Ghostty
FreeA native terminal written in Zig — the fastest-rising of the group since its 2025 release
An MIT-licensed terminal with 59,787 stars, written in Zig by HashiCorp founder Mitchell Hashimoto and released in 2025. It prioritizes native platform feel and speed, avoids feature bloat, and leaves things like AI to external tools. Nearly 60k stars in under two years.
Why we picked it
Ghostty is the fastest-rising terminal of recent years. Released in 2025, now at 59,787 stars, MIT-licensed, written in Zig by HashiCorp founder Mitchell Hashimoto.
Its bet is native: use each platform's own controls and conventions rather than wrapping a cross-platform framework. Startup is fast, scrolling is smooth, and it does not pile on extras.
Being two years old, its ecosystem and plugin story trail kitty and WezTerm, and Windows support is less mature than macOS and Linux.