Forward Email vs mu4e
Forward Email: Forward Email's webmail in the terminal: mail, calendar, contacts and settings, with mouse support and a key hint bar.
mu4e: Email client that runs inside GNU Emacs, built on the mu Maildir indexer and search tool.
Differences
- Forward Email is a full-screen terminal client; mu4e is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; mu4e works with any provider, including Forward Email.
- On Windows, Forward Email runs natively and mu4e runs through WSL.
- mu4e has S/MIME; Forward Email does not.
- mu4e has OAuth2 sign-in; Forward Email does not.
- Forward Email is written in TypeScript; mu4e in Emacs Lisp (mu4e), C++ (mu).
- Configuration: Forward Email uses settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css, and mu4e uses Emacs Lisp in init.el.
- Forward Email is source-available (Business Source License 1.1); mu4e is open source (GPL 3.0 or later).
Side by side
| Forward Email | mu4e | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | TypeScript | Emacs Lisp (mu4e), C++ (mu) |
| License | Business Source License 1.1 | GPL 3.0 or later |
| Latest version | 0.14.16 | 1.14.3 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Through Termux | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Forward Email API | Through a separate tool |
| POP3 | Forward Email API | Through a separate tool |
| SMTP | Forward Email API | Yes |
| JMAP | Forward Email API | No |
| Maildir | Forward Email API | Yes |
| mbox | Forward Email API | No |
| notmuch | Forward Email API | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | via Emacs MML |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in, across messages, contacts and events | Xapian full-text index with mu query syntax |
| HTML mail | shown as formatted text with links; plain text by default | built-in, rendered with the Emacs shr library |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | via contexts |
| Offline use | drafts and changes made offline are sent when the connection returns | full; reads a local Maildir synced by mbsync or OfflineIMAP |
| Calendar | Yes | replies to invitations with mu4e-icalendar |
| Contacts | Yes | address completion from indexed mail |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css | Emacs Lisp in init.el |
Which to choose
Choose Forward Email for
- Calendar, contacts and tasks in the same terminal app as mail
- Mouse clicks, scrolling and text selection work, and the bottom row always shows the keys for the current screen
- One self-updating executable with no setup files to write
Watch out for
- Only works with Forward Email accounts
- Images and video are not drawn; HTML mail is shown as text with links
- Passkey sign-in needs a browser or the desktop app
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 Forward Email and mu4e?
Forward Email is a full-screen terminal client; mu4e is a mail client that runs inside Emacs. Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; mu4e works with any provider, including Forward Email. On Windows, Forward Email runs natively and mu4e runs through WSL.
Which runs on Windows, Forward Email or mu4e?
On Windows, Forward Email runs natively. On Windows, mu4e runs through WSL.
See also: Forward Email alternatives, mu4e alternatives.