A terminal for a more modern age
Cross-platform, with tabs, splits and a built-in SSH and serial client.
- Language
- TypeScript
- Licence
- MIT
- Stars
- 75k
- Latest
- v1.0.238
- Last push
- 2026-11-06
alternatives to
iTerm2
iTerm2 is a terminal emulator for Mac OS X that does amazing things.
Tabby, Ghostty, kitty and more. 9 alternatives to iTerm2, in TypeScript, Zig, Python, Rust, Go, C++. Compare fit, licence, stars and the latest signed release.
Side by side
| Tool | Fit | Stars | Licence | Terms | Self-hosted | Language | Latest | Last push |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tabby | Full replacement | 75k | MIT | Open source | No | TypeScript | v1.0.238 | 2026-11-06 |
| Ghostty | Full replacement | 64k | MIT | Open source | No | Zig | v1.4.0 | 2026-11-12 |
| kitty | Full replacement | 36k | GPL-3.0 | Open source | No | Python | v0.50.0 | 2026-11-12 |
| WezTerm | Full replacement | 30k | Other | Open source | No | Rust | 20240203-110809-5046fc22 | 2026-11-12 |
| Wave Terminal | Full replacement | 23k | Apache-2.0 | Open source | No | Go | v0.14.5 | 2026-11-06 |
| Alacritty | Partial | 66k | Apache-2.0 | Open source | No | Rust | v0.17.0 | 2026-11-06 |
| Rio | Partial | 7.7k | MIT | Open source | No | Rust | v0.5.29 | 2026-11-08 |
| Contour | Partial | 3.1k | Apache-2.0 | Open source | No | C++ | v0.8.0.9335 | 2026-11-12 |
| Terminator | Partial | 2.7k | GPL-2.0 | Open source | No | Python | v2.1.6 | 2026-10-19 |
Every alternative
9 alternatives
👻 Ghostty is a fast, feature-rich, and cross-platform terminal emulator that uses platform-native UI and GPU acceleration.
GPU-rendered with a native UI on macOS and Linux.
If you live in the terminal, kitty is made for you! Cross-platform, fast, feature-rich, GPU based.
GPU-rendered, cross-platform, with tabs, splits and a graphics protocol.
A GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal emulator and multiplexer written by @wez and implemented in Rust
Cross-platform, built-in multiplexing, configured in Lua.
- Language
- Rust
- Licence
- Other
- Stars
- 30k
- Latest
- 20240203-110809-5046fc22
- Last push
- 2026-11-12
An open-source, AI-integrated, cross-platform terminal for seamless workflows
Cross-platform, with splits, SSH connections and blocks for files and web pages.
- Language
- Go
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Stars
- 23k
- Latest
- v0.14.5
- Last push
- 2026-11-06
A cross-platform, OpenGL terminal emulator.
GPU-rendered and cross-platform, with no tabs or splits of its own.
- Language
- Rust
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Stars
- 66k
- Latest
- v0.17.0
- Last push
- 2026-11-06
A hardware-accelerated GPU terminal emulator focusing to run in desktops and browsers.
GPU-rendered terminal that also runs in the browser; fewer integrations.
Modern C++ Terminal Emulator
GPU-rendered terminal for Linux, macOS and Windows; no AppleScript or Python API.
- Language
- C++
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Stars
- 3.1k
- Latest
- v0.8.0.9335
- Last push
- 2026-11-12
multiple GNOME terminals in one window
Split panes and broadcast input on Linux; no macOS build.
Head to head
- Alacritty vs Contour
- Alacritty vs Ghostty
- Alacritty vs kitty
- Alacritty vs Rio
- Alacritty vs Tabby
- Alacritty vs Terminator
- Alacritty vs Wave Terminal
- Alacritty vs WezTerm
- Contour vs Ghostty
- Contour vs kitty
- Contour vs Rio
- Contour vs Tabby
- Contour vs Terminator
- Contour vs Wave Terminal
- Contour vs WezTerm
- Ghostty vs kitty
- Ghostty vs Rio
- Ghostty vs Tabby
- Ghostty vs Terminator
- Ghostty vs Wave Terminal
- Ghostty vs WezTerm
- kitty vs Rio
- kitty vs Tabby
- kitty vs Terminator
- kitty vs Wave Terminal
- kitty vs WezTerm
- Rio vs Tabby
- Rio vs Terminator
- Rio vs Wave Terminal
- Rio vs WezTerm
- Tabby vs Terminator
- Tabby vs Wave Terminal
- Tabby vs WezTerm
- Terminator vs Wave Terminal
- Terminator vs WezTerm
- Wave Terminal vs WezTerm
About iTerm2
- Language
- Swift
- Licence
- GPL-2.0
- Stars
- 18k
- Last push
- 2026-11-12