Terminal Emulator
Comparison
Tracking things I care about in a some terminal emulators I use.
| iTerm2 | kitty | alacritty | cool-retro-term | Ghostty | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple Windows | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Select a rectangle | cmd-opt | No | ctrl-opt | No | opt |
| Tabs | cmd-t | No | Yes | No | cmd-t |
| Panes | cmd-d / cmd-shift-d | No | No | No | cmd-d / cmd-shfit-d |
| Broadcast input | opt-cmd-i | No | No | No | No (discussion) |
| Speed | medium | fast | fast | slow | fast |
| Easily export prefs | Decent | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Cross-platform | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fancy graphics effects | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Search scrollback | Yes | Yes (docs) | Yes | No | No (issue) |
| Smart selection | Yes (docs) | No | Limited | No | No |
Links
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terminal_emulators
- https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/performance: Performance comparison of several popular terminal emulators comopared to kitty
- https://jvns.ca/blog/2024/10/01/terminal-colours: "Terminal colours are tricky"
- https://jvns.ca/blog/2025/01/11/getting-a-modern-terminal-setup
- https://poor.dev/blog/terminal-anatomy: "Anatomy of a Terminal Emulator"