head to head · open source
tmux vs Zellij
tmux has 49,900 GitHub stars, 2,942 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Zellij has 35,698 stars, 1,486 forks, 1,915 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tmux leads on adoption by 40% (49,900 vs 35,698 stars). tmux is written in C under ISC; Zellij is written in Rust under MIT. tmux has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Zellij 4%. 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 | Zellij | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 36K |
| License | ISC | MIT |
| Written in | C | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-10 | 2026-10-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 Zellij if
- You want the Zellij feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Zellij 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 Zellij
Zellij is a terminal workspace and multiplexer written in Rust that gives developers, operations engineers, and anyone who loves the terminal built in layouts, tabs, panes, and a WebAssembly plugin system, built so that simplicity and power do not have to be traded against each other.
read the full Zellij overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tmux or Zellij more popular?
tmux has 49,900 GitHub stars and Zellij has 35,698. tmux has the larger community by that measure.
Are tmux and Zellij free?
Both are open source. tmux is licensed under ISC and Zellij under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tmux and Zellij?
tmux is written in C and Zellij 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 Zellij?
Choose tmux if you want the larger community (49,900 stars) or its ISC licence terms. Choose Zellij if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.