# 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 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Not supported | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Not supported | 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 |

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