List of the Top 16 Free Terminal Emulators in 2025

Commander One serves as a comprehensive file management solution tailored for Mac users, featuring a dual-panel layout for efficient file organization. It is optimized for the latest Mac M1 and M2 chips, ensuring seamless performance. The application boasts an intuitive interface designed to enhance user productivity and simplify file handling. With a multitude of features, it caters to individuals who frequently manage large amounts of content, facilitating faster workflow. Users can personalize hotkeys, reveal hidden files, select items, and access both their favorite files and a complete history of their actions. Additionally, Commander One incorporates an operation queue that displays all files currently being processed, streamlining tasks. It also offers archive support and includes a versatile built-in viewer capable of opening various text file formats. Users benefit from a straightforward encryption feature that enables secure file protection, while the included terminal emulator empowers them to execute specific commands and maintain complete control over their workflow. Overall, Commander One is a powerful ally for anyone seeking to enhance their file management experience on Mac.

Tera Term is a multifunctional terminal emulator tailored for Microsoft Windows, enabling connections through serial ports, telnet, and SSH protocols. It boasts a plethora of features, including a built-in macro scripting language that simplifies the automation of tasks linked to remote connections from a computer. As a free software solution, it adeptly manages various communication methods, from serial port interactions to TCP/IP connections, encompassing telnet and both SSH1 and SSH2. Additionally, Tera Term allows for advanced functionalities like log replaying, named pipe connections, and supports the latest IPv6 standard. It provides emulation capabilities for VT100 and selected VT200/300 types, along with TEK4010, while also accommodating numerous file transfer protocols such as Kermit, XMODEM, YMODEM, ZMODEM, B-PLUS, and Quick-VAN. Moreover, it incorporates the "Tera Term Language" for script execution and supports a wide range of character sets and encodings, including those for Japanese, English, Russian, and Korean, as well as UTF-8. The software also features a message catalog that is accessible in several languages, including German, French, and Chinese. Ultimately, Tera Term is distinguished not only by its comprehensive features but also by its commitment to serving a wide array of user preferences across different linguistic backgrounds. Its versatility makes it an invaluable tool for both casual users and advanced professionals alike.

iTerm2 stands out as a contemporary replacement for the default Terminal app, marking the next stage in the evolution of the original iTerm, tailored for Macs with macOS 10.14 or newer. This innovative application revolutionizes terminal interaction by introducing features that users may not have previously recognized as essential. Packed with a plethora of functionalities, iTerm2 is designed to meet nearly every conceivable need of terminal aficionados. Moreover, there is a wealth of capabilities to explore beyond the fundamental features! Users have the ability to divide a single tab into several panes, facilitating the simultaneous display of various sessions, which can be arranged in multiple orientations, either vertically or horizontally. Furthermore, you can create a hotkey that brings iTerm2 to the forefront instantly, even when you are focused on other applications, making your terminal always just a keystroke away. This hotkey can be set up to launch a dedicated window, giving you swift access to a terminal whenever required. Additionally, iTerm2 boasts a sophisticated find-on-page feature for efficient searches without disrupting the user interface, as real-time highlighting of all occurrences occurs, and it supports regular expressions to enhance search precision. Users will discover that iTerm2 not only boosts productivity but also transforms their overall experience with the terminal, making it an indispensable tool in their workflow. As a result, it encourages a more efficient and enjoyable terminal experience for both novice and experienced users alike.

MobaXterm functions as a comprehensive toolkit tailored for remote computing requirements. This singular Windows application boasts a wide range of features crafted for programmers, webmasters, IT administrators, and anyone in need of an efficient method to handle their remote tasks. A notable advantage of using an integrated network application is that when you connect to a remote server via SSH, a graphical SFTP browser appears, allowing for immediate editing of remote files. Moreover, any remote applications you run will seamlessly blend with your Windows desktop due to its integrated X server. MobaXterm was created with a specific goal in mind: to provide an easy-to-navigate interface that facilitates access to remote servers across diverse networks and systems. Users can access the MobaXterm Home Edition free of charge, while businesses seeking additional features may want to consider the subscription-based MobaXterm Professional Edition. With its extensive features and user-centric design, MobaXterm emerges as a dependable choice for fulfilling remote computing needs, making it an essential tool for various professionals in today's digital landscape.

