Comparison of email clients: Difference between revisions
SmartShark (talk | contribs) →Protocol support: Opera Mail does allow selective account checking |
SmartShark (talk | contribs) →Protocol support: Pegasus Mail has an add-on available for RSS |
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*{{note|BAT_rss2pop3}} The BAT! requires rss2mail or rss2pop3 plugin installed for handling RSS and ATOM. |
*{{note|BAT_rss2pop3}} The BAT! requires rss2mail or rss2pop3 plugin installed for handling RSS and ATOM. |
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*{{note|plugin}} i.Scribe/InScribe requires a plugin to handle LDAP. |
*{{note|plugin}} i.Scribe/InScribe requires a plugin to handle LDAP. |
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*{{note|pegasusRSS}} Pegasus Mail can convert RSS feeds to e-mails through the use of a free add-on. |
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===Authentication support=== |
===Authentication support=== |
Revision as of 01:26, 4 September 2008
The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of e-mail client programs. Please see the individual products articles (if they have one) for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.
General
Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license/price etc.
Release history
A brief overview of the release history. Template:Beta software
Client | First public release | First stable release | Latest stable release | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Version | Date | Version | Date | Version | |
Alpine | November 2006 | 0.8 | December 2007 | 1.00 | August 26 2008 | 2.00 |
Citadel | 1987 | ? | 1988 | 1.00 | September 2007 | 7.20 |
Claws Mail | May 2001 | 0.4.67 | January 2005 | 1.0.0 | Jun 27 2008 | 3.5.0 |
Eudora | 1988[1] | ? | 1988[1] | ? | October 11 2006 | 7.1 (Windows), 6.2.4 (Mac OS X) |
Eureka Email | November 2002 | 1.0 | November 2002 | 1.0 | March 2005 | 2.2 |
Gnus | 1987[2] | ? | February 1 1988[2] | 2.0 | March 21 2008 | 5.10.10 |
Lotus Notes | 1989 | 1.0 | 1989 | 1.0 | February 2008 | 8.0.1 |
KMail | October 1998 | Alpha | February 1999 | 1.0.17 | February 13 2008 | 3.5.9 |
? | ? | ? | ? | July 11, 2008 | 3.4 (928/928.1) | |
Mailsmith | May 8 1998 | 1.0 | May 8 1998 | 1.0 | March 3 2005 | 2.1.5 |
nmh/MH | 1979 | ? | ? | ? | December 20 2005 | 1.2 / 6.8.4 |
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups | December 7 1998 | "Preview" | March 19 1999 | M3 | April 21 2006 | 1.7.13 |
Mozilla Thunderbird | July 28 2003 | 0.1 | December 7 2004 | 1.0 | July 23 2008 | 2.0.0.16 |
Microsoft Entourage | ? | ? | ? | ? | 2008 | Office 2008 for Mac |
Microsoft Office Outlook | 1997 | 97 | 1997 | 97 | January 30 2007 | 12.0.4518.1014 |
Mulberry | September 20 1996 | 1.0 | September 20 1996 | 1.0 | February 21 2007 | 4.0.8 |
Mutt | 1995 | ? | ? | ? | June 9 2007 | 1.4.2.3 |
Netscape Messenger 9 | November 15 2007 | 9.0a1 | - | - | - | - |
Novell Evolution | 11 May 2000 | 0.0 | 3 December 2001 | 1.0 | 28 May 2007 | 2.10.2 |
Open-Xchange | ? | ? | ? | ? | April 2006 | 0.8.2 |
Opera Mail | September 1996 | 2.1b1 | December 1996 | 2.1 | April 3 2008 | 9.27 |
Outlook Express | 1996 | 3.0 | ? | ? | October 25 2001 | 6.0 |
Pegasus Mail | 1990 | ? | 1990 | ? | July 16 2006 | 4.41 |
Pine | January 15 1992 | 2.00 | January 15 1992 | 2.00 | September 28 2005 | 4.64 |
i.Scribe/InScribe | 1999 | 1.00 | ? | ? | November 2005 | 1.88 |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | September 15 2005 | 1.0a | January 30 2006 | 1.0 | July 14 2008 | 1.1.11 |
Sylpheed | January 2000 | 0.1.0 | December 2004 | 1.0.0 | June 17 2008 | 2.5.0 |
The Bat! | March 1997 | 1.0 Beta | March 1998 | 1.00 Build 1310 | April 23 2008 | 4.0.28 |
Turnpike | ? | 1.0 | ? | ? | 23 May 2006 | 6.06 |
Windows Live Mail | ? | ? | ? | ? | November 6, 2007 | 2008 (Build 12.0.1606) |
Windows Mail | ? | ? | ? | ? | November 8, 2006 | 6.0.6000.16386 |
YAM | 1995 | 1.0 | 1995 | 1.0 | 23 December 2007 | YAM 2.5 |
Zimbra | November, 2005 | Beta | March, 2006 | 3.5 | February 2008 | 5.0.2 |
Client | Date | Version | Date | Version | Date | Version |
First public release | First stable release | Latest stable release |
Operating system support
The operating systems on which the clients can run natively (without emulation).
