meli vs Mutt
meli: Terminal email client written in Rust with IMAP, JMAP, notmuch, Maildir, mbox and NNTP backends and TOML configuration.
Mutt: Long-running text-mode email client with IMAP, POP3 and SMTP support, configured through a muttrc file.
Differences
- Only meli has built-in JMAP and notmuch.
- Only Mutt has built-in POP3.
- On Windows, meli is not available and Mutt runs through WSL.
- On Android, meli is not available and Mutt runs through Termux.
- meli has mouse support; Mutt does not.
- Mutt has S/MIME; meli does not.
- meli is written in Rust; Mutt in C.
- Configuration: meli uses TOML file (config.toml), and Mutt uses muttrc text file.
Side by side
| meli | Mutt | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | Rust | C |
| License | EUPL 1.2 or GPL 3.0 or later | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Latest version | 0.8.13 | 2.4.2 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | No | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | No | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | No | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | Yes | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | Yes |
| notmuch | Yes | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | via script | via script |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | built-in; sqlite3 index by default; notmuch queries | built-in patterns; server-side IMAP search |
| HTML mail | via filter command, w3m by default | via mailcap and an external viewer such as w3m or lynx |
| Mouse | Yes | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | IMAP header cache in sqlite3; full offline use with Maildir and mbsync | with isync or OfflineIMAP; IMAP header and body cache |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | built-in contact list; reads vCard and mutt alias files | via query_command with abook or khard |
| Vim-style keys | Yes | Yes |
| Configuration | TOML file (config.toml) | muttrc text file |
Which to choose
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
Choose Mutt for
- Packaged by major Linux distributions, Homebrew, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and Termux
- Conservative releases that rarely break existing muttrc files
- Built-in PGP/MIME, S/MIME and Autocrypt
Watch out for
- No notmuch, NNTP or scripting support (NeoMutt has these)
- Configuration is a text file with hundreds of options and no setup wizard
- HTML mail needs an external viewer set up in mailcap
Questions
What is the difference between meli and Mutt?
Only meli has built-in JMAP and notmuch. Only Mutt has built-in POP3. On Windows, meli is not available and Mutt runs through WSL.
Which runs on Windows, meli or Mutt?
On Windows, meli is not available. On Windows, Mutt runs through WSL.
See also: meli alternatives, Mutt alternatives.