Comparison of email clients

The following tables compare general and technical features of notable non-web-based email client programs.

General

[edit]

Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, O/S, license, and interface.

   No longer in active development
Client Author/Developer Operating system Software license User Interface
Alpine University of Washington Cross-platform Apache-2.0 TUI
Apple Mail Apple macOS, iOS, watchOS Proprietary GUI (Cocoa)
Balsa Stuart Parmenter Linux GPL-2.0-or-later GUI (GTK3)
Becky! Internet Mail Rimarts Windows Proprietary GUI
BlitzMail Dartmouth College BSD licenses GUI
Canary Mail Cartasec Pte. Ltd. Cross-platform Proprietary GUI
Citadel citadel.org Unix-like GPL-3.0-only Webmail
Claws Mail the Claws Mail team Cross-platform GPL-3.0-or-later GUI (GTK2)
Courier (formerly Calypso) Micro Computer Systems, Inc., continued by Rose City Software Windows Proprietary GUI
Elm Dave Taylor, Sydney Weinstein, Bill Pemberton, Michael Elkins, Kari Hurtta Unix-like BSD-like[1] TUI
eM Client eM Client Inc. Windows, macOS, Android, iOS Proprietary GUI
EmailTray Internet Promotion Agency S.A. Windows, Android Proprietary GUI
Eudora OSE Qualcomm Windows, macOS Open source GUI
Evolution The GNOME Project Unix-like LGPL-2.1-only or LGPL-3.0-only GUI (GTK)
FirstClass Open Text Proprietary GUI
Forté Agent Mark Sidell Windows Proprietary GUI
Geary The GNOME Project (formerly Yorba Foundation) Unix-like LGPL-2.1-or-later GUI (GTK)
GNUMail Ludovic Marcotte and others Unix-like, macOS GPL-2.0-or-later GUI
Gnus Gnus team Cross-platform GPL-3.0-or-later TUI and GUI
GroupWise Micro Focus (formerly Novell) Cross-platform Proprietary GUI
Hiri Hiri Cross-platform Proprietary GUI
i.Scribe, InScribe Memecode Windows, macOS, Linux GPL-3.0-only GUI
HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes and IBM Lotus Notes) HCL Technologies (formerly IBM and Lotus Software), HCL Technologies Windows, macOS, Linux Proprietary GUI (Notes), Web (Verse, iNotes) and Mobile (Traveler)
IMP Horde LLC Cross-platform GPL-2.0-only Webmail
K-9 Mail K-9 Dog Walkers: cketti, et al. Android Apache-2.0 GUI
KMail KDE Cross-platform GNU General Public License GUI (Qt)
Mail (Windows) Microsoft Windows Proprietary GUI
Mailbird Mailbird Windows Proprietary GUI
Mailpile Mailpile Windows, macOS, Linux AGPL-3.0-or-later Webmail
mailx ? Unix-like BSD Licenses TUI
Microsoft Entourage Microsoft macOS Proprietary GUI
Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Windows, macOS Proprietary GUI
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups Mozilla Foundation Mozilla Public License GUI (XUL)
Mozilla Thunderbird Mozilla Foundation Cross-platform MPL-2.0 GUI (XUL)
Mulberry Cyrus Daboo (formerly Cyrusoft International, Inc./ISAMET) Cross-platform Apache-2.0 GUI
Mutt Michael Elkins Cross-platform GPL-2.0-or-later TUI (ncurses)
Netscape Messenger Netscape Communications ? GUI
Netscape Messenger 9 Netscape Communications Mozilla Public License GUI
Nylas Mail Nylas Windows, macOS, Linux MIT GUI
nmh / MH RAND Corporation Unix-like BSD Licenses CLI
Opera Mail Opera Software Cross-platform Proprietary GUI
Outlook Express Microsoft Windows Proprietary GUI
Pegasus Mail David Harris Windows Proprietary GUI
Pine University of Washington Cross-platform Freeware[2] TUI
Pocomail Poco Systems Windows Proprietary GUI
RoundCube The RoundCube Team Cross-platform GPL-3.0-or-later Webmail
Samsung Email Samsung Electronics Samsung, Android 8+ Proprietary GUI
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups SeaMonkey Council Cross-platform MPL-2.0 GUI (XUL)
Spark Readdle macOS Proprietary GUI
SquirrelMail The SquirrelMail Project Team Cross-platform GPL-2.0-or-later Webmail
Superhuman Rahul Vohra Cross-platform Proprietary Webmail
Sylpheed Hiroyuki Yamamoto Cross-platform Sylpheed: GPL-2.0-or-later
LibSylph: LGPL-2.1-or-later 		GUI (GTK2)
The Bat! RitLabs Windows Proprietary GUI
Trojitá KDE Cross-platform GPL-2.0-only or GPL-3.0-only[Note 1] GUI (Qt)
Turnpike Thus PLC (Demon Internet) Windows Proprietary GUI
Vivaldi Vivaldi Technologies AS Cross-platform Proprietary GUI (Chrome)
Windows Live Mail Microsoft Windows Proprietary GUI
Windows Mail (Vista) Microsoft Windows Proprietary GUI
YAM YAM Open Source Team and contributing authors AmigaOS GPL-2.0-or-later GUI
Zimbra Desktop Zimbra Cross-platform Mozilla Public License for server and ZPL for client GUI
Client Author/Developer Operating system Software license User interface
  1. ^ Or LicenseRef-KDE-Accepted-GPL: "Any later version accepted by the membership of KDE e.V. (or its successor approved by the membership of KDE e.V.), which shall act as a proxy defined in Section 14 of version 3 of the license."

