Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Kitty terminal VS Konsole

Compare Kitty terminal VS Konsole and see what are their differences

Kitty terminal logo Kitty terminal

Super fast, GPU and OpenGL based terminal emulator with tiling support

Konsole logo Konsole

Konsole is a free terminal emulator which is part of KDE Software Compilation.
  • Kitty terminal Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-21
  • Konsole Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-30

Kitty terminal features and specs

  • Performance
    Kitty is designed to be a fast and efficient terminal, with support for GPU rendering. This can provide smoother and quicker display updates, especially beneficial for intensive command-line tasks.
  • Features
    Kitty offers a rich set of features including support for tabs, multiple layouts, and extensions. It also supports features like ligatures, image display, and sixel graphics.
  • Customization
    Kitty is highly customizable, allowing users to modify key bindings, color schemes, and more through its comprehensive configuration files.
  • Remote Control
    Kitty provides a remote control framework, which allows users to script and control the terminal from the command line or other external programs.
  • Platform Support
    Kitty is available on multiple platforms including Linux, macOS, and Windows (through WSL), making it versatile for various operating systems.
  • Active Development
    The terminal is actively maintained by its developers, ensuring regular updates, bug fixes, and the addition of new features.

Possible disadvantages of Kitty terminal

  • Learning Curve
    Given its extensive feature set and customization options, there can be a steep learning curve for new users unfamiliar with its configuration and advanced features.
  • Configuration Complexity
    The extensive customization options, while powerful, can be overwhelming and may require a considerable amount of time to configure to a user's liking.
  • Font Support
    Although Kitty supports font ligatures and several other advanced font features, some users have reported occasional issues with font rendering and compatibility.
  • Resource Usage
    While designed for performance, the use of GPU rendering can mean higher resource usage compared to simpler terminals, which might be noticeable on older hardware.
  • Documentation
    Though extensive, the documentation can sometimes be challenging to navigate for new users, making it harder to find specific information or solutions to particular problems.
  • No Native Windows Support
    Kitty does not have native Windows support; it runs on Windows through the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This might not be ideal for users looking for a fully native Windows terminal experience.

Konsole features and specs

  • Feature-Rich
    Konsole offers a wide range of features including tabbed windows, split view, bookmarking, and customizable profiles, which provides users a powerful and flexible terminal experience.
  • Integration
    Being a part of the KDE ecosystem, Konsole integrates seamlessly with other KDE applications, which offers a consistent experience and additional functionalities.
  • Customizability
    Konsole is highly customizable, allowing users to change color schemes, keyboard shortcuts, and other settings to fit their personal preferences.
  • Performance
    Konsole is known for its fast performance and low resource consumption, which makes it suitable even for older hardware or systems with limited resources.
  • Free and Open Source
    Konsole is free to use and its source code is openly available, allowing users to contribute to development and ensuring transparency.

Possible disadvantages of Konsole

  • Complexity
    The extensive range of features and customization options can be overwhelming for new or less technically inclined users, making a steep learning curve.
  • KDE Dependency
    While its KDE integration is a plus for KDE users, those using other desktop environments may find the additional KDE dependencies undesirable or redundant.
  • Limited Support for Non-KDE Desktops
    Konsole might not integrate as well with non-KDE desktop environments (like GNOME or XFCE), potentially missing out on certain ecosystem-specific functionalities.
  • Development Delays
    Development and patch releases can sometimes be slow, which may lead to delays in getting bug fixes or new features.