Microsoft Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | DOS | AmigaOS MorphOS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alpine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Citadel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Claws Mail | YesTemplate:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Correo | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Courier | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Elm | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Eudora | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Eureka Email | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Gnus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Kerio WebMail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
KMail | via cygwin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Lotus Notes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
No | Included | No | No | No | No | No | |
Mailsmith | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
nmh / MH | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Microsoft Office Outlook | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Microsoft Entourage | No | 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 [3] | No |
Netscape Messenger | Terminated (4.80) | No | No | ||||
Netscape Messenger 9 | Terminated (9.0a1) | No | No | ||||
Novell Evolution | Yes (beta) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Opera Mail | Yes | 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 | No |
Pine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Terminated (3.96) [4] | No |
i.Scribe/InScribe | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Sylpheed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
The Bat! | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Turnpike | Yes | No | No | No | No | 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 | Yes |
Zimbra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Microsoft Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | DOS | AmigaOS MorphOS |
^ The windows port of Claws-Mail currently lacks SSL support and IMAP support.
Protocol support
What e-mail and related protocols and standards are supported by each client.
Client | POP3 | IMAP4 | SMTP | NNTP | LDAP | IMSP | ACAP | Feeds | iCalendar | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
fetch all messages | selected by filter | selected by user | v2 | v3 | RSS 0.91 | RSS 1.0 | RSS 2.0 | ATOM | |||||||
Alpine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Claws Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun |
Courier | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Eudora | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Gnus | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Template:Refun | No Template:Refun | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
KMail | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No Template:Refun | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No Template:Refun | No Template:Refun | No Template:Refun | No Template:Refun | No Template:Refun |
Kerio WebMail | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Lotus Notes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
Mailsmith | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes Template:Refun |
Mulberry | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | 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) | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No |
Opera Mail | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Microsoft Entourage | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Office Outlook | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun |
Novell Evolution | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Outlook Express | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No |
Pegasus Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | ? | ? |
Pine | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
i.Scribe/InScribe | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Sylpheed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
TheBat! | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | No | No | No | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | No |
Turnpike | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows Live Mail | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Windows Mail | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
YAM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Zimbra | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Client | fetch all messages | selected by filter | selected by user | IMAP4 | SMTP | NNTP | v2 | v3 | IMSP | ACAP | RSS 0.91 | RSS 1.0 | RSS 2.0 | ATOM | iCalendar |
POP3 | LDAP | Feeds |
- ^ An Emacs module named EUDC extends Gnus and BBDB to support LDAP. [1]
- ^ KDE supports Newsgroups (NNTP) by the use of KNode
- ^ KDE supports feeds by the use of Akregator
- ^ KDE supports iCal by the use of KOrganizer
- ^ Studio Blog Reader is one RSS reader application for Lotus Notes. Lotus Notes version 8.x introduced a native RSS reader.
- ^ Support of feeds is available in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.
- ^ Microsoft Outlook support of iCalendar varies by version.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ iCalendar is supported with an extension.
- ^ RSSyl plugin is required to read RSS and ATOM in Claws Mail.
- ^ vCalendar plugin is required to handle iCalendar in Claws Mail.
- ^ The BAT! requires MyGate plugin installed for handling NNTP.
- ^ The BAT! requires rss2mail or rss2pop3 plugin installed for handling RSS and ATOM.
- ^ i.Scribe/InScribe requires a plugin to handle LDAP.
- ^ Pegasus Mail can convert RSS feeds to e-mails through the use of a free add-on.
