head to head · open source
Warp vs iTerm 2
Warp has 65,830 GitHub stars, 5,752 forks, 5,218 open issues and last shipped yesterday. iTerm 2 has 18,248 stars, 1,545 forks, 73 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Warp leads on adoption by 261% (65,830 vs 18,248 stars). Warp is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; iTerm 2 is written in Swift under GPL-2.0. Warp has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, iTerm 2 8%. Warp 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
| Warp | iTerm 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 18K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Warp if
- You weight community size — 66K 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 iTerm 2 if
- You want the iTerm 2 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and iTerm 2 fits your workflow better
About Warp
Website · Code · Agents · Terminal · Drive · Docs · How Warp Works [!NOTE] OpenAI is the founding sponsor of the new, open source Warp repository, and the new agentic management workflows are powered by GPT models. About Warp is an agentic development environment, born out of the terminal. Use Warp's built in coding agent, or bring your own CLI agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and others). Installation You can download Warp and read our docs for platform specific instructions. Warp Contributions Overview Dashboard Explore build.warp.dev to: Watch thousands of Warp Factory agents triage issues, write specs…
About iTerm 2
iTerm2 macOS Terminal Replacement Website • Downloads • Documentation • Features About iTerm2 is a powerful terminal emulator for macOS that brings the terminal into the modern age with features you never knew you always wanted. Key Features tmux Integration Native iTerm2 windows/tabs replace tmux's text based interface. Run tmux CC and tmux windows become real macOS windows. Sessions persist through crashes, SSH disconnects, and even app upgrades. Collaborate by having two people attach to the same session. Shell Integration Deep shell awareness that tracks commands, directories, hostnames, and usernames…
read the full iTerm 2 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Warp or iTerm 2 more popular?
Warp has 65,830 GitHub stars and iTerm 2 has 18,248. Warp has the larger community by that measure.
Are Warp and iTerm 2 free?
Both are open source. Warp is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and iTerm 2 under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Warp and iTerm 2?
Warp is written in Rust and iTerm 2 in Swift. 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 iTerm 2?
Choose Warp if you want the larger community (65,830 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose iTerm 2 if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.