Cone vs mu4e
Cone: Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.
mu4e: Email client that runs inside GNU Emacs, built on the mu Maildir indexer and search tool.
Differences
- Cone is a full-screen terminal client; mu4e is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- Only Cone has built-in IMAP, POP3 and mbox.
- On Linux, Cone builds from source and mu4e runs natively.
- On macOS, Cone is not available and mu4e runs natively.
- On Android, Cone is not available and mu4e runs through Termux.
- mu4e has mouse support; Cone does not.
- mu4e has calendar support; Cone does not.
- mu4e has S/MIME; Cone does not.
- mu4e has OAuth2 sign-in; Cone does not.
- Cone is written in C++; mu4e in Emacs Lisp (mu4e), C++ (mu).
- Configuration: Cone uses interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone, and mu4e uses Emacs Lisp in init.el.
Side by side
| Cone | mu4e | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | C++ | Emacs Lisp (mu4e), C++ (mu) |
| License | GPL 3.0 | GPL 3.0 or later |
| Latest version | 2.5 | 1.14.3 |
| Linux | Build from source | Native |
| macOS | No | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | No | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Yes | Through a separate tool |
| POP3 | Yes | Through a separate tool |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | No |
| notmuch | No | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | via Emacs MML |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in folder search; server-side on IMAP | Xapian full-text index with mu query syntax |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML renderer | built-in, rendered with the Emacs shr library |
| Mouse | No | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | via contexts |
| Offline use | No | full; reads a local Maildir synced by mbsync or OfflineIMAP |
| Calendar | No | replies to invitations with mu4e-icalendar |
| Contacts | built-in address books, stored locally, in an IMAP folder, or on LDAP | address completion from indexed mail |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone | Emacs Lisp in init.el |
Which to choose
Choose Cone for
- Handles IMAP, POP3, local mbox and Maildir folders, and newsgroups in one folder tree.
- Built-in OpenPGP signing and encryption with per-account keys.
- Optional master password encrypts saved server passwords.
Watch out for
- Not packaged by Debian, Fedora, Arch or Homebrew; usually built from source.
- No offline mode for IMAP accounts and no OAuth2.
- No S/MIME support.
Choose mu4e for
- Full-text search over all local mail through mu's Xapian index.
- Works offline, since all mail lives in a local Maildir.
- Uses Emacs message mode, so PGP/MIME, S/MIME and Org mode links are available.
Watch out for
- No built-in IMAP; needs mbsync or a similar sync tool, so setup spans several config files.
- Requires Emacs and some Emacs Lisp to configure.
- No native Windows build, and Arch packages it only in the AUR.
Questions
What is the difference between Cone and mu4e?
Cone is a full-screen terminal client; mu4e is a mail client that runs inside Emacs. Only Cone has built-in IMAP, POP3 and mbox. On Linux, Cone builds from source and mu4e runs natively.
Which runs on Windows, Cone or mu4e?
On Windows, Cone runs through WSL. On Windows, mu4e runs through WSL.
See also: Cone alternatives, mu4e alternatives.