Alpine vs Cone
Alpine: Menu-driven terminal email client descended from Pine, with built-in help, setup screens and native Windows builds.
Cone: Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.
Differences
- Only Cone has built-in Maildir.
- On Linux, Alpine runs natively and Cone builds from source.
- On macOS, Alpine runs natively and Cone is not available.
- On Windows, Alpine runs natively and Cone runs through WSL.
- On Android, Alpine runs through Termux and Cone is not available.
- Alpine has mouse support; Cone does not.
- Alpine has calendar support; Cone does not.
- Alpine has S/MIME; Cone does not.
- Alpine has OAuth2 sign-in; Cone does not.
- Alpine is written in C; Cone in C++.
- Configuration: Alpine uses built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc, and Cone uses interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone.
Side by side
| Alpine | Cone | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C | C++ |
| License | Apache 2.0 | GPL 3.0 |
| Latest version | 2.26 | 2.5 |
| Linux | Native | Build from source |
| macOS | Native | No |
| Windows | Native | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Through Termux | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | No | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | Yes |
| notmuch | No | No |
| OpenPGP | via plugin | Yes |
| S/MIME | Yes | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | Yes | No |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in search and message selection; server-side for IMAP | built-in folder search; server-side on IMAP |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML-to-text rendering | built-in HTML renderer |
| Mouse | Yes | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | No |
| Calendar | Yes | No |
| Contacts | built-in address book; LDAP lookup | built-in address books, stored locally, in an IMAP folder, or on LDAP |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc | interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone |
Which to choose
Choose Alpine for
- Command list on every screen and built-in help for each option
- Official native Windows builds alongside Unix packages
- Built-in XOAUTH2 for Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo, and built-in S/MIME
Watch out for
- PGP needs external display and sending filters
- No Maildir, notmuch or JMAP support
- Last stable release is 2.26; newer work is in alpha builds
Choose Cone for
- Handles IMAP, POP3, local mbox and Maildir folders, and newsgroups in one folder tree.
- Built-in OpenPGP signing and encryption with per-account keys.
- Optional master password encrypts saved server passwords.
Watch out for
- Not packaged by Debian, Fedora, Arch or Homebrew; usually built from source.
- No offline mode for IMAP accounts and no OAuth2.
- No S/MIME support.
Questions
What is the difference between Alpine and Cone?
Only Cone has built-in Maildir. On Linux, Alpine runs natively and Cone builds from source. On macOS, Alpine runs natively and Cone is not available.
Which runs on Windows, Alpine or Cone?
On Windows, Alpine runs natively. On Windows, Cone runs through WSL.
See also: Alpine alternatives, Cone alternatives.