Best terminal emulators
Terminal emulators, SSH clients, multiplexers and shells for macOS, Windows, Linux and mobile, from built-in defaults to GPU-accelerated and AI-assisted terminals.
38 apps, ordered by visits from AppBreakup and how often our research lists each one as an alternative. Open any app to see its alternatives.
All terminal emulators
- Alternatives to WezTerm

GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal and multiplexer, configured and scripted in Lua.
Open sourceLinux, macOS, Windows - Alternatives to kitty

Fast, feature-rich GPU terminal for Linux and macOS with layouts, graphics and Python extensions.
Open sourceLinux, macOS - Alternatives to Ghostty

Fast, native, GPU-accelerated terminal for macOS and Linux created by Mitchell Hashimoto.
Open sourcemacOS, Linux - Alternatives to Tabby (terminal)

Configurable cross-platform terminal with built-in SSH, serial and Telnet connections.
Open sourceWindows, macOS, Linux, Web - Alternatives to fish

User-friendly command-line shell with autosuggestions and syntax highlighting out of the box.
Open sourceLinux, macOS - Alternatives to Tilix

Tiling GTK terminal emulator for Linux with split panes, sessions and a Quake mode.
Open sourceLinux - Alternatives to Alacritty

Minimal, cross-platform OpenGL terminal emulator focused on speed and sensible defaults.
Open sourceLinux, macOS, Windows - Alternatives to Termius

Cross-platform SSH client with a synced vault of hosts and keys across desktop and mobile.
Free plan + paidmacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android - Alternatives to MobaXterm

All-in-one Windows toolbox with a tabbed SSH client, X11 server and remote desktop tools.
Free plan + paidWindows - Alternatives to Zsh

Powerful interactive shell and scripting language, the default shell on macOS.
Open sourceLinux, macOS - Alternatives to Warp

Modern terminal built around command blocks and AI coding agents, now open source.
Free plan + paidOpen sourcemacOS, Windows, Linux - Alternatives to Windows Terminal

Microsoft's modern, open-source terminal for Command Prompt, PowerShell and WSL on Windows.
Open sourceWindows - Alternatives to electerm

Free open-source terminal and SSH, SFTP, RDP and VNC client for desktop and mobile.
Open sourceLinux, macOS, Windows, Android, iOS - Alternatives to Nushell

Cross-platform shell where pipelines pass structured data like tables instead of plain text.
Open sourceLinux, macOS, Windows - Alternatives to iTerm2

The long-standing free replacement for the macOS Terminal app, packed with power-user features.
Open sourcemacOS - Alternatives to Bash

The GNU Bourne Again Shell, the standard command shell on most Linux systems.
Open sourceLinux, macOS, Windows - Alternatives to Zellij

Terminal workspace and multiplexer with discoverable keybindings, layouts and WebAssembly plugins.
Open sourceLinux, macOS, Windows - Alternatives to PuTTY

The classic free SSH and Telnet client for Windows, also available for Unix.
Open sourceWindows, Linux - Alternatives to SecureCRT

Commercial SSH and Telnet client for Windows, macOS and Linux, popular with network engineers.
PaidWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS - Alternatives to xonsh

- Alternatives to Ptyxis

Container-oriented GNOME terminal with profiles, now the default in Fedora and Ubuntu.
Open sourceLinux - Alternatives to tmux

The standard terminal multiplexer for splitting panes and keeping sessions alive after you disconnect.
Open sourceLinux, macOS - Alternatives to PowerShell

Microsoft's cross-platform shell and scripting language built on .NET objects.
Open sourceWindows, Linux, macOS - Alternatives to Terminator

Arrange multiple terminals in a grid in one window, with broadcast typing and plugins.
Open sourceLinux - Alternatives to Wave Terminal

Open-source terminal that mixes shells with file previews, an editor, web views and AI in one workspace.
Open sourcemacOS, Linux, Windows - Alternatives to Guake

- Alternatives to Yakuake

- Alternatives to Oh My Zsh

Community-driven framework of themes and plugins for configuring Zsh.
Open sourceLinux, macOS - Alternatives to Starship

- Alternatives to Konsole

KDE's feature-rich terminal emulator, the default on Plasma desktops.
Open sourceLinux, Windows, macOS - Alternatives to Blink Shell

Desktop-grade SSH and Mosh terminal for iPhone and iPad, with a built-in code editor.
PaidOpen sourceiOS - Alternatives to foot

- Alternatives to GNOME Console

Simple, user-friendly terminal that ships as the default in recent GNOME desktops.
Open sourceLinux - Alternatives to Termux

- Alternatives to Rio

Hardware-accelerated terminal written in Rust, with tabs, splits and image protocol support.
Open sourcemacOS, Windows, Linux - Alternatives to cmux

A native macOS terminal built on Ghostty, with vertical tabs and alerts for AI coding agents.
Open sourcemacOS - Alternatives to Cmder

- Alternatives to Hyper

Electron-based terminal built on web technologies and extended with JavaScript plugins.
Open sourcemacOS, Windows, Linux
Our picks by need
Popular comparisons
Common questions
What are the best terminal emulators?
Based on how often our research lists them as alternatives and visits from AppBreakup, the leading terminal emulators right now are WezTerm, kitty, Ghostty, Tabby (terminal) and fish.
Are there free terminal emulators?
Yes. WezTerm (open source), kitty (open source), Ghostty (open source), Tabby (terminal) (open source) and fish (open source) have a free option, out of 36 free or freemium apps we track.
Which terminal emulators are open source?
WezTerm, kitty, Ghostty, Tabby (terminal), fish and Tilix, and 29 more.