Authentication support
Client | Regular | MSN (NTLM)
browser login |
Compuserve
(RPA) |
MD5 APOP Template:Refun | CRAM-HMAC Template:Refun | DIGEST-MD5 | with hardware token | Biometric | SMTP Auth Template:Refun | SSL/TLS Client Certificate | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LOGIN | PLAIN | MD5 | SHA1 | RIPEMD | |||||||||
Alpine | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Claws Mail | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | ? | Yes | Yes |
Courier | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Eudora | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Gnus | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
KMail | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
Kerio WebMail | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Lotus Notes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
Yes | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | No | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No [2] | Yes | No | 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 |
Novell Evolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
Opera Mail | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Microsoft Entourage | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Office Outlook | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Outlook Express | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Pegasus Mail | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Pine | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
i.Scribe/InScribe | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No [3] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Sylpheed | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
TheBat! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Windows Live Mail | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Windows Mail | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
YAM | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | AmiSSL |
Zimbra | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
- ^ Description: RFC-2554
- ^ Description: RFC-1734
- ^ Description: RFC-2195
- ^ 10.1.3 Apple adds SSL and CRAM-MD5 support to Mail
- ^ Apple supports NTLM v2 in Mail as of 10.4 release
- ^ Claws Mail requires S/MIME plugin installed.
SSL and TLS Support
Client | Secure POP3 | Secure IMAP4 | Secure SMTP | Secure NNTP | Secure LDAP | OCSP Template:Refun | CRL Template:Refun | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SSL | TLS Template:Refun | SSL | TLS Template:Refun | SSL | TLS Template:Refun | SSL | TLS | SSL | TLS | |||
Alpine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Claws Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Courier | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Eudora | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Gnus | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
KMail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Kerio WebMail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? |
Lotus Notes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Novell Evolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Opera Mail | Yes | Partial Template:Refun | Yes | Partial Template:Refun | Yes | Partial Template:Refun | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? |
Microsoft Entourage | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Microsoft Office Outlook | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Outlook Express | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Pegasus Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Pine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? |
i.Scribe / InScribe | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The Bat! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Windows Live Mail | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows Mail | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Zimbra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
- ^ Description: RFC-2487
- ^ Description: RFC-2595
- ^ Opera Mail does not support STARTTLS command on special ports, like 995 for pop3 connection
- ^ Online Certificate Status Protocol - Description: RFC-2560
- ^ Certificate Revocation List - Description: RFC-3280
Features
Information on what features each of the clients support.
Note that 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. A number of articles describe these limitations per-email-client; see 1, 2, 3, and 4
Client | HTML e-mail | UTF-8 support | Image blocking | Junk filtering | Phishing filtering | Thread view | PGP support | S/MIME support | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
local | server-side | inline | PGP/MIME or OpenPGP | protocol | OCSP | CRL | certificates on tokens, smartcards support | ||||||
Alpine | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Claws Mail | Read-only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Courier | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Citadel | Yes | Yes | No | Yes Template:Refun | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Eudora | Yes | No | Yes | Pro only | Pro only | ? | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Gnus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
Lotus Notes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes (4.1.2+) |
Yes | Yes, [4] | Yes | Yes |
KMail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes (with GPG) |
Yes (1.5+, with GPGME) |
Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Kerio WebMail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | since 1.5.0.4 | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
Mulberry | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | ? | ? | ? |
Mutt | External | Yes | Yes (no support for images) |
Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes (with GPGME) | ? |
Novell Evolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Opera Mail | Read-only | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Entourage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Office Outlook | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Outlook Express | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | No Template:Refun | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Pegasus Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes (sending is broken) |
? | No | No | No |
Pine | Read-only | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes (with Pine Privacy Guard) |
No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
i.Scribe / InScribe | Read-only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
Sylpheed | No Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
The Bat! | Yes | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial Template:Refun | Partial Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun |
Windows Live Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Windows Mail | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Zimbra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (depends on antivirus) | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Client | HTML e-mail | UTF-8 support | Image blocking | Junk filtering | Phishing filtering | Thread view | PGP support | S/MIME support | |||||
local | server-side | inline | PGP/MIME or OpenPGP | protocol | OCSP | CRL | certificates on tokens, smartcards support |
- ^ First release 6.0 (September 2003), enhancements introduced in release 7.0 (August 2005)
- ^ PGP/GPG and S/MIME support require a free (included) plugin.
- ^ Sylpheed has some limited ability to show HTML email. It can show the plain text that's left after stripping away all the HTML tags. Sylpheed has no ability to compose HTML.
- ^ The Bat is not able to display inline images.
- ^ The Bat! supports two modes of S/MIME: Internal Implementation and via Microsoft Crypto API[5]. CRLs and OCSP are only supported in the latter mode.
