Terminus font
Shares rank 15 of 25 monospace fonts by recommenders
A sharp, pixel-perfect bitmap monospace font that people use in terminals and editors, with fairly complete Unicode support for a bitmap font.
A sharp, pixel-perfect bitmap monospace font that people use in terminals and editors, with fairly complete Unicode support for a bitmap font.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 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
Sharp, crisp, no blurred edges
“I like it so much my main coding font is a modified, pixel-perfect (no AA at all) version of Terminus since forever”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again” “Pixel-perfect Terminus for the win in my terminals and in my beloved Emacs.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again” “it is actually a bitmap font, which means it is sharp and crisp”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” - Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Monolisa v3 – a typeface for developers and creatives”
Used daily for years
“I like it so much my main coding font is a modified, pixel-perfect (no AA at all) version of Terminus since forever”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again” “For the past 10 years I've being using terminus bitmap font, so I have strong opinions about it.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Art Bits from Apple Macintosh HyperCard” “I've been using it for a long time and I can't use a new computer or a work computer without it”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again” - Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again”
Workhorse coding font, pleasant to use
“I fully agree with their description of it as a workhorse font.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again” “I also found the TTF version of Terminus to be pleasant”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “GNU Unifont” “For programming, you can also try out Terminus”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “A few interesting modern pixel fonts”
Other monospace fