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HSTR vs zsh-history-substring-search: catalog facts
HSTR	zsh-history-substring-search
Best for: Bash and Zsh users who reuse long commands from history	Best for: Zsh users who want fish-style history search
Free Free to use, with source published on GitHub.	Free Free to download and use.
Linux, Command line	Command line
Interactive search through shell history Works with both Bash and Zsh All 3 strengths for HSTR Interactive search through shell history Works with both Bash and Zsh Documented configuration and man page	Matches any part of a previous command Fish-style search without switching shells All 3 strengths for zsh-history-substring-search Matches any part of a previous command Fish-style search without switching shells Small plugin that adds to an existing Zsh setup
Only Bash and Zsh are supported Needs shell configuration to bind it to a key	Works only with Zsh Needs setup in your shell configuration
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Not open source
License not stated	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for HSTR github.com/dvorka/hstr Catalog checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for zsh-history-substring-search github.com/zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search Catalog checked October 2, 2026

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