head to head · open source
Zellij vs WaveTerm
Zellij has 35,918 GitHub stars, 1,518 forks, 1,915 open issues and last shipped yesterday. WaveTerm has 22,641 stars, 1,183 forks, 574 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zellij leads on adoption by 59% (35,918 vs 22,641 stars). Zellij is written in Rust under MIT; WaveTerm is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Zellij has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, WaveTerm 5%. Zellij was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (terminal), 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
| Zellij | WaveTerm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 23K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zellij if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the MIT 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 Zellij
Zellij [ Installation ] [ Screencasts & Tutorials ] [ Configuration ] [ Layouts ] [ FAQ ] What is this? Zellij is a workspace aimed at developers, ops oriented people and anyone who loves the terminal. Similar programs are sometimes called "Terminal Multiplexers". Zellij is designed around the philosophy that one must not sacrifice simplicity for power, taking pride in its great experience out of the box as well as the advanced features it places at its users' fingertips. Zellij is geared toward beginner and power users alike allowing deep customizability, personal automation through layouts, true multiplayer…
read the full Zellij overview →
About WaveTerm
Wave Terminal English 한국어 繁體中文 Wave is an open source, AI integrated terminal for macOS, Linux, and Windows. It works with any AI model. Bring your own API keys for OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini, or run local models via Ollama and LM Studio. No accounts required. Wave also supports durable SSH sessions that survive network interruptions and restarts, with automatic reconnection. Edit remote files with a built in graphical editor and preview files inline without leaving the terminal. Key Features Wave AI Context aware terminal assistant that reads your terminal output, analyzes widgets, and performs file operations…
read the full WaveTerm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zellij or WaveTerm more popular?
Zellij has 35,918 GitHub stars and WaveTerm has 22,641. Zellij has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zellij and WaveTerm free?
Both are open source. Zellij is licensed under MIT and WaveTerm under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zellij and WaveTerm?
Zellij 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, Zellij or WaveTerm?
Choose Zellij if you want the larger community (35,918 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose WaveTerm if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.