# Cone vs Gnus

- Cone: Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.
- Gnus: Mail and news reader built into GNU Emacs, with back ends for IMAP, POP3, local mail folders and NNTP.

## Differences

- Cone is a full-screen terminal client; Gnus is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- On Linux, Cone builds from source and Gnus runs natively.
- On macOS, Cone is not available and Gnus runs natively.
- On Windows, Cone runs through WSL and Gnus runs natively.
- On Android, Cone is not available and Gnus runs through Termux.
- Gnus has mouse support; Cone does not.
- Gnus has calendar support; Cone does not.
- Gnus has S/MIME; Cone does not.
- Gnus has OAuth2 sign-in; Cone does not.
- Cone is written in C++; Gnus in Emacs Lisp.
- Configuration: Cone uses interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone, and Gnus uses Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el.

## Side by side

| | Cone | Gnus |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | C++ | Emacs Lisp |
| License | GPL 3.0 | GPL 3.0 or later |
| Linux | Build from source | Native |
| macOS | Not supported | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | Native |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Not supported | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | Yes |
| notmuch | No | Through a separate tool |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via plugin |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in folder search; server-side on IMAP | gnus-search: IMAP SEARCH, or notmuch, mu, mairix and other local indexers |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML renderer | built-in, rendered with the Emacs shr library |
| Mouse | No | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | via the Gnus agent or local Maildir back ends |
| Calendar | No | replies to invitations with gnus-icalendar |
| Contacts | built-in address books, stored locally, in an IMAP folder, or on LDAP | via BBDB or EUDC |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone | Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el |

Pages: [Cone](https://terminalemail.com/clients/cone/index.md), [Gnus](https://terminalemail.com/clients/gnus/index.md)