Terminals
Verdict. The fastest-feeling modern terminal that still feels like a native app — the default pick on Mac and Linux in 2026.
What it is. A fast, feature-rich terminal emulator by Mitchell Hashimoto (creator of Vagrant and Terraform), written in Zig with a native UI on each platform — AppKit/Metal on macOS, GTK4 on Linux.
Good.
- Very low input latency with GPU-accelerated rendering
- Native platform feel: tabs, splits, and fullscreen that behave like system apps
- Sensible defaults — works well with no configuration, plain-text config file when you want it
Bad.
- No Windows support (macOS and Linux only)
- Younger project: fewer power-user features than iTerm2 (no tmux -CC integration, no triggers)
- No built-in session persistence — still needs tmux or Zellij for that
Best for. Mac and Linux users who want a fast, native-feeling terminal with minimal setup
Price: Free / open source (MIT) · Official site · Docs
Verdict. The veteran Mac terminal: unmatched feature depth, at the cost of speed and a sprawling settings window.
What it is. The long-standing, feature-packed terminal emulator for macOS, in active development for over 15 years, with deep shell integration and scripting support.
Good.
- Deepest feature set: triggers, Smart Selection, instant replay, annotations
- Native tmux integration mode — tmux windows become native tabs and panes
- Hotkey dropdown window, profiles, and a mature Python scripting API
Bad.
- macOS only — no Linux or Windows builds
- Slower and heavier than Ghostty under heavy output
- GUI-driven preferences are awkward to version-control in dotfiles
Best for. Mac power users who want every knob, especially tmux users and server admins
Price: Free / open source (GPL v2) · Official site · Documentation
Verdict. The obvious default on Windows: free, fast, and the best way to run PowerShell, CMD, and WSL side by side.
What it is. Microsoft's modern, open-source terminal for Windows, with tabs, panes, GPU-accelerated text rendering, and profiles for PowerShell, CMD, Azure Cloud Shell, and WSL distributions.
Good.
- First-class WSL and multi-shell support in one window
- Tabs, split panes, and GPU-accelerated rendering built in
- Free, open source, and preinstalled on Windows 11
Bad.
- Windows only
- No built-in SSH connection manager — relies on profiles and external tools
- Fewer power-user features than Kitty or iTerm2 (no inline images, limited scripting)
Best for. Windows developers, especially anyone working across PowerShell, CMD, and WSL
Price: Free / open source (MIT) · Official site · Docs
Verdict. The minimalist speed demon: just a fast rendering canvas, nothing else — bring your own tmux.
What it is. A cross-platform, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator written in Rust, deliberately minimal: it renders text fast and leaves tabs, splits, and multiplexing to other tools like tmux.
Good.
- Extremely fast with a tiny memory footprint (~30 MB idle)
- Cross-platform: same config on Linux, macOS, Windows, and BSD
- Simple declarative TOML config, easy to keep in dotfiles
Bad.
- No tabs or split panes — you need tmux or Zellij for multiplexing
- No font ligatures, by design
- No inline image or graphics protocol support
Best for. Minimalists and tmux users who want the fastest possible canvas and nothing more
Price: Free / open source (Apache 2.0) · Official site · Configuration docs
Verdict. The most programmable GPU terminal on Linux and Mac — unmatched extensibility, but no Windows and a learning curve.
What it is. A fast, feature-rich, GPU-based terminal emulator for Linux and macOS with its own graphics protocol, layouts, and a Python extension system called kittens.
Good.
- Kitty graphics protocol — the best inline image support of any terminal
- Extremely extensible via kittens (Python scripts) and a remote control protocol
- Built-in tabs, splits, layouts, and scrollback search
Bad.
- No Windows support
- Custom-drawn window controls can feel out of place on macOS
- Configuration is powerful but sprawling — a lot to learn
Best for. Linux and Mac users who want maximum scriptability and inline graphics
Price: Free / open source (GPL v3) · Official site · Quickstart
Verdict. A terminal reimagined as an AI workspace — great if you want AI help and block-based output, heavy if you just want a terminal.
What it is. A modern, Rust-based terminal with an IDE-style input editor, block-based command output, built-in AI command generation and coding agents, and team features via Warp Drive.
Good.
- AI built in: command generation, error explanations, and coding agents
- Block-based output makes commands easy to copy, share, and revisit
- IDE-style editing with completions for 500+ CLI tools
Bad.
- Account and telemetry by default for AI and team features
- Client open-sourced under AGPL-3.0 (April 2026), but the AI/cloud platform (Oz) stays proprietary; AI usage is metered
- Heavier than pure terminals (~200 MB idle) and non-standard behavior can break some TUI apps
Best for. Developers who want AI assistance and modern editing built into their terminal
Price: Free tier; paid AI plans from $18/mo (Build) · Official site · Docs · Pricing
Verdict. The cross-platform multiplexer terminal: tmux built in, scriptable in Lua, and the same setup everywhere.
What it is. A GPU-accelerated terminal emulator and multiplexer written in Rust, configured entirely in Lua, with built-in tabs, panes, and SSH domains that let you split panes directly into remote machines.
Good.
- Built-in multiplexer with tabs, panes, and SSH domains — a tmux replacement
- Cross-platform: macOS, Linux, Windows, and FreeBSD with the same config
- Lua scripting gives unlimited customization, plus ligatures and all major image protocols
Bad.
- Higher memory usage than Alacritty or Ghostty
- Lua config has a steep learning curve for simple tweaks
- Slower raw throughput than the leanest terminals in benchmarks
Best for. Developers who live on multiple OSes or SSH into servers and want multiplexing without tmux
Price: Free / open source (MIT) · Official site · Configuration docs
Verdict. The connection manager disguised as a terminal — best pick if you juggle lots of SSH, serial, and SFTP sessions.
What it is. A cross-platform terminal app (formerly Terminus) with saved SSH profiles, a built-in SFTP browser, serial and Telnet support, jump hosts, and a plugin system.
Good.
- Best-in-class connection management: SSH profiles, SFTP, serial, Telnet, jump hosts
- Cross-platform with tabs, splits, and 240+ built-in color schemes
- Plugin ecosystem and a polished GUI for profiles and settings
Bad.
- Electron-based, so heavier on memory and startup than native GPU terminals
- Less suited as a pure local shell — its strengths are remote connections
- Occasional quirks from the Electron shell (input lag, larger install)
Best for. Sysadmins and anyone managing many remote servers and SSH connections
Price: Free / open source (MIT) · Official site · Docs · Releases