi is a real pleasure to use and is loaded with features, from security to customization and not forgetting multiple IM and Jabber compatibility. If you're looking for a good alternative messaging client, this is the one to choose.

Download Psi 0.14 in Softonic

Adium is already a popular instant messaging application for Mac offering as it does access to multiple protocols and accounts. You can use it to connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo!

, Google Talk, Jabber and other chat services all at the same time, meaning you only need one chat program open for all your different accounts.

Simply connect your portable device and run the program directly from it: all your profile and account info are stored on your device, meaning there's no need to set-up your client on each new machine you use.

Download Portable Adium 1.3.2 r40 in Softonic

In my mind Gmail is undoubtedly the best Web-based email client out there, but the one thing it always lacked was video and voice calling.

Google Voice and Video solves this problem and as you'd expect from a Google product, it works extremely simply and effectively. Getting setup is extremely easy. You'll need a webcam of course but all you have to do is download the voice and video plug-in, quit all open browser windows, and install it.

Once done, simply sign into Gmail and select the contact you want to call. You can see immediately if they have a voice and video capability because there will be a yellow camera icon next to their name. If they don't, you can you can invite them to download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in from the 'Video & More' menu in a chat window. If they don't have a webcam, you can still make voice calls.

Like everything else in Gmail, Google Voice and Video works extremely well and provides excellent quality video and audio to your webchats.

Download Google Voice and Video 1.0.2.0 in Softonic