PuTTY is a free software application that provides SSH and Telnet capabilities for both Windows and Unix platforms, also acting as an xterm terminal emulator. This client application is compatible with various protocols such as SSH, Telnet, Rlogin, and SUPDUP, enabling users to establish remote sessions on computers across a network. Functioning primarily from the client side, it allows individuals to view and interact with remote systems seamlessly. For example, when you open PuTTY on a Windows machine and connect to a Unix server, a dedicated window appears for your use. Any commands you input into this window are sent straight to the Unix server, with the resulting responses being displayed back to you in the same interface. This capability means you can work on the Unix system as if you were right in front of its terminal, despite possibly being miles away. Besides this, PuTTY allows users to save configurations under named session profiles, while also providing the ability to adjust default settings for new connections. This adaptability enhances its utility, making it an invaluable tool for efficiently managing remote sessions, and its user-friendly interface further contributes to its appeal among users.

MacTerm presents itself as a powerful alternative to the macOS Terminal, boasting features such as 24-bit color support, standard graphics protocols, and compatibility with iTerm2 image sequences and color schemes. Unlike many terminal emulators worldwide, it allows terminal-based applications to leverage up to 8 bits for each RGB component, culminating in a rich palette of 24 bits and enabling a vast spectrum of colors for display purposes. The terminal is particularly adept at maintaining the integrity of incoming text, ensuring that any copied material—whether it be sent to the Clipboard, stored in a file, printed, or dragged and dropped—retains all special characters without issue. Users can take advantage of a floating command line window that facilitates the input of any character type, significantly enhancing user flexibility. While the 4.1.0 version imposed certain restrictions on the display of Unicode characters, the anticipated 5.0 release is set to address these limitations, expanding the terminal's capabilities. Furthermore, MacTerm's support for Unicode encompasses various elements such as file names, preference collection names, and macros, promoting seamless compatibility and usability across a range of applications. This makes MacTerm not only an indispensable tool for developers but also an adaptable platform for casual users who desire enhanced terminal functionality and usability. With its continuous updates and feature enhancements, MacTerm is poised to further solidify its position as a leading terminal emulator.

Muon provides an intuitive and enjoyable way to oversee remote servers using SSH. This graphical SSH client features a sophisticated SFTP file browser, an SSH terminal emulator, a remote resource and process manager, a server disk space analyzer, a remote text editor, a comprehensive remote log viewer, and many other utilities that aid in remote server management. Operating like web-based control panels, Muon connects directly over SSH from a local machine, thus removing the necessity for any installations on the server side. It is compatible with both Linux and Windows operating systems and has been tested with a range of Linux and UNIX servers, including Ubuntu server, CentOS, RHEL, OpenSUSE, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and HP-UX. This tool primarily caters to web and backend developers who frequently deploy and troubleshoot their applications on remote servers, while also appealing to system administrators who handle multiple remote servers. Muon's user-friendly design and powerful capabilities significantly enhance productivity by streamlining server management tasks, making it an essential tool in the toolkit of anyone who needs efficient server oversight. As remote work continues to grow, tools like Muon are becoming increasingly vital for effective server management in various environments.

