Alternatives to GNOME Terminal
The long-standing VTE-based terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop on Linux. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
GNOME Terminal
The long-standing VTE-based terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop on Linux.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as GNOME Terminal.
GNOME Console
A simple, user-friendly terminal emulator that is the default terminal on newer GNOME desktops.
GNOME Console is the default terminal on newer GNOME desktops, with a simpler interface but far fewer customization options than GNOME Terminal.
Ptyxis
A GNOME terminal designed for container-oriented desktops with Podman, Toolbox and Distrobox support.
Ptyxis is a GTK terminal for GNOME that adds built-in support for Podman, Toolbox and Distrobox containers, useful mainly on container-based setups.
Konsole
KDE's terminal emulator for running a command shell, with tabs, profiles, bookmarks and output search.
Konsole offers tabs, profiles, activity monitoring and output search with monthly releases, but it is designed around KDE Plasma rather than GNOME.
Tilix
A tiling terminal emulator for Linux using GTK 3, with split panes and saved sessions.
Tilix adds tiled split panes and restorable session layouts in a GTK 3 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-based terminals in grids of split panes within one window and can be scripted through the remotinator helper.
Xfce Terminal
The lightweight terminal emulator of the Xfce desktop, with tabs and a drop-down window mode.
Xfce Terminal is lighter on resources and adds a built-in drop-down window mode, though 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 switches you to GPU rendering with native window chrome on Linux and macOS, configured through one readable text file, with no built-in multiplexer.
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 under Apache-2.0 that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux but has no tabs, leaving that to tmux.
Also worth comparing
These listings name GNOME Terminal as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
cool-retro-term
A terminal emulator that imitates the look of old cathode-ray tube screens.
GNOME Terminal drops the CRT effects for plain, readable text on the VTE library, integrated with the GNOME desktop.
COSMIC Terminal
The terminal emulator for the COSMIC desktop, with GPU rendering, ligatures and bidirectional text.
GNOME Terminal is the long-standing VTE-based GNOME terminal, well integrated with the desktop but with a more conservative feature set than newer terminals.
LXTerminal
A lightweight VTE-based terminal emulator from the LXDE project with tab support.
GNOME Terminal is also VTE-based and maintained by the GNOME project, integrating with that desktop at the cost of heavier dependencies.
QTerminal
A lightweight Qt terminal emulator maintained by the LXQt desktop project.
GNOME Terminal is the VTE-based GNOME default, dependable and integrated with that desktop, with no split panes or drop-down mode.
Terminology
A terminal emulator for Linux and BSD built on the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, with inline media previews.
GNOME Terminal is a VTE-based terminal integrated with the GNOME desktop, with a conservative feature set and no inline media previews or framebuffer mode.
xterm
The long-running terminal emulator for the X Window System, with DEC VT and Tektronix compatibility.
GNOME Terminal is a VTE-based terminal integrated with the GNOME desktop, adding a modern interface but not xterm's Tektronix emulation.
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.
Gogh
A collection of hundreds of terminal color schemes, installed into your terminal with a single command.
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.
