Himalaya vs meli
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Himalaya | meli |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 77 · Good |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,311 | ★ 891 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Mutt, Outlook | Mutt, NeoMutt |
What are Himalaya and meli?
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
meli
meli is a terminal mail user agent written in Rust, supporting IMAP, Maildir, mbox, and notmuch backends with a configurable, modern interface. It works with any self-hosted mail server.
- Terminal mail client in Rust
- IMAP, Maildir, mbox, notmuch
- Configurable modern interface
Himalaya vs meli: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Licensing differs — MIT for Himalaya versus GPL-3.0 for meli. Meli is the more established project (first released 2017), while Himalaya arrived in 2021. Himalaya has the considerably larger community, at 7,311 GitHub stars versus 891.
Why pick each one
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
Choose meli if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Himalaya or meli 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 Himalaya and meli free and open-source?
Yes. Himalaya is licensed under MIT and meli under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Himalaya and meli with Docker?
Himalaya: check the project docs for container support. meli: check the project docs for container support.