# nmail vs Sup

- nmail: Terminal email client for Linux and macOS with an Alpine-like interface and built-in IMAP and SMTP.
- Sup: Curses email client in Ruby built around threads, labels and fast full-text search over local mail.

## Differences

- Only nmail has built-in IMAP and SMTP.
- Only Sup has built-in Maildir and mbox.
- On Windows, nmail is not available and Sup runs through WSL.
- On BSD, nmail is not available and Sup builds from source.
- Sup has OpenPGP; nmail does not.
- nmail has OAuth2 sign-in; Sup does not.
- Sup has Vim-style keys; nmail does not.
- Sup has multiple accounts; nmail does not.
- Sup has threaded views; nmail does not.
- nmail is written in C++; Sup in Ruby.
- Configuration: nmail uses ~/.config/nmail/main.conf key=value file, and Sup uses ~/.sup/config.yaml and ~/.sup/sources.yaml, plus Ruby hooks.

## Side by side

| | nmail | Sup |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Interface | Full-screen terminal interface | Full-screen terminal interface |
| Language | C++ | Ruby |
| License | MIT | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Not supported | Through WSL |
| BSD | Not supported | Build from source |
| Android | Not supported | Not supported |
| IMAP | Yes | No |
| POP3 | No | No |
| SMTP | Yes | Through a separate tool |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | No | Yes |
| mbox | No | Yes |
| notmuch | No | No |
| OpenPGP | No | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | Yes | No |
| Threads | No | Yes |
| Search | local cache index and server search | Xapian full-text index with a query language |
| HTML mail | converted to text, or opened in an external browser | via the mime-decode hook and an external viewer such as w3m |
| Mouse | No | No |
| Multiple accounts | No | Yes |
| Offline use | local SQLite cache; offline mode and send queue | reads local Maildir or mbox; sync with isync or OfflineIMAP |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | address book built from messages | tracks recent contacts automatically |
| Vim-style keys | No | Yes |
| Configuration | ~/.config/nmail/main.conf key=value file | ~/.sup/config.yaml and ~/.sup/sources.yaml, plus Ruby hooks |

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