Cool Retro Term vs GNOME Console
Cool Retro Term
github.com
GNOME Console
apps.gnome.orgSide by side
| Figure | Cool Retro Term | GNOME Console |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Terminal Emulators | 8.8 (#2) | 8.5 (#8) |
| Spec score · Terminal apps | 8.0 (#24) | 8.4 (#7) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integration | Cool Retro Term uses the QML port of qtermwidget, a terminal widget based on Konsole. | GNOME says the apps in its curated overview integrate with the GNOME Desktop. |
| Latest release | GitHub lists 2.0.0-beta2 as the latest release, published 31 May 2026. | The page lists version 51.0, released September 14, 2026. |
| Purpose | Cool Retro Term is a terminal emulator designed to mimic the look and feel of old cathode tube screens. | Console is a simple, user-friendly terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop. |
| Support | The project wiki provides installation and Linux/macOS build instructions, theme guidance, and information about the terminal widget. | GNOME’s contribution guide says Console’s page does not currently provide information on where to inspect issues. |
| Supported platforms | linux,macos | linux |
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.
GNOME Console
GNOME Console has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.