Alternatives to alot
A terminal mail reader built on the notmuch indexer, with a command-prompt-driven interface. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
alot
A terminal mail reader built on the notmuch indexer, with a command-prompt-driven interface.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as alot.
NeoMutt
A fork of Mutt that gathered decades of scattered patches into one maintained terminal mail client.
NeoMutt is a full terminal client with built-in IMAP and notmuch tag support, so it can fetch mail itself rather than relying on separate tools like alot does.
aerc
A terminal email client with vim-style keys, an embedded terminal for composing, and first-class support for git email workflows.
aerc adds a Notmuch backend plus IMAP, Maildir and JMAP, an embedded terminal for composing, and git patch workflow support, and it also runs on macOS.
meli
A configurable terminal email client written in Rust with IMAP, Maildir, notmuch and JMAP support.
meli is written in Rust and supports notmuch alongside IMAP, Maildir, JMAP and mbox, though its developers describe it as experimental.
mu
A Maildir indexer and search tool with mu4e, an email client for GNU Emacs.
mu replaces notmuch indexing with its own Maildir indexer, and its mu4e client runs inside GNU Emacs rather than as a standalone terminal program.
Mutt
A text-based email client that runs in the terminal on Unix-like systems.
Mutt is a long-established keyboard-driven terminal client configured through a text file, organised around folders rather than notmuch tags and searches.
Alpine
A terminal email program descended from Pine, with its full documentation built into the program.
Alpine offers a simpler menu-driven terminal interface with built-in documentation and Windows builds, but does not use notmuch for tagging and search.
Himalaya
Manage mail accounts through a command-line client.
Himalaya is a command-line client that supports several protocols and local mailbox formats, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux as well.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
notmuch
A fast, tag-based email indexing and search system used from a terminal or text editor.
isync
Fast IMAP to Maildir mirroring, usually invoked as mbsync.
OfflineIMAP
Synchronises IMAP accounts into local Maildir folders.
msmtp
A small SMTP client that sends mail for terminal mail readers and scripts through a mail server.
getmail6
A command-line tool that fetches mail from POP3 and IMAP servers into local mailboxes.
