Ghostty is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 8.6. Ghostty wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Cursor on 2.
Developers on Mac or Linux who live in the terminal
Developers who want AI help built into every part of their editor
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Ghostty | Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| Category rank | #2 of 10 | #7 of 10 |
| Developer | Mitchell Hashimoto and contributors | Anysphere (SpaceX) |
| Pricing | Free | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | — | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
| Linux | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Ghostty better than Cursor?
Ghostty is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 8.6. Ghostty wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Cursor on 2.
Which is cheaper, Ghostty or Cursor?
Ghostty: Free and open source; optional donations go through the non-profit Hack Club. Cursor: Free tier; Plus $8/month (Grok models only), Premium $30/month adds cloud agents. On value for money, Ghostty scores higher.
Do Ghostty and Cursor work on the same devices?
Only Cursor runs on iPhone & iPad, Windows.
Which is more private, Ghostty or Cursor?
Ghostty scores higher on privacy (9.8/10). No account needed. Crash reports are saved locally and never sent anywhere automatically; you can share them yourself if you choose.
Strengths and weaknesses
Ghostty
- Fast GPU rendering with a native look
- Free, open source and run as a non-profit
- Hundreds of themes that follow light and dark mode
- No Windows app planned
- SSH hosts may need its terminfo installed
- AppleScript support is still a preview
Ghostty is a terminal emulator that refuses to choose between speed and polish. It renders on the GPU, uses real native tabs and splits on Mac and Linux, ships hundreds of themes that follow light and dark mode, and supports the Kitty graphics protocol and ligatures. Version 1.3 added scrollback search. It's free, MIT-licensed and run as a non-profit project. There's no Windows version, and remote SSH hosts may need its terminfo installed.
Full Ghostty review
Cursor
- Deep AI help built into every part of the editor
- Familiar VS Code base with easy migration
- Cloud agents keep working while you are away
- Third-party models cost extra on top of your plan
- Plans bundle Grok and X features you may not want
- Code is processed by cloud AI models
Cursor is the AI code editor many developers switch to first. It is built on VS Code, so your setup carries over, and it adds fast completions, agents that edit across many files, and cloud agents that run whole projects in the background. Since SpaceX bought it, plans center on Grok models, and Claude or GPT usage is billed separately. Turn on Privacy Mode for sensitive work.
Full Cursor review
