Contour vs kitty
Contour
contour-terminal.org
kitty
sw.kovidgoyal.netSide by side
| Figure | Contour | kitty |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Terminal Emulators | 8.8 (#1) | 8.0 (#21) |
| Spec score · Terminal apps | 8.3 (#12) | 8.3 (#10) |
| GPU acceleration | Yes | Yes |
| Installation | Official installation options include Windows MSI, Homebrew on macOS, Fedora, Arch, Ubuntu packages, Flatpak, and source builds. | The official installer provides pre-built binaries for macOS and Linux; the page describes macOS DMG and Linux tarball manual installation. |
| Product | Contour is a GPU accelerated terminal emulator designed for everyday use and aimed at power users. | kitty is a GPU-based terminal emulator designed for keyboard users. |
| Rendering | Contour supports GPU accelerated rendering and high DPI displays. | kitty uses OpenGL for rendering and supports Unicode, true color, bold and italic fonts, and text formatting. |
| Scripting API | Yes | Yes |
| Sessions | Experimental daemon mode lets sessions survive closing the window and supports reattaching locally or over an encrypted network connection. | Session files can specify tabs, window layout, working directory, and startup programs. |
| Split panes | Yes | Yes |
| SSH support | Yes | Yes |
| Support | The site links to the Contour community on Discord. | The official documentation includes a frequently asked questions page covering usage and troubleshooting topics. |
| Supported Platforms | Available for Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Windows. | Linux,macOS |
Plans
In their own words
Contour
Contour is a free terminal emulator for everyday use, designed for people who want control over terminal workflows. It runs on Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Windows. GPU-accelerated rendering and high-DPI support accompany text features such as font ligatures, Unicode grapheme clusters, and colored emoji. Users can split panes, use vi-like modes for navigation and selection, and jump through history with vertical markers. Sessions can persist beyond a terminal window and be reattached locally or over a network. Contour interoperates with tmux control mode in both directions, but not its -CC mode. It also supports clickable links, inline Sixel images, OSC 52 clipboard setting, and profiles for color schemes and login shells. TCP connections use TLS encryption and require a token. Daemon mode is experimental, and its command-line flags and wire protocol may change. The project website remains in draft mode. Contour is licensed under Apache License 2.0.