Release history

[edit]

A brief digest of the release histories.

Client First public Date First public Version First stable Date First stable Version Latest stable release
Alpine 2006-11 0.8 2007 December 1.00 2.26[3] Edit this on Wikidata 2 June 2022
Apple Mail 2001-03-24 ? ? ? ( ())
Becky! Internet Mail 1996 1 ? ? 2.81.06[4] Edit this on Wikidata 28 February 2024
Canary Mail 2017-06-15 1.0 2017-06-15 1.0 4.01 (5th June, 2023)
Citadel 1987 ? 1988 1.00 997[5] Edit this on Wikidata 29 January 2024
Claws Mail 2001-05 0.4.67 2005-01 1.0.0 4.3.0[6] Edit this on Wikidata 10 June 2024
Courier 2004-06 3.5 discontinued discontinued 3.5 (June 2004) [±]
Elm 1986 ? 1987-03 2 2.5.8[7] Edit this on Wikidata 18 August 2005
eM Client 2007-11 1.0 2007-11 1.0 10.0.2382.0 (May 10, 2024; 8 months ago (2024-05-10)) [±]
EmailTray 2010-10 2.0 2011-03 3.11 4.0 (July 2, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-07-02)) [±]
Eudora 1988[8] ? 1988[8] ? 7.1 (Windows), 6.2.4 (Mac OS) (October 11, 2006; 18 years ago (2006-10-11)) [±]
Evolution 2000-05-11 0.0 2001-12-03 1.0 3.54.3[9] Edit this on Wikidata 3 January 2025
Forté Agent ? ? ? ? 8 (October 20, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-10-20)) [±]
Geary 2012 0.1 2012 0.1 46.0[10] Edit this on Wikidata 20 May 2024
Gnus 1987[11] ? 1988-02-01[11] 2.0 2015-04-06
GroupWise ? ? 1986 1.0 18.4[12] Edit this on Wikidata 14 March 2022
Hiri 2014-02 0.4 2016-06 1.0 1.0.11 (June 10, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-06-10)) [±]
i.Scribe / InScribe 1999 1.00 ? ? 2.3.18 (March 30, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-03-30)) [±]
HCL Notes (formerly IBM Lotus Notes) 1989 1.0 1989 1.0 14.0.0[13] Edit this on Wikidata 7 December 2023
IMP ? ? 1998 1.0 6.2.27[14] Edit this on Wikidata 27 August 2020
K-9 Mail ? ? ? ? 8.2[15][16] Edit this on Wikidata 10 December 2024
KMail 1998-10 Alpha 1999-02 1.0.17
Mailbird 2013-04-01 Public Beta ? ? 2.9.29 (April 22, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-04-22)) [±]
Mailpile 2011-11 [17] [18] [19] 1.0.0rc6 (September 4, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-09-04)[20]) [±]
Microsoft Entourage ? ? ? ? 2008 (12.3.6) (March 12, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-03-12)) [±]
Microsoft Office Outlook 1997 97 1997 97
