Tilix

Tiling GTK terminal emulator for Linux with split panes, sessions and a Quake mode.

Verified facts: 3 of 3
Alternatives ranked: 5
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About Tilix

Tilix is a GTK 3 terminal emulator for Linux that follows GNOME's design guidelines and focuses on tiling. You can split any terminal horizontally or vertically, rearrange panes by drag and drop within and between windows, save and restore sessions with their layouts, and synchronise input across terminals. It also offers a Quake-style drop-down mode, custom hyperlinks and titles, background images, notifications when a process finishes and per-profile triggers. It is written in D, uses the VTE library like GNOME Terminal and is free under the MPL-2.0. Tilix remains in many distributions' repositories and still gets occasional updates, but development has been slow for years after its original author stepped back, and it has not moved to GTK 4. It suits GNOME-style desktop users who want tiling without learning tmux, while newer GNOME terminals look more current.

Best for: Linux desktop users who want split-pane tiling without using tmux.

What works

Flexible splits with drag-and-drop rearranging
Saved sessions and layouts
Quake-style drop-down mode

Why people leave

Slow development in recent years
Still on GTK 3
Linux only

Top Tilix alternatives

See all 5

1
Terminator
Long-running grid terminal with broadcast input and plugins.
66.5
2
Ptyxis
Modern GTK 4 terminal for GNOME with container support.
62.6
3
kitty
Built-in tiling layouts with GPU rendering.
59.6
4
Zellij
Terminal workspace with panes and layouts that works in any terminal.
57.2
5
Guake
Dedicated drop-down terminal for GNOME.
55.3

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Tilix: common questions

Is Tilix free?

Yes. Tilix is free, open-source software.

Is Tilix open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at gnunn1/tilix.

What platforms does Tilix run on?

Tilix is available for Linux.

What are the best alternatives to Tilix?

The highest-ranked Tilix alternatives right now are Terminator, Ptyxis and kitty. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 5 Tilix alternatives

Tilix facts

3 of 3 verified

License: MPL-2.0; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “License: MPL-2.0 (Mozilla Public License 2.0).”
Description: Advanced GTK3 tiling terminal; Checked Oct 25, 2026gnunn1.github.io(opens source in a new tab); “advanced GTK3 tiling terminal emulator that follows the Gnome Human Interface Guidelines.”
Drag and drop: Rearrange terminals within and between windows; Checked Oct 25, 2026gnunn1.github.io(opens source in a new tab); “Drag and Drop Terminals can be re-arranged using drag and drop both within and between windows.”