Alternatives to Ghostty
A GPU-accelerated terminal that uses the real native interface of the platform instead of drawing its own. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Ghostty
A GPU-accelerated terminal that uses the real native interface of the platform instead of drawing its own.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Ghostty.
kitty
GPU-accelerated terminal with tabs, splits, graphics and a kitten scripting system.
kitty is another GPU terminal for macOS and Linux that adds tabs, splits, inline images and kittens, licensed GPL-3.0 and configured through a text file.
Alacritty
A deliberately minimal OpenGL terminal that leaves multiplexing and tabs to other programs and just draws text fast.
Alacritty is a minimal OpenGL terminal that also runs on Windows, adds Vi mode and scrollback search, but has no tabs and describes itself as beta.
WezTerm
A GPU-accelerated terminal that is also a multiplexer, configured in Lua and the same on every platform.
WezTerm adds a built-in multiplexer, Lua configuration and a Windows build, but is maintained largely by one person with infrequent stable releases.
iTerm2
macOS terminal replacement with split panes, search and session restore.
iTerm2 replaces Ghostty only on macOS, adding instant replay, session restore and native tmux control mode, though its many settings make first configuration daunting.
Contour Terminal
Run shell sessions in a GPU-rendered terminal emulator.
Contour Terminal is a GPU-rendered terminal with ligatures and tabs for Windows, macOS and Linux, licensed Apache-2.0 instead of MIT.
Warp
Rust terminal with block-based output, AI assistance and shared workflows.
Warp is a Rust terminal with command blocks, editor-style input and AI assistance on all three platforms, but hosted AI features need separate accounts and plans.
Rio
Use a configurable terminal emulator across desktop platforms.
Rio is an MIT-licensed configurable terminal emulator that also runs on Windows alongside macOS and Linux.
foot
A fast, lightweight and minimalistic terminal emulator built for Wayland on Linux and FreeBSD.
foot is a minimal, fast terminal for Wayland only on Linux and FreeBSD, with no tabs and no macOS build.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Ghostty as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
COSMIC Terminal
The terminal emulator for the COSMIC desktop, with GPU rendering, ligatures and bidirectional text.
Ghostty is a GPU-accelerated terminal with native window chrome on macOS and Linux and thorough emulation, configured through a single text file.
GNOME Console
A simple, user-friendly terminal emulator that is the default terminal on newer GNOME desktops.
Ghostty moves you to a GPU-accelerated terminal with native window chrome on Linux and macOS, configured through a single text file rather than a settings dialog.
GNOME Terminal
The long-standing VTE-based terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop on Linux.
Ghostty switches you to GPU rendering with native window chrome on Linux and macOS, configured through one readable text file, with no built-in multiplexer.
Ptyxis
A GNOME terminal designed for container-oriented desktops with Podman, Toolbox and Distrobox support.
Ghostty is an MIT-licensed GPU-accelerated terminal for macOS and Linux with native window chrome and a single text config file, but no built-in container awareness.
st
The suckless simple terminal, a minimal X terminal emulator configured by editing its source code.
Ghostty is an MIT-licensed GPU-accelerated terminal for macOS and Linux with thorough emulation and a single readable config file, larger than st but needing no patches.
Terminator
A Linux terminal emulator that arranges several GNOME terminals in grids of split panes within one window.
Ghostty is a GPU-accelerated MIT-licensed terminal with native window chrome on macOS and Linux, has no built-in multiplexer, and is configured with a single readable text file.
Tilix
A tiling terminal emulator for Linux using GTK 3, with split panes and saved sessions.
Ghostty is a GPU-accelerated MIT-licensed terminal with native interfaces on macOS and Linux, has no built-in multiplexer, and is configured with one text file.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
KiTTY
A PuTTY fork for Windows that adds session filtering, automatic login scripts and portability.
Windows Terminal
Microsoft’s tabbed terminal for Windows, hosting Command Prompt, PowerShell and WSL in one GPU-rendered window.
tmux
Keeps terminal sessions alive on a server after you disconnect, and splits one window into many.
Zellij
A terminal multiplexer that tells you its own shortcuts on screen, so you can use it on day one.
Nerd Fonts
A collection of programming fonts patched with thousands of icons, plus a patcher for adding them to other fonts.
Gogh
A collection of hundreds of terminal color schemes, installed into your terminal with a single command.
