PowerShell Alternatives for Windows

There are many alternatives to PowerShell for Windows if you are looking for a replacement. The best Windows alternative is PuTTY, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to PowerShell and many of them are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows alternatives to PowerShell are Tabby, Cmder, fish and ConEmu.

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Most PowerShell alternatives are Terminal Emulators, but you can also narrow the list to Shells or SSH Clients. Other popular filters are Windows, iPad, Linux and Mac. You can also filter for EU-based alternatives if you prefer software from the European Union.
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Alternatives
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Alternatives list

  1. PuTTY icon

    PuTTY

     1463 likes

    Free and open-source terminal emulator for connecting to remote systems via SSH, Telnet, and SCP. Portable with no installation required, providing lightweight functionality. Ideal for secure connections with features like command line support and customizable settings. Works offline effortlessly.

    146 PuTTY alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • PortableApps.com
    • ReactOS
    • Flathub
    • GB flagUnited Kingdom
    PuTTY screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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  2. Tabby icon

    Tabby

     133 likes

    Tabby is an infinitely customizable cross-platform terminal app for local shells, serial, SSH and Telnet connections.

    146 Tabby alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • UA flagUkraine
    Tabby screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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  4. Cmder icon

    Cmder

     244 likes

    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...

    45 Cmder alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • clink
    • ConEmu
    • Windows Command Prompt
    • PowerShell
    • US flagUnited States
    Cmder screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  5. fish icon

    fish

     124 likes

    Fish is a user-friendly command line shell for UNIX-like operating systems such as Linux

    32 fish alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Rust
    • Linux Mobile
    fish screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  6. ConEmu icon

    ConEmu

     387 likes

    Windows console emulator with tabs, which presents multiple consoles and simple GUI applications as one customizable GUI window with various features.

    80 ConEmu alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • UA flagUkraine
    ConEmu screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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  8. Cygwin icon

    Cygwin

     230 likes

    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.

    28 Cygwin alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • US flagUnited States
    Cygwin terminals running on Windows 7
    Good alternative?
     
  9. KiTTY icon

    KiTTY

     190 likes

    KiTTY is an opensource terminal emulator, forked from PuTTY , that adds many extra features to the original software.

    130 KiTTY alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • FR flagFrance
    • European Union flagEU
    send to tray
    Good alternative?
     
  10. Nushell icon

    Nushell

     24 likes

    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.

    29 Nushell alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • US flagUnited States
    Nu pipelines use structured data so you can safely select, filter, and sort the same way every time.
    Good alternative?
     
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  11. Hyper icon

    Hyper

     85 likes

    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.

    121 Hyper alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Electron / Atom Shell
    • US flagUnited States
    Splitting terminals
    Good alternative?
     
  12. WindTerm icon

    WindTerm

     22 likes

    A professional SSH/Telnet/Serial/Shell/Sftp client for DevOps.

    105 WindTerm alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • CN flagChina
    WindTerm screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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  13. MSYS2 icon

    MSYS2

     50 likes

    MSYS2 is an independent rewrite of MSYS, based on modern Cygwin (POSIX compatibility layer) and MinGW-w64 with the aim of better interoperability with native Windows software.

    27 MSYS2 alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Global
    MSYS2 screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  14. WezTerm icon

    WezTerm

     24 likes

    A GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal emulator and multiplexer written by @wez and implemented in Rust

    132 WezTerm alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • US flagUnited States
    WezTerm screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
12 of 45 PowerShell alternatives