Matcha vs meli
Matcha: Terminal email client written in Go with the Bubble Tea TUI library, with IMAP, JMAP and POP3 support.
meli: Terminal email client written in Rust with IMAP, JMAP, notmuch, Maildir, mbox and NNTP backends and TOML configuration.
Differences
- Only Matcha has built-in POP3.
- Only meli has built-in mbox and notmuch.
- On Windows, Matcha runs natively and meli is not available.
- On BSD, Matcha builds from source and meli runs natively.
- Matcha has calendar support; meli does not.
- Matcha has S/MIME; meli does not.
- Matcha is written in Go; meli in Rust.
- Configuration: Matcha uses ~/.config/matcha/config.json plus in-app settings, and meli uses TOML file (config.toml).
Side by side
| Matcha | meli | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| License | MIT | EUPL 1.2 or GPL 3.0 or later |
| Latest version | v1.0.1 | 0.8.13 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | No |
| BSD | Build from source | Native |
| Android | No | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | Yes | No |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | Yes | Yes |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | No | Yes |
| notmuch | No | Yes |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | Yes | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | Yes | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in search and filter | built-in; sqlite3 index by default; notmuch queries |
| HTML mail | built-in rendering, with inline images in supported terminals | via filter command, w3m by default |
| Mouse | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | local cache of message lists and bodies | IMAP header cache in sqlite3; full offline use with Maildir and mbsync |
| Calendar | shows .ics invites and sends RSVP replies | No |
| Contacts | address book built from sent and received mail | built-in contact list; reads vCard and mutt alias files |
| Vim-style keys | Yes | Yes |
| Configuration | ~/.config/matcha/config.json plus in-app settings | TOML file (config.toml) |
Which to choose
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
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 Matcha and meli?
Only Matcha has built-in POP3. Only meli has built-in mbox and notmuch. On Windows, Matcha runs natively and meli is not available.
Which runs on Windows, Matcha or meli?
On Windows, Matcha runs natively. On Windows, meli is not available.
See also: Matcha alternatives, meli alternatives.