Alpine alternatives
Terminal email clients to use instead of Alpine, most similar first: same kind of interface, then shared protocols and systems.
| Systems | Client | Compare |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on Linux, macOS and BSD, on Windows through WSL, on Android through Termux. | MuttTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox, adds Maildir. Long-running text-mode email client with IMAP, POP3 and SMTP support, configured through a muttrc file. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux, macOS and BSD, on Windows through WSL, on Android through Termux. | NeoMuttTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox, adds Maildir and notmuch. Full-screen terminal mail reader forked from Mutt, with notmuch, NNTP, Lua scripting and a sidebar built in. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux, macOS and BSD, on Windows through WSL, on Android through Termux. | aercTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, built-in IMAP, SMTP and mbox, adds JMAP, Maildir and notmuch. Terminal email client written in Go with IMAP, JMAP, Maildir and notmuch backends and an embedded terminal for editing. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on BSD, on Windows through WSL, builds from source on Linux. Not available for macOS or Android. | ConeTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox, adds Maildir. Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, builds from source on BSD. Not available for Android. | MatchaTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, built-in IMAP, POP3 and SMTP, adds JMAP and Maildir. Terminal email client written in Go with the Bubble Tea TUI library, with IMAP, JMAP and POP3 support. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux, macOS and BSD. Not available for Windows or Android. | meliTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, built-in IMAP, SMTP and mbox, adds JMAP, Maildir and notmuch. Terminal email client written in Rust with IMAP, JMAP, notmuch, Maildir, mbox and NNTP backends and TOML configuration. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows and BSD, on Android through Termux. | Forward EmailFeaturedTUISource-availableAlso a full-screen terminal client. Forward Email's webmail in the terminal: mail, calendar, contacts and settings, with mouse support and a key hint bar. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows and BSD, on Android through Termux. | GnusEmacsA mail client that runs inside Emacs, built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox, adds Maildir. Mail and news reader built into GNU Emacs, with back ends for IMAP, POP3, local mail folders and NNTP. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux and macOS, on Windows through WSL, builds from source on BSD. Not available for Android. | SupTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, built-in mbox, adds Maildir. Curses email client in Ruby built around threads, labels and fast full-text search over local mail. | vs Alpine |
| Runs on Linux, macOS and BSD, on Windows through WSL. Not available for Android. | alotTUIAlso a full-screen terminal client, adds Maildir and notmuch. Terminal mail reader written in Python that works on a local notmuch database, with tag-based search and threads. | vs Alpine |
Also: nmail, nmh, S-nail, Wanderlust, Himalaya, mu4e, Notmuch Emacs interface and mblaze.