Kitty terminal videos

Kitty Is A Fast And Feature Rich Terminal Emulator

Konsole videos

Die SCHLIMMSTE Konsole der WELT? - Arcade 101 - Review

More videos:

  • Review - Die (nicht mehr) langweiligste Konsole - Nintendo Switch
  • Review - [ANBERNIC RG350] Retro Emulator Konsole für GameBoy, PlayStation, etc. [Review][HD]

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Kitty terminal and Konsole)
SSH
52 52%
48% 48
Terminal Tools
65 65%
35% 35
Server Management
51 51%
49% 49
Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Kitty terminal and Konsole

Kitty terminal Reviews

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Konsole Reviews

The 10 Best Linux Terminal Emulators
One unique feature of Konsole is its support for native languages. You can easily switch to a native language of your choice like Russian, Arabic, Hindi, etc. It has support for a default fallback language. You can also save your current working path in a bookmark. You can open multiple tabs in each Konsole window terminal. Konsole has native support for KDE applications and...
Top 14 Terminal Emulators for Linux (With Extra Features or Amazing Looks)
If you’re utilizing any Ubuntu-based GNOME distribution, it already comes baked in. It may not be as customizable as Konsole (depends on what you’re doing) but it lets you configure most of the important aspects of the terminal easily.
Source: itsfoss.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Kitty terminal seems to be a lot more popular than Konsole. While we know about 93 links to Kitty terminal, we've tracked only 8 mentions of Konsole. 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.

Kitty terminal mentions (93)

  • Optimizing My Dev Workflow in 2025
    Initially, I used the Mac's built-in Terminal, but encountered issues with font loading. This led me to explore alternative terminal options. I initially chose Kitty, but after the official release of Ghostty, I made the switch. It has been running flawlessly for me. - Source: dev.to / 17 days ago
  • iTerm2 Critical Security Fix
    Kitty (https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty) has been my go to for many years and with tmux it's fantastic. I have heard a lot of great things about https://ghostty.org/ but haven't had a chance to check it out. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Preview images, videos, fonts, PDFs ... in Vifm.
    The terminal I am currently using is st but I have also tested this "Vifm" enhancement in kitty and alacritty. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Show HN: Shpool, a Lightweight Tmux Alternative
    Oh, this might be the missing piece of the puzzle for me to get rid of tmux! I've been using screen/tmux for a long time. Recently I switched to kitty[0] locally. I like kitty a lot! But I've been stuck with tmux on my servers for session persistence. [0]: https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?
    Besides the usual Firefox/Chrome, Spotify, etc I use the following: - Karabiner-Elements for key remapping, specifically, for making caps lock into ctrl/esc. I don't know of anything else that does this job. Everyone who remaps keys seems to use this. - Kitty as my terminal of choice. I spend most of my time logged in remotely to a server via ssh where I attach to a tmux session. Kitty was easy enough to... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
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Konsole mentions (8)

  • Unavoidable developer tools
    🕸️ Linux: The most common terminals are GNOME Terminal and Konsole. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Why should I try a different terminal other than the default one that comes with an OS?
    The default terminal may not suck, but there are many features in various terminals that may not be in the default. Generally, I usually stick with the default, but depending on the distro, I may install Konsole and use it instead. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Warp? A terminal behind login popup
    My journey of using terminal emulators began together with my introduction to Linux about 7 years ago. GNOME terminal was my first as it came pre-installed on Ubuntu, my first Linux distribution. Since then, I've had the opportunity to explore and utilize a range of terminal emulators, including Alacritty, Kitty, st, Konsole, xterm, and most recently iTerm2. It's been interesting to experiment with these different... - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Konsole (AKA the new APK Maker) is available in beta
    Just a heads-up that Konsole is also the name of KDE's Terminal emulator. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Which game have you spent the most time playing on your Deck?
    It is thing using which you can emulate VIM, python and ssh (https://konsole.kde.org/). Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Kitty terminal and Konsole, you can also consider the following products

wezterm - GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal emulator and multiplexer made with Rust.

iTerm2 - A terminal emulator for macOS that does amazing things.

PuTTY - Popular free terminal application. Mostly used as an SSH client.

Tabby.sh - Tabby is a free and open source SSH, local and Telnet terminal with everything you'll ever need.

MobaXterm - Enhanced terminal for Windows with X11 server, tabbed SSH client, network tools and much more

ConEmu - ConEmu-Maximus5 is a full-featured local terminal for Windows devs, admins and users. Get better console window with tabs, splits, Quake style, copy+paste, DosBox and PuTTY integration, and much more.