# 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 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Not supported |
| BSD | Build from source | Native |
| Android | Not supported | Not supported |
| 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) |

Pages: [Matcha](https://terminalemail.com/clients/matcha/index.md), [meli](https://terminalemail.com/clients/meli/index.md)