Alacritty
A GPU-accelerated, cross-platform terminal emulator written in Rust, focused on simplicity and performance.
HN commenters like Alacritty as a simple, reliable terminal they use across Windows, Linux and macOS1, usually paired with tmux or Zellij2345, and it showed low typing latency in one user's benchmark.6 The most common caveat is its minimalism: no built-in pane splitting, and settings that live only in a config file.78910
Why people recommend it
Multiplexer pairing · 3
Commenters run it with tmux or Zellij and say the setup works well.
“I use alacritty + zellij and it works fantastic. It doesn't seem to impact battery”
“I might swap alacritty with ghostty at some point”
Show 1 more
“I use alacritty/zsh/tmux as my terminal.”
Low latency · 2
One user's latency benchmark put it at or near the top, and another used it for its GPU acceleration.
I was curious to see what the actual latency was, so I used Pavel Fatin's https://pavelfatin.com/typometer/. Notes: This system is running Arch, with kernel 7.0.3, scx_bpfland, and i3 on X11. Primary GPU is an integrated Intel GPU. Using picom: Terminal Min Max Avg SD alacritty 20.1 111.4 43.8 18.0 xfce4-terminal 19.1 112.5 49.1 17.9 xterm 12.3 152.6 53.1 26.4 wezterm 28.3 106.0 56.2 15.4 kitty 25.3 115.9 57.2 18.5 g
“I have been using Alacritty for its GPU acceleration long ago.”
Hackable · 2
Users have modified it to add the Kitty image protocol and have built on its Rust libraries.
“I modified my terminal (Alacritty) to support the Kitty image protocol”
“Cool Rust libraries enable this like alacritty for the terminal”
Cross-platform · 1
Praised as simple and reliable, with the same setup on Windows, Linux and macOS.
“My favorite terminal is alacritty because it’s simple reliable and in every OS.”
Battery life · 1
One user says it doesn't seem to hurt laptop battery life.
“I use alacritty + zellij and it works fantastic. It doesn't seem to impact battery”
Key handling · 1
A macOS Colemak user found it the closest to getting custom Emacs keybindings working.
“just tried this and Alacritty. It’s the closest I’ve got to fully working.”
Caveats and dissent
Config-file setup · 2
Everything is configured in a file, which some newcomers and GUI-config fans find not worth the effort.
“I've tried Kitty and Alacritty but the fact that you have to dive into the config file for everything”
“I have been using Alacritty for its GPU acceleration long ago.”
Minimal features · 2
It has no pane splitting and often rejects feature PRs because of its minimalist ethos.
If you’re fine using iTerm just use iTerm. In my case I used iTerm for years and kinda liked it, but not completely. I’d been looking for an alternative for years but couldn’t find one I like (Alacritty doesn’t support pane splitting, Wezterm has full code config which I hate, Kitty doesn’t look good on Mac, Terminal.app is dog slow…). Ghostty just fits my needs pretty much exactly.
Rivals faster · 1
One user found Ghostty and Ptyxis faster and switched away.
“I have been using Alacritty for its GPU acceleration long ago.”
Editing shortcuts · 1
One user found its navigation shortcuts clashed with the rest of their tools, as with other terminals.
“After trying out all the others ghostty, alacritty etc. I still found it incredibly annoying”
Often compared with
1 moved from Alacritty to Ghostty
1 moved from Alacritty to Ptyxis
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Ghostty 1.4 4 mentions
- Show HN: Prompt – A New, Beautiful Terminal 1 mention
- Pi 1.0 1 mention
- Claude Code uses Bun written in Rust now 1 mention
- KDE Plasma 6.7 Released 1 mention
- Ask HN: What are tools you have made for yourself since the advent of AI 1 mention
Data: alacritty.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 18
“After trying out all the others ghostty, alacritty etc. I still found it incredibly annoying”
If you’re fine using iTerm just use iTerm. In my case I used iTerm for years and kinda liked it, but not completely. I’d been looking for an alternative for years but couldn’t find one I like (Alacritty doesn’t support pane splitting, Wezterm has full code config which I hate, Kitty doesn’t look good on Mac, Terminal.app is dog slow…). Ghostty just fits my needs pretty much exactly.
“I use Alacritty and GNOME Terminal.”
“Alacritty -> Ghostty -> tty7”
“I have been using Alacritty for its GPU acceleration long ago.”
“I modified my terminal (Alacritty) to support the Kitty image protocol”
“I use alacritty + zellij and it works fantastic. It doesn't seem to impact battery”
“I've tried Kitty and Alacritty but the fact that you have to dive into the config file for everything”
“Cool Rust libraries enable this like alacritty for the terminal”
“also replaced Alacritty + Zellij”
I was curious to see what the actual latency was, so I used Pavel Fatin's https://pavelfatin.com/typometer/. Notes: This system is running Arch, with kernel 7.0.3, scx_bpfland, and i3 on X11. Primary GPU is an integrated Intel GPU. Using picom: Terminal Min Max Avg SD alacritty 20.1 111.4 43.8 18.0 xfce4-terminal 19.1 112.5 49.1 17.9 xterm 12.3 152.6 53.1 26.4 wezterm 28.3 106.0 56.2 15.4 kitty 25.3 115.9 57.2 18.5 g
“I might swap alacritty with ghostty at some point”
“My favorite terminal is alacritty because it’s simple reliable and in every OS.”
“I run when I open a new terminal window (Alacritty).”
“I use alacritty/zsh/tmux as my terminal.”
“just tried this and Alacritty. It’s the closest I’ve got to fully working.”
“I'll happily keep using alacritty, konsole and xterm”
“with what I use day-to-day (Alacritty)”