# mbsync

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/mbsync/

5 people recommended mbsync in Hacker News comments and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Syncs IMAP mailboxes to local Maildir so mail from several services can be read and sent from one place, often paired with msmtp and mutt.

Summary written by Claude from 5 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Accesses mail from many services (1 comment in the sample): "I use this to easily access mail from different services, and I can also send from any of them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50110744))
- Converts mail to Maildir for other tools (1 comment in the sample): "I use mbsync, to Maildir and then NMH Maildir to folder/file format." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354162))
- Local caching helps with mail (1 comment in the sample): "Email -> Mbsync+msmtp + mutt. Caching helps there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46633267))
- Used for archiving mail (1 comment in the sample): "archive the rest somewhere else. mbsync etc" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50313935))

## What people warn about

- Lacked Auth header support, needed patching (1 comment in the sample): "I first used imapsync and then patched mbsync to support the Auth header." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46876961))

## What people recommend instead

- [imapsync](https://hackerapproved.com/p/imapsync/): 10 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "mbsync", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mbsync/ (5 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.