Contour vs ZOC
Contour
contour-terminal.orgZOC
emtec.comSide by side
| Figure | Contour | ZOC |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $79.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 5 |
| Spec score · Terminal Emulators | 8.8 (#1) | 7.8 (#28) |
| Spec score · Terminal apps | 8.3 (#12) | 8.2 (#15) |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Product | Contour is a GPU accelerated terminal emulator designed for everyday use and aimed at power users. | ZOC is a professional terminal emulator and SSH client for Windows and macOS. |
| Scripting API | Yes | Yes |
| Sessions | Experimental daemon mode lets sessions survive closing the window and supports reattaching locally or over an encrypted network connection. | The interface includes tabbed sessions with an overview screen showing thumbnails of open sessions. |
| SSH support | Yes | Yes |
| Support | The site links to the Contour community on Discord. | The maker says support is included with a ZOC license and provides a support request form for questions or problems. |
| Supported Platforms | Available for Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Windows. | Windows,macOS |
Plans
ZOC
- ZOC9 License$79.99 a month
- Upgrade to ZOC9 from v8.xx$29.99, paid once
- Upgrade to ZOC9 from v7.xx or older$49.99, paid once
- ZOC9 license$79.99, paid once
- ZOC9 site license$12,980, paid once
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.