# Cone vs Mutt

- Cone: Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.
- Mutt: Long-running text-mode email client with IMAP, POP3 and SMTP support, configured through a muttrc file.

## Differences

- On Linux, Cone builds from source and Mutt runs natively.
- On macOS, Cone is not available and Mutt runs natively.
- On Android, Cone is not available and Mutt runs through Termux.
- Mutt has S/MIME; Cone does not.
- Mutt has OAuth2 sign-in; Cone does not.
- Mutt has Vim-style keys; Cone does not.
- Cone is written in C++; Mutt in C.
- Configuration: Cone uses interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone, and Mutt uses muttrc text file.

## Side by side

| | Cone | Mutt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C++ | C |
| License | GPL 3.0 | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Linux | Build from source | Native |
| macOS | Not supported | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | Through WSL |
| 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 | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in folder search; server-side on IMAP | built-in patterns; server-side IMAP search |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML renderer | via mailcap and an external viewer such as w3m or lynx |
| Mouse | No | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | with isync or OfflineIMAP; IMAP header and body cache |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | built-in address books, stored locally, in an IMAP folder, or on LDAP | via query_command with abook or khard |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone | muttrc text file |

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