Contour vs PuTTY
Contour
contour-terminal.orgPuTTY
chiark.greenend.org.ukSide by side
| Figure | Contour | PuTTY |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Terminal Emulators | 8.8 (#1) | 7.7 (#29) |
| Spec score · Terminal apps | 8.3 (#12) | 8.1 (#16) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| License | Contour is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. | PuTTY executables and source code are distributed under the MIT licence. |
| Support | The site links to the Contour community on Discord. | The maintainers say they cannot answer all support emails and recommend public forums or local experts for support questions. |
| Supported Platforms | Available for Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Windows. | Windows and Unix |
| Product Type | Modern terminal emulator designed for everyday use. | PuTTY includes an xterm terminal emulator. |
| What it does | Contour is a modern, fast, modal virtual terminal emulator for everyday use. | PuTTY is an SSH client for remote terminal sessions and also supports serial connections, Telnet, Rlogin and SUPDUP. |
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.
PuTTY
PuTTY has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.