mblaze vs meli
mblaze: Set of small Unix utilities for reading, searching, threading and composing mail stored in Maildir folders.
meli: Terminal email client written in Rust with IMAP, JMAP, notmuch, Maildir, mbox and NNTP backends and TOML configuration.
Differences
- mblaze is a command-line program; meli is a full-screen terminal client.
- Only meli has built-in IMAP, SMTP, JMAP, mbox and notmuch.
- On Windows, mblaze runs through WSL and meli is not available.
- meli has mouse support; mblaze does not.
- meli has OAuth2 sign-in; mblaze does not.
- meli has Vim-style keys; mblaze does not.
- mblaze is written in C; meli in Rust.
- Configuration: mblaze uses ~/.mblaze/profile (header-style key: value lines), and meli uses TOML file (config.toml).
Side by side
| mblaze | meli | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Command-line tools and prompts | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C | Rust |
| License | CC0 1.0 and MIT | EUPL 1.2 or GPL 3.0 or later |
| Latest version | 1.4 | 0.8.13 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | No |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | No | No |
| IMAP | Through a separate tool | Yes |
| POP3 | Through a separate tool | No |
| SMTP | Through a separate tool | Yes |
| JMAP | No | Yes |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | No | Yes |
| notmuch | No | Yes |
| OpenPGP | via contrib scripts | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | mpick and magrep filter messages by headers, flags and content | built-in; sqlite3 index by default; notmuch queries |
| HTML mail | via a filter command in ~/.mblaze/filter used by mshow | via filter command, w3m by default |
| Mouse | No | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | via separate Maildirs and profile settings | Yes |
| Offline use | full; works only on local Maildir | IMAP header cache in sqlite3; full offline use with Maildir and mbsync |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | No | built-in contact list; reads vCard and mutt alias files |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | ~/.mblaze/profile (header-style key: value lines) | TOML file (config.toml) |
Which to choose
Choose mblaze for
- Each command does one job, so mail handling is easy to combine in pipes and scripts.
- Works directly on Maildir with no index or database to maintain.
- Small C programs with no external library dependencies.
Watch out for
- No built-in IMAP, POP3 or SMTP; needs mbsync and msmtp or similar tools.
- Command-line only, with no full-screen interface.
- OpenPGP and S/MIME handling relies on unsupported contrib scripts.
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 mblaze and meli?
mblaze is a command-line program; meli is a full-screen terminal client. Only meli has built-in IMAP, SMTP, JMAP, mbox and notmuch. On Windows, mblaze runs through WSL and meli is not available.
Which runs on Windows, mblaze or meli?
On Windows, mblaze runs through WSL. On Windows, meli is not available.
See also: mblaze alternatives, meli alternatives.