head to head · open source
WezTerm vs WaveTerm
WezTerm has 28,933 GitHub stars, 1,744 forks, 1,849 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. WaveTerm has 22,305 stars, 1,132 forks, 574 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. WezTerm leads on adoption by 30% (28,933 vs 22,305 stars). WezTerm is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; WaveTerm is written in Go under Apache-2.0. WezTerm has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, WaveTerm 5%. WezTerm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (terminal, terminal-emulators), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | WaveTerm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 22K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 WaveTerm if
- You want the WaveTerm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and WaveTerm 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 WaveTerm
Wave Terminal is an open source, AI integrated terminal for macOS, Linux, and Windows. It lives in the developer tools and terminal emulator ecosystem, and it is written in Go under the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full WaveTerm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is WezTerm or WaveTerm more popular?
WezTerm has 28,933 GitHub stars and WaveTerm has 22,305. WezTerm has the larger community by that measure.
Are WezTerm and WaveTerm free?
Both are open source. WezTerm has no licence declared in this registry, and WaveTerm is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between WezTerm and WaveTerm?
WezTerm is written in Rust and WaveTerm in Go. 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 WaveTerm?
Choose WezTerm if you want the larger community (28,933 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose WaveTerm if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.