Byobu
Ranked 9 of 11 terminal multiplexers by recommenders
Recommended for being reliable and easy to use as a layer over tmux or screen for managing terminal sessions. One critic says it offers little beyond tmux.
Recommended for being reliable and easy to use as a layer over tmux or screen for managing terminal sessions. One critic says it offers little beyond tmux.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable over many years
“I have been using byobu for almost a decade now and it never let me down.”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable” “Hasn't failed me yet - has most of those features.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Herdr: One terminal to rule them all” “I've been using byobu for almost a decade now”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Byobu – text-based window manager and terminal multiplexer” Easy to use with mouse
“byobu just uses tmux (or screen) and has a sane mouse TUI”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable” “Another easy to use option is using byobu”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable” Manages tmux windows and sessions
“byobu just uses tmux (or screen) and has a sane mouse TUI”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable” “I use byobu for managing tmux windows and sessions”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Little beyond tmux
“they rarely offer enough beyond tmux+byubo”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “A third way of using Linux”
Other terminal multiplexers people recommend
The four most recommended other terminal multiplexers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tmux | 411 | 111 | 79% | 12 | 10 yrs14 owners | Approved |
| Herdr | 232 | 68 | 77% | 7 | 1 mo18 owners | Approved |
| Zellij | 93 | 33 | 74% | 12 | 2 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| GNU Screen | 33 | 11 | 75% | 12 | — | Approved |
| ByobuThis page | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I like to keep it running in byobu so I can remote in more easily when I am on the laptop out and about.”
“Fish shell and Byobu give me everything I've ever wanted.”
“they rarely offer enough beyond tmux+byubo”
“Hasn't failed me yet - has most of those features.”
“I've been using byobu for almost a decade now”
“one of the popular plagiarism machines”
“byobu just uses tmux (or screen) and has a sane mouse TUI”
“I use byobu for managing tmux windows and sessions”
“I have been using byobu for almost a decade now and it never let me down.”
“Another easy to use option is using byobu”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.