The best terminal email clients, according to hackers
5 terminal email clients were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
Top pick
The most recommended terminal email client with the badge. Each figure is 2 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Flexible, configurable, feature-rich
Terminal email client that people praise for its flexibility, speed and keyboard-driven use, and for pairing well with GPG encryption and local IMAP mirrors.
All 5 terminal email clients, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mutt email client | 26 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| 2 | aerc email client | 9 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| 3 | NeoMutt | 8 | 1 | 89% | 7 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | Pine email client | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | Alpine email client | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same terminal email client in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to terminal email clients that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.