head to head
iTerm2 vs Kitty
Kitty is the open source alternative to iTerm2 — terminal emulator for macos. Here is the honest comparison.
Yes — Kitty is a viable free replacement for iTerm2. Kitty is open source under GPL-3.0, written in Python, with 34,983 GitHub stars, 1,515 forks and 12 open issues; it was last pushed 11 hours ago. iTerm2 is priced Free, closed source, while self-hosting Kitty carries no licence fee — the trade is your operational time instead of a subscription. 2 other open source iTerm2 alternatives are tracked here, led by Alacritty at 65,763 stars. Kitty ranks #2 of 3 tracked open source iTerm2 alternatives by stars. The tracked set, by adoption: Alacritty (65,763 stars), WezTerm (28,957 stars). Replacement criteria on this page: 4 reasons to move to Kitty and 3 reasons to stay on iTerm2.
choose Kitty if
- Your iTerm2 bill is growing with seats or usage
- You need your data in a format and server you control
- Your compliance posture requires auditing the code that touches sensitive data
- You have (or can rent) a server and basic Docker comfort
stick with iTerm2 if
- You need the polished onboarding and support SLAs of a commercial vendor
- Your team has zero capacity to operate software, even self-hosted-simple
- You depend on a iTerm2 integration ecosystem that the OSS alternatives have not replicated
Side by side
| Kitty (open source) | iTerm2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (self-hosted) | Free, closed source |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Source code | Public, auditable | Closed |
| Self-hosting | Yes — kovidgoyal/kitty | Cloud only |
| Data ownership | Your server, your format | Vendor's cloud |
| Community | ★ 35K · ⑂ 1.5K | — |
| Built with | Python | — |
Why people look for a iTerm2 alternative
About Kitty
Kitty is a GPU accelerated terminal emulator designed for power users who spend most of their time in the command line. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, leveraging OpenGL for rendering to achieve high performance and responsiveness. Built in Python with performance critical components in C, it replaces slower, legacy terminal emulators by providing a modern, efficient foundation for interactive shell workflows.
read the full Kitty overview →
Other open source alternatives to iTerm2
last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked
Frequently asked questions
Is Kitty a good replacement for iTerm2?
Kitty is an open source alternative to iTerm2 (Terminal emulator for macOS). It is written in Python and licensed under GPL-3.0, with 34,983 GitHub stars.
Is Kitty free compared to iTerm2?
Yes. Kitty is open source — there is no licence fee, and you can self-host it. iTerm2 is typically a paid subscription, so the trade-off is licence cost against the operational work of running it yourself.
How do I migrate from iTerm2 to Kitty?
Migration effort depends on the data formats involved. Check Kitty's documentation for import options, and compare the feature table above to confirm the capabilities you depend on are covered before switching.