You can get a free BNC account on EliteBNC. It runs ZNC which you can run yourself if you have a spare VPS. All you need to do is login on FreeNode (you can use their webchat if you don’t have a client handy) and join #EliteBNC channel and issue the following command command: !request <username> freenode <your email id> and you will get the settings in your email if your request is approved.