GNU Bourne Again SHell Alternatives for Linux

There are many alternatives to GNU Bourne Again SHell for Linux if you are looking for a replacement. The best Linux alternative is fish, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to GNU Bourne Again SHell and many of them are available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Linux alternatives to GNU Bourne Again SHell are Zsh, Perl, Nu Shell and IPython.

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GNU Bourne Again SHell alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. fish icon
     113 likes
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    Fish is a user-friendly command line shell for UNIX-like operating systems such as Linux

    31 fish alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Rust
     
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    15
    • Almost everyone thinks fish is a great GNU Bourne Again SHell alternative.

    • fish is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to GNU Bourne Again SHell.

    • fish is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to GNU Bourne Again SHell.

    • fish is Free and Open SourceGNU Bourne Again SHell is also Free and Open Source
  2. Zsh icon
     126 likes
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    Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the command-line editor, options for...

    27 Zsh alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
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    1
    17
    Comments about Zsh as an Alternative to GNU Bourne Again SHell
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    Compared to BASH, Zsh has support for many more plugins and addons of the sort. There exists a framework for this very purpose called "Oh-My-Zsh" and it can be used to add things like themes and support for command auto-complete. Zsh is pretty much just BASH but with more features built on top.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    GNU Bourne Again SHell Icon
    Zsh icon
    • Almost everyone thinks Zsh is a great GNU Bourne Again SHell alternative.

    • Zsh is Free and Open SourceGNU Bourne Again SHell is also Free and Open Source
    • Zsh is Customizable and LightweightGNU Bourne Again SHell is not according to our users
  3. Perl icon
     140 likes
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    Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language with over 22 years of development.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
     
  4. Nu Shell icon
     18 likes
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    This project has reached a minimum-viable product level of quality. While contributors dogfood it as their daily driver, it may be unstable for some commands. Future releases will work fill out missing features and improve stability.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  5. IPython icon
     85 likes
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    IPython offers a robust architecture for interactive computing, including dynamic shells, a kernel for Jupyter, interactive visualization, GUI toolkit support, and seamless project embeddings. Targeting high efficiency in parallel computing, it supports Python interactions tailored for Jupyter environments.

    47 IPython alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Python
     
  6. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Xonsh is a Python-powered, cross-platform, Unix-gazing shell language and command prompt. The language is a superset of Python 3.4+ with additional shell primitives that you are used to from Bash and IPython. It works on all major systems including Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  7. Elk Shell icon
     3 likes
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    Elk is an experimental shell language that aims to seamlessly combine the syntax of a shell language like bash with the syntax of a general-purpose language like Python. Bash is great for executing programs and handling files, but can be quite limiting and tedious to use when it...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  8. KornShell icon
     10 likes
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    The KornShell language was designed and developed by David G. Korn at AT&T Bell Laboratories. It is an interactive command language that provides access to the UNIX system and to many other systems, on the many different computers and workstations on which it is implemented.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Cygwin
     
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    1
    8
    Comments about KornShell as an Alternative to GNU Bourne Again SHell
    lunolas
    Positive
    0

    Efficient and light, with all required features for a good interactive shell

    GNU Bourne Again SHell Icon
    KornShell icon
    • Almost everyone thinks KornShell is a great GNU Bourne Again SHell alternative.

    • KornShell is Free and Open SourceGNU Bourne Again SHell is also Free and Open Source
  9. DASH Shell icon
     9 likes
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    DASH is a POSIX-compliant implementation of /bin/sh that aims to be as small as possible. It does this without sacrificing speed where possible. In fact, it is significantly faster than bash (the GNU Bourne-Again SHell) for most tasks. DASH stands for Debian Almquist Shell.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  10. Oil icon
     1 like
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    Oil is a new Unix shell.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  11. Elvish icon
     2 likes
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    Elvish is a friendly and expressive shell for UN*X systems including Linux, macOS and BSDs.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  12. Murex icon
     Like
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    Murex is a shell, like bash / zsh / fish / etc however Murex supports an enhanced UX and support for additional type information in pipelines, which can be used for complex data formats like JSON or tables.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
     
12 of 26 GNU Bourne Again SHell alternatives