Gnus vs meli
Gnus: Mail and news reader built into GNU Emacs, with back ends for IMAP, POP3, local mail folders and NNTP.
meli: Terminal email client written in Rust with IMAP, JMAP, notmuch, Maildir, mbox and NNTP backends and TOML configuration.
Differences
- Gnus is a mail client that runs inside Emacs; meli is a full-screen terminal client.
- Only Gnus has built-in POP3.
- Only meli has built-in JMAP and notmuch.
- On Windows, Gnus runs natively and meli is not available.
- On Android, Gnus runs through Termux and meli is not available.
- Gnus has calendar support; meli does not.
- Gnus has S/MIME; meli does not.
- meli has Vim-style keys; Gnus does not.
- Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp; meli in Rust.
- Configuration: Gnus uses Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el, and meli uses TOML file (config.toml).
Side by side
| Gnus | meli | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Runs inside Emacs | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | Emacs Lisp | Rust |
| License | GPL 3.0 or later | EUPL 1.2 or GPL 3.0 or later |
| Latest version | 5.13 (bundled with Emacs 31.1) | 0.8.13 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | No |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Through Termux | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | No |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | No | Yes |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | Yes |
| notmuch | Through a separate tool | Yes |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | Yes | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | via plugin | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | gnus-search: IMAP SEARCH, or notmuch, mu, mairix and other local indexers | built-in; sqlite3 index by default; notmuch queries |
| HTML mail | built-in, rendered with the Emacs shr library | via filter command, w3m by default |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | via the Gnus agent or local Maildir back ends | IMAP header cache in sqlite3; full offline use with Maildir and mbsync |
| Calendar | replies to invitations with gnus-icalendar | No |
| Contacts | via BBDB or EUDC | built-in contact list; reads vCard and mutt alias files |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el | TOML file (config.toml) |
Which to choose
Choose Gnus for
- Included with every GNU Emacs install, including native Windows builds.
- Reads IMAP directly, plus local Maildir, MH and mbox stores and NNTP newsgroups.
- Scoring, splitting and the Gnus agent allow detailed filtering and offline reading.
Watch out for
- The group, summary and article model takes time to learn.
- IMAP access runs inside Emacs, so large mailboxes can make Emacs wait.
- Configuration is Emacs Lisp spread across many variables.
Choose meli for
- Supports JMAP, notmuch, IMAP, Maildir and NNTP in one client
- Single TOML file with per-account and per-mailbox overrides
- Embedded terminal runs the editor inside the compose view
Watch out for
- No POP3 or S/MIME support
- mbox support is read-only
- No Windows or Termux packages
Questions
What is the difference between Gnus and meli?
Gnus is a mail client that runs inside Emacs; meli is a full-screen terminal client. Only Gnus has built-in POP3. Only meli has built-in JMAP and notmuch.
Which runs on Windows, Gnus or meli?
On Windows, Gnus runs natively. On Windows, meli is not available.
See also: Gnus alternatives, meli alternatives.