Microsoft 365 & Retail[a] (Windows)2501 (Build 18429.20132) / 30 January 2025; 1 day ago (2025-01-30)[21][22]
Microsoft 365 (Mac)16.93.2 (Build 25012611) / 28 January 2025; 3 days ago (2025-01-28)[23]
Office 2021 (LTSC)2108 (Build 14332.20839) / 14 January 2025; 17 days ago (2025-01-14)[22]
Office 2019 (LTSC)1808 (Build 10416.20047) / 14 January 2025; 17 days ago (2025-01-14)[24]
Mozilla Thunderbird 2003-07-28 0.1 2004-12-07 1.0
Mulberry 1996-09-20 1.0 1996-09-20 1.0 4.0.8 (February 21, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-02-21)) [±]
Mutt 1995 ? ? ? 2.2.13[25] Edit this on Wikidata 9 March 2024
Netscape Messenger ? ? ? ? 7.2 (August 17, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-08-17)) [±]
Netscape Messenger 9 2007-11-15 9.0a1 discontinued discontinued 2007-11-15
nmh / MH 1979 ? ? ? 1.5 (June 11, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-06-11)) [±]
Opera Mail 1996-09 2.1b1 1996-12 2.1 1.0.1044[26] (February 16, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-02-16)) [±]
Outlook Express 1996 3.0 ? ?
Pegasus Mail 1990 ? 1990 ? 4.80[27] Edit this on Wikidata 14 February 2022
Pine 1992-01-15 2.00 1992-01-15 2.00 4.64[28] Edit this on Wikidata 28 September 2005
Pocomail 1999 ? ? ? 4.8 build 4400 (April 6, 2009; 15 years ago (2009-04-06)) [±]
RoundCube 2006 0.1-rc1 2014-04-07 1.0.0 1.6.9[29] Edit this on Wikidata 1 September 2024
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups 2005-09-15 1.0a 2006-01-30 1.0 2.53.20[30] Edit this on Wikidata 7 January 2025
SquirrelMail 1999-12 0.1 2001-01 1.0
Sylpheed 2000-01 0.1.0 2004-12 1.0.0 3.7[31] Edit this on Wikidata 31 January 2018
The Bat! 1997-03 1.0 Beta 1998-03 1.00 Build 1310
Trojitá 2009-08 0.1 2012-12 0.3.90
Turnpike 1996 (circa) 1.0 1996 (circa) 1.0 6.06 (May 23, 2006; 18 years ago (2006-05-23)) [±]
Vivaldi 2015-11-03 Beta 1 2022-06-09 1.0
Windows Live Mail 2007-11-06 12 2007-11-06 12 2012 (v16.4.3528.0331) (November 4, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-11-04)) [±]
Windows Mail ? ? ? ? 2007-01-01
YAM 1995 1.0 1995 1.0 2.9[32] Edit this on Wikidata 24 December 2013
Zimbra 2005-11 Beta 2006-03 3.5 8.6.0[33] (December 15, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-12-15)) [±]

Operating system support

[edit]

The operating systems on which the clients can run natively (without emulation).