- ^ The Bat! supports two modes of S/MIME: Internal Implementation and via Microsoft Crypto API. Internal implementation only supports Aladdin eToken Pro or Rainbow iKey1000[6] tokens and can import certificates (from PKCS#12/PFX format) which were created outside The Bat!. CryptoAPI supports any kind of tokens and smart cards which have a corresponding Cryptographic Service Provider installed.
- ^ Citadel plugs Mail into SpamAssassin
- ^ Eudora requires a plugin to handle PGP.
- ^ Mail requires GPGMail-plugin.
- ^ Using PGP in Thunderbird requires Enigmail.
- ^ Using PGP in Outlook Express requires a plugin.
- ^ Outlook Express does not display PGP/MIME signed messages.
Messages features
Client | Label Messages | Spell Checking | Signatures | Native images preview | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
with Colors | with flag | antidelete | add note | jpeg | gif | bmp | png | others | |||
Alpine | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Citadel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Claws Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Courier | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Eudora | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Gnus | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | XPM, others? |
IBM Lotus Notes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | CGM, Lotus PIC, PCX, TIFF |
KMail | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Kerio WebMail | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | any QuickTime supported format | |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ico |
Mulberry | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
Mutt | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Novell Evolution | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Opera Mail | No | Yes | No | No | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ico, WBMP |
Microsoft Entourage | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Outlook | Yes | Yes | Template:?no | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Outlook Express | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ico, art |
Pegasus Mail | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Pine | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
i.Scribe / InScribe | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | ico, tiff |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Sylpheed | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
The Bat! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ico, emf |
Windows Live Mail | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Windows Mail | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Zimbra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Client | Label Messages | Spell Checking | Signatures | Native images preview | |||||||
with Colors | with flag | antidelete | add note | jpeg | gif | bmp | png | others |
- ^ Opera supports full integration with GNU Aspell, which is its requirement for spell checking.
- ^ Pine supports full integration with GNU Aspell or other external speller, which is its requirement for spell checking.
- ^ i.Scribe / InScribe supports full integration with GNU Aspell, which is its requirement for spell checking.
- ^ i.Scribe / InScribe requires libjpeg.
- ^ i.Scribe / InScribe requires libpng.
Database, folders and customization
Client | Message file format | Encrypted database | Virtual folders | Scheduled backup | Ticker notification | Customizable interface | Customizable keybindings | Fragmented messages Template:Refun | Database search with regular expressions support | Indexed search | Search folders Template:Refun | IMAP search |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alpine | mbox, mbx, mix, maildir (with patches), MMDF, tenex, mtx, MH, mx, news, phile | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Claws Mail | MH, mbox | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Courier | Proprietary | Yes (weak) | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes (layout) | No | ? | No | No | Yes | No |
Eudora | mbox | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [specify] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gnus | babyl, maildir, mbox, mmdf, news, rnews, SOUP, nsmail, outlook, oe-dbx | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
KMail | mbox, maildir | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Lotus Notes | Proprietary | Yes [5] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
Proprietary | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | ? | |
nmh/MH | MH | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Mozilla Thunderbird | mbox | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes Template:Refun | ? | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes |
Mulberry | mbox Template:Refun | Partial Template:Refun | Partial Template:Refun | Partial Template:Refun | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes [specify] | Partial Template:Refun | No | Yes |
Mutt | mbox, MMDF, MH, maildir | No | ? (has limit command) | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? (has header cache) | No (easily integrated with mairix) | Yes |
Novell Evolution | maildir, mbox, MH | No | Yes | ? | No | Partial | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Opera Mail | maildir (9.20 and Above), mbox (9.10 and Below) | No | Yes (all folders are virtual) |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Microsoft Entourage | Proprietary | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Office Outlook | Proprietary | No Template:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | ? |
Outlook Express | Proprietary | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
Pegasus Mail | Proprietary | No | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Pine | mbox, mbx, mix, maildir (with patches), MMDF, tenex, mtx, MH, mx, news, phile | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
i.Scribe / InScribe | Mail2 File | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | mbox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
Sylpheed | MH | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No Template:Refun | No Template:Refun | No | ? |
The Bat! | Proprietary | Yes (RC2 128 bit)
(with Pro and Voyager version) Template:Refun |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
(PCRE 6.2) |
No | Yes | Yes |
Turnpike | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
Windows Live Mail | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
Windows Mail | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Zimbra | File system | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Client | Message file format | Encrypted database | Virtual folders | Scheduled backup | Ticker notification | Customized interface | Customizable keybindings | Fragmented messages Template:Refun | Database search with regular expressions support | Indexed search | Search folders Template:Refun | IMAP search |
- ^ Fragmented messages are called truncated document in Lotus Notes.
