Alternatives to Chawan

A terminal web browser with its own engine supporting CSS, JavaScript and inline images. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Chawan.

  • w3m

    A text-based web browser and pager that runs in the terminal.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    w3m also runs in the terminal and works as a pager, rendering tables and frames as text, but it has no JavaScript support, so many modern sites fail.

  • Lynx

    Text-mode web browser for terminals and remote systems.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    Lynx runs in any terminal, including on Windows, with very low resource use, but has no JavaScript, CSS or images, so most modern sites are unusable.

  • Browsh

    Browse modern web pages through a terminal interface.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Browsh renders pages with a Firefox backend before showing them in the terminal, handling modern sites and running on Windows, but it requires Firefox installed alongside.

  • ELinks

    A text-mode web browser for the terminal, maintained as an actively developed fork.

    FreeProprietaryLinuxCommand line

    ELinks is a maintained text-mode terminal browser for SSH sessions and headless servers, but it renders text only, so many modern sites display poorly compared with Chawan.

  • Links

    Small browser that runs either as text in a terminal or in a basic graphics mode.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Links offers a text mode plus a basic graphics mode that draws images without X and runs on Windows, but it has no JavaScript engine for modern sites.

  • edbrowse

    A line-oriented command-line text editor that also works as a web browser with JavaScript support.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    edbrowse keeps JavaScript support in a terminal program but uses line-oriented editor commands instead of a screen display, suiting screen reader users more than visual browsing.

Also worth comparing

These listings name Chawan as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • less

    A classic terminal file pager for reading text files and command output one screen at a time.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    Chawan is mainly a terminal web browser that also works as a pager, adding CSS rendering and inline images, but needs WSL on Windows.

  • Offpunk

    An offline-first command-line browser and feed reader for Gemini, Gopher, Spartan and the web.

    FreeOpen sourceCommand line

    Chawan is a terminal browser that handles Gemini, Gopher and the web with CSS, JavaScript and inline images, but it is not a feed reader and builds with the Nim compiler.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.