How is it different from iTerm2, Alacritty, or WezTerm?

It aims to combine GPU-accelerated speed with a genuinely native interface on each platform, plus features like the quick terminal and shell integration, rather than being minimal or maximal at one extreme.

Download Ghostty - Free Software

About Ghostty

Ghostty is the terminal emulator from Mitchell Hashimoto, the co-founder of HashiCorp, and it carries a clear opinion: a terminal should pair GPU-accelerated rendering with a genuinely native interface, and you should not have to pick. On macOS it is a real Swift and AppKit app; on Linux a real GTK app; underneath both sits the same Zig core doing the heavy lifting.

The feature list covers what heavy terminal users actually ask for: tabs and splits, ligatures and true color, a quick-terminal drop-down on a hotkey, shell integration that makes navigation and click-to-open-file work, and sensible defaults that mean you can skip the configuration rabbit hole entirely. Version 1.4.0 landed on October 27, 2026, and the macOS download is about 32 MB. Everything is MIT-licensed, with development funded through a non-profit fiscal host rather than a startup with a business model to justify.

The honest limits: there is no Windows version (use WSL or another terminal there), configuration is text-file based with no settings UI, and some power features that tmux or WezTerm users rely on are still catching up. Verdict: on macOS and Linux this is the easiest terminal recommendation since iTerm2 defined the category; it is native, free, and boring in exactly the right way.

Key Features

Native on each platform

Real AppKit on macOS and GTK on Linux, not a cross-platform toolkit compromise

GPU-accelerated rendering

A shared Zig core handles parsing and rendering across both platforms

Quick terminal

A drop-down terminal on a global hotkey, always one keystroke away

Tabs, splits, and ligatures

The modern terminal basics done properly, with true color and font ligatures

Pros & Cons

Pros

Native interface and GPU-accelerated rendering together, a rare combination in terminals
Zero-cost, MIT-licensed, no account or telemetry requirement
Excellent defaults that need almost no configuration
Active development with regular stable releases
Quick-terminal hotkey workflow is addictive

Cons

No Windows version: Windows users need WSL or a different terminal
Configuration lives in a text file; no graphical settings UI
Some advanced tmux or WezTerm workflows have no equivalent yet
Young project, so exotic setups occasionally hit bugs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Ghostty free?

Yes, completely. It is MIT-licensed open source, funded through a non-profit fiscal host, with no paid tier, account, or telemetry requirement.

Who makes Ghostty?

Mitchell Hashimoto, co-founder of HashiCorp, together with a growing open-source community.

Which platforms does it support?

macOS (about 32 MB) and Linux. There is no Windows build; on Windows the suggestion is WSL plus a native Windows terminal, or another emulator.

Ghostty