What we tested
The nine clients fall into three groups, and each group has one colour on this page. Hover over a row to highlight that client in every chart.
- Bulwark: a JMAP web app. The charts show version 1.10. The other builds are just as fast (see the last chart).
- IMAP webmails: Roundcube 1.7, SnappyMail 2.38, Cypht and SOGo.
- SquirrelMail 1.4 (2011): plain HTML pages with no JavaScript app. About as light as webmail gets.
How long does a click take?
The bar is the median time. The thin line covers the middle half of all runs. As a rough guide, 100 ms feels instant and 1 s feels like waiting. Ignore differences under about 30 ms. Each client was tested in one session, so gaps that small can be chance.
How much does a click download?
Hollow bars are lower than normal. The test opens the same five messages again and again. SnappyMail and SOGo keep them in a local cache, so opening a message for the first time downloads more than this.
How long does login take?
Login was measured once per client. That is why these bars have no thin line.
Does a bigger mailbox slow it down?
Each line is one client, with 100 messages on the left and 1000 on the right. Hover over a grey line to see its numbers. Grey means the change was under about 30 ms, which is too small to mean anything. That includes clients that look slightly faster with more mail. We tested only two mailbox sizes, so this shows a difference, not a trend.