Terminal Benchmark

Benchmarks of several Wayland terminal emulator. These benchmarks is to help users in choosing terminal, Some may prioritize IO performance, others may prioritize memory usage and so on. These benchmarks are not intended to pick on any specific terminal.

All test is done on newest version (at the time of testing) with default config. Terminal size is set similiarly on each test. Check respective test directory for visualization.

Tested on older hardware, margin of results might be smaller in newer ones.

Host: 2350B67 (ThinkPad T430)
OS: Arch Linux x86_64
Kernel: Linux 6.12.6-arch1-1
WM: Hyprland (Wayland)
Shell: zsh 5.9
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3632QM (8) @ 3.20 GHz - 48.0°C
GPU: Intel 3rd Gen Graphics Controller @ 1.15 GHz [Integrated]
Memory: 15.44 GiB

Input Latency

Measured in miliseconds(ms) using IIS. The input frame is when the key light first turns on, and the output frame is when the character first appears on screen. Here's an example.

Lower is better

run	alacritty	foot	ghostty	kitty	wezterm
1	16.7	16.7	41.7	20.8	29.2
2	16.7	12.5	37.5	12.5	33.3
3	12.5	16.7	37.5	20.8	25
4	20.8	12.5	37.5	16.7	37.5
5	16.7	16.7	37.5	20.8	29.2
avg	16.7	15.0	38.3	18.3	30.8

Plaintext IO

Measured in miliseconds(ms) using time cat <filename> on 11 MB Shakespeare's collection.

Lower is better

run	alacritty	foot	ghostty	kitty	wezterm
1	408	251	393	396	1248
2	393	263	420	418	1298
3	408	251	423	386	1157
4	389	249	409	398	1269
5	420	241	390	407	1258
avg	404	251	407	401	1246

Frame Rate

Measured in frames per second(FPS) using DOOM-fire-zig , terminal size is set as close as possible to 174w x 39h.

Higher is better

run	alacritty	foot	ghostty	kitty	wezterm
1	168	199	135	274	67
2	163	200	135	271	64
3	166	199	135	268	67
4	165	198	134	272	61
5	160	200	138	278	63
avg	164	199	135	273	64

Memory Usage

Measured in megabytes(MB) using btop after reboot.

Lower is better

run	alacritty	foot	ghostty	kitty	wezterm
1	78	42	170	91	127
2	73	44	176	91	127
3	78	43	173	89	134
4	71	45	178	91	128
5	77	43	173	93	134
avg	75	43	174	91	130