Alpine vs Mutt
Alpine: Menu-driven terminal email client descended from Pine, with built-in help, setup screens and native Windows builds.
Mutt: Long-running text-mode email client with IMAP, POP3 and SMTP support, configured through a muttrc file.
Differences
- Only Mutt has built-in Maildir.
- On Windows, Alpine runs natively and Mutt runs through WSL.
- Alpine has mouse support; Mutt does not.
- Alpine has calendar support; Mutt does not.
- Mutt has Vim-style keys; Alpine does not.
- Configuration: Alpine uses built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc, and Mutt uses muttrc text file.
Side by side
| Alpine | Mutt | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C | C |
| License | Apache 2.0 | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Latest version | 2.26 | 2.4.2 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Through WSL |
| 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 | No |
| OpenPGP | via plugin | Yes |
| S/MIME | Yes | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | Yes | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in search and message selection; server-side for IMAP | built-in patterns; server-side IMAP search |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML-to-text rendering | via mailcap and an external viewer such as w3m or lynx |
| Mouse | Yes | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | with isync or OfflineIMAP; IMAP header and body cache |
| Calendar | Yes | No |
| Contacts | built-in address book; LDAP lookup | via query_command with abook or khard |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc | muttrc text file |
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 Mutt for
- Packaged by major Linux distributions, Homebrew, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and Termux
- Conservative releases that rarely break existing muttrc files
- Built-in PGP/MIME, S/MIME and Autocrypt
Watch out for
- No notmuch, NNTP or scripting support (NeoMutt has these)
- Configuration is a text file with hundreds of options and no setup wizard
- HTML mail needs an external viewer set up in mailcap
Questions
What is the difference between Alpine and Mutt?
Only Mutt has built-in Maildir. On Windows, Alpine runs natively and Mutt runs through WSL. Alpine has mouse support; Mutt does not.
Which runs on Windows, Alpine or Mutt?
On Windows, Alpine runs natively. On Windows, Mutt runs through WSL.
See also: Alpine alternatives, Mutt alternatives.