Warp vs Ghostty
A side-by-side of two tools in the same category. Facts come from each vendor's own pages, checked 2026-10-21.
| Warp | Ghostty | |
|---|---|---|
| platforms | macOSWindowsLinux | macOSLinux |
| price | FreemiumFree $0/mo (no included agent usage); Build $20/mo or $18/mo annual; Max $200/mo or $180/mo annual; Business $50/user/mo or $45 annual (up to 25 seats); Enterprise custom (seen 2026-10-20) | FreeFree (seen 2026-10-20); sponsor page states it is free and open source, donation-funded |
| source | Open source | Open source |
| SSH | ✓ yes | – no |
| Tabs | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| Split panes | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| SFTP | ? not verified | – no |
| Port forwarding | ? not verified | – no |
| Scripting / API | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| AI agents | ✓ yes | – no |
| MCP | ✓ yes | – no |
| Cloud sync | ✓ yes | – no |
Ghostty is stronger at
- Native windows, tabs and splits (Metal on macOS, OpenGL on Linux), with hundreds of bundled themes and light/dark auto-switching
- Supports the Kitty graphics and keyboard protocols, ligatures and grapheme clustering
- ssh-terminfo shell integration installs its terminfo entry on remote hosts on first connect and falls back to xterm-256color on failure
Warp is stronger at
- Account is optional: docs say login can be skipped and core terminal works offline
- Built-in agent, a CLI for it, and an SSH extension giving remote file tree and code editing on Linux/macOS hosts
- Client repo public (AGPL-3.0) with macOS, Windows and Linux builds including ARM64
which to pick
- pick Ghostty if
- Mac or Linux users who want a fast native terminal with sensible defaults and little configuration.
- pick Warp if
- Developers who want an AI-agent-centric terminal with shared workflows and optional team plans.
- skip Ghostty if
- Windows users, or anyone who wants saved SSH hosts, SFTP or tunnels built into the terminal.
- skip Warp if
- Users who want a classic SSH/serial/port-forwarding client or a terminal with no AI or paid-tier surface.