⚡ Instant Messaging Apps in Japan

Instant messaging apps allow users to communicate in real time via text, voice, and video, often with group chats, file sharing, and end-to-end encryption.

They can be broadly categorized into traditional chat services (WhatsApp), social media messengers (Facebook Messenger, Snapchat), privacy-focused messengers (Signal, Threema), and workplace collaboration tools (Slack, Microsoft Teams).

According to our statistics, instant messaging apps are detected on 9.8% of websites from Japan.

⭐ Most Popular in 2026

The following chart shows the top instant messaging apps on websites in Japan in 2026, based on market share.

The most popular is Line, which dominates the market with an overwhelming 97.4% share.
It is followed by Discord with 1.1% and Messenger with 0.6%.

Line 97.4%
Discord 1.1%
Messenger 0.6%
WhatsApp 0.4%
Telegram 0.3%
WeChat 0.2%
KakaoTalk 0.2%
Slack 0.2%
Viber 0.06%
QQ 0.06%
Zalo 0.04%
Snapchat 0.02%
Microsoft Teams 0.02%
Gitter 0.01%
Signal 0.01%

🚀 Highlights

Here is a list of the top apps that are more popular in Japan than worldwide.
Differences between global and country rankings are shown in parentheses.

1. Line ^(-3)
2. Discord ^(-3)
7. KakaoTalk ^(-3)
8. Slack ^(-4)
14. Gitter ^(-2)
15. Signal ^(-3)
16. IRC ^(-1)
17. XMPP ^(-2)

✨ Best Instant Messaging Apps

Below is a more detailed list of 18 instant messaging apps used on sites from Japan, ranked by their market share.

Rank	Name	Market share
1	Line Tokyo, Japan A Japanese instant messaging and social networking app often described as a super-app because it integrates services such as a digital wallet, news feed, digital comics, media streaming, and shopping. Free	97.4%
2	Discord San Francisco, California, United States An instant messaging and VoIP social platform that allows users to communicate via text chat, voice, and video. Free$2.99+	1.1%
3	Messenger Menlo Park, California, United States An instant messaging service developed by Meta, available on Android, iOS, and web platforms. Free	0.6%
4	WhatsApp Menlo Park, California, United States An instant messaging and Voice over IP service owned by Meta. Free	0.4%
5	Telegram Dubai, United Arab Emirates A cloud-based messaging app for mobile and desktop platforms focused on security, speed, and privacy. Free$$$	0.3%
6	WeChat Shenzhen, China A Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app that has evolved into a super-app combining communication, commerce, and everyday services. Free	0.2%
7	KakaoTalk Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Korea A Korean instant messenger for chats and real-time voice and video calls. Free	0.2%
8	Slack San Francisco, California, United States A cloud-based team communication platform for businesses, currently owned by Salesforce. Free$8.75+/month	0.2%
9	Viber Tokyo, Japan A free, cross-platform instant messaging and calling application owned by Rakuten. Free	0.06%
10	QQ Shenzhen, China A Chinese instant messaging software platform. Free	0.06%
11	Zalo Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam A Vietnamese mobile instant messenger and social media service. Free99,000 VND+/month	0.04%
12	Snapchat Santa Monica, California, United States A messaging and social networking app that lets users send photos and videos ("Snaps") that disappear after being viewed by default. Free	0.02%
13	Microsoft Teams Redmond, Washington, United States A proprietary business collaboration platform built for hybrid work, offering chat, video conferencing, file storage, and application integration. Free$9.99+/month	0.02%
14	Gitter London, United Kingdom An open source chat and networking platform for software developers based on the Matrix protocol. Free	0.01%
15	Signal Mountain View, California, United States An open source, privacy-focused messaging app for instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls. FreeOpen source	0.01%
16	IRC A text-based chat system for instant messaging supported by many clients such as mIRC, XChat, ChatZilla and others. Free	0.01%
17	XMPP Parker, Colorado, United States A set of open technologies for instant messaging, presence, multi-party chat, voice and video calls, and collaboration.	0.01%
18	Matrix London, United Kingdom A set of open APIs for open-federated Instant Messaging, Voice over IP and Internet of Things communication. Free	0.007%

👉 See Also

🌎 Instant Messaging in other countries

Data is based on the analysis of 144,407 websites from Japan.
Statistics were last calculated on January 28, 2026.
For details, see our methodology and disclaimer.