Client Microsoft Windows macOS Linux BSD Unix DOS Other
Alpine Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Apple Mail No Included No No No No No
Balsa No No Yes Yes No No No
Becky! Internet Mail Yes No No No No No No
Canary Mail Yes Yes No No No No No
Citadel No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Claws Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Courier Yes No No No No No No
Elm No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
eM Client Yes Yes No No No No No
EmailTray Yes No No No No No No
Eudora Yes Yes No No No No No
Evolution No [Note 1] No Yes Yes Yes No No
Forté Agent Yes No No No No No No
Geary No No Yes Yes Yes No No
Gnus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
GroupWise Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Hiri Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No
i.Scribe / InScribe Yes Yes Yes No No No No
IBM Lotus Notes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No
IMP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
KMail No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Mailbird Yes Yes No No No No No
Mailpile Yes [Note 2] Yes [Note 2] Yes Yes [Note 3] Yes [Note 3] No [Note 4] No [Note 4]
mailx No No Yes Yes Yes No No
Microsoft Entourage No Terminated (2008) No No No No No
Microsoft Office Outlook Yes Yes No No No No No
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups Terminated (1.7.13) No No
Mozilla Thunderbird Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Mulberry Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Mutt Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[34] No
Netscape Messenger Terminated (4.80) No No
Netscape Messenger 9 Terminated (9.0a1) No No
nmh / MH No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Opera Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No
Outlook Express Included (up to XP) No No No No No No
Pegasus Mail Yes No No No No Yes NetWare
NLM
Pine Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Terminated (3.96)[35] No
Pocomail Yes No No No No No No
RoundCube Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
SquirrelMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Sylpheed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
The Bat! Yes No No No No No No
Trojitá Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No MeeGo
Turnpike Yes No No No No No No
Vivaldi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Windows Live Mail Yes No No No No No No
Windows Mail Included (Vista) No No No No No No
YAM No No No No No No AmigaOS
AROS
MorphOS
Zimbra Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Client Microsoft Windows macOS Linux BSD Unix DOS Other
  1. ^ Development stopped in 2008
  2. ^ a b Packaging planned
  3. ^ a b Free Software project, source available.
  4. ^ a b Free Software porting tangible provided OS has web browser.


Protocol support

[edit]

Communication and access protocol support

[edit]

What email and related protocols and standards are supported by each client.

Client POP3
fetch all messages
(RFC 1939) 		POP3
selected by filter
(RFC 1939) 		POP3
selected by user
(RFC 1939) 		IMAP4
(RFC 3501) 		SMTP
(RFC 5321) 		NNTP
(RFC 3977) 		LDAP v2
(RFC 4511) 		LDAP v3
(RFC 4511) 		EWS IPv6
(RFC 2460) 		MAPI
Alpine Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ?
Apple Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes ?
Becky! Internet Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [Note 1] Yes ? ? ? ?
Canary Mail No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No
Citadel Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Claws Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ?
Courier Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ?
Elm No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
eM Client Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No
EmailTray Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No No No
Evolution Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes plug-in ? plug-in
Gnus Yes Yes Yes[36] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Plug-in[37]
GroupWise Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Hiri No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
i.Scribe / InScribe Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes [Note 2] Yes [Note 2] No No Yes
HCL Notes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
KMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No [Note 3] Yes ? ? ? ?
Mailbird Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes ?
Mailpile Yes No No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Microsoft Entourage Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes Partial ? ?
Microsoft Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ?
Microsoft Office Outlook Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Mozilla Thunderbird Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Partial Partial[38] extensible[39] Yes Yes
Mulberry Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Mutt Yes No (possible with POP3 browser) No (possible with POP3 browser) Yes Yes No (slrn looks alike) Partial (resolve real names through NSS) ? ? Yes ?
Netscape Messenger Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Netscape Messenger 9 Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ?
nmh / MH Yes ? ? No Yes ? ? ? No ? No
Opera Mail Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No ? Yes Yes
Outlook Express Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? No
Pegasus Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [Note 4] Yes ? ? ? ?
Pine Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? ?
Pocomail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No ? ? ?
RoundCube Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ?
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Partial ? ? Yes ?
SquirrelMail Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ?
Sylpheed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No
The Bat! Yes Yes [Note 5] Yes [Note 6] Yes Yes Yes [Note 7] Yes No No Yes Yes
Trojitá No No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes No
Turnpike Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Vivaldi Yes ? ? Yes Yes No ? ? ? Yes
Windows Live Mail Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes No
Windows Mail Yes No No Yes Yes ? ? ? No Yes No
YAM Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No ? ? ?
Zimbra Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ?
Client POP3
fetch all messages
(RFC 1939) 		POP3
selected by filter
(RFC 1939) 		POP3
selected by user
(RFC 1939) 		IMAP4
(RFC 3501) 		SMTP
(RFC 5321) 		NNTP
(RFC 3977) 		LDAP v2
(RFC 4511) 		LDAP v3
(RFC 4511) 		EWS IPv6
(RFC 2460) 		MAPI

