Kitty Alternatives
Kitty alternatives: WezTerm, Ghostty, and Alacritty compared by platform, multiplexing, scripting and rendering, plus Rio, Contour, iTerm2 and foot.
Updated
short verdict
WezTerm is the closest replacement for Kitty: GPU rendering, ligatures, images, and a scripting layer (Lua) plus a built-in multiplexer, with Windows support. Pick Ghostty for native UI and VT correctness, Alacritty for minimal config and speed with a separate multiplexer, and iTerm2 or foot if you only use macOS or Wayland.
Kitty is a GPU-accelerated terminal for Linux, macOS and BSD, scripted through kittens, with an image protocol, ligatures and built-in window and tab management. The alternatives below differ mainly in platform coverage, how you configure and script them, whether tabs and splits are built in, and how much they prioritize minimalism or VT correctness.
this page is for
- Kitty users who need Windows support
- Users who want Lua scripting instead of kittens
- Users who want a smaller, simpler terminal
- Mac-only or Wayland-only users who want a platform-specific terminal
Covers the same ground as Kitty (GPU rendering, ligatures, images, tabs and splits) but scripts through Lua and adds Windows.
best for
- Kitty users who want scripting and Windows support
- Remote work over SSH
strengths
- Lua configuration is a full programming language, comparable to Kitty's kittens for customization
- Built-in multiplexer with tabs, panes and workspaces
- Multiplexer works over SSH
- Runs on Linux, macOS and Windows
weaknesses
- No BSD listed among supported platforms, which Kitty supports
- Lua config replaces kittens, so existing Kitty scripts do not carry over
Like Kitty it is GPU-accelerated, but it uses platform-native UI elements and emphasizes correct VT handling over a scripting layer.
best for
- Linux and macOS users who want a native-feeling terminal
- Users who care about VT correctness
strengths
- Uses platform-native UI elements
- Focuses on correct VT handling
- GPU-accelerated rendering
- Written in Zig under the MIT license
weaknesses
- No kitten-style scripting system is described
- Supports only Linux and macOS, so no BSD or Windows
Drops Kitty's built-in tabs, splits and scripting for a minimal OpenGL terminal configured with a TOML file.
best for
- Users who already run a separate terminal multiplexer or tiling window manager
- Users who want a small feature set
strengths
- TOML-based config file
- Vi mode for keyboard navigation of scrollback
- Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows and BSD
- OpenGL GPU acceleration
weaknesses
- No tabs or splits, so you need a window manager or separate multiplexer
- No image protocol or kitten-style extensions are described
A macOS-only alternative that replaces Kitty's kittens and tiling with split panes, triggers, regex search and shell integration.
best for
- Mac users who want the broadest built-in feature set
strengths
- Split panes and search with regex support
- Triggers run automated actions based on output
- Shell integration and native control mode for a terminal multiplexer
- Command and path autocomplete
weaknesses
- macOS only, unlike Kitty's Linux, macOS and BSD support
- GPL-2.0 Objective-C codebase with no Linux or Windows path
A Linux-only, Wayland-native terminal that trades Kitty's feature breadth for low resource use and sixel images.
best for
- Sway or Hyprland users on Wayland
- Users who want low memory and CPU use
strengths
- Wayland-native, without relying on XWayland
- Lightweight with quick startup
- Sixel graphics for images
- Scrollback search
weaknesses
- Linux only, with no macOS or BSD builds
- No scripting layer comparable to kittens is described
Offers GPU rendering, ligatures and images like Kitty, but uses sixel and stresses VT sequence conformance.
best for
- Users who want sixel graphics with strict VT compliance across Linux, macOS and Windows
strengths
- Sixel graphics support
- Strong VT sequence compliance
- Ligature support
- OpenGL rendering on Linux, macOS and Windows
weaknesses
- C++ project with a much smaller adoption base than Kitty
- No kitten-style scripting is described
Renders through WebGPU instead of OpenGL and targets speed, but its documented feature set is narrower than Kitty's.
best for
- Users who want to try a WebGPU-based terminal on Linux, macOS or Windows
strengths
- WebGPU rendering
- Written in Rust
- Runs on Linux, macOS and Windows
weaknesses
- No image protocol, ligatures or scripting system are described
- No BSD support listed
Why look beyond Kitty
Kitty is capable, but a few constraints push people elsewhere.
- Platforms: Kitty covers Linux, macOS and BSD, but not Windows; WezTerm, Alacritty, Rio and Contour all list Windows
- Scripting: extensions are written as kittens; WezTerm uses Lua config and Alacritty uses a plain TOML file
- Scope: Kitty bundles an image protocol, tiling and scripting, while Alacritty and foot keep the feature set small
- Native integration: Ghostty uses platform-native UI, and iTerm2 and foot are built for a single platform
Stay with Kitty if
- You rely on kittens or Kitty's image protocol, since no other tool here documents the same extension system
- You run Linux, macOS or BSD and want tabs and window management built in without a separate multiplexer
- You want ligatures, image display and GPU rendering in one terminal
When not to use these
- You need a terminal that runs in a browser or over a plain console with no GUI, since every tool here is a desktop GPU-based emulator
FAQ
- What is the closest alternative to Kitty?
- WezTerm. It is GPU-accelerated, supports ligatures and images, has built-in tabs, panes and workspaces, and is configured in Lua. It also runs on Windows, which Kitty does not.
- Is there a Kitty alternative for Windows?
- Yes. WezTerm, Alacritty, Rio and Contour all list Windows support. Kitty supports Linux, macOS and BSD.
- Which Kitty alternative has built-in tabs and splits?
- WezTerm has tabs, panes and workspaces, and iTerm2 has split panes. Alacritty has no tabs or splits and expects a window manager or separate multiplexer.
- Can I get sixel image support instead of Kitty's image protocol?
- Yes. Contour and foot both support sixel graphics.