Ghostty vs iTerm2

Ghostty

Ghostty is a terminals tool that fast native terminal emulator built in zig with gpu rendering and platform-native ui on macos and linux. It is open source software.

TerminalsFreeOpen Source

iTerm2

iTerm2 is feature-rich terminal emulator for macOS with split panes, search, autocomplete, and extensive customization. It provides comprehensive features for terminals workflows. The tool is actively maintained with regular updates and strong community/vendor support.

TerminalsFreeOpen Source

Quick Facts

2024Year Launched2010

FreePricing ModelFree

YesOpen SourceYes

TerminalsCategoryTerminals

WebPlatforms—

Ghostty

Year Launched2024

Pricing ModelFree

Open SourceYes

CategoryTerminals

PlatformsWeb

iTerm2

Year Launched2010

Pricing ModelFree

Open SourceYes

CategoryTerminals

Platforms—

Key Differences

Native Swift and Zig

Implementation

Legacy Objective-C

Extremely fast

Speed

Can feel sluggish

Modern sensible defaults

Defaults

Requires heavy tweaking

Implementation

Ghostty

Native Swift and Zig

iTerm2

Legacy Objective-C

Speed

Ghostty

Extremely fast

iTerm2

Can feel sluggish

Defaults

Ghostty

Modern sensible defaults

iTerm2

Requires heavy tweaking

Pricing

Ghostty

Free

Free: 0

iTerm2

Free

Why People Switch

Ghostty → iTerm2

iTerm2 familiarity and muscle memory

iTerm2 still has more features

Ghostty still maturing

iTerm2 → Ghostty

Ghostty feels native; iTerm2 never did

Ghostty's speed is noticeable

Modern defaults without tweaking

Ghostty's design philosophy cleaner

Based on publicly available community discussions and migration patterns.

Community Data

What practitioners say

—.—

Ghostty

—.—

iTerm2

Switch corridor: — switches recorded

Community data will appear as users rate and switch between these tools. Be the first to contribute.

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