Comparison of e-mail clients

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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of e-mail client programs. Please see the individual products articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.

Contents

1 General
2 Release history
3 Operating system support
4 Protocol support

4.1 Authentication
4.2 SSL and TLS Support

5 Features

5.1 Database, folders and customization
5.2 Templates, scripts and programming languages

6 Security
7 List of e-mail clients

7.1 Graphical
7.2 Text-based
7.3 Web-based
7.4 Historical

8 See also
9 External links

General

Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license/price etc.

	Creator	Cost (USD)	Open source	Software license
Citadel	citadel.org	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	GPL
FastTrackMail	FastTrackSoft		Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Eudora	Qualcomm	Free (Light), Free (Pro, with ads), (Pro)	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Lotus Notes	Lotus Software / IBM	[online pricelist]	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
KMail	KDE	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	GPL
Mail	Apple Computer	Part of Mac OS X	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups	Mozilla Foundation	Free, part of Mozilla Application Suite	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license
Mozilla Thunderbird	Mozilla Foundation	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license
Microsoft Office Outlook	Microsoft	Part of Microsoft Office	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Mulberry	ISAMET	.95	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Mutt	Michael Elkins	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	GPL
Novell Evolution	Ximian	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	GPL
Opera Mail	Opera Software	Free, Part of Opera	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Outlook Express	Microsoft	Part of Microsoft Windows	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Pine	University of Washington	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	[Pine License]
PC Pine	University of Washington	Free	Northern Ontario	[Pine License]
i.Scribe/InScribe	Memecode	Free/	Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Sylpheed	Hiroyuki Yamamoto	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	GPL/LGPL
Sylpheed Claws	Sylpheed Claws team	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	GPL
The Bat!	RitLabs		Northern Ontario	Proprietary
Zimbra	Zimbra	Free	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	MPL
	Creator	Cost (USD)	Open source	Software license

Release history

A brief overview of the release history.

Client	First public release		First stable release		Latest stable release		Latest testing release
Client	Date	Version	Date	Version	Date	Version	Date	Version
Citadel	1987		1988	1.00	December 2005	6.61
Eudora	1996		1988		February 12 2006	7.0.1.0
Lotus Notes	1989	1.0	TBA	N/A	March 2006	7.0.1	March 29 2006	7.0.2 build 232
KMail					January 31 2006	1.9.1
Mail					June 27 2006	2.1 (752/752.2)
Mail Commander					March 10 2005	7.5
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups	December 7 1998	"Preview"	March 19 1999	M3	September 21 2005	1.7.12
Mozilla Thunderbird	July 28 2003	0.1	December 7 2004	1.0	June 1 2006	1.5.0.4
Microsoft Office Outlook	1997	97	1997	97		11.8010.6568 (2003SP2)	May 23 2006	12.0.4017.1006 (2007)
Mulberry	September 20 1996	1.0	September 20 1996	1.0	September 29 2005	4.0.4
Mutt					February 12 2004	1.4.2.1	September 15 2005	1.5.11
Novell Evolution	11 May 2000	0.0	3 December 2001	1.0	29 May 2006	2.6.2	12 June 2006	2.7.3
Opera Mail	September 1996	2.1b1	December 1996	2.1	June 20 2006	9.0	June 30 2006	9.01 build 8509
Outlook Express	1996	3.0			October 25 2001	6.0
Pine	January 15 1992	2.00			September 28 2005	4.64
i.Scribe/InScribe	1999	1.00			November 2005	1.88	December 2005	1.89
Sylpheed	January 2000	0.1.0	December 2004	1.0.0	February 13 2006	2.2.0
Sylpheed Claws	May 2001	0.4.67	January 2005	1.0.0	June 20 2006	2.3.1
The Bat!					May 12 2006	3.80.06	April 12 2006	3.72.09
Zimbra					April 2006	3.1
Client	Date	Version	Date	Version	Date	Version	Date	Version

Operating system support

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

	Microsoft Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix
Citadel	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Eudora	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Lotus Notes	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
KMail	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mail	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Mail Commander	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mozilla Thunderbird	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Microsoft Office Outlook	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \| (Microsoft Entourage)	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Mulberry	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mutt	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Novell Evolution	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Opera Mail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Outlook Express	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Pine	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
i.Scribe/InScribe	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario (Port in progress)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Sylpheed	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Sylpheed Claws	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
The Bat!	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Zimbra	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
	Microsoft Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix

