Forward Email vs Mutt
Forward Email: Forward Email's webmail in the terminal: mail, calendar, contacts and settings, with mouse support and a key hint bar.
Mutt: Long-running text-mode email client with IMAP, POP3 and SMTP support, configured through a muttrc file.
Differences
- Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; Mutt works with any provider over IMAP, including Forward Email.
- On Windows, Forward Email runs natively and Mutt runs through WSL.
- Forward Email has mouse support; Mutt does not.
- Forward Email has calendar support; Mutt does not.
- Mutt has S/MIME; Forward Email does not.
- Mutt has OAuth2 sign-in; Forward Email does not.
- Mutt has Vim-style keys; Forward Email does not.
- Forward Email is written in TypeScript; Mutt in C.
- Configuration: Forward Email uses settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css, and Mutt uses muttrc text file.
- Forward Email is source-available (Business Source License 1.1); Mutt is open source (GPL 2.0 or later).
Side by side
| Forward Email | Mutt | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | TypeScript | C |
| License | Business Source License 1.1 | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Latest version | 0.14.16 | 2.4.2 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Through Termux | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Forward Email API | Yes |
| POP3 | Forward Email API | Yes |
| SMTP | Forward Email API | Yes |
| JMAP | Forward Email API | No |
| Maildir | Forward Email API | Yes |
| mbox | Forward Email API | Yes |
| notmuch | Forward Email API | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in, across messages, contacts and events | built-in patterns; server-side IMAP search |
| HTML mail | shown as formatted text with links; plain text by default | via mailcap and an external viewer such as w3m or lynx |
| Mouse | Yes | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | drafts and changes made offline are sent when the connection returns | with isync or OfflineIMAP; IMAP header and body cache |
| Calendar | Yes | No |
| Contacts | Yes | via query_command with abook or khard |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css | muttrc text file |
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 Mutt for
- Packaged by major Linux distributions, Homebrew, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and Termux
- Conservative releases that rarely break existing muttrc files
- Built-in PGP/MIME, S/MIME and Autocrypt
Watch out for
- No notmuch, NNTP or scripting support (NeoMutt has these)
- Configuration is a text file with hundreds of options and no setup wizard
- HTML mail needs an external viewer set up in mailcap
Questions
What is the difference between Forward Email and Mutt?
Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; Mutt works with any provider over IMAP, including Forward Email. On Windows, Forward Email runs natively and Mutt runs through WSL. Forward Email has mouse support; Mutt does not.
Which runs on Windows, Forward Email or Mutt?
On Windows, Forward Email runs natively. On Windows, Mutt runs through WSL.
See also: Forward Email alternatives, Mutt alternatives.