When connecting to multiple servers, using different background colors and window titles from profiles can greatly help in quickly distinguishing the correct terminal window. You can choose from the available profiles in Terminal or create your own customized profiles to suit your style. As you work through various tasks, making use of markup and bookmarks can enhance your ability to navigate through the large outputs seen in the terminal window efficiently. Additionally, the inspector tool is available for monitoring and managing your ongoing processes while offering the ability to change window titles and background colors as needed. Customizing profiles allows you to modify various features such as colors, font styles, cursor looks, backgrounds, and many other aspects of the Terminal windows. Each profile acts as a thorough compilation of style and behavior preferences tailored for a terminal window. While Terminal includes a diverse range of predefined profiles, it also allows for the creation of unique profiles that reflect your individual preferences. Moreover, you can adjust settings concerning terminal types, input methods, prompt behavior, and international encodings, in addition to configuring function keys, the option key, and alternate display settings. This comprehensive level of customization ensures that your terminal experience is not only streamlined but also perfectly aligned with your specific workflow requirements, making your computing tasks more effective and pleasant. In essence, embracing the various customization options available empowers users to create a terminal environment that enhances productivity and meets their unique needs.

Efficient connection management is essential for handling various connection types without any hassle. Royal TS excels in this area, supporting protocols such as RDP, VNC, SSH terminals, S/FTP, and web interfaces, ensuring comprehensive control over your connections. It boasts an integrated credential management system along with options for secure team sharing, which allows you to share connection lists while keeping personal credentials secure. You can easily automate repetitive tasks through command tasks and key sequence tasks, streamlining your workflow. The inclusion of SSH-based tunneling serves as a secure gateway that is flawlessly integrated into the Royal TS framework. In addition, Dynamic Folders facilitate the real-time importation of data from external sources, enhancing functionality. By simply labeling individual connections, you can assign specific credentials to them, thereby safeguarding sensitive information within a secured document that only you can access. Moreover, Royal TS supports document management that allows multiple users to access documents at the same time, enabling seamless synchronization of changes without needing a SQL database backend, which significantly boosts collaboration and productivity. Ultimately, Royal TS stands out as a comprehensive solution for all your connection management needs, making it an invaluable tool for teams and individuals alike.

Warp is a high-speed terminal crafted in Rust, reimagined to operate like a modern application. This terminal is fully native, steering clear of Electron or any web-based technologies. Users have the option to integrate cloud functionalities, ensuring their data is stored with robust encryption. From the outset, Warp supports zsh, fish, and bash, making it versatile for various users. The input experience is designed to reflect the features of a contemporary code editor, ensuring that working in the terminal feels modern rather than reminiscent of outdated systems. Warp empowers users to modify their commands through selections, accurate cursor placement, and completion menus, significantly enhancing productivity. Additionally, the terminal boasts an advanced AI search feature powered by GPT-3, which transforms natural language queries into executable shell commands, akin to GitHub Copilot but specifically designed for terminal environments. Users can effortlessly navigate through commands, with the convenience of copying outputs with a single click, eliminating the hassle of excessive scrolling. Moreover, Warp provides a user-friendly GUI for easy access to commonly used workflows and enables users to design and share custom workflows with colleagues, promoting teamwork and streamlining processes. This innovative approach not only enhances individual productivity but also fosters collaboration among team members.

Wave is an innovative terminal designed for developers, offering a free, AI-driven environment that enhances productivity. With capabilities like inline rendering, a contemporary user interface, and the ability to maintain persistent sessions, it streamlines the development process. Key Features Include: - Support for various plugins that allow rendering of audio/video, Markdown, images, and much more. - A fast coding experience using the same editor as VSCode, accessible both locally and remotely. - Persistent sessions with a searchable Universal History and the ability to manage workspaces seamlessly between local and remote environments. - Direct integration of AI features with ChatGPT, and plans to enable users to incorporate their own AI systems in the future (BYOLLM). - Available as packages for both macOS and Linux, under the Apache 2.0 License, ensuring a broad reach for developers across platforms. Wave is poised to revolutionize how developers interact with their tools, making coding more efficient and enjoyable.

