Comparison

Mango IRC vs Beluga

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Mango IRC

A native IRC client for iPhone and iPad that organizes conversations, offers rich media previews, and allows for customizable chat experiences. Connect to multiple networks, manage files, and sync settings across devices.

Highlights
  • Multiple IRC network connections
  • Rich link and image previews
  • File management and uploads
  • Customizable themes and layouts
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Bouncer support (soju, ZNC)
Features
Read full description

Mango is a native IRC client for iPhone and iPad. Follow your communities, catch up on conversations, and make your chat feel like home. YOUR CONVERSATIONS, ORGANIZED • Connect to multiple IRC networks and keep channels and direct messages together • Find mentions in retained history and jump back to the original conversation • Follow reply threads and browse pinned messages on compatible servers • Search channels, complete nicknames, and use familiar IRC commands MORE THAN PLAIN TEXT • Rich link and image previews, inline video playback, and audio players with waveforms • Emoji reactions, custom emoji, and image-link stickers • Browse, re-share, and manage files in your Mango Uploads library • Choose themes, fonts, chat layouts, and notification sounds CONNECT YOUR WAY • Direct IRC connections, TLS, and WebSocket connections to compatible servers • soju and ZNC bouncer support, with network discovery and connection management • Local conversation caching and earlier history from servers that support CHATHISTORY • iCloud sync for your networks and settings across Mac, iPhone, and iPad Server-dependent features require support from your IRC server or bouncer. Push notifications require a compatible bouncer and setup. Mango Uploads requires a Mango Account. You can connect to other IRC networks without a Mango Account; individual networks may require their own account.

About

Beluga

Share your thoughts and updates with friends and followers through a "tweet-like" feed. It generates a mini-website for easy sharing, even with non-users, and supports RSS feed readers for broader reach. This decentralized app ensures you own your data.

Highlights
  • Tweet-like content publishing
  • Personalized mini-website generation
  • JSON Feed compatibility
  • Decentralized data ownership
  • RSS feed reader integration
  • Multiple S3-compatible storage support
Features
Read full description

Publish your thoughts and keep your friends and followers informed of what you are up to. This app is ideal for publishing self-hosted tweets with photos and links. All your posts are added to your Beluga feed, and a mini-website is generated and published so you can easily share with everyone, even people that don’t use the app. You can think of Beluga as a feed reader/writer. All Beluga feeds are JSON Feed and RSS compatible, so your friends can follow you on many popular feed reader apps like NetNewsWire and others available on iOS and macOS. Beluga is decentralized. We don’t have any servers. So you are the owner of your data, and your self-hosted tweets live wherever you like. Beluga runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Your devices stay in sync through your own site, so you can post from any of them and pick up right where you left off. To publish your Beluga feed and mini-website, you must have a web server or an account with a hosting provider. We currently support SFTP, WebDAV, Neocities, Netlify, GitHub Pages, Bunny.net, and S3-compatible object storage like Amazon Web Services S3, Cloudflare R2, Wasabi, Digital Ocean Spaces, Linode Objects, Backblaze B2, DreamHost, and many others.

Screenshots

Mango IRC4 screens
Beluga4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Beluga at Free against Mango IRC's $9.99. Beluga also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.4) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). Mango IRC's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 months) and chart position (#43 vs unranked). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Beluga is free to download; Mango IRC costs $9.99 up front. Mango IRC sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Beluga asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Beluga holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mango IRC has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mango IRC ships an update weekly, Beluga every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Mango IRC versus Beluga: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMango IRCBeluga
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews26.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#43 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size108 MB11 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperPavel KanzelsbergerBlimp

Customer experience

Mango IRC

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews60 reviews
Positive26.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative56.7%

Beluga

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Mango IRC

One-time3
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$3.99
  • Large Tip$8.99
None

Beluga

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mango IRC free?
Mango IRC costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Beluga free?
Beluga is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mango IRC or Beluga?
Beluga is rated higher. Mango IRC averages 4.4 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Beluga averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Mango IRC or Beluga have ads?
Neither Mango IRC nor Beluga shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mango IRC or Beluga?
Mango IRC ships an update weekly, and Beluga every 6 months. Most recently, Mango IRC was updated on November 10, 2026 and Beluga on November 12, 2026.

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