Ghostty
GPU-accelerated terminal emulator with native interfaces on macOS and Linux
In our rankings
Scores on the gpu-accelerated terminal emulators criteria
Evaluated Nov 5, 2026- Published performance evidence ×3 4
4/5 means: States benchmark results against other terminals without publishing the figures and test setup.
Describes threaded rendering and SIMD parsing and states benchmark results against named terminals, but publishes no figures or test setup.
3 quotes - Tabs, splits and sessions ×3 4
4/5 means: Windows, tabs and splits built in.
Multiple windows with their own tabs and splits, drawn with native interface components; no built-in session multiplexer is listed.
1 quote - Operating systems ×2 2
2/5 means: Two operating systems.
Runs on macOS and Linux; Windows support is only planned.
2 quotes - Images, ligatures and links ×2 5
5/5 means: All four.
Ligatures, inline images through the Kitty graphics protocol, hyperlinks, and automatic theme switching with the system's dark or light mode.
4 quotes
Evidence (15 quotes)
- 1
“For example, Ghostty and Alacritty are usually within a few percentage points of each other on various benchmarks, but are both something like 100x faster than Terminal.app and iTerm.”
github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty · checked - 2
“At a high-level, Ghostty has a multi-threaded architecture with a dedicated read thread, write thread, and render thread per terminal.”
github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty · checked - 3
“Our read thread has a heavily optimized terminal parser that leverages CPU-specific SIMD instructions.”
github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty · checked - 4
“Windows, tabs, and splits : Ghostty supports multiple windows, each with its own tabs and splits. These are all rendered using native UI components.”
ghostty.org/docs/features · checked - 5
“Cross-platform : Ghostty runs on macOS and Linux. It uses native UI components on each platform to provide an idiomatic experience. Windows support is planned for the future.”
ghostty.org/docs/features · checked - 6
“Ligatures : You can use fonts that have ligatures and Ghostty will render them correctly.”
ghostty.org/docs/features · checked - 7
“Kitty graphics protocol : Ghostty supports the Kitty graphics protocol, which allows terminal applications to render images directly in the terminal.”
ghostty.org/docs/features · checked - 8
“For example, Ghostty supports the Kitty graphics protocol, light/dark mode notifications, hyperlinks, and more.”
ghostty.org/docs/about · checked - 9
“Themes can be switched automatically based on system dark/light mode.”
ghostty.org/docs/features · checked - 10
“GPU-accelerated rendering : Ghostty uses Metal on macOS and OpenGL on Linux to render the terminal screen.”
ghostty.org/docs/features · checked - 11
“Ghostty has a built-in crash reporter that will generate and save crash reports to disk.”
github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty · checked - 12
“A universal binary that works on both Apple Silicon and Intel machines. Requires macOS 13+ (Ventura or later).”
ghostty.org/download · checked - 13
“It's something I work on in my free time and is a labor of love.”
ghostty.org/docs/about · checked - 14
“Quick Terminal : Lightweight terminal that animates down below the menu bar for instant access without interrupting work.”
ghostty.org/docs/features · checked - 15
“Ghostty is a passion project started by Mitchell Hashimoto (that's me!).”
ghostty.org/docs/about · checked