Himalaya vs Sup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Himalaya | Sup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 74 · Good |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,311 | ★ 971 |
| First released | 2021 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Mutt, Outlook | Mutt |
What are Himalaya and Sup?
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
Sup
Sup is a console-based email client that provides a fast, tag-based interface inspired by web mail and search engines. It indexes large mailboxes and works well with self-hosted IMAP or Maildir accounts.
- Console threaded email client
- Fast tag-based search
- Handles large mailboxes
Himalaya vs Sup: key differences
Himalaya is written in Rust, while Sup is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — MIT for Himalaya versus GPL-2.0 for Sup. Himalaya is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Sup. Sup is the more established project (first released 2007), while Himalaya arrived in 2021. Himalaya has the considerably larger community, at 7,311 GitHub stars versus 971.
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 Sup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Himalaya or Sup 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 Sup free and open-source?
Yes. Himalaya is licensed under MIT and Sup under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Himalaya and Sup with Docker?
Himalaya: check the project docs for container support. Sup: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Himalaya or Sup?
Himalaya has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Sup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.