Kitty is designed for users who favor keyboard navigation, ensuring that every control can be accessed through the keyboard while still supporting mouse interactions. Its setup is consolidated into a straightforward, human-readable file, making it easy to manage and share configurations, a practice I frequently employ alongside version control systems. The kitty architecture prioritizes simplicity, modularity, and easy customization, employing C for components that require high performance and Python for enhancements to the user interface. Rather than depending on heavy and complex UI frameworks, kitty opts for OpenGL for all rendering functions, which helps maintain a lightweight application. Tailored with contemporary terminal features in mind, kitty boasts support for Unicode, true color, and a variety of text styles such as bold and italic fonts, as well as sophisticated text formatting options. It also improves upon traditional text formatting escape codes by adding distinctive features like colored and styled curly underlines, distinguishing it from other terminal emulators. A critical component of kitty’s design is its extensibility, which permits the addition of new features as user requirements change and grow. This intentional framework not only aims to keep kitty relevant but also ensures it remains flexible and adaptable amidst the rapid advancements in technology. Furthermore, kitty's user-centric approach fosters a community around customization, encouraging users to share their configurations and enhancements.

Originally envisioned and refined over a lengthy timeline by Chris Jones, this initiative aims to develop a useful application for managing terminal windows efficiently. It takes cues from programs such as gnome-multi-term and quadkonsole, with a primary emphasis on arranging terminals in grid formations, although it also supports tabbed interfaces as the standard setting, similar to what Terminator offers. Much of Terminator's capabilities are akin to those of gnome terminal, and we are committed to progressively integrating more features from it while also striving to innovate with new tools designed for system administrators and a diverse range of users. We highly value your input; if you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to report wishlist bugs! This collaborative strategy not only enhances the tool but also ensures its development aligns with user needs and expectations, fostering a community-driven environment. Your engagement can significantly influence the evolution of this project.

Originally designed to enhance the basic functionality of GNU Screen for the Ubuntu server edition, Byobu has undergone significant development. It now incorporates an improved profile, intuitive keybindings, and various configuration tools, along with optional notifications for system status that work with both the GNU Screen window manager and the modern Tmux terminal multiplexer, all while remaining compatible with a wide range of Linux, BSD, and Mac distributions. Furthermore, Byobu offers specialized configuration tools and system status alerts specifically for users of GNU Screen and Tmux. Provided as free software under the GPLv3 license, Byobu allows users to freely access, modify, and contribute to its development. This dedication to open-source values not only fosters a supportive community but also drives ongoing enhancements to the software. The continuous feedback from its users plays a crucial role in shaping future updates and features.

Imagine yourself immersed in your favorite text editor, prepared to execute commands like running unit tests, reviewing manual pages, or tweaking configuration files, all while your fingers remain on the keyboard. By simply pressing your configured "Show Guake" hotkey, you can quickly carry out your command and hit it once more to conceal the terminal, allowing you to seamlessly resume your tasks. Guake operates flawlessly in a multi-monitor setup, enabling you to open it on the screen where your pointer is located or on a dedicated display. You can create various named tabs, with names automatically assigned based on the commands you execute, or tailor them to suit your personal preferences. Furthermore, Guake can be set to launch automatically upon system login, and you can establish a script to run at startup, which allows for the customization of your Guake tabs to match your individual requirements. This exceptional degree of integration positions Guake as an invaluable asset for anyone aiming to enhance their coding efficiency and workflow. In a world where productivity is key, tools like Guake empower users to focus on what truly matters: their creative process.

This powerful open-source security terminal simulation software is engineered to function seamlessly across multiple platforms and is compatible with well-known protocols like SSH, SFTP, TELNET, RDP, and VNC. It incorporates a range of key authentication methods and facilitates data backup alongside the synchronization of SFTP sessions. The software boasts an array of customizable interface skins, effective tunnel management options, and the ability to create scripts. Users enjoy the flexibility of managing numerous tabs and floating windows, in addition to having access to an administrator mode. Furthermore, it accommodates 4K remote desktop capabilities and integrates with various VNC remote desktop applications, offering session group management for improved organization. This extensive array of features renders it an indispensable resource for professionals seeking dependable remote access solutions, enhancing their overall productivity and connectivity.