Ghostty vs Macterm
Ghostty
ghostty.orgMacterm
macterm.thdxg.devSide by side
| Figure | Ghostty | Macterm |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Terminal Emulators | 8.3 (#11) | 7.4 (#35) |
| Spec score · Terminal apps | 8.2 (#13) | 7.2 (#39) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Product | Ghostty is a fast, feature-rich, native terminal emulator. | Macterm is a native macOS terminal with vertical project tabs and persistent sessions, built on libghostty. |
| Scripting API | Yes | Yes |
| Split panes | Yes | Yes |
| SSH support | Yes | Yes |
| Supported platforms | macOS,Linux | macOS |
Plans
In their own words
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.