Alpine vs Matcha
Alpine: Menu-driven terminal email client descended from Pine, with built-in help, setup screens and native Windows builds.
Matcha: Terminal email client written in Go with the Bubble Tea TUI library, with IMAP, JMAP and POP3 support.
Differences
- Only Alpine has built-in mbox.
- Only Matcha has built-in JMAP and Maildir.
- On BSD, Alpine runs natively and Matcha builds from source.
- On Android, Alpine runs through Termux and Matcha is not available.
- Matcha has Vim-style keys; Alpine does not.
- Alpine is written in C; Matcha in Go.
- Configuration: Alpine uses built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc, and Matcha uses ~/.config/matcha/config.json plus in-app settings.
Side by side
| Alpine | Matcha | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C | Go |
| License | Apache 2.0 | MIT |
| Latest version | 2.26 | v1.0.1 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Native |
| BSD | Native | Build from source |
| Android | Through Termux | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | Yes |
| Maildir | No | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | No |
| notmuch | No | No |
| OpenPGP | via plugin | Yes |
| S/MIME | Yes | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | Yes | Yes |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in search and message selection; server-side for IMAP | built-in search and filter |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML-to-text rendering | built-in rendering, with inline images in supported terminals |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | local cache of message lists and bodies |
| Calendar | Yes | shows .ics invites and sends RSVP replies |
| Contacts | built-in address book; LDAP lookup | address book built from sent and received mail |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc | ~/.config/matcha/config.json plus in-app settings |
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 Matcha for
- Supports IMAP, JMAP, POP3 and Maildir in one client
- PGP (including YubiKey) and S/MIME signing and encryption
- Prebuilt packages for Linux (Snap, Flatpak), macOS (Homebrew tap) and Windows (winget)
Watch out for
- Young project; v1.0 shipped only after a long series of 0.x releases
- JSON config is less readable to hand-edit than muttrc-style files
- Binary name clashes with an unrelated tool also called matcha
Questions
What is the difference between Alpine and Matcha?
Only Alpine has built-in mbox. Only Matcha has built-in JMAP and Maildir. On BSD, Alpine runs natively and Matcha builds from source.
Which runs on Windows, Alpine or Matcha?
On Windows, Alpine runs natively. On Windows, Matcha runs natively.
See also: Alpine alternatives, Matcha alternatives.