Alpine vs Forward Email
Alpine: Menu-driven terminal email client descended from Pine, with built-in help, setup screens and native Windows builds.
Forward Email: Forward Email's webmail in the terminal: mail, calendar, contacts and settings, with mouse support and a key hint bar.
Differences
- Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; Alpine works with any provider over IMAP, including Forward Email.
- Alpine has S/MIME; Forward Email does not.
- Alpine has OAuth2 sign-in; Forward Email does not.
- Alpine is written in C; Forward Email in TypeScript.
- Configuration: Alpine uses built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc, and Forward Email uses settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css.
- Forward Email is source-available (Business Source License 1.1); Alpine is open source (Apache 2.0).
Side by side
| Alpine | Forward Email | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C | TypeScript |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Business Source License 1.1 |
| Latest version | 2.26 | 0.14.16 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Native |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Through Termux | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Yes | Forward Email API |
| POP3 | Yes | Forward Email API |
| SMTP | Yes | Forward Email API |
| JMAP | No | Forward Email API |
| Maildir | No | Forward Email API |
| mbox | Yes | Forward Email API |
| notmuch | No | Forward Email API |
| 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, across messages, contacts and events |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML-to-text rendering | shown as formatted text with links; plain text by default |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | drafts and changes made offline are sent when the connection returns |
| Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Contacts | built-in address book; LDAP lookup | Yes |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc | settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css |
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 Forward Email for
- Calendar, contacts and tasks in the same terminal app as mail
- Mouse clicks, scrolling and text selection work, and the bottom row always shows the keys for the current screen
- One self-updating executable with no setup files to write
Watch out for
- Only works with Forward Email accounts
- Images and video are not drawn; HTML mail is shown as text with links
- Passkey sign-in needs a browser or the desktop app
Questions
What is the difference between Alpine and Forward Email?
Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; Alpine works with any provider over IMAP, including Forward Email. Alpine has S/MIME; Forward Email does not. Alpine has OAuth2 sign-in; Forward Email does not.
Which runs on Windows, Alpine or Forward Email?
On Windows, Alpine runs natively. On Windows, Forward Email runs natively.
See also: Alpine alternatives, Forward Email alternatives.