Alpine vs Wanderlust
Alpine: Menu-driven terminal email client descended from Pine, with built-in help, setup screens and native Windows builds.
Wanderlust: Mail and news reader for Emacs, written in Emacs Lisp, with built-in IMAP, POP3, NNTP and SMTP support.
Differences
- Alpine is a full-screen terminal client; Wanderlust is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- Only Alpine has built-in mbox.
- Only Wanderlust has built-in Maildir.
- On Windows, Alpine runs natively and Wanderlust runs through WSL.
- Alpine has calendar support; Wanderlust does not.
- Alpine has S/MIME; Wanderlust does not.
- Alpine is written in C; Wanderlust in Emacs Lisp.
- Configuration: Alpine uses built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc, and Wanderlust uses Emacs Lisp in ~/.wl, folder list in ~/.folders.
Side by side
| Alpine | Wanderlust | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | C | Emacs Lisp |
| License | Apache 2.0 | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Latest version | 2.26 | 2.15.9 |
| 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 | No |
| notmuch | No | Through a separate tool |
| OpenPGP | via plugin | Yes |
| S/MIME | Yes | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | Yes | via oauth2.el |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in search and message selection; server-side for IMAP | IMAP server-side search; local search via mu, notmuch, grep or namazu |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML-to-text rendering | via mime-w3m (emacs-w3m) |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | message cache and disconnected operation |
| Calendar | Yes | No |
| Contacts | built-in address book; LDAP lookup | built-in address book |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | built-in setup screens, stored in .pinerc | Emacs Lisp in ~/.wl, folder list in ~/.folders |
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 Wanderlust for
- Built-in IMAP, POP3 and SMTP; no external sync or send tool needed
- Offline cache with disconnected operation
- Packaged in Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, FreeBSD and MELPA
Watch out for
- No formal release in many years; only 2.15.9 snapshots
- Folder syntax and the APEL/FLIM/SEMI dependency stack take time to learn
- Debian and Ubuntu ship an older snapshot than MELPA and Arch
Questions
What is the difference between Alpine and Wanderlust?
Alpine is a full-screen terminal client; Wanderlust is a mail client that runs inside Emacs. Only Alpine has built-in mbox. Only Wanderlust has built-in Maildir.
Which runs on Windows, Alpine or Wanderlust?
On Windows, Alpine runs natively. On Windows, Wanderlust runs through WSL.
See also: Alpine alternatives, Wanderlust alternatives.