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fish vs Zsh: catalog facts
fish	Zsh
Best for: An interactive shell that is pleasant immediately, with nothing to configure	Best for: Interactive shell with powerful completion, globbing and prompt theming
Free Free and open source under the GPL.	Free The open-source application is available without a license fee.
macOS, Linux, Command line	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	Completion system that knows the options of individual commands Recursive globbing and qualifiers that replace many find invocations
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	Startup configuration grows complicated quickly, which is why frameworks exist Scripts written for Zsh are not portable to plain POSIX shells
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License: MIT
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Offline features available	Not stated if it works offline
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 Zsh zsh.org Catalog checked September 22, 2026

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