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
v2 v3 RSS 0.91 RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0 ATOM
Eudora style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
KMail style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" | ??? ???
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
Lotus Notes style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" |
Mozilla Thunderbird style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ffffdd;" | ???
Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" | Yes (with extension)
Mulberry style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" |
Mutt style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | No (uses sendmail)
Northern Ontario (slrn looks alike)
style="background: #ffffdd;" | (resolve real names through NSS) ??? ???
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
Opera Mail style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario
Microsoft Office Outlook style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" | ??? ???
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
Novell Evolution style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
style="background: #ddffdd" |
Outlook Express style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ffdddd" | Yes ??? ???
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
Pine style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
Sylpheed Claws style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario
Yes (RSSyl plugin required) Yes (RSSyl plugin required) Yes (RSSyl plugin required) Yes (vCalendar plugin required)
TheBat! style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | style="background: #ddffdd" | Yes (MyGate plugin required) style="background: #ddffdd" |
Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario
Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required) Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required) Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required) Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required)
Northern Ontario

Client POP3 IMAP4 SMTP NNTP LDAP IMSP ACAP Feeds iCalendar
v2 v3 RSS 0.91 RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0 ATOM

Client	POP3	IMAP4	SMTP	NNTP	LDAP	IMSP	ACAP	Feeds	iCalendar
v2	v3	RSS 0.91	RSS 1.0	RSS 2.0	ATOM
Eudora	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
KMail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		*???*	*???*	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Lotus Notes	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario					style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mozilla Thunderbird	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ffffdd;" \|		*???*	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|				Yes (with extension)
Mulberry	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mutt	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	No (uses sendmail)	Northern Ontario (slrn looks alike)	style="background: #ffffdd;" \| (resolve real names through NSS)		*???*	*???*	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Opera Mail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario			style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario
Microsoft Office Outlook	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		*???*	*???*	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Novell Evolution	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario					Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Outlook Express	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ffdddd" \| Yes		*???*	*???*	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Pine	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Sylpheed Claws	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|				Northern Ontario	Yes (RSSyl plugin required)	Yes (RSSyl plugin required)	Yes (RSSyl plugin required)	Yes (vCalendar plugin required)
TheBat!	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (MyGate plugin required)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required)	Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required)	Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required)	Yes (plugin rss2mail or rss2pop3 required)	Northern Ontario
Client	POP3	IMAP4	SMTP	NNTP	LDAP	IMSP	ACAP	Feeds	iCalendar
v2	v3	RSS 0.91	RSS 1.0	RSS 2.0	ATOM

↑ 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.

Authentication

Client	Regular		MSN (NTLM) browser login	Compuserve (RPA)	MD5 APOP ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_APOP ]}	CRAM-HMAC ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_HMAC ]}			DIGEST-MD5	with hardware token PKCS #11	Biometric	SMTP Auth ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_SMTPAUTH ]}
Client	LOGIN	PLAIN	MSN (NTLM) browser login	Compuserve (RPA)	MD5 APOP ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_APOP ]}	MD5	SHA1	RIPEMD	DIGEST-MD5	with hardware token PKCS #11	Biometric
Eudora	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
KMail	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Lotus Notes	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario				style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mozilla Thunderbird	style="background: #ddffdd" \|								Northern Ontario [link]
Mulberry
Mutt
Novell Evolution	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Opera Mail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Microsoft Office Outlook	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Outlook Express	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Pine	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|				Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Sylpheed Claws	style="background: #ddffdd" \|				style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario						style="background: #ddffdd" \|
TheBat!	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Client	Regular		MSN (NTLM)	Compuserve (RPA)	MD5 APOP ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_APOP ]}	CRAM-HMAC ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_HMAC ]}			DIGEST-MD5	with hardware token PKCS #11	Biometric	SMTP Auth ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_SMTPAUTH ]}
Client	LOGIN	PLAIN	MSN (NTLM)	Compuserve (RPA)	MD5 APOP ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/#endnote_APOP ]}	MD5	SHA1	RIPEMD	DIGEST-MD5	with hardware token PKCS #11	Biometric

↑ Description: RFC-2554
↑ Description: RFC-1734
↑ Description: RFC-2195

SSL and TLS Support

Client	Secure POP3		Secure IMAP4		Secure SMTP		Secure NNTP		Secure LDAP
Client	SSL		SSL		SSL		SSL	TLS	SSL	TLS
Eudora	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
KMail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|			style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Lotus Notes
Mozilla Thunderbird	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mulberry
Mutt
Opera Mail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Microsoft Office Outlook	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario
Novell Evolution	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Outlook Express	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario
Pine	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Sylpheed Claws	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
TheBat!	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Client	Secure POP3		Secure IMAP4		Secure SMTP		Secure NNTP		Secure LDAP
Client	SSL		SSL		SSL		SSL	TLS	SSL	TLS

↑ Description: RFC-2487
↑ Description: RFC-2595
↑ Opera Mail does not support STARTTLS command on special ports, like 995 for pop3 connection

Features

Information on what features each of the clients support.

