alot vs NeoMutt

alot: Terminal mail reader written in Python that works on a local notmuch database, with tag-based search and threads.
NeoMutt: Full-screen terminal mail reader forked from Mutt, with notmuch, NNTP, Lua scripting and a sidebar built in.

Differences

Only NeoMutt has built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox.
On Android, alot is not available and NeoMutt runs through Termux.
alot has mouse support; NeoMutt does not.
NeoMutt has S/MIME; alot does not.
NeoMutt has OAuth2 sign-in; alot does not.
alot is written in Python; NeoMutt in C.
Configuration: alot uses INI-style config file plus optional Python hooks, and NeoMutt uses neomuttrc text file.

Side by side

	alot	NeoMutt
Interface	Full-screen terminal interface	Full-screen terminal interface
Language	Python	C
License	GPL 3.0 or later	GPL 2.0 or later
Latest version	`0.12`	`20260616`
Linux	Native	Native
macOS	Native	Native
Windows	Through WSL	Through WSL
BSD	Native	Native
Android	No	Through Termux
IMAP	Through a separate tool	Yes
POP3	Through a separate tool	Yes
SMTP	Through a separate tool	Yes
JMAP	No	No
Maildir	Yes	Yes
mbox	No	Yes
notmuch	Yes	Yes
OpenPGP	Yes	Yes
S/MIME	No	Yes
OAuth2 sign-in	No	via script
Threads	Yes	Yes
Search	notmuch queries	built-in patterns; notmuch for full-text
HTML mail	via mailcap, e.g. w3m -dump	via mailcap and an external viewer such as w3m or lynx
Mouse	Yes	No
Multiple accounts	Yes	Yes
Offline use	always; reads a local notmuch database	with isync or OfflineIMAP; IMAP header and body cache
Calendar	No	No
Contacts	via an external lookup command such as abook, khard or notmuch address	via query_command with abook or khard
Vim-style keys	Yes	Yes
Configuration	INI-style config file plus optional Python hooks	neomuttrc text file

Which to choose

Choose alot for

Tag-based searches through notmuch instead of folders
Full PGP/MIME signing and encryption
Python hooks for custom behavior and formatting

Watch out for

Needs separate tools to fetch mail (mbsync) and send it (msmtp)
No direct IMAP, POP3 or SMTP support
No S/MIME support

Install alot

Choose NeoMutt for

Built-in notmuch support for tag-based virtual mailboxes and full-text search
Reads Usenet over NNTP and supports Lua scripting
Reads most existing muttrc files with few or no changes

Watch out for

Configuration is a text file with hundreds of options and no setup wizard
HTML mail needs an external viewer set up in mailcap
OAuth2 needs an external token script such as mutt_oauth2.py

Install NeoMutt

Questions

What is the difference between alot and NeoMutt?

Only NeoMutt has built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox. On Android, alot is not available and NeoMutt runs through Termux. alot has mouse support; NeoMutt does not.

Which runs on Windows, alot or NeoMutt?

On Windows, alot runs through WSL. On Windows, NeoMutt runs through WSL.