5 free instant messenger services

If you're looking for a way to keep in touch, we've collected five instant messenger services that allow you to chat with friends online:

• Google Hangouts : Once you've downloaded Google Hangouts, you can chat from your computer's desktop, make video calls, and participate in group chats with other Google Hangouts and Gmail users.
  
• Facebook Messenger : If you already have a Facebook account, this can be a convenient option. All of your Facebook friends will be easy to find through Messenger, so you won't have to spend time adding people to your list of contacts.
  
• Skype : Although Skype is probably best known for offering voice and video calling, it also has instant messaging features. One advantage of Skype is its language-translation feature: It can translate instant messages, voice calls, and video calls automatically.
• Pidgin : Pidgin is a basic instant messaging service for Windows that allows you to chat with users of other instant messaging services like Google Talk, ICQ, and many more.
• Adium : Similar to Pidgin, Adium is a basic instant messaging service that allows you to chat with users of other instant messaging services like Google Talk and ICQ. The service, designed for macOS users, also lets you combine contacts if a contact has more than one instant messaging name.