Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

fish shell VS the xonsh shell

Compare fish shell VS the xonsh shell and see what are their differences

fish shell logo fish shell

The friendly interactive shell.

the xonsh shell logo the xonsh shell

Xonsh is a Python-powered, cross-platform, Unix-gazing shell language and command prompt.
  • fish shell Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-23
  • the xonsh shell Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-07

fish shell features and specs

  • User-Friendly Syntax
    Fish shell features a more readable and user-friendly syntax compared to traditional shells like Bash or Zsh, making it easier for new users to learn and use.
  • Modern Features
    Fish shell includes out-of-the-box support for modern shell features such as syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and smart command-line completions, greatly enhancing the user experience.
  • Web-Based Configuration
    Users can configure Fish shell through a web interface, making it more accessible and easier to customize compared to other shells that require manual configuration file edits.
  • Consistent Scripting
    Fish shell uses a consistent scripting language, which reduces the quirks and peculiarities often found in other shell scripting languages.

Possible disadvantages of fish shell

  • Compatibility Issues
    Fish shell is not POSIX compliant, which means scripts written in Fish will not be compatible with other POSIX-compliant shells like Bash or Zsh, potentially causing issues in environments that rely on such standards.
  • Smaller Ecosystem
    Compared to shells like Bash and Zsh, Fish has a smaller ecosystem of plugins, themes, and community support, which could limit available resources and tools.
  • Learning Curve for Experienced Users
    Experienced users of traditional shells like Bash or Zsh might find Fish's different syntax and features take some time to adapt to, potentially reducing initial productivity.
  • Limited Script Portability
    Scripts written in Fish shell are often not portable to other shell environments without significant modification, reducing their usability in multi-shell setups.

the xonsh shell features and specs

  • Python Integration
    Xonsh allows the use of Python throughout the shell session, enabling powerful scripting, access to Python libraries, and seamless integration with Python code.
  • Extensible
    Due to its foundation in Python, xonsh is highly extensible and customizable, allowing users to create plugins or modify the shell's behavior to suit their needs.
  • Unified Environment
    Xonsh provides a unified environment for both command-line operations and Python scripting, reducing the need to switch contexts and improving workflow efficiency.
  • Cross-Platform
    Xonsh runs on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent shell experience across different platforms.
  • Rich Features
    Xonsh offers features like syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and history search, which enhance productivity and make the shell more user-friendly.

Possible disadvantages of the xonsh shell

  • Learning Curve
    Users unfamiliar with Python or new to xonsh may face a steeper learning curve, especially when transitioning from other shell environments.
  • Performance Overhead
    Being implemented in Python, xonsh might experience performance overhead, particularly when dealing with large and complex shell scripts compared to traditional shells like Bash.
  • Community and Support
    While growing, xonsh's community is smaller than those of more established shells, which might affect the availability of community support and third-party resources.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Scripts or features heavily reliant on legacy shell-specific behavior may face compatibility issues, requiring adjustments when running in xonsh.
  • Limited Adoption
    As a relatively new shell, xonsh may have limited adoption in enterprise environments, potentially impacting its integration into existing systems or workflows.

fish shell videos

this tank is not overstocked | Fish Tank Review Ep. 1

More videos:

  • Review - Can Female Bettas Live In A Bowl Together? | Fish Tank Review 36
  • Review - Ryan's First Time Catching Fish for Dinner!!!

the xonsh shell videos

No the xonsh shell videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to fish shell and the xonsh shell)
Cryptocurrencies
69 69%
31% 31
Blockchain
65 65%
35% 35
Developer Tools
79 79%
21% 21
Programming
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using fish shell and the xonsh shell. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, fish shell should be more popular than the xonsh shell. It has been mentiond 134 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

fish shell mentions (134)

  • A short tutorial on using fish shell.
    Follow this to install. Note that this tutorial assume that you are on Linux. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • Tools for 2025
    I've probably been using fish shell [0] for close to 10 years now. When I need POSIX compliance or if I need to run a one-off bash command, I just call bash. It's exceedingly rare. Browsing through the documentation for Oils, it seems to be organized in a way that's very confusing. When you open the fish shell website it was two clear buttons for Tutorial and Documentation. [0] https://fishshell.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • TIL: Ghostty — a new and quite promising terminal emulator
    I remember that Julia Evans, whose blog I follow, mentioned a few time that she uses Fish. Also, some days ago I came across this post about Fish rewrite to Rust from C++, which sounds like a cool thing to do. However, I tried it some time ago, and while pretty neat, I wasn't convinced to switch to it completely. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Easy development environments with Nix and Nix flakes!
    The default shell in the above flake adds Valkey, NodeJS 22, the PNPM package manager, and the fish shell to the environment. It also starts Valkey in the background through a shell hook, passing it a custom config (declared via Nix!) and runs fish so we're dropped in the fish shell instead of our login shell. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • A new shell for using modern Unix commands
    I’m testing a new shell called fish, and I’m enjoying some features that truly make it a friendly interactive shell. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
View more

the xonsh shell mentions (78)

  • Advanced Shell Scripting with Bash (2006) [pdf]
    (Not sure about the equivalent of shlex.quote, but in the worst case, you can just use "from shlex import quote as q" or something). So yes, there are good alternatives to bash - even Python based. [0] https://xon.sh/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Advanced Shell Scripting with Bash (2006) [pdf]
    > Wondering what others have found to address this. Or if they just stuck with Bash, since it's just not going away anytime soon. If you're familiar with Python, give xonsh (https://xon.sh/) a go. It's a Bash-like shell but the syntax is Python. It has the same ease of writing shell scripts as Bash does, sans the insane language. Been using it since 2018. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Fish 4.0: The Fish of Theseus
    Also, do consider xonsh.[1] It's a Bash-like shell written in Python. It has significant overlap with the awesomeness of fish, and has the advantage of being able to write your shell scripts in a Python dialect. So if you know Python, the mental burden is much lower. On top of that, it's cross platform, since Python is. No WSL needed. I switched to it in 2018 and haven't looked back. Originally it was just because... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • A Second Search for Bash Scripting Alternatives
    No xonsh? (https://xon.sh/) Seems to hit most of the requirements. Been happily using it since 2018. It's great not to have to learn a whole other language just to do scripting. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • The Dune Shell
    Interesting thought experiment. Reminds me of my cousin's project Xonsh https://xon.sh/. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing fish shell and the xonsh shell, you can also consider the following products

zsh - The Z shell (Zsh) is a Unix shell that can be used as an interactive login shell and as a powerful command interpreter for shell scripting.

Nu Shell - A modern shell written in Rust

GNU Bourne Again SHell - Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in the GNU operating system.

Starship (Shell Prompt) - Starship is the minimal, blazing fast, and extremely customizable prompt for any shell! Shows the information you need, while staying sleek and minimal. Quick installation available for Bash, Fish, ZSH, Ion, and Powershell.

PowerShell Plus - Learn how to learn and master PowerShell fast with an interactive learning center, a powerful IDE, pre-loaded scripts, and a PowerShell Editor… all for free.

DASH - DASH is a secure, blockchain-based global financial network which offers private transactions.