Cool Retro Term vs Ghostty
Cool Retro Term
github.comGhostty
ghostty.orgSide by side
| Figure | Cool Retro Term | Ghostty |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Terminal Emulators | 8.8 (#2) | 8.3 (#11) |
| Spec score · Terminal apps | 8.0 (#24) | 8.2 (#13) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Rendering | The 1.2.0 release added sub-pixel rasterization and a blinking cursor. | Ghostty uses Metal on macOS and OpenGL on Linux for GPU-accelerated rendering. |
| Support | The project wiki provides installation and Linux/macOS build instructions, theme guidance, and information about the terminal widget. | Ghostty has no support team or dedicated support resources; help is community-provided through GitHub Discussions and Discord. |
| Supported platforms | linux,macos | macOS,Linux |
| Themes | The project wiki invites users to share custom CRT themes and provides example theme settings in JSON format. | Ghostty ships with hundreds of themes and can switch themes automatically with system light and dark mode. |
Plans
In their own words
Cool Retro Term
Cool Retro Term is a free, open-source terminal emulator for Linux and macOS that imitates the appearance of cathode-ray tube screens. The project describes it as customizable and reasonably lightweight. A context menu exposes color, font, and visual-effect settings. Community profiles can add flicker, scanline rasterization, screen curvature, static noise, and burn-in effects, while the wiki invites users to share themes and provides JSON examples. Release notes list support for multiple tabs and windows, plus shortcuts for tab management. Cool Retro Term uses the QML port of qtermwidget, a terminal widget based on Konsole. Linux users can download an AppImage or find packages in repositories for distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch. macOS users can download a DMG. Build information covers Qt6 requirements, Linux Qt5 dependencies, and qmake instructions. Installation, build, theme, and widget guidance appears in the project wiki.
Ghostty
Ghostty is a free, open-source terminal emulator for macOS and Linux. It renders with Metal on macOS and OpenGL on Linux for GPU acceleration, while native interface components provide multiple windows, tabs, and split panes. Its shared libghostty core handles terminal emulation, fonts, and rendering through a cross-platform C ABI. Ghostty includes hundreds of themes and can follow system light and dark modes automatically. It supports the Kitty graphics protocol for terminal images and provides automatic shell integration for bash, elvish, fish, nushell, and zsh. SSH integration can forward environment variables and install Ghostty terminfo entries on remote hosts. macOS Secure Keyboard Entry helps protect passwords from other processes, and official macOS binaries are signed and notarized. Ghostty is licensed under MIT and fiscally sponsored by Hack Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Community help is available through GitHub Discussions and Discord; there is no dedicated support team. The Ghostty plan is free, described as free and open source with no commercial backing.