head to head · open source
Kitty vs WaveTerm
Kitty has 34,947 GitHub stars, 1,513 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped yesterday. WaveTerm has 22,302 stars, 1,131 forks, 574 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Kitty leads on adoption by 57% (34,947 vs 22,302 stars). Kitty is written in Python under GPL-3.0; WaveTerm is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Kitty has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, WaveTerm 5%. Kitty was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (terminal, terminal-emulators), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Kitty | WaveTerm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 22K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kitty if
- You weight community size — 35K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick WaveTerm if
- You want the WaveTerm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and WaveTerm fits your workflow better
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 →
About WaveTerm
Wave Terminal is an open source, AI integrated terminal for macOS, Linux, and Windows. It lives in the developer tools and terminal emulator ecosystem, and it is written in Go under the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full WaveTerm 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 Kitty or WaveTerm more popular?
Kitty has 34,947 GitHub stars and WaveTerm has 22,302. Kitty has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kitty and WaveTerm free?
Both are open source. Kitty is licensed under GPL-3.0 and WaveTerm under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kitty and WaveTerm?
Kitty is written in Python and WaveTerm in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Kitty or WaveTerm?
Choose Kitty if you want the larger community (34,947 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose WaveTerm if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.