head to head · open source
Ghostty vs tmux
Ghostty has 62,077 GitHub stars, 3,623 forks, 251 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tmux has 49,900 stars, 2,942 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Ghostty leads on adoption by 24% (62,077 vs 49,900 stars). Ghostty is written in Zig under MIT; tmux is written in C under ISC. Ghostty has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, tmux 6%. 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.
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Side by side
| Ghostty | tmux | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 62K | ★ 50K |
| License | MIT | ISC |
| Written in | Zig | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ghostty if
- You weight community size — 62K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick tmux if
- You want the tmux feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the ISC license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and tmux fits your workflow better
About Ghostty
Ghostty is a fast, feature rich, cross platform terminal emulator that uses platform native UI and GPU acceleration, written in Zig under the MIT licence and aimed at developers who want speed, features, and a native app experience in one terminal instead of choosing between them.
read the full Ghostty overview →
About tmux
tmux is an open source terminal multiplexer for developers and system administrators who need to create, manage, and return to multiple terminal sessions from a single screen.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ghostty or tmux more popular?
Ghostty has 62,077 GitHub stars and tmux has 49,900. Ghostty has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ghostty and tmux free?
Both are open source. Ghostty is licensed under MIT and tmux under ISC. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ghostty and tmux?
Ghostty is written in Zig and tmux in C. 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 tmux?
Choose Ghostty if you want the larger community (62,077 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose tmux if its feature set, stack or ISC licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.