Alternatives to GNOME Console
A simple, user-friendly terminal emulator that is the default terminal on newer GNOME desktops. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
GNOME Console
A simple, user-friendly terminal emulator that is the default terminal on newer GNOME desktops.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as GNOME Console.
GNOME Terminal
The long-standing VTE-based terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop on Linux.
GNOME Terminal is the long-standing VTE-based GNOME terminal, with more customization options than GNOME Console but a conservative feature set; it is also Linux only and GPL-3.0.
Ptyxis
A GNOME terminal designed for container-oriented desktops with Podman, Toolbox and Distrobox support.
Ptyxis keeps a native GTK interface for GNOME and adds built-in awareness of Podman, Toolbox and Distrobox containers, which matters most on container-based setups.
Konsole
KDE's terminal emulator for running a command shell, with tabs, profiles, bookmarks and output search.
Konsole brings tabs, profiles, bookmarks, activity monitoring and output search, and has Windows and macOS builds, though it is designed around the KDE Plasma desktop.
Tilix
A tiling terminal emulator for Linux using GTK 3, with split panes and saved sessions.
Tilix adds horizontal and vertical split panes and saved session layouts in a GTK interface that fits GNOME, though the project is looking for new maintainers.
Terminator
A Linux terminal emulator that arranges several GNOME terminals in grids of split panes within one window.
Terminator arranges several GNOME terminals in grids of split panes within one window and can be scripted through remotinator, fitting GTK desktops best.
Xfce Terminal
The lightweight terminal emulator of the Xfce desktop, with tabs and a drop-down window mode.
Xfce Terminal is a lightweight terminal with tabs, a built-in drop-down window mode and a shortcut editor, and it fits best on an Xfce desktop.
Ghostty
A GPU-accelerated terminal that uses the real native interface of the platform instead of drawing its own.
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.
kitty
GPU-accelerated terminal with tabs, splits, graphics and a kitten scripting system.
kitty is a GPU-accelerated terminal with tabs, splits, inline images and kittens for scripting, configured only through a text file with no graphical settings.
Also worth comparing
These listings name GNOME Console 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.
GNOME Console is the simple default terminal on newer GNOME desktops, with far fewer customization options and no mention of GPU rendering or ligatures.
foot
A fast, lightweight and minimalistic terminal emulator built for Wayland on Linux and FreeBSD.
GNOME Console is a simple default terminal for newer GNOME desktops, with fewer customization options but desktop integration.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Guake
A Python-based drop-down terminal for GNOME, modelled on the console in Quake.
Tilda
A GTK drop-down terminal for Linux that slides in from the screen edge on a hotkey.
tmux
Keeps terminal sessions alive on a server after you disconnect, and splits one window into many.
Starship
A shell prompt that shows the git branch, language version and other context, configured once and working in every shell.
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.
