# meli vs nmail

- meli: Terminal email client written in Rust with IMAP, JMAP, notmuch, Maildir, mbox and NNTP backends and TOML configuration.
- nmail: Terminal email client for Linux and macOS with an Alpine-like interface and built-in IMAP and SMTP.

## Differences

- Only meli has built-in JMAP, Maildir, mbox and notmuch.
- On BSD, meli runs natively and nmail is not available.
- meli has mouse support; nmail does not.
- meli has OpenPGP; nmail does not.
- meli has Vim-style keys; nmail does not.
- meli has multiple accounts; nmail does not.
- meli has threaded views; nmail does not.
- meli is written in Rust; nmail in C++.
- Configuration: meli uses TOML file (config.toml), and nmail uses ~/.config/nmail/main.conf key=value file.

## Side by side

| | meli | nmail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | Rust | C++ |
| License | EUPL 1.2 or GPL 3.0 or later | MIT |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Not supported | Not supported |
| BSD | Native | Not supported |
| Android | Not supported | Not supported |
| IMAP | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | No | No |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | Yes | No |
| Maildir | Yes | No |
| mbox | Yes | No |
| notmuch | Yes | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | No |
| S/MIME | No | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | via script | Yes |
| Threads | Yes | No |
| Search | built-in; sqlite3 index by default; notmuch queries | local cache index and server search |
| HTML mail | via filter command, w3m by default | converted to text, or opened in an external browser |
| Mouse | Yes | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | No |
| Offline use | IMAP header cache in sqlite3; full offline use with Maildir and mbsync | local SQLite cache; offline mode and send queue |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | built-in contact list; reads vCard and mutt alias files | address book built from messages |
| Vim-style keys | Yes | No |
| Configuration | TOML file (config.toml) | ~/.config/nmail/main.conf key=value file |

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