Himalaya vs Matcha
Himalaya: Command-line email client written in Rust that lists, reads, sends and moves mail through shell commands with JSON output.
Matcha: Terminal email client written in Go with the Bubble Tea TUI library, with IMAP, JMAP and POP3 support.
Differences
- Himalaya is a command-line program; Matcha is a full-screen terminal client.
- Only Matcha has built-in POP3.
- Matcha has mouse support; Himalaya does not.
- Matcha has calendar support; Himalaya does not.
- Matcha has OpenPGP; Himalaya does not.
- Matcha has S/MIME; Himalaya does not.
- Matcha has Vim-style keys; Himalaya does not.
- Himalaya is written in Rust; Matcha in Go.
- Configuration: Himalaya uses TOML file; interactive setup wizard, and Matcha uses ~/.config/matcha/config.json plus in-app settings.
Side by side
| Himalaya | Matcha | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Command-line tools and prompts | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| License | MIT or Apache 2.0 | MIT |
| Latest version | 2.1.0 | v1.0.1 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Native |
| BSD | Build from source | Build from source |
| Android | No | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | No | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | Yes | Yes |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | No | No |
| notmuch | No | No |
| OpenPGP | No | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | via script | Yes |
| Threads | through the IMAP, JMAP and Gmail subcommands | Yes |
| Search | built-in query syntax across backends; server-side for IMAP and JMAP | built-in search and filter |
| HTML mail | No | built-in rendering, with inline images in supported terminals |
| Mouse | No | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | with the Maildir backend and a sync tool such as mbsync | local cache of message lists and bodies |
| Calendar | No | shows .ics invites and sends RSVP replies |
| Contacts | No | address book built from sent and received mail |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | TOML file; interactive setup wizard | ~/.config/matcha/config.json plus in-app settings |
Which to choose
Choose Himalaya for
- Every action is a shell command with optional JSON output, suited to scripts
- Native Windows binary through Scoop and GitHub releases
- Also supports JMAP, the Gmail API and Microsoft Graph
Watch out for
- No interactive interface; himalaya-tui is still pre-release
- Composing rich MIME or PGP messages needs the separate mml tool
- Version 2 dropped the notmuch and sendmail backends
Choose Matcha for
- Supports IMAP, JMAP, POP3 and Maildir in one client
- PGP (including YubiKey) and S/MIME signing and encryption
- Prebuilt packages for Linux (Snap, Flatpak), macOS (Homebrew tap) and Windows (winget)
Watch out for
- Young project; v1.0 shipped only after a long series of 0.x releases
- JSON config is less readable to hand-edit than muttrc-style files
- Binary name clashes with an unrelated tool also called matcha
Questions
What is the difference between Himalaya and Matcha?
Himalaya is a command-line program; Matcha is a full-screen terminal client. Only Matcha has built-in POP3. Matcha has mouse support; Himalaya does not.
Which runs on Windows, Himalaya or Matcha?
On Windows, Himalaya runs natively. On Windows, Matcha runs natively.
See also: Himalaya alternatives, Matcha alternatives.