head to head · open source
WezTerm vs iTerm 2
WezTerm has 28,933 GitHub stars, 1,744 forks, 1,849 open issues and last shipped yesterday. iTerm 2 has 18,070 stars, 1,496 forks, 73 open issues and last shipped today. WezTerm leads on adoption by 60% (28,933 vs 18,070 stars). WezTerm is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; iTerm 2 is written in Objective-C under GPL-2.0. WezTerm has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, iTerm 2 8%. iTerm 2 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
| WezTerm | iTerm 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 18K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Objective-C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick WezTerm if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other 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 Objective-C
- You evaluated both and iTerm 2 fits your workflow better
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 →
About iTerm 2
iTerm 2 is a terminal emulator for macOS, written in Objective C and licensed under GPL 2.0. It replaces the default macOS terminal with an interface for shells, tabs, panes, and remote sessions. The project lives in the macOS developer tools ecosystem, where command line work, SSH sessions, tmux sessions, and shell history need one persistent client.
read the full iTerm 2 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is WezTerm or iTerm 2 more popular?
WezTerm has 28,933 GitHub stars and iTerm 2 has 18,070. WezTerm has the larger community by that measure.
Are WezTerm and iTerm 2 free?
Both are open source. WezTerm has no licence declared in this registry, and iTerm 2 is licensed under GPL-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between WezTerm and iTerm 2?
WezTerm is written in Rust and iTerm 2 in Objective-C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, WezTerm or iTerm 2?
Choose WezTerm if you want the larger community (28,933 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose iTerm 2 if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.