ncurses AlternativesTerminal Emulators and other similar apps like ncurses

ncurses is described as '(new curses) is a programming library that provides an API which allows the programmer to write text-based user interfaces in a terminal-independent manner. It is a toolkit for developing "GUI-like" application software that runs under a terminal emulator' and is a terminal emulator in the os & utilities category. There are more than 10 alternatives to ncurses for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Windows, Mac, Cygwin and Oracle Solaris apps. The best ncurses alternative is Ratatui, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like ncurses are FINAL CUT, termbox, rot.js and BearLibTerminal.

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Alternatives list

  1. Ratatui icon
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    Ratatui is a Rust library for cooking up delicious text user interfaces (TUIs). It is a lightweight library that provides a set of widgets and utilities to build simple or complex rust TUIs.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Rust
    • Self-Hosted
     
    • Ratatui is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to ncurses.

    • Ratatui is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to ncurses.

    • Ratatui is Free and Open Sourcencurses is also Free and Open Source
  2. FINAL CUT icon
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    FINAL CUT is a C++ class library and widget toolkit with full mouse support for creating a text-based user interface. The library supports the programmer to develop an application for the text console. It allows the simultaneous handling of multiple text windows on the screen.

    11 FINAL CUT alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Cygwin
    • Oracle Solaris
    • FreeBSD
    • NetBSD
    • OpenBSD
     
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    • Almost everyone thinks FINAL CUT is a great ncurses alternative.

    • FINAL CUT is the most popular Mac & Linux alternative to ncurses.

    • FINAL CUT is Free and Open Sourcencurses is also Free and Open Source
  3. termbox icon
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    Termbox is a library that helps making terminal-based pseudo-GUIs. It is a simple and clean ncurses alternative.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
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    1
    6
    Comments about termbox as an Alternative to ncurses
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    similar aim, still under development

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    ncurses Icon
    termbox icon
    • Most users think termbox is a great ncurses alternative.

    • termbox is Free and Open Sourcencurses is also Free and Open Source
  4. rot.js icon
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    rot.js was designed to provide help with traditional chores of roguelike programming. It does not use or depend on any other JS framework or library. It is an Open Source Software released under the BSD License.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
     
    • rot.js is the most popular Web-based & Windows alternative to ncurses.

    • rot.js is Free and Open Sourcencurses is also Free and Open Source
  5. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    BearLibTerminal is a library that creates a terminal-like window facilitating flexible textual output and uncomplicated input processing.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  6. libmabuff icon
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    This is libmabuff, library for simple TUI creation in C++. It uses termbox, github.com/nsf/termbox (customized) as its backend. libmabuff's license is MIT.

    It comes with a documentation (plain text, but usable).

    The base idea of MABuffer are Zones. You can edit their conten.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  7. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    A complete C++ Text User Interface (TUI) featuring windows, dialogs (buttons, check and radio boxes, input boxes, etc.), mouse support, menus, etc. It's available for various platforms and compilers.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Cygwin
    • FreeDOS
    • Solaris
    • FreeBSD
    • MS-DOS
     
  8.  Like
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    libtcod is a free, fast, portable and uncomplicated API for roguelike developers providing an advanced true color console, input, and lots of other utilities frequently used in roguelikes.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Haiku
     
  9. Gui.cs icon
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    Gui.cs is a simple UI toolkit for .NET, .NET Core and Mono and works on both Windows and Linux/Unix. The toolkit contains various controls for building text user interfaces from buttons, checkboxes and lists to menus, frames and windows.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  10.  Like
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    S-Lang is a programming library that provides routines for embedding an interpreter for the S-Lang scripting language, and components to facilitate the creation of text-based applications.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  11. FTXUI icon
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    FTXUI is a simple C++ library for terminal based user interfaces featuring a functional style inspired by React, UTF8 and fullwidth char support and keyboard and mouse navigation.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  12. tui-rs icon
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    tui-rs is a Rust library to build rich terminal user interfaces and dashboards. The library is based on the principle of immediate rendering with intermediate buffers.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
12 of 14 ncurses alternatives