Terminal Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to Terminal for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac alternative is OpenSSH, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Terminal and many of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Terminal are Tabby Terminal, PowerShell, iTerm2 and Kitty terminal.

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

Terminal

Free • Proprietary
Terminal Emulator

Terminal (also referred to as Terminal.app) is a terminal emulator included in Apple's Mac OS X operating system. It...

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OpenSSH
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
SSH Client
Mac
Windows
Linux
iPhone
BSD
Cygwin
Haiku
58 OpenSSH alternatives
OpenSSH is a free version of the SSH connectivity tools that technical users rely on. OpenSSH encrypts all traffic (including passwords) to effectively eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other attacks.
- - OpenSSH is the most popular Mac & iPhone alternative to Terminal.
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OpenSSH Features
SSH
Support for SFTP
Cross-Platform
Jailbreak required
Bundled with macOS
Add a screenshot
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.
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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
PowerShell
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Shell
Mac
Windows
Linux
61 PowerShell alternatives
PowerShell (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.
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PowerShell Features
1. Support for scriptingPowerShell supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
2. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsPowerShell can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
PowerShell Scripting
Optimized for Windows
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
Comments about iTerm2 as a Alternative to Terminal
Almost everyone thinks iTerm2 is a great Terminal alternative.
Guest
Cleaner interface, endless customisation with oh-my-zsh, works perfectly.
Positive comment •
1

quadratic
iTerm2's UI is more clean and intuitive, but it still allows for more power and customization than the default terminal.
Positive comment •
0
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
Alacritty
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
72 Alacritty alternatives
Alacritty is a blazing fast, GPU accelerated terminal emulator. It’s written in Rust and uses OpenGL for rendering to be the fastest terminal emulator available. Alacritty is available on GitHub in source form.
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Alacritty Features
1. LightweightAlacritty consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
2. Command line interfaceAlacritty either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
3. Support for scriptingAlacritty supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
4. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsAlacritty can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
5. PortableAlacritty can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
6. Support for ThemesYou can use themes and templates to change the look and feel of Alacritty.
GPU Support
Optimal performance
No input delay
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
Opinions about Hyper as a Alternative to Terminal
Almost everyone thinks Hyper is a great Terminal alternative.
WezTerm
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Mac
Windows
Linux
84 WezTerm alternatives
A GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal emulator and multiplexer written by @wez and implemented in Rust
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WezTerm Features
1. Support for ThemesYou can use themes and templates to change the look and feel of WezTerm.
2. LightweightWezTerm consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
3. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsWezTerm can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
4. Support for scriptingWezTerm supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
GPU Acceleration
Configurable
Hyperlinks
Lua scripting
Font Ligature Support
WSL integreation
Split tabs
Multi panel
WindTerm
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Proprietary
Terminal Emulator
Shell
SSH Client
Mac
Windows
Linux
44 WindTerm alternatives
A professional SSH/Telnet/Serial/Shell/Sftp client for DevOps.
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WindTerm Features
1. PortableWindTerm can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
2. Syntax HighlightingWindTerm supports syntax highlighting for various programming and markup languages.
3. Support for ThemesYou can use themes and templates to change the look and feel of WindTerm.
4. LightweightWindTerm consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
Support for SFTP
SSH
X server
Command palette
Cross-Platform
Outliner
Cool Retro Term
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Mac
Linux
46 Cool Retro Term alternatives
Cool Retro Term (CRT) is a terminal emulator which mimics the look and feel of the old cathode tube screens. It has been designed to be eye-candy, customizable, and reasonably lightweight.
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Cool Retro Term Features
1. Command line interfaceCool Retro Term either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. Support for ThemesYou can use themes and templates to change the look and feel of Cool Retro Term.
Warp Terminal
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Proprietary
Terminal Emulator
Mac
10 Warp Terminal alternatives
Warp is a blazingly fast, Rust-based terminal that makes you and your team more productive at coding and DevOps.
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Warp Terminal Features
1. AutocompletionWarp Terminal can predict and complete the rest of a word or phrase you're typing.
2. LightweightWarp Terminal consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
3. Real time collaborationMultiple users can work together in Warp Terminal simultaneously.
Command palette
Rust
xterm
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Terminal Emulator
Shell
Mac
Linux
BSD
51 xterm alternatives
The xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. It provides DEC VT102 and Tektronix 4014 compatible terminals for programs that can't use the window system directly.
xterm has no features, suggest some!