head to head · open source
Warp vs Kitty
Warp has 65,069 GitHub stars, 5,563 forks, 5,218 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kitty has 34,947 stars, 1,513 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Warp leads on adoption by 86% (65,069 vs 34,947 stars). Warp is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; Kitty is written in Python under GPL-3.0. Warp has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Kitty 4%. Warp was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (terminal), 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
| Warp | Kitty | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 65K | ★ 35K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Warp if
- You weight community size — 65K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- 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 Warp
Warp is an agentic development environment, born out of the terminal, built for developers and teams who want a modern shell on Linux and macOS with AI coding agents working inside it.
About Kitty
Kitty is a GPU accelerated terminal emulator designed for power users who spend most of their time in the command line. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, leveraging OpenGL for rendering to achieve high performance and responsiveness. Built in Python with performance critical components in C, it replaces slower, legacy terminal emulators by providing a modern, efficient foundation for interactive shell workflows.
read the full Kitty overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Warp or Kitty more popular?
Warp has 65,069 GitHub stars and Kitty has 34,947. Warp has the larger community by that measure.
Are Warp and Kitty free?
Both are open source. Warp is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Kitty under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Warp and Kitty?
Warp is written in Rust 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, Warp or Kitty?
Choose Warp if you want the larger community (65,069 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Kitty if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.