{"slug": "imapsync", "name": "imapsync", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 7, "warners": 1, "score": 3.504, "rising": -0.31, "first": "2025-12-30", "latest": "2026-10-31", "why": "imapsync (https://imapsync.lamiral.info/) made the migration very easy.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "imapsync (https://imapsync.lamiral.info/) made the migration very easy.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "lamiral.info", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://imapsync.lamiral.info", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["imapsync", "Imapsync"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 793080737, "item_id": 49567546, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49567546", "by": "CharlesW", "date": "2026-09-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "imapsync (https://imapsync.lamiral.info/) made the migration very easy.", "excerpt": "Apple's been a rock-solid email host for me. imapsync (https://imapsync.lamiral.info/) made the migration very easy. https://blah.cloud/miscellaneous/migrating-google-workspaces-to-icloud-custom-domain/", "context": "", "use_case": "Email migration between IMAP servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 756765056, "item_id": 47297816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297816", "by": "consumer451", "date": "2026-03-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Imapsync is your best friend for this", "excerpt": "> I can't imagine how I would migrate to another email address Imapsync is your best friend for this, as far as syncing the new account with the old one. https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync https://imapsync.lamiral.info/", "context": "", "use_case": "syncing email between accounts", "switched_from": "", "story": "Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'"}, {"id": 750029920, "item_id": 46876870, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46876870", "by": "EvanAnderson", "date": "2026-02-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I remember using it fondly in the past.", "excerpt": "I haven't had excuse to use imapsync for awhile. I remember using it fondly in the past. I definitely hadn't looked at the site in years. I see that there's a free (for up to 3GB, pay for more) migration service offered there now, too: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/X/ That's a pretty cool way to support the project.", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP email migration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Migrate Wizard \u2013 IMAP Based Email Migration Tool"}, {"id": 750007408, "item_id": 46875463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46875463", "by": "Terretta", "date": "2026-02-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love imapsync:", "excerpt": "I love imapsync: https://imapsync.lamiral.info This is the way projects used to be, and surprisingly excellent ones still are. The amount of knowledge built into this is incredible: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/S/news.shtml // imapsync did 14M to 21M mailboxes transfers per month in 2024, or 0.22% of ALL email traffic", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP email migration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Migrate Wizard \u2013 IMAP Based Email Migration Tool"}, {"id": 742899408, "item_id": 46431213, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46431213", "by": "jinnko", "date": "2025-12-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "imapsync[0] still supports Gmail", "excerpt": "I haven't used it for a while, but imapsync[0] still supports Gmail. With an approach like this you can regularly sync and get your messages in a standard format. Plus you don't have to wrangle those 50GB takeout dumps. 0: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Gmail.txt", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP mailbox sync", "switched_from": "", "story": "Incremental Backups of Gmail Takeouts"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 805084464, "item_id": 50317779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50317779", "by": "bsoles", "date": "2026-10-31", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "When will people learn?", "excerpt": "> I signed up and started migrating my email. I use a free, very simple and capable service called Imapsync. > Just enter the credentials for your old and new providers, and wait. When will people learn?", "context": "", "use_case": "email migration", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to free your email from the clutches of Google or Microsoft"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["imap email migration", "email migration", "email migration between imap servers", "syncing email between accounts", "imap mailbox migration", "imap mailbox sync"], "compared": [{"slug": "mbsync", "name": "mbsync", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46873885", "title": "Migrate Wizard \u2013 IMAP Based Email Migration Tool", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50315778", "title": "How to free your email from the clutches of Google or Microsoft", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49565693", "title": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47246044", "title": "Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46384153", "title": "Incremental Backups of Gmail Takeouts", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 805084464, "item_id": 50317779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50317779", "by": "bsoles", "date": "2026-10-31", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "When will people learn?", "excerpt": "> I signed up and started migrating my email. I use a free, very simple and capable service called Imapsync. > Just enter the credentials for your old and new providers, and wait. When will people learn?", "context": "", "use_case": "email migration", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to free your email from the clutches of Google or Microsoft"}, {"id": 793080737, "item_id": 49567546, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49567546", "by": "CharlesW", "date": "2026-09-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "imapsync (https://imapsync.lamiral.info/) made the migration very easy.", "excerpt": "Apple's been a rock-solid email host for me. imapsync (https://imapsync.lamiral.info/) made the migration very easy. https://blah.cloud/miscellaneous/migrating-google-workspaces-to-icloud-custom-domain/", "context": "", "use_case": "Email migration between IMAP servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 756765056, "item_id": 47297816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297816", "by": "consumer451", "date": "2026-03-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Imapsync is your best friend for this", "excerpt": "> I can't imagine how I would migrate to another email address Imapsync is your best friend for this, as far as syncing the new account with the old one. https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync https://imapsync.lamiral.info/", "context": "", "use_case": "syncing email between accounts", "switched_from": "", "story": "Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'"}, {"id": 750031376, "item_id": 46876961, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46876961", "by": "1718627440", "date": "2026-02-03", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "It however handles message identity better than mbsync", "excerpt": "imapsync is slower and doesn't support bidirectional sync. It however handles message identity better than mbsync (http://isync.sourceforge.net/) and supports using different authorization and authentication. For administering our mailserver, I first used imapsync and then patched mbsync to support the Auth header.", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP mailbox migration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Migrate Wizard \u2013 IMAP Based Email Migration Tool"}, {"id": 750029920, "item_id": 46876870, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46876870", "by": "EvanAnderson", "date": "2026-02-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I remember using it fondly in the past.", "excerpt": "I haven't had excuse to use imapsync for awhile. I remember using it fondly in the past. I definitely hadn't looked at the site in years. I see that there's a free (for up to 3GB, pay for more) migration service offered there now, too: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/X/ That's a pretty cool way to support the project.", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP email migration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Migrate Wizard \u2013 IMAP Based Email Migration Tool"}, {"id": 750007408, "item_id": 46875463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46875463", "by": "Terretta", "date": "2026-02-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love imapsync:", "excerpt": "I love imapsync: https://imapsync.lamiral.info This is the way projects used to be, and surprisingly excellent ones still are. The amount of knowledge built into this is incredible: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/S/news.shtml // imapsync did 14M to 21M mailboxes transfers per month in 2024, or 0.22% of ALL email traffic", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP email migration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Migrate Wizard \u2013 IMAP Based Email Migration Tool"}, {"id": 742899408, "item_id": 46431213, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46431213", "by": "jinnko", "date": "2025-12-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "imapsync[0] still supports Gmail", "excerpt": "I haven't used it for a while, but imapsync[0] still supports Gmail. With an approach like this you can regularly sync and get your messages in a standard format. Plus you don't have to wrangle those 50GB takeout dumps. 0: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Gmail.txt", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP mailbox sync", "switched_from": "", "story": "Incremental Backups of Gmail Takeouts"}]}