Zsh

Powerful interactive shell and scripting language, the default shell on macOS.

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

About Zsh

Zsh, the Z shell, is a Unix shell designed for interactive use that is also a capable scripting language. It combines many useful features of bash, ksh and tcsh with its own additions: a programmable completion system, spelling correction, recursive globbing, shared history between sessions, extensive prompt customisation and loadable modules. It is largely compatible with bash for everyday commands and scripts, which makes switching easy. Since macOS Catalina it has been Apple's default login shell, and frameworks like Oh My Zsh, Prezto and plugin managers such as zinit add themes and plugins for autosuggestions and syntax highlighting. Zsh is free and open source under a permissive MIT-style licence and runs on almost every Unix-like system. Out of the box it is fairly plain, so most of its appeal comes from configuration, and heavy plugin setups can slow down shell startup.

Best for: People who want a bash-compatible shell they can customise heavily.

What works

Mostly bash compatible, easy to switch to
Powerful completion and globbing
Huge ecosystem of frameworks, themes and plugins

Why people leave

Plain until configured
Heavy plugin setups slow startup
Configuration syntax can be cryptic

Top Zsh alternatives

See all 5

1
fish
Autosuggestions and highlighting with no configuration, at the cost of POSIX compatibility.
66.5
2
Bash
Maximum portability for scripts and servers.
62.6
3
Nushell
Structured-data shell for people tired of parsing text.
59.6
4
Oh My Zsh
Framework that makes zsh configuration much easier.
57.2
5
xonsh
Python-powered shell where you mix Python expressions with ordinary commands instead of learning Zsh's syntax.
55.3

Why people left Zsh

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Zsh: common questions

Is Zsh free?

Yes. Zsh is free, open-source software.

Is Zsh open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at zsh-users/zsh.

What platforms does Zsh run on?

Zsh is available for Linux and macOS.

What are the best alternatives to Zsh?

The highest-ranked Zsh alternatives right now are fish, Bash and Nushell. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 5 Zsh alternatives

Zsh facts

3 of 3 verified

Description: Interactive shell and scripting language; Checked Oct 25, 2026zsh.sourceforge.io(opens source in a new tab); “Zsh is a shell designed for interactive use, although it is also a powerful scripting language.”
Heritage: Features from bash, ksh and tcsh; Checked Oct 25, 2026zsh.sourceforge.io(opens source in a new tab); “Many of the useful features of bash , ksh , and tcsh were incorporated into zsh”
Source code: Mirrored on GitHub; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “Description: Mirror of the Z shell source code repository..”