What is the main difference between Alacritty and WezTerm?

Alacritty and WezTerm 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 WezTerm?

The choice between Alacritty and WezTerm 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 WezTerm?

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

c15t – Open-source cookie banner, built for control and lightening fast modern web apps.

Learn More

Alacritty vs WezTerm

Learn how Alacritty and WezTerm 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.

Visit Alacritty Read more

65,622stars+367(+0.6%)

Last 30 days

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

WezTerm

Cross-platform terminal emulator and multiplexer with GPU acceleration, true color support, and Lua configuration. Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, and NetBSD.

Visit WezTerm Read more

28,755stars+556(+2%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
13 hours ago
Repository age
9 years
License
MIT
Repository
wezterm/wezterm

Sponsor WezTerm ongithub.com

Detailed Comparison

Both Alacritty and WezTerm 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.

Alacritty wins

Community & Popularity

Alacritty leads in popularity with 65,622 stars vs 28,755 stars for WezTerm. The 128% higher star count indicates stronger community adoption. In terms of developer contributions, Alacritty has 3,591 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

WezTerm wins

Growth Momentum

WezTerm is growing faster, adding 556 stars in the last 30 days (+2%) against adding 367 stars for Alacritty (+0.6%). WezTerm 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 4 days ago and WezTerm 13 hours ago.

Comparable

Technology Stack

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with Bash, Rust, GLSL. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: WezTerm leverages JavaScript, CSS, Python, C, Objective-C.

Alacritty wins

Project Maturity

Alacritty has been in development longer, starting 11 years ago, compared to WezTerm which began 9 years ago. This 2.0-year head start suggests Alacritty may have more mature features and established processes.

WezTerm wins

Licensing

WezTerm 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

Use Cases & Features

Both tools serve similar use cases in Terminal Emulators. However, they also have distinct specializations: WezTerm extends into Terminal Multiplexers.

Other tool comparisons to consider