Forward Email vs Wanderlust
Forward Email: Forward Email's webmail in the terminal: mail, calendar, contacts and settings, with mouse support and a key hint bar.
Wanderlust: Mail and news reader for Emacs, written in Emacs Lisp, with built-in IMAP, POP3, NNTP and SMTP support.
Differences
- Forward Email is a full-screen terminal client; Wanderlust is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; Wanderlust works with any provider over IMAP, including Forward Email.
- On Windows, Forward Email runs natively and Wanderlust runs through WSL.
- Forward Email has calendar support; Wanderlust does not.
- Wanderlust has OAuth2 sign-in; Forward Email does not.
- Forward Email is written in TypeScript; Wanderlust in Emacs Lisp.
- Configuration: Forward Email uses settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css, and Wanderlust uses Emacs Lisp in ~/.wl, folder list in ~/.folders.
- Forward Email is source-available (Business Source License 1.1); Wanderlust is open source (GPL 2.0 or later).
Side by side
| Forward Email | Wanderlust | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | TypeScript | Emacs Lisp |
| License | Business Source License 1.1 | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Latest version | 0.14.16 | 2.15.9 |
| 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 | No |
| notmuch | Forward Email API | Through a separate tool |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via oauth2.el |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in, across messages, contacts and events | IMAP server-side search; local search via mu, notmuch, grep or namazu |
| HTML mail | shown as formatted text with links; plain text by default | via mime-w3m (emacs-w3m) |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | drafts and changes made offline are sent when the connection returns | message cache and disconnected operation |
| Calendar | Yes | No |
| Contacts | Yes | built-in address book |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | settings screens, keyboard shortcut editor and an optional user.css | Emacs Lisp in ~/.wl, folder list in ~/.folders |
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 Wanderlust for
- Built-in IMAP, POP3 and SMTP; no external sync or send tool needed
- Offline cache with disconnected operation
- Packaged in Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, FreeBSD and MELPA
Watch out for
- No formal release in many years; only 2.15.9 snapshots
- Folder syntax and the APEL/FLIM/SEMI dependency stack take time to learn
- Debian and Ubuntu ship an older snapshot than MELPA and Arch
Questions
What is the difference between Forward Email and Wanderlust?
Forward Email is a full-screen terminal client; Wanderlust is a mail client that runs inside Emacs. Forward Email connects to Forward Email accounts through its API; Wanderlust works with any provider over IMAP, including Forward Email. On Windows, Forward Email runs natively and Wanderlust runs through WSL.
Which runs on Windows, Forward Email or Wanderlust?
On Windows, Forward Email runs natively. On Windows, Wanderlust runs through WSL.
See also: Forward Email alternatives, Wanderlust alternatives.