Cone vs NeoMutt
Cone: Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.
NeoMutt: Full-screen terminal mail reader forked from Mutt, with notmuch, NNTP, Lua scripting and a sidebar built in.
Differences
- Only NeoMutt has built-in notmuch.
- On Linux, Cone builds from source and NeoMutt runs natively.
- On macOS, Cone is not available and NeoMutt runs natively.
- On Android, Cone is not available and NeoMutt runs through Termux.
- NeoMutt has S/MIME; Cone does not.
- NeoMutt has OAuth2 sign-in; Cone does not.
- NeoMutt has Vim-style keys; Cone does not.
- Cone is written in C++; NeoMutt in C.
- Configuration: Cone uses interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone, and NeoMutt uses neomuttrc text file.
Side by side
| Cone | NeoMutt | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C++ | C |
| License | GPL 3.0 | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Latest version | 2.5 | 20260616 |
| Linux | Build from source | Native |
| macOS | No | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | No | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | Yes |
| notmuch | No | Yes |
| 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; notmuch for full-text |
| 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 | neomuttrc text file |
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 NeoMutt for
- Built-in notmuch support for tag-based virtual mailboxes and full-text search
- Reads Usenet over NNTP and supports Lua scripting
- Reads most existing muttrc files with few or no changes
Watch out for
- Configuration is a text file with hundreds of options and no setup wizard
- HTML mail needs an external viewer set up in mailcap
- OAuth2 needs an external token script such as mutt_oauth2.py
Questions
What is the difference between Cone and NeoMutt?
Only NeoMutt has built-in notmuch. On Linux, Cone builds from source and NeoMutt runs natively. On macOS, Cone is not available and NeoMutt runs natively.
Which runs on Windows, Cone or NeoMutt?
On Windows, Cone runs through WSL. On Windows, NeoMutt runs through WSL.
See also: Cone alternatives, NeoMutt alternatives.