aerc vs Himalaya
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | aerc | Himalaya |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,300 | ★ 7,307 |
| First released | 2019 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Gmail, Outlook | Mutt, Outlook |
What are aerc and Himalaya?
aerc
aerc is an email client for the terminal designed for power users, with support for multiple accounts, embedded terminal, and a tab-based workflow. It handles IMAP, Maildir, JMAP, and notmuch backends.
- Terminal email client
- Multiple account support
- IMAP, JMAP, and notmuch
- Embedded terminal viewer
Himalaya
Himalaya is a command-line email client written in Rust that works with IMAP, Maildir, and notmuch backends. It provides a fast scriptable interface for self-hosted mail accounts.
- Command-line email client in Rust
- IMAP, Maildir, and notmuch backends
- Fast and scriptable
aerc vs Himalaya: key differences
Aerc is written in Go, while Himalaya is built with Rust. Aerc is the more established project (first released 2019), while Himalaya arrived in 2021. Himalaya has the considerably larger community, at 7,307 GitHub stars versus 3,300.
Why pick each one
Choose aerc if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Himalaya if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.3k GitHub stars
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is aerc or Himalaya better?
Neither is universally better. Himalaya has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are aerc and Himalaya free and open-source?
Yes. aerc is licensed under MIT and Himalaya under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run aerc and Himalaya with Docker?
aerc: check the project docs for container support. Himalaya: check the project docs for container support.