# 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 |
| 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 |

Pages: [Forward Email](https://terminalemail.com/clients/forward-email/index.md), [Mutt](https://terminalemail.com/clients/mutt/index.md)