What is the main difference between Alacritty and Ghostty?

Alacritty and Ghostty are both terminal emulators but differ in their approach, features, and target audience. Compare their GitHub stats, technology stack, and community adoption to make the best choice.

Which is better: Alacritty or Ghostty?

The choice between Alacritty and Ghostty depends on your specific needs, technical requirements, and team preferences. Both are quality open source solutions with active communities.

Can I migrate from Alacritty to Ghostty?

Migration between Alacritty and Ghostty is possible but requires careful planning. Consider data export/import capabilities, feature parity, and potential workflow changes.

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Alacritty vs Ghostty

Learn how Alacritty and Ghostty differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these terminal emulators is best for you.

Alacritty

Modern cross-platform terminal emulator with OpenGL acceleration, extensive configuration options, and vi mode support for enhanced productivity.

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65,972stars+247(+0.4%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
11 days ago
Repository age
11 years
Version
v0.17.0
License
Apache-2.0
Repository
alacritty/alacritty

Ghostty

Experience blazing-fast terminal performance with GPU acceleration and platform-native UI. Cross-platform compatibility meets modern design.

Visit Ghostty Read more

62,253stars+1,102(+1.8%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
10 hours ago
Repository age
5 years
License
MIT
Repository
ghostty-org/ghostty

Detailed Comparison

Both Alacritty and Ghostty have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Comparable

Community & Popularity

Both Alacritty and Ghostty show comparable community engagement with 65,972 and 62,253 stars respectively. In terms of developer contributions, Ghostty has 3,654 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Ghostty wins

Growth Momentum

Ghostty is growing faster, adding 1,102 stars in the last 30 days (+1.8%) against adding 247 stars for Alacritty (+0.4%). Ghostty is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.

Comparable

Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Alacritty last updated 11 days ago and Ghostty 10 hours ago.

Comparable

Technology Stack

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with Bash, GLSL. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Alacritty uses Rust while Ghostty leverages CSS, Python, C, Objective-C, Swift, C++, MATLAB, Zig.

Alacritty wins

Project Maturity

Alacritty has been in development longer, starting 11 years ago, compared to Ghostty which began 5 years ago. This 6.2-year head start suggests Alacritty may have more mature features and established processes.

Ghostty wins

Licensing

Ghostty uses the MIT license, which is more permissive than Alacritty's Apache-2.0 license, potentially offering greater flexibility for commercial use and integration.

Comparable