Ghostel
Hacker ApprovedRanked 13 of 40 terminal emulators by recommenders
Emacs terminal emulator built on libghostty that people find faster and more capable than vterm and eat. Critics note a compiled Zig module that can fail to build.
Emacs terminal emulator built on libghostty that people find faster and more capable than vterm and eat. Critics note a compiled Zig module that can fail to build.
38 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 34
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 5 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: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1 month
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 34 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 8.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Faster than vterm and others
“It is very fast, fully compatible, and you can quickly enter a copy-paste mode with C-c C-t.”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Emacs 31.1 will release on 8/24” “Ghostel is noticeably faster when there's a lot of output being dumped”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Ghostty 1.4” “it is generally much, much better - noticeably faster”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty” - Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty”
- Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Ghostty 1.4”
Better than vterm and eat
“it has not only replaced vterm/eat but also any other external terminal like kitty/Ghostty”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty” “things that make Ghostel better than vterm especially when working with those cli agents”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving” “I've been using it for a bit now, replacing vterm for my setup.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty” - Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Ghostty 1.4”
- Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Emacs 31.1 will release on 8/24”
Keeps you inside Emacs
“It's really nice that you can click on code references in Codex summaries and open them right there in Emacs buffers.”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty” “Ghostel tries to make interaction with the Emacs buffer as seamless as possible”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Emacs 31.1 will release on 8/24” “consider using ghostel if you want to run it through an emacs terminal”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “Emacs 31: An unofficial guide to Markdown-ts-mode” - Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Emacs 31.1 will release on 8/24”
- Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “Stop Making TUIs”
Libghostty-based terminal rendering
“which also has the advantage of using libghostty for excellent quality terminal rendering”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Herdr: One terminal to rule them all” “Libghostty powers a really popular and powerful terminal emulator for emacs (Ghostel)”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Ghostty 1.4” “awesome, I was looking for a libghostty emacs terminal about a month ago”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “What's new in Emacs 31.1”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Compiled Zig module fails to build
“the Zig module failed to compile, with an error message from Zig about a line in the module source”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 in “Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty” “Downloading a compiled module is a huge negative in the age of supply chain attacks”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty”
Other terminal emulators people recommend
The four most recommended other terminal emulators, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghostty | 401 | 158 | 72% | 12 | 3 mo22 owners | Approved |
| Termux | 188 | 31 | 86% | 12 | 1 yr6 owners | Approved |
| iTerm2 | 95 | 69 | 58% | 12 | 10 yrs4 owners | — |
| Warp terminal | 84 | 86 | 49% | 11 | 1 yr5 owners | — |
| GhostelThis page | 34 | 4 | 89% | 5 | 1 mo4 owners | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 52 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Magit and ghostel are good examples of packages that I use on a daily basis to get my work done.”
“so fast compared to anything else”
“ghostel.el is the nicest terminal for emacs going”
“it's solved some refresh issues I previously had with vterm”
“ghostel in Emacs is fantastic as well”
“Ghostel is noticeably faster when there's a lot of output being dumped”
“powers ghostel in emacs which is amazing”
“Libghostty powers a really popular and powerful terminal emulator for emacs (Ghostel)”
“They have many quality of life improvements over the basic terminal.”
“I've used it on my personal machines (it works great)”
“consider using ghostel if you want to run it through an emacs terminal”
“awesome, I was looking for a libghostty emacs terminal about a month ago”
“With ghostel I genuinely mix up which window (frame) is emacs rather than the native Ghostty window.”
“the terminal experience inside emacs has become fantastic”
“Ghostel tries to make interaction with the Emacs buffer as seamless as possible”
“switching to ghostel means I can fully live within emacs again”
“It is very fast, fully compatible, and you can quickly enter a copy-paste mode with C-c C-t.”
“ghostel is a tremendous improvement over vterm”
“Have you tried Ghostel for this? I'm one of the Ghostel maintainers”
“Maybe try ghostel with evil-mode, if you're okay with Emacs”
“the Zig module failed to compile, with an error message from Zig about a line in the module source”
“I've been using it for a bit now, replacing vterm for my setup.”
“we automatically switch to copy-mode when it makes sense”
“Downloading a compiled module is a huge negative in the age of supply chain attacks”
“Yeah, Ghostel works great for me so far!”
“it's more complex because it solves more of the problem”
“Wish it had the pattern based Quick-select mode from WezTerm.”
“it's been a real game-changer for me”
“Awesome project. Been using with doom for a while.”
“It's really nice that you can click on code references in Codex summaries and open them right there in Emacs buffers.”
“But line-mode has it's own set of problems.”
“ghostel is much more responsive for me”
“it has not only replaced vterm/eat but also any other external terminal like kitty/Ghostty”
“I came across this the other day and it's come close to helping me make the switch to emacs.”
“it is generally much, much better - noticeably faster”
“which also has the advantage of using libghostty for excellent quality terminal rendering”
“I switched to ghostel in emacs this weekend and it's give or take life changing.”
“things that make Ghostel better than vterm especially when working with those cli agents”
“Ghostel support recently landed in claude-code-ide.el!”
“Being a co-maintainer, I'm a bit biased, but I think you should try Ghostel”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.