	HTML e-mail	UTF-8 support	Image blocking	Junk filtering	Thread view	PGP support	S/MIME support
Citadel	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Yes (plugs into SpamAssassin)	Northern Ontario
Eudora	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (Pro only)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|
FastTrackMail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Lotus Notes	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
KMail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (GPG)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mail	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (with the [GPGMail-plugin]	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (with Enigmail)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mozilla Thunderbird	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (with Enigmail)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mulberry	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mutt		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (no support for images)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Novell Evolution	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Opera Mail		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Microsoft Office Outlook	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Outlook Express	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Pine		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|		style="background: #ddffdd" \|
i.Scribe/InScribe		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Yes (plugin for GnuPG required)
Sylpheed	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Sylpheed Claws		style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
The Bat!	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Zimbra	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
	HTML e-mail	UTF-8 support	Image blocking	Junk filtering	Thread view	PGP support	S/MIME support

↑ HTML handling is read-only (cannot compose HTML e-mails).
↑ 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.

Database, folders and customization

	encrypted database	Virtual folders	Scheduled backup	Ticker notification	Customizable interface	Customizable keybindings	Fragmented attachments
Citadel
Eudora	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
FastTrackMail
Lotus Notes	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \| (called truncated document)
KMail	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario
Mail		style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups
Mozilla Thunderbird		style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mulberry
Mutt	*???*	*???*	*???*	*???*	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Novell Evolution		style="background: #ddffdd" \|			style="background: #ffffdd;" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Opera Mail	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \| (all folders are virtual)	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario
Microsoft Office Outlook	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Outlook Express	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Pine
i.Scribe/InScribe
Sylpheed
Sylpheed Claws	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
The Bat!	Yes (with Pro and Voyager version)	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Zimbra
	encrypted database	Virtual folders	Scheduled BACKUP	Ticker notification	Customized interface	Customizable keybindings	Fragmented attachments

Templates, scripts and programming languages

Client	Message templates				Support in message templates scripts, programming languages
Client	new	reply	forward	read confirmation	PascalScript	JavaScript	VBScript	PHP-Scripts	Python
Citadel
Eudora	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Lotus Notes	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
KMail
Mail
Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups
Mozilla Thunderbird
Microsoft Office Outlook	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Mulberry	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Mutt
Novell Evolution
Opera Mail					Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
Outlook Express	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|					style="background: #ddffdd" \|
Pine
i.Scribe/InScribe
Sylpheed
Sylpheed Claws	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario	Northern Ontario
The Bat!	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	style="background: #ddffdd" \|	Northern Ontario	style="background: #ddffdd" \| (with JavaScript Macro plugin)	style="background: #ddffdd" \| (with plugin XMP)	style="background: #ddffdd" \| (with plugin XMP)	style="background: #ddffdd" \| (with plugin TBPyxie)
Zimbra
Client	new	reply	forward	read confirmation	PascalScript	JavaScript	VBScript	PHP-Scripts	Python

Security

This comparison of unpatched known vulnerabilities in latest public version browsers is based on vulnerabilities reports by [SecurityFocus]. See computer security for more details about the importance of unpatched known flaws.

Ranking	Client	Number of known vulnerabilities	Oldest known vulnerability
1–10	Eudora	[0]	-
1–10	Lotus Notes	[0]	-
1–10	KMail	[0]	-
1–10	Mutt	[0]	-
1–10	Novell Evolution	[0]	-
1–10	Opera Mail	[0]	-
1–10	i.Scribe/InScribe	[0]	-
1–10	Sylpheed	[0]	-
1–10	The Bat!	[0]	-
1–10	Mail	[0]	–
11	Outlook Express	[1]	[July 12, 2005]
12	Mozilla Thunderbird	[6]	[February 8, 2006]
13	Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups	[8]	[November 4, 2005]
14	Outlook 2003	[17]	[February 10, 2004]
Ranking	Client	Number of known vulnerabilities	Oldest known vulnerability

List of e-mail clients

The following is a list of e-mail clients.

Graphical

Text-based

Elm
Elmo
Gnus
mailx(1) – one of the traditional mail(1) implementations
MH
Mutt
Pine
Upas – e-mail filesystem for Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Web-based

Historical

External links

[Michigan Engineering - E-mail Client Comparison]
[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)
[imap.org's list of products supporting IMAP]
[Remail - research by The Collaborative User Experience group] at IBM

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