head to head · open source
herdr vs WezTerm
herdr has 47,915 GitHub stars, 3,844 forks, 337 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. WezTerm has 29,442 stars, 1,854 forks, 1,849 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. herdr leads on adoption by 63% (47,915 vs 29,442 stars). herdr is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; WezTerm is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. herdr has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, WezTerm 6%. herdr was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (rust), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| herdr | WezTerm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 29K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick herdr if
- You weight community size — 48K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick WezTerm if
- You want the WezTerm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and WezTerm fits your workflow better
About herdr
herdr herdr.dev · install · quick start · docs English · 简体中文 the runtime your coding agents live on. detach without stopping work — herdr keeps terminals running in a background server when you close the client or lose your SSH connection. after a server or machine restart, herdr restores the saved layout and can resume supported agent sessions; the original processes do not survive. session state → several machines, one window — keep local work and saved ssh machines together, with a combined agent list and independent reconnects. remote machines → never hunt for the stuck one — every pane is marked working…
read the full herdr overview →
About WezTerm
Wez's Terminal A GPU accelerated cross platform terminal emulator and multiplexer written by @wez and implemented in Rust User facing docs and guide at: Screenshot of wezterm on macOS, running vim Installation Getting help This is a spare time project, so please bear with me. There are a couple of channels for support: You can use the GitHub issue tracker to see if someone else has a similar issue, or to file a new one. Start or join a thread in our GitHub Discussions; if you have general questions or want to chat with other wezterm users, you're welcome here! There is a Matrix room via Element.io for…
read the full WezTerm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is herdr or WezTerm more popular?
herdr has 47,915 GitHub stars and WezTerm has 29,442. herdr has the larger community by that measure.
Are herdr and WezTerm free?
Both are open source. herdr is licensed under Apache-2.0, and WezTerm has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between herdr and WezTerm?
herdr is written in Rust and WezTerm in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, herdr or WezTerm?
Choose herdr if you want the larger community (47,915 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose WezTerm if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.