Integration protocol support

[edit]
Client IMSP
([3]) 		ACAP
(RFC 2244) 		RSS 0.91 Feeds RSS 1.0 Feeds RSS 2.0 Feeds ATOM Feeds iCalendar
(RFC 5545) 		MAPI/RPC CalDAV
(RFC 4791) 		CardDAV
(RFC 6352)
Alpine ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Apple Mail ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes
Becky! Internet Mail ? ? Yes [Note 8] Yes [Note 8] Yes [Note 8] Yes [Note 8] ? ? ? ?
Canary Mail No No No No No No No No No No
Citadel ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Claws Mail ? ? No Yes [Note 9] Yes [Note 9] Yes [Note 9] Yes [Note 10] ? ? ?
Courier No No No No No No No ? ? ?
Elm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
eM Client No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
EmailTray No No No No No No No No ? ?
Eudora No Yes No No No No No ? ? ?
Evolution No No No [Note 11] No [Note 11] No [Note 11] No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Gnus No No Yes Yes Yes Yes[40] Yes[41] Yes Yes Yes
GroupWise ? No ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Hiri No No No No No No No No No No
i.Scribe / InScribe No No No No No No No Yes ? ?
IBM Lotus Notes No No Yes [Note 12] Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
KMail ? ? Yes [Note 13] Yes [Note 13] Yes [Note 13] Yes [Note 13] Yes [Note 14] ? Yes Yes
Mailpile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Microsoft Entourage ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Microsoft Office Outlook ? ? Yes [Note 15] Yes [Note 15] Yes [Note 15] Yes [Note 15] Yes [Note 16] Yes No No
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mozilla Thunderbird No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [Note 17] Yes [Note 18] Yes Yes
Mulberry Yes Yes No No No No Yes ? Yes ?
Mutt ? ? No No No No No ? ? ?
Netscape Messenger ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Netscape Messenger 9 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
nmh / MH ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Opera Mail ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? No No
Outlook Express ? ? No No No No No ? No No
Pegasus Mail ? ? Yes [Note 4] Yes [Note 4] Yes [Note 4] ? ? ? ? ?
Pine No No No No No No No ? ? ?
Pocomail No No Yes Yes Yes No No ? ? ?
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [Note 17] ? ? ?
SquirrelMail ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Sylpheed No No No No No No No No ? ?
The Bat! No No Yes [Note 19] Yes [Note 19] Yes [Note 19] Yes [Note 19] No Yes ? Yes
Trojitá No No No No No No No No ? ?
Turnpike ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Live Mail ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? ?
Windows Mail ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
YAM No No No No No No No ? ? ?
Zimbra ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
Client IMSP
([4]) 		ACAP
(RFC 2244) 		RSS 0.91 Feeds RSS 1.0 Feeds RSS 2.0 Feeds ATOM Feeds iCalendar
(RFC 5545) 		MAPI/RPC CalDAV
(RFC 4791) 		CardDAV
(RFC 6352)
  1. ^ Becky! requires FRNews or BkNews plugin installed for handling NNTP.
  2. ^ a b i.Scribe / InScribe requires a plugin to handle LDAP.
  3. ^ KDE supports Newsgroups (NNTP) by the use of KNode
  4. ^ a b c d Pegasus Mail can convert Newsgroup messages and/or RSS feeds to emails through the use of free add-ons.
  5. ^ Selective Download filters can skip/delete messages on POP3 server based on header (sender, recipient, subject, etc) information, this doesn't require to retrieve the full message body from the server.
  6. ^ Message Dispatcher allows the user to decide which messages should be retrieved, deleted or skipped based on the header information (sender, recipient, subject, etc) displayed to the user.
  7. ^ The Bat! requires MyGate plugin installed for handling NNTP.
  8. ^ a b c d Becky! requires BkBlogReader or BkRSSviewer or B.F.R or BkRssReader plugin installed for handling RSS and ATOM.
  9. ^ a b c RSSyl plugin is required to read RSS and ATOM in Claws Mail.
  10. ^ vCalendar plugin is required to handle iCalendar in Claws Mail.
  11. ^ a b c The evolution-rss plugin (provided as a separate package by many distributions provides the RSS functionality in Evolution.
  12. ^ Studio Blog Reader is one RSS reader application for IBM Lotus Notes. IBM Lotus Notes version 8.x introduced a native RSS reader.
  13. ^ a b c d KDE supports feeds by the use of Akregator
  14. ^ KDE supports iCal by the use of KOrganizer
  15. ^ a b c d Support of feeds is available in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. Earlier versions require RSSPopper plug-in.
  16. ^ Microsoft Outlook support of iCalendar varies by version.
  17. ^ a b iCalendar is supported with an extension.
  18. ^ Mozilla Thunderbird only supports SimpleMAPI.[citation needed]
  19. ^ a b c d The Bat! versions prior to 6.3 required rss2mail or rss2pop3 plugin installed for handling RSS and ATOM. The Bat! versions 6.3 and later have built-in support for RSS.