- ^ with Spotlight Mac OS X v. 10.4
- ^ Search folders is called Smart Folders in Mail on Mac OS X v. 10.4.
- ^ Mulberry is a dedicated IMAP client; If the IMAP server has these abilities, Mulberry can use them.
- ^ This is for Mulberry's 'offline browsing' capability, which is turned off by default. In the default configuration no local copy of the mail is created.
- ^ Search Folders are virtual folders that contain views of all e-mail items matching specific search criteria. Search Folders display the results of previously defined search queries.
- ^ Editable keybindings is part of GNOME, provided "Editable menu accelerators" is enabled in GNOME's "Menus & Toolbars" control applet.
- ^ Fragmented messages makes possible, for example, to send a large audio message as several partial messages, and still have it appear to the recipient as a simple audio message rather than as an encapsulated message containing an audio message. RFC 2046
- ^ Because MH stores each letter in a separate file, it is trivially easy to (externally) search them with grep. This ease is shattered when non-raw encodings are used, such as base64.
- ^ The Bat! Pro support two methods access to program when database is encrypted: password authorization and token authorization; Voyager support only password authorization and encrypted database is default and only available storage method.
- ^ Thunderbird's interface can be user customized via the use of themes (which can reposition and skin controls)
- ^ supported since Office 2007.
- ^ when best encryption is used, .pst file cannot be read by a hex editor.
Templates, scripts and programming languages
Client | Message templates | Message templates individual for | Support in message templates scripts, programming languages | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
new | reply | forward | read confirmation | save | JavaScript | VBScript | PHP Scripts | Python | Regular expressions | Java | Other (specify) | |||
Alpine | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | any | ? | No | No | ? | ? | No | ? |
Citadel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Claws Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Eudora | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Gnus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | elisp |
KMail | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | none | ? | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Lotus Notes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes [6] | Yes | LotusScript, Formula language |
Yes Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? | AppleScript, Automator | |
Mozilla Thunderbird | Yes | YesTemplate:Refun | YesTemplate:Refun | Yes | Yes | Yes | profile | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Entourage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Microsoft Office Outlook | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Mulberry | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Mutt | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | any | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Internal macros |
Novell Evolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Opera Mail | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | none | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Outlook Express | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Pegasus Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Pine | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | any | ? | No | No | ? | ? | No | ? |
i.Scribe/InScribe | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | any | No | No | No | No | No | No | Internal macros (similar to JavaScript) |
SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Sylpheed | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
The Bat! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | account folder address book group contact |
Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes Template:Refun | Yes | PCRE 6.2 | Internal and plugins macros |
Windows Live Mail | YesTemplate:Refun | YesTemplate:Refun | ? | YesTemplate:Refun | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows Mail | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
YAM | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ARexx |
Zimbra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | any | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
Client | Message templates | Message templates individual for | Support in message templates scripts, programming languages | |||||||||||
new | reply | forward | read confirmation | save | JavaScript | VBScript | PHP Scripts | Python | Regular expressions | Java | Other (specify) |
- ^ The Bat! supports JavaScript in message templates with the JavaScript Macro plugin.
- ^ The Bat! supports VBScript in message templates with the XMP plugin.
- ^ The Bat! supports PHP in message templates with the XMP plugin.
- ^ The Bat! supports Python in message templates with the TBPyxie plugin.
- ^ Weak "stationery" system that only accept pages done with Word.
- ^ Thunderbird supports HTML templates with "Stationery" add-on.
See also
References
- ^ a b "The Birth of Eudora". Retrieved 2007-04-10.
- ^ a b "GNUS: a NNTP based news reader for GNU Emacs (1 of 2)". Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ "Other Programming Projects and Downloads". Retrieved 2007-04-06.
- ^ "PC-PINE-3.96 README". Retrieved 2007-04-06.
- ^ "List of features of The Bat! e-mail client".
- ^ "The Bat! with Hardware Tokens".
External links
- UAlbany ITS: Email Services - Email Choices: Mail Client Comparison Summary Tables
- E-mail client comparison
- T&B : Email : Clients (of historical interest--last updated in 1999)
- Remail - research by The Collaborative User Experience group at IBM