Oh My Zsh
Zsh framework in Developer tools
Recommended for a ready-to-use zsh setup with useful defaults, aliases and plugins. Critics say it adds bloat and can slow shell startup, especially in large Git repositories.
Recommended for a ready-to-use zsh setup with useful defaults, aliases and plugins. Critics say it adds bloat and can slow shell startup, especially in large Git repositories.
63 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 34
- criticize it
- 29
- approval share
- 54%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 8 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 34 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not 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
Easy to install and set up
“It's a single command to install oh-my-zsh. I can fire it off, check Slack, and come back in 5 minutes.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “OMZ is still easier to set up consistently. That's why we use it.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “The main selling point for me is how easy it is to setup.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” - Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
- Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
- Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
Fast enough for daily use
“I originally switched to ZSH + Oh My Shell because it opens so fast.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “JavaScript Demos in 140 Characters” “with the default configuration it's only 60ms on my laptop”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “It's 0.04s in my setup. I have it a bit customized”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” - Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
Useful aliases and plugins
“even better, I recently learned I can just `gst` on oh-my-zsh for `git status` and other similar shortcuts”
Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “.gitignore Everything by Default” “I prefer oh-my-zsh plugin style short aliases instead”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “Start all of your commands with a comma” “I relied on some useful Oh My Zsh features”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” Good defaults out of the box
“I can get a good shell experience out of the box and immediately start working on stuff productively”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “Nice history, command auto complete, and similar beyond just the looks, out of the box”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “If only zsh had a better out of the box experience then OMZ wouldn't be needed.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Bloated with features people never use
“people pick up OMZ or doom emacs because some YouTuber told them to do it, then drop them in 6 months because they're all bloaty”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “the features I uses are so basic, it really does not warrant a whole software project as a dependency”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “90 percent of the plug-ins are alias definitions which I certainly won't memorize somebody else's”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” - Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
- Comment from 28 Mar 2026 in “Anatomy of the .claude/ Folder”
- Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
Slow startup and prompt lag
“My experience was terrible. But it turns out that many people did not mind the bloat and the prompt lag.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “I encounter a lot of issues with Ghostty with Oh My Zsh. It's often very slow, the shell crashes”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Ghostty is now non-profit” “I never felt the delay particularly unless I was in a very large Git repository”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” - Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “Shell Tricks That Make Life Easier (and Save Your Sanity)”
- Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
Users switch to plain shell
“I use a subset of omz by cloning it and manually sourcing the plugins I want myself rather than initializing the entire omz system.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “I have been using OMZ for the last 8 years but recently made the switch to plain zsh”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “In the end, I realised nothing was as good (to me) as my original Bash set up.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
What people recommend instead
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oh My ZshThis page | 34 | 29 | 54% | 5 | 8 yrs4 owners | — |
| Zim (zimfw) | 6 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 67 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“even better, I recently learned I can just `gst` on oh-my-zsh for `git status` and other similar shortcuts”
“though it wouldn't surprise me if helpers such as oh-my-zsh enables it for you”
“installing oh-my-zsh or whatever that brings a TON of features they'll never use”
“Stuff like NVM or Oh My ZSH will add a few seconds to your shell startup time.”
“I like better because I can add one more dot for one more dot”
“I feel like I know about 4% of useful things it can do so far.”
“I prefer oh-my-zsh plugin style short aliases instead”
“I never felt the delay particularly unless I was in a very large Git repository”
“I use a subset of omz by cloning it and manually sourcing the plugins I want myself rather than initializing the entire omz system.”
“OMZ has been working steadily for me for the past 8+ years.”
“I've been using for so long it has become a standard for me.”
“90 percent of the plug-ins are alias definitions which I certainly won't memorize somebody else's”
“Oh My Zsh adds bloat but sets sensible default settings compared to vanilla zsh.”
“oh my zsh can recreate much of the fish functionality while maintaining good bash interoperability”
“narrowed the vast majority of the problem down to the git plugin, especially for large, old repos”
“It was so freaking slow it had a noticeable effect on my shell and my mood.”
“since it saves so much time and JustWorks (Tm)”
“My experience was terrible. But it turns out that many people did not mind the bloat and the prompt lag.”
“people pick up OMZ or doom emacs because some YouTuber told them to do it, then drop them in 6 months because they're all bloaty”
“Nice history, command auto complete, and similar beyond just the looks, out of the box”
“I originally switched to ZSH + Oh My Shell because it opens so fast.”
“I relied on some useful Oh My Zsh features”
“Most OMZ plugins are basically a bunch of shell completions or aliases.”
“In the end, I realised nothing was as good (to me) as my original Bash set up.”
“If only zsh had a better out of the box experience then OMZ wouldn't be needed.”
“whenever they (very rarely) tweak their default config - it breaks my muscle memory”
“It's 0.04s in my setup. I have it a bit customized”
“I have been using OMZ for the last 8 years but recently made the switch to plain zsh”
“Oh my zsh makes installing extension so easy”
“The QoL effects of omz outweigh microtuning startup times significantly.”
“The main selling point for me is how easy it is to setup.”
“It's a single command to install oh-my-zsh. I can fire it off, check Slack, and come back in 5 minutes.”
“OMZ is still easier to set up consistently. That's why we use it.”
“Oh-My-Zsh is so easy to install.”
“with the default configuration it's only 60ms on my laptop”
“the features I uses are so basic, it really does not warrant a whole software project as a dependency”
“I can get a good shell experience out of the box and immediately start working on stuff productively”
“it is so good I’ve never felt compelled to experiment or try any other shells terminals or configs”
“I encounter a lot of issues with Ghostty with Oh My Zsh. It's often very slow, the shell crashes”
“It has almost entirely removed this distinction from my life.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.