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Ghostty vs Kitty

Ghostty and Kitty are two of the strongest modern terminal choices for developers who care about speed and polish.

Short Verdict

Choose Ghostty if you want the best modern default experience. Choose Kitty if you want a deeper, mature power-user terminal with a strong graphics ecosystem.

details

Better default experience.

Best For

  • Native polish
  • Clean defaults
  • Low-friction setup

Strengths

  • Modern feel
  • Fast rendering
  • Less initial configuration

Weaknesses

  • Newer ecosystem
pick

Kitty

details

Better mature power-user feature set.

Best For

  • Terminal graphics
  • Keyboard-heavy customization
  • Users who like terminal-native extensions

Strengths

  • Mature
  • Feature-rich
  • Very fast

Weaknesses

  • More opinionated setup

Key Differences

  • Ghostty optimizes for a polished native default.
  • Kitty optimizes for terminal-native power features.
  • Both are strong choices for GPU-accelerated workflows.

Choose Ghostty When

  • You want a modern terminal that feels good immediately.
  • You prefer native app polish.
  • You do not need Kitty-specific features.

Choose Kitty When

  • You rely on terminal graphics.
  • You want mature power-user behavior.
  • You already like Kitty's configuration model.

Related

Best GPU terminal emulators
Ghostty details
Kitty details