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fish vs Elvish: catalog facts
fish	Elvish
Best for: An interactive shell that is pleasant immediately, with nothing to configure	Best for: People who want a shell with a real programming language for scripts
Free Free and open source under the GPL.	Free Free and open source.
macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Autosuggestions from history appear as you type with no plugins Syntax highlighting shows an invalid command before you run it All 4 strengths for fish Autosuggestions from history appear as you type with no plugins Syntax highlighting shows an invalid command before you run it Tab completions generated from man pages, so they cover real options Works well with no configuration file at all	Readable scripts with lists, maps and functions Catches errors like undefined variables before running All 4 strengths for Elvish Readable scripts with lists, maps and functions Catches errors like undefined variables before running Failed commands abort execution by default Single static binary for Linux, BSDs, macOS and Windows
Not POSIX-compatible, so bash snippets and scripts often need changing No official Windows build All 4 limitations for fish Not POSIX-compatible, so bash snippets and scripts often need changing No official Windows build A smaller plugin ecosystem than zsh Minimum supported macOS version is 10.12	Not POSIX compatible, so Bash scripts do not run unchanged Smaller ecosystem than Bash, Zsh or Fish
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License: BSD-2-Clause
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for fish github.com/fish-shell/fish-shell Catalog checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Elvish elv.sh Catalog checked September 24, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.