Authentication support

[edit]
Client Regular MSN (NTLM)

browser login

Compuserve

(RPA)

MD5 APOP [Note 1] CRAM-HMAC [Note 2] DIGEST-MD5 SCRAM with hardware token

PKCS#11

Biometric SMTP Auth [Note 3] X.509 Client certificate OAuth
LOGIN PLAIN MD5 SHA1 RIPEMD
Alpine Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No ? No No Yes No ?
Apple Mail Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes [Note 4]
Becky! Internet Mail Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Canary Mail Yes Yes No No No Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Citadel ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Claws Mail Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes No ? Yes No Yes
Courier Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? No No Yes Yes ?
Elm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
eM Client Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes ? No No Yes No Yes
EmailTray Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes No ? ? No No Yes No ?
Eudora Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No ? No No No ? ?
Evolution Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes ? No No Yes No Yes
Gnus Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ?
GroupWise ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Hiri Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No ? No No No No Yes
i.Scribe / InScribe Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No ? No No Yes No Yes
IBM Lotus Notes Yes ? Yes No No No ? ? ? ? Yes No Yes ? ?
KMail Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes ? No No Yes Yes ?
Mailpile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Microsoft Entourage Yes No Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Microsoft Office Outlook Yes No Yes No No No No No No ? No No Yes No ?
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mozilla Thunderbird Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No[42] ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Mulberry Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes ? No No Yes Yes ?
Mutt Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No No Yes ? No No 1.5.15 Yes 1.10.1
Netscape Messenger ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Netscape Messenger 9 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
nmh / MH ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Opera Mail Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No ? ? ? No No Yes Yes ?
Outlook Express Yes No Yes No No No No No No ? No No Yes No ?
Pegasus Mail Yes ? No No Yes No No No No ? No No Yes Yes ?
Pine Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No ? No No Yes No ?
Pocomail ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RoundCube Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ?
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No[42] ? Yes No Yes Yes ?
SquirrelMail Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ?
Sylpheed Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No ? No No Yes No No
The Bat! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No ? Yes [Note 5] Yes [Note 5] Yes No Yes
Trojitá Yes No No No No No No No No ? No No Yes No ?
Turnpike ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Live Mail Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No ? No No No No No
Windows Mail ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes [Note 6]
YAM Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes AmiSSL ?
Zimbra Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes [Note 7] ? ?
Client Regular MSN (NTLM)

browser login

Compuserve

(RPA)

