head to head · open source
tmux vs WezTerm
tmux has 49,900 GitHub stars, 2,942 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. WezTerm has 29,195 stars, 1,784 forks, 1,849 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tmux leads on adoption by 71% (49,900 vs 29,195 stars). tmux is written in C under ISC; WezTerm is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. tmux has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, WezTerm 6%. tmux 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 | WezTerm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 29K |
| License | ISC | Custom / other |
| Written in | C | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-10 | 2026-10-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 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 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.
About WezTerm
WezTerm is a GPU accelerated, cross platform terminal emulator and multiplexer written by @wez in Rust, intended for developers and terminal users who want one terminal configuration and one multiplexing model across every operating system they work on.
read the full WezTerm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tmux or WezTerm more popular?
tmux has 49,900 GitHub stars and WezTerm has 29,195. tmux has the larger community by that measure.
Are tmux and WezTerm free?
Both are open source. tmux is licensed under ISC, and WezTerm has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between tmux and WezTerm?
tmux is written in C 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, tmux or WezTerm?
Choose tmux if you want the larger community (49,900 stars) or its ISC licence terms. Choose WezTerm if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.