Alternatives to WSLtty

A Windows terminal for Windows Subsystem for Linux based on mintty and wslbridge2. 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 WSLtty.

  • Windows Terminal

    Microsoft’s tabbed terminal for Windows, hosting Command Prompt, PowerShell and WSL in one GPU-rendered window.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    Windows Terminal hosts WSL, PowerShell and Command Prompt in one GPU-rendered window with tabs and split panes, which WSLtty does not have.

  • Mintty

    A terminal emulator for Cygwin, MSYS2 and WSL on Windows with thorough xterm compatibility.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    Mintty is the terminal WSLtty is built on, and it also serves Cygwin and MSYS2 shells, with the same xterm compatibility and image support.

  • WezTerm

    A GPU-accelerated terminal that is also a multiplexer, configured in Lua and the same on every platform.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    WezTerm runs on Windows, macOS and Linux with built-in tabs and panes and Lua configuration, rather than WSLtty's one window per session.

  • Alacritty

    A deliberately minimal OpenGL terminal that leaves multiplexing and tabs to other programs and just draws text fast.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Alacritty is a minimal cross-platform OpenGL terminal under Apache-2.0 that needs ConPTY on Windows 10 1809 or later and has no tabs either.

  • ConEmu

    Keep several Windows console sessions in a tabbed window.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    ConEmu keeps several Windows console sessions in a tabbed window with configurable layouts, where WSLtty opens each session separately.

  • Tabby

    A terminal, SSH client and serial console in one window, with a connection manager and an encrypted secret store.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Tabby is an Electron terminal with tabs, SSH, serial and an encrypted secret store, heavier on memory than the mintty-based WSLtty.

  • Hyper

    A terminal built on web technologies, extended with JavaScript plugins and themed with CSS.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Hyper is an Electron terminal themed with CSS and extended with npm plugins, slower to start than WSLtty and last tagged in January 2023.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.