MD5 APOP [Note 1] CRAM-HMAC [Note 2] DIGEST-MD5 SCRAM with hardware token

PKCS#11

Biometric SMTP Auth [Note 3] SSL/TLS Client Certificate OAUTH
LOGIN PLAIN MD5 SHA1 RIPEMD
  1. ^ a b Description: RFC 1734
  2. ^ a b Description: RFC 2195
  3. ^ a b Description: RFC 2554
  4. ^ Minimum Mac OS version 10.11. Minimum iOS version 11.
  5. ^ a b Professional Edition.
  6. ^ Windows 10 required.
  7. ^ Zimbra Desktop supports SMTP auth, not sure about collaboration suite

SSL and TLS support

[edit]
Client Secure POP3 Secure IMAP4 Secure SMTP Secure NNTP Secure LDAP SNI OCSP [Note 1] CRL [Note 2]
SSL TLS [Note 3] SSL TLS [Note 3] SSL TLS [Note 4] SSL TLS SSL TLS
Alpine Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
Apple Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Becky! Internet Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Canary Mail No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Citadel ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Claws Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Courier No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Elm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
eM Client Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No ? No Yes
EmailTray Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No ? No No
Eudora Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ? ? ?
Evolution Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No
Gnus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
GroupWise ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Hiri No No No No No No No No No No No No No
i.Scribe / InScribe Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No ? No No
IBM Lotus Notes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes
KMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ?
Mailpile ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Microsoft Entourage Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Microsoft Office Outlook Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mozilla Thunderbird Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Mulberry Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ? ? ?
Mutt Yes Yes Yes Yes 1.5.15 1.5.15 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Netscape Messenger ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Netscape Messenger 9 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
nmh / MH ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Opera Mail Yes Partial [Note 5] Yes Partial [Note 5] Yes Partial [Note 5] Yes No — — ? Yes Yes
Outlook Express Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Pegasus Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Pine Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No ? ? ?
Pocomail ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RoundCube Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ? ? ?
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SquirrelMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ? ? ?
Sylpheed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
The Bat! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes [Note 6] Yes [Note 6]
Trojitá ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes (system) Yes (system)
Turnpike ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Live Mail Yes No Yes No Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Mail Yes No Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
YAM Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Zimbra Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
Client Secure POP3 Secure IMAP4 Secure SMTP Secure NNTP Secure LDAP SNI OCSP [Note 1] CRL [Note 2]
SSL TLS [Note 3] SSL TLS [Note 3] SSL TLS [Note 4] SSL TLS SSL TLS
  1. ^ a b Online Certificate Status Protocol - Description: RFC 2560
  2. ^ a b Certificate revocation list - Description: RFC 3280
  3. ^ a b c d Description: RFC 2595
  4. ^ a b Description: RFC 2487
  5. ^ a b c Opera Mail does not support STARTTLS command on special ports, like 995 for pop3 connection
  6. ^ a b Since version 4.2, The Bat! supports two modes of X.509 certificate handling: Internal Implementation and via Microsoft CryptoAPI. CRLs and OCSP are only supported in the latter mode during TLS connections.

Features

[edit]

Information on what features each of the clients support.

General features

[edit]

For all of these clients, the concept of "HTML support" does not mean that they can process the full range of HTML that a web browser can handle. Almost all email readers limit HTML features, either for security reasons, or because of the nature of the interface. CSS and JavaScript can be especially problematic.


Client HTML email UTF-8 support Image blocking Junk filtering Phishing filtering Thread view Conversation view PGP support S/MIME support
local server- side inline PGP/MIME or OpenPGP protocol OCSP CRL certificates on tokens, smartcards support
Alpine Read only Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ?