PowerShell AlternativesTerminal Emulators & Shells like PowerShell

PowerShell is described as '(including Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core) is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on the .NET Framework' and is a very popular terminal emulator in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to PowerShell for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD and PortableApps.com apps. The best PowerShell alternative is PuTTY, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like PowerShell are Tabby Terminal, ConEmu, Cmder and iTerm2.

PowerShell alternatives are mainly Terminal Emulators but may also be Shells or SSH Clients. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of PowerShell.

PowerShell

183

Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator

PowerShell (including Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core) is a task automation and configuration management framework...

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PuTTY
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
SSH Client
Windows
Linux
BSD
PortableApps.com
ReactOS
108 PuTTY alternatives
PuTTY is a free and open-source terminal emulator, serial console and network file transfer application. It supports several network protocols, including SCP, SSH, Telnet, rlogin, and raw socket connection. It can also connect to a serial port.
- - PuTTY is the most popular Windows & Linux alternative to PowerShell.
- - PuTTY is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to PowerShell.
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PuTTY Features
1. LightweightPuTTY consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
SSH
Built-in SSH client
Telnet client
Host management
Graphical User Interface
Serial terminal
Support for SFTP
Logging
Session Management
Xterm emulation
Tabby Terminal
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Shell
SSH Client
Mac
Windows
Linux
87 Tabby Terminal alternatives
Tabby is an infinitely customizable cross-platform terminal app for local shells, serial, SSH and Telnet connections.
- - Tabby Terminal is the most popular Mac alternative to PowerShell.
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Tabby Terminal Features
1. Command line interfaceTabby Terminal either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. PortableTabby Terminal can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
3. Dark ModeTabby Terminal supports dark mode for comfortable usage in low light conditions.
4. LightweightTabby Terminal consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
5. Support for scriptingTabby Terminal supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
SSH
Support for SFTP
Multiple Servers
Electron based
Customizable
Serial-port
Comments about Tabby Terminal as a Alternative to PowerShell
pros, cons and recent comments
Guest
Great looking, fast, convenient.
Positive comment •
0
ConEmu
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Windows
52 ConEmu alternatives
Windows console emulator with tabs, which presents multiple consoles and simple GUI applications as one customizable GUI window with various features.
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ConEmu Features
1. PortableConEmu can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
2. Command line interfaceConEmu either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Tabbed interface
Shell integration
Quake-style
ANSI color support
Customizable
Split-screen view
Multi-tabs
Multiple window layouts
Remote Debugging
Kubernetes
Comments about ConEmu as a Alternative to PowerShell
Most users think ConEmu is a great PowerShell alternative.
SamB
ConEmu is not a shell, and PowerShell is not a console emulator. I suppose you could argue that PowerShell ISE sort-of is, but that's not the /point/ of PowerShell ISE, so...
Negative comment •
8

Guest
Shell != Console Emulator
Negative comment •
0
Cmder
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Windows
clink
ConEmu
Windows Command Prompt
PowerShell
37 Cmder alternatives
Cmder is an open-source replacement for the Windows command-line. It relies on ConEmu , extending it with the power of clink and some great looking defaults including a Monokai color scheme and custom prompt...
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Cmder Features
1. LightweightCmder consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
2. PortableCmder can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
3. Support for ThemesYou can use themes and templates to change the look and feel of Cmder.
4. Windows Explorer ExtensionCmder can extend Windows Explorer in various ways, for example add context menu options, etc..
5. Command line interfaceCmder either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
6. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsCmder can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
Customizable
Command line/bash
Tabbed interface
ANSI color support
Built-in SSH client
Opinions about Cmder as a Alternative to PowerShell
Almost everyone thinks Cmder is a great PowerShell alternative.
iTerm2
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Mac
73 iTerm2 alternatives
iTerm2 is a replacement for Terminal and the successor to iTerm. It works on Macs with macOS 10.10 or newer. iTerm2 brings the terminal into the modern age with features you never knew you always wanted.
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iTerm2 Features
1. Support for scriptingiTerm2 supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
Customizable
Supports Python
SSH
Split windows
Integrated Search
Clean design
Quake-style
Multiple languages
Notifications
Key binding
KiTTY
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
SSH Client
Windows
85 KiTTY alternatives
KiTTY is an opensource terminal emulator, forked from PuTTY , that adds many extra features to the original software.
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KiTTY Features
1. PortableKiTTY can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
2. Command line interfaceKiTTY either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
SSH
Session Management
Auto-login
Ssh tunnel
Multiple Browser Tabs
VPS
Auto-saving
Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
Built-in editor
Cygwin
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Windows
31 Cygwin alternatives
Cygwin is a Unix-like environment and command-line interface for Microsoft Windows. Cygwin provides native integration of Windows-based applications, data, and other system resources with applications, software tools, and data of the Unix-like environment.
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Cygwin Features
1. Command line interfaceCygwin either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Linux on Windows
SSH
POSIX-compatible
ANSI color support
Runtime environment
GNOME Terminal
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Linux
BSD
GNOME
61 GNOME Terminal alternatives
GNOME Terminal is a terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop environment written by Havoc Pennington and others. Terminal emulators allow users to execute commands using a real UNIX shell while remaining on their graphical desktop.[
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GNOME Terminal Features
1. Command line interfaceGNOME Terminal either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. LightweightGNOME Terminal consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
Background transparency
fish
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Terminal Emulator
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
25 fish alternatives
Fish is a user friendly command line shell for UNIX-like operating systems such as Linux.
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fish Features
1. Autocompletionfish can predict and complete the rest of a word or phrase you're typing.
2. Command line interfacefish either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Sane defaults
Color coding
Colored Text
Interpreter
Kitty terminal
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Mac
Linux
72 Kitty terminal alternatives
Kitty ( not to be confused with KiTTY ) is a powerful, cross-platform GPU-based terminal emulator. It offloads rendering to the GPU and uses OpenGL for fast, cross-platform performance with built-in tiling layouts as well as graphic, unicode...
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Kitty terminal Features
1. Command line interfaceKitty terminal either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. LightweightKitty terminal consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
GPU based
Split-screen view
Font Ligature Support
Tiling Layouts
Keyboard focused
Full keyboard shortcuts
Hyper
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Shell
Mac
Windows
Linux
Electron / Atom Shell
84 Hyper alternatives
Hyper™ is a beautiful and extensible, cross-platform terminal built on open web standards. It provides an elegant command-line experience that is consistent across all supported platforms which includes macOS, Windows and various Linux distributions like Fedora and Debian.
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Hyper Features
1. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsHyper can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
2. Command line interfaceHyper either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
3. Support for ThemesYou can use themes and templates to change the look and feel of Hyper.
Split-screen view
Clean design
Electron based
Tiling Panes
Uses Packages
Divisible
Skinnable
Customizable
Multiple Font Colors
Plugin API
MinGW
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Windows
Linux
BSD
24 MinGW alternatives
MinGW ("Minimalistic GNU for Windows") is a port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and GNU Binutils. It provides a complete Open Source programming toolset which is suitable for the development of native MS-Windows (x86) applications, which do not depend on any...
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MinGW Features
1. PortableMinGW can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
C++
Cross Compiler
C support
GNU/linux-libre
Native application compiler