Terminal.app
Apple's built-in terminal emulator that ships with macOS.
HN commenters like it as a tidy, built-in macOS terminal that is good enough for simple needs, especially paired with tmux,123 with handy Cmd+F search and rare support for DEC double-width modes.45 The most common complaint is that it is slow,67 struggling to keep up with heavy output from tools like Claude Code.8
Why people recommend it
Simple, good enough · 3
Long-time users say it is tidy and covers everything they need from a terminal.
“Terminal - it’s tidy and works well. Many swear by iTerm2; I find Terminal good”
“terminal.app. It is fast and that is basically all i need from a terminal emulator”
Show 1 more
“I don't ask much from a terminal as evidenced by using Terminal.app for almost 2 decades”
Cmd+F search · 1
Its built-in search is a critical feature for one user tailing local logs.
“the lack of support for the CMD+F feature that I use Terminal.app”
DEC modes · 1
It is one of the few terminals that respect double-wide and double-height DEC modes.
“their terminal is one of the very few that respect double-wide and double-height DEC modes”
True color · 1
A user switched back from iTerm once macOS Tahoe added true color support.
“This, among many other reasons, is why I still use Terminal.app.”
Permission separation · 1
One user keeps Terminal as a primary terminal, separate from iTerm for AI work, to control permissions.
“This is why I use Terminal as my primary terminal, and iTerm as my AI terminal.”
Caveats and dissent
Slow rendering · 2
Several users call it slow, with text rendering lagging or stalling under heavy output.
Late true color · 2
It lacked 24-bit color until a recent macOS release, which pushed users to alternatives.
“I don't ask much from a terminal as evidenced by using Terminal.app for almost 2 decades”
“This, among many other reasons, is why I still use Terminal.app.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Ghostty 1.4 4 mentions
- macOS 15.8.2 Breaks OpenGL 1 mention
- Updates to Full Disk Access in macOS 1 mention
- Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser? 1 mention
- Your Terminal Is Burning Battery Like It's Mining Bitcoin 1 mention
- Ghostty – Terminal Emulator 1 mention
Also written as Terminal. Data: terminal-app.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 10
“It's xterm on OpenBSD, konsole on Fedora KDE, terminal.app on MacOS”
“Terminal.app is dog slow”
“MacOS terminal had issues keeping up with Claude Code.”
“I don't ask much from a terminal as evidenced by using Terminal.app for almost 2 decades”
“their terminal is one of the very few that respect double-wide and double-height DEC modes”
“This is why I use Terminal as my primary terminal, and iTerm as my AI terminal.”
“Terminal - it’s tidy and works well. Many swear by iTerm2; I find Terminal good”
“This, among many other reasons, is why I still use Terminal.app.”
“the lack of support for the CMD+F feature that I use Terminal.app”
“terminal.app. It is fast and that is basically all i need from a terminal emulator”