Cone vs S-nail
Cone: Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.
S-nail: Command-line mail program that implements POSIX mailx, with MIME, IMAP, POP3, SMTP, Maildir and S/MIME support.
Differences
- Cone is a full-screen terminal client; S-nail is a command-line program.
- On Linux, Cone builds from source and S-nail runs natively.
- On macOS, Cone is not available and S-nail runs natively.
- Cone has OpenPGP; S-nail does not.
- S-nail has S/MIME; Cone does not.
- S-nail has OAuth2 sign-in; Cone does not.
- Cone is written in C++; S-nail in C.
- Configuration: Cone uses interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone, and S-nail uses ~/.mailrc command file.
Side by side
| Cone | S-nail | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Command-line tools and prompts |
| Language | C++ | C |
| License | GPL 3.0 | ISC and BSD 2-Clause and BSD 3-Clause and BSD 4-Clause |
| Latest version | 2.5 | 14.9.25 |
| Linux | Build from source | Native |
| macOS | No | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | No | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | Yes |
| notmuch | No | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | No |
| S/MIME | No | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in folder search; server-side on IMAP | built-in message specifications and the search command; IMAP SEARCH on IMAP folders |
| HTML mail | built-in HTML renderer | built-in tag-soup filter or external viewer via mailcap |
| Mouse | No | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | No | IMAP cache with disconnected mode |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | built-in address books, stored locally, in an IMAP folder, or on LDAP | aliases via the alias command |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone | ~/.mailrc command 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 S-nail for
- Drop-in POSIX mailx, so it works in existing shell scripts and cron jobs.
- Built-in SMTP, POP3 and IMAP with TLS; no separate sync or send tool needed.
- S/MIME signing and encryption are built in.
Watch out for
- Line-oriented prompt instead of a full-screen interface.
- No built-in OpenPGP; upstream documents a gpg pipe workaround only.
- IMAP support is kept at an older code level and upstream advises care.
Questions
What is the difference between Cone and S-nail?
Cone is a full-screen terminal client; S-nail is a command-line program. On Linux, Cone builds from source and S-nail runs natively. On macOS, Cone is not available and S-nail runs natively.
Which runs on Windows, Cone or S-nail?
On Windows, Cone runs through WSL. On Windows, S-nail runs through WSL.
See also: Cone alternatives, S-nail alternatives.