Best Zsh Alternatives

Zsh is described as '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' and is a very popular Shell in the os & utilities category. There are more than 10 alternatives to Zsh for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, BSD, Windows and Cygwin apps. The best Zsh alternative is GNU Bourne Again SHell, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Zsh are fish, Nu Shell, the xonsh shell and win-bash.

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

Zsh alternatives page was last updated

Zsh

114

Free • Open Source
Shell

Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its...

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GNU Bourne Again SHell
Is this is a good alternative?
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No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Terminal Emulator
Linux
BSD
23 GNU Bourne Again SHell alternatives
Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in the GNU operating system. Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). It is intended to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.
- - GNU Bourne Again SHell is the most popular Linux alternative to Zsh.
- - GNU Bourne Again SHell is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Zsh.
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GNU Bourne Again SHell Features
1. Command line interfaceGNU Bourne Again SHell either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
User friendly
Geeky
Interpreter
Opinions about GNU Bourne Again SHell as a Alternative to Zsh
Almost everyone thinks GNU Bourne Again SHell is a great Zsh alternative.
fish
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Terminal Emulator
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
24 fish alternatives
Fish is a user friendly command line shell for UNIX-like operating systems such as Linux.
- - fish is the most popular Windows & Mac alternative to Zsh.
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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
Nu Shell
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
22 Nu Shell alternatives
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.
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Nu Shell Features
1. Command line interfaceNu Shell either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. PortableNu Shell can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
3. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsNu Shell can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
4. Support for scriptingNu Shell supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
Rust
the xonsh shell
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Mac
Windows
Linux
19 the xonsh shell alternatives
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.
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the xonsh shell Features
1. Support for scriptingthe xonsh shell supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
2. Portablethe xonsh shell can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
3. Command line interfacethe xonsh shell either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Python API
Run from python interpreter
win-bash
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Terminal Emulator
Windows
35 win-bash alternatives
win-bash is a Windows port of the famous GNU bash (see GNU Bash homepage).

The goal of the win-bash project is to finish the port to Windows and provide a full functional bash.exe binary for windows nt and derived systems. win-bash can be used as a input shell as well as an inte.
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win-bash Features
1. Command line interfacewin-bash either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Interpreter
Discontinued
The project is no longer developed since 2016. Last version, 1.1, released in March 2011, can be still downloaded from SourceForge.
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rush
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
22 rush alternatives
rush is a replacement for the unix shell (bash, zsh, etc) which uses pure Ruby syntax. Grep through files, find and kill processes, copy files - everything you do in the shell, now in Ruby.
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rush Features
1. Command line interfacerush either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
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DASH Shell
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Terminal Emulator
Linux
BSD
21 DASH Shell alternatives
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.
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DASH Shell Features
1. Command line interfaceDASH Shell either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Interpreter
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Comments about DASH Shell as a Alternative to Zsh
pros, cons and recent comments
Centaro
Not meant to be interactive.
Negative comment•
0
Xiki
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Terminal Emulator
Mac
Linux
21 Xiki alternatives
Xiki makes the command line friendlier and more powerful. Xiki Shell (xsh) lets you use Xiki from command line, in a way that augments your current favorite shell (bash or zsh).
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Xiki Features
1. Command line interfaceXiki either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Interpreter
KornShell
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No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Linux
BSD
Cygwin
21 KornShell alternatives
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.
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KornShell Features
1. Command line interfaceKornShell either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
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Elvish
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Mac
Linux
BSD
22 Elvish alternatives
Elvish is a friendly and expressive shell for UN*X systems including Linux, macOS and BSDs.
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Elvish Features
1. Command line interfaceElvish either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
rc - a shell
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No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Linux
21 rc - a shell alternatives
This is a reimplementation for Unix, by Byron Rakitzis, of the Plan 9 shell. rc offers much the same capabilities as a traditional Bourne shell, but with a much cleaner syntax.
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rc - a shell Features
1. Command line interfacerc - a shell either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
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sash
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Shell
Terminal Emulator
Linux
22 sash alternatives
a stand-alone shell with many built-in commands. The built in commands of sash have all libraries linked statically, so unlike most shells, the standard UNIX commands do not rely on external libraries. In case of emergencies, you can boot directly into sash and use it as a...
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sash Features
1. Command line interfacesash either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Interpreter