Alpine vs Gnus
Alpine: Menu-driven terminal email client descended from Pine, with built-in help, setup screens and native Windows builds.
Gnus: Mail and news reader built into GNU Emacs, with back ends for IMAP, POP3, local mail folders and NNTP.
Differences
- Alpine is a full-screen terminal client; Gnus is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- Only Gnus has built-in Maildir.
- Alpine is written in C; Gnus in Emacs Lisp.
- Configuration: Alpine uses built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc, and Gnus uses Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el.
Side by side
| Alpine | Gnus | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | C | Emacs Lisp |
| License | Apache 2.0 | GPL 3.0 or later |
| Latest version | 2.26 | 5.13 (bundled with Emacs 31.1) |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Native |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Through Termux | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | No | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | Yes |
| notmuch | No | Through a separate tool |
| OpenPGP | via plugin | Yes |
| S/MIME | Yes | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | Yes | via plugin |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in search and message selection; server-side for IMAP | gnus-search: IMAP SEARCH, or notmuch, mu, mairix and other local indexers |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML-to-text rendering | built-in, rendered with the Emacs shr library |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | via the Gnus agent or local Maildir back ends |
| Calendar | Yes | replies to invitations with gnus-icalendar |
| Contacts | built-in address book; LDAP lookup | via BBDB or EUDC |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc | Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el |
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 Gnus for
- Included with every GNU Emacs install, including native Windows builds.
- Reads IMAP directly, plus local Maildir, MH and mbox stores and NNTP newsgroups.
- Scoring, splitting and the Gnus agent allow detailed filtering and offline reading.
Watch out for
- The group, summary and article model takes time to learn.
- IMAP access runs inside Emacs, so large mailboxes can make Emacs wait.
- Configuration is Emacs Lisp spread across many variables.
Questions
What is the difference between Alpine and Gnus?
Alpine is a full-screen terminal client; Gnus is a mail client that runs inside Emacs. Only Gnus has built-in Maildir. Alpine is written in C; Gnus in Emacs Lisp.
Which runs on Windows, Alpine or Gnus?
On Windows, Alpine runs natively. On Windows, Gnus runs natively.
See also: Alpine alternatives, Gnus alternatives.