Cone vs nmail
Cone: Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.
nmail: Terminal email client for Linux and macOS with an Alpine-like interface and built-in IMAP and SMTP.
Differences
- Only Cone has built-in POP3, Maildir and mbox.
- On Linux, Cone builds from source and nmail runs natively.
- On macOS, Cone is not available and nmail runs natively.
- On Windows, Cone runs through WSL and nmail is not available.
- On BSD, Cone runs natively and nmail is not available.
- Cone has OpenPGP; nmail does not.
- nmail has OAuth2 sign-in; Cone does not.
- Cone has multiple accounts; nmail does not.
- Cone has threaded views; nmail does not.
- Configuration: Cone uses interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone, and nmail uses ~/.config/nmail/main.conf key=value file.
Side by side
| Cone | nmail | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C++ | C++ |
| License | GPL 3.0 | MIT |
| Latest version | 2.5 | v5.16.4 |
| Linux | Build from source | Native |
| macOS | No | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | No |
| BSD | Native | No |
| Android | No | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | No |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | Yes | No |
| mbox | Yes | No |
| notmuch | No | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | No |
| S/MIME | No | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | Yes |
| Threads | Yes | No |
| Search | built-in folder search; server-side on IMAP | local cache index and server search |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML renderer | converted to text, or opened in an external browser |
| Mouse | No | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | No |
| Offline use | No | local SQLite cache; offline mode and send queue |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | built-in address books, stored locally, in an IMAP folder, or on LDAP | address book built from messages |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone | ~/.config/nmail/main.conf key=value 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 nmail for
- Built-in IMAP and SMTP with setup wizards for Gmail, iCloud and Outlook
- Local cache, address book and outgoing queue can be encrypted
- Compose HTML mail using Markdown
Watch out for
- One account per running instance
- No threaded view and no PGP or S/MIME
- Linux and macOS only; no Debian or Fedora package
Questions
What is the difference between Cone and nmail?
Only Cone has built-in POP3, Maildir and mbox. On Linux, Cone builds from source and nmail runs natively. On macOS, Cone is not available and nmail runs natively.
Which runs on Windows, Cone or nmail?
On Windows, Cone runs through WSL. On Windows, nmail is not available.
See also: Cone alternatives, nmail alternatives.