ELinks
A text-mode web browser for the terminal, maintained as an actively developed fork.
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About ELinks
ELinks is an advanced web browser that runs in a terminal and shows web pages as text. It is useful for browsing over SSH, on machines without a desktop, or when a graphical browser is more than the task needs.
This repository is a maintained fork of the original ELinks project, with more than 8,000 commits. It can be built with Meson or autotools, and the repository also includes Docker and cross-compilation files.
Strengths
- Browses the web from a terminal or SSH session
- Long-running project with a maintained fork
- Builds with Meson or autotools
Limitations
- Text-only rendering, so many modern sites display poorly
- Usually has to be built from source or installed through a distribution package
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree to download and build from source.
- License
- Proprietary
- Developer
- The ELinks contributors
- Platforms
- Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Best suited for
- Browsing the web from a terminal or headless server
- Categories
- Web browsers, CLI tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to ELinks
Compare allSoftware that can replace ELinks for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Lynx
Text-mode web browser for terminals and remote systems.
Lynx is an open source GPL-2.0 text browser that works in any terminal including bare SSH sessions, adds Windows and macOS, but has no JavaScript or CSS.
w3m
A text-based web browser and pager that runs in the terminal.
w3m is an open source terminal browser that renders tables and frames as text and also works as a pager for local files, though it lacks JavaScript.
Links
Small browser that runs either as text in a terminal or in a basic graphics mode.
Links is an open source GPL-2.0 browser running as text or in a basic graphics mode without X, available on Windows and macOS, with no JavaScript engine.
Browsh
Browse modern web pages through a terminal interface.
Browsh renders modern pages through a Firefox backend and displays them in the terminal, handling current sites better but requiring Firefox to be installed.
ELinks as an alternative
Listings that name ELinks as an alternative.
NetSurf
A small, fast open-source web browser written in C with its own layout engine.
ELinks moves to text-mode browsing in a terminal or SSH session from a maintained fork, but modern sites display poorly and it usually needs a distribution package.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
