head to head · open source
Ghostty vs iTerm 2
Ghostty has 63,286 GitHub stars, 3,827 forks, 251 open issues and last shipped yesterday. iTerm 2 has 18,248 stars, 1,545 forks, 73 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Ghostty leads on adoption by 247% (63,286 vs 18,248 stars). Ghostty is written in Zig under MIT; iTerm 2 is written in Swift under GPL-2.0. Ghostty has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, iTerm 2 8%. Ghostty was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Ghostty | iTerm 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Zig | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ghostty if
- You weight community size — 63K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick iTerm 2 if
- You want the iTerm 2 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and iTerm 2 fits your workflow better
About Ghostty
Ghostty Fast, native, feature rich terminal emulator pushing modern features. A native GUI or embeddable library via libghostty . About · Download · Documentation · Contributing · Developing About Ghostty is a terminal emulator that differentiates itself by being fast, feature rich, and native. While there are many excellent terminal emulators available, they all force you to choose between speed, features, or native UIs. Ghostty provides all three. libghostty is a cross platform, zero dependency C and Zig library for building terminal emulators or utilizing terminal functionality (such as style parsing). Anyone…
read the full Ghostty overview →
About iTerm 2
iTerm2 macOS Terminal Replacement Website • Downloads • Documentation • Features About iTerm2 is a powerful terminal emulator for macOS that brings the terminal into the modern age with features you never knew you always wanted. Key Features tmux Integration Native iTerm2 windows/tabs replace tmux's text based interface. Run tmux CC and tmux windows become real macOS windows. Sessions persist through crashes, SSH disconnects, and even app upgrades. Collaborate by having two people attach to the same session. Shell Integration Deep shell awareness that tracks commands, directories, hostnames, and usernames…
read the full iTerm 2 overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Terminals projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Terminals field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ghostty or iTerm 2 more popular?
Ghostty has 63,286 GitHub stars and iTerm 2 has 18,248. Ghostty has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ghostty and iTerm 2 free?
Both are open source. Ghostty is licensed under MIT and iTerm 2 under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ghostty and iTerm 2?
Ghostty is written in Zig and iTerm 2 in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Ghostty or iTerm 2?
Choose Ghostty if you want the larger community (63,286 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose iTerm 2 if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.