head to head · open source
tmux vs Kitty
tmux has 50,123 GitHub stars, 2,985 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Kitty has 35,510 stars, 1,581 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tmux leads on adoption by 41% (50,123 vs 35,510 stars). tmux is written in C under ISC; Kitty is written in Python under GPL-3.0. tmux has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Kitty 4%. Kitty 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.
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Side by side
| tmux | Kitty | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 36K |
| License | ISC | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tmux if
- You weight community size — 50K stars and counting
- You want the ISC license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Kitty if
- You want the Kitty feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Kitty fits your workflow better
About tmux
Welcome to tmux! tmux is a terminal multiplexer: it enables a number of terminals to be created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen. tmux may be detached from a screen and continue running in the background, then later reattached. This release runs on OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, macOS and Solaris. Dependencies tmux depends on libevent 2.x, available from this page. It also depends on ncurses, available from this page. To build tmux, a C compiler (for example gcc or clang), make, pkg config and a suitable yacc (yacc or bison) are needed. Installation Binary packages Some platforms provide binary…
About Kitty
= kitty the fast, feature rich, cross platform, GPU based terminal If you live in the terminal, kitty is made for you ! See kitty website]. image: status", link=" Asked Questions] To ask other questions about kitty usage, use either the on GitHub] or the community] Packaging status in various repositories: image: status", link="
read the full Kitty overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tmux or Kitty more popular?
tmux has 50,123 GitHub stars and Kitty has 35,510. tmux has the larger community by that measure.
Are tmux and Kitty free?
Both are open source. tmux is licensed under ISC and Kitty under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tmux and Kitty?
tmux is written in C and Kitty in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, tmux or Kitty?
Choose tmux if you want the larger community (50,123 stars) or its ISC licence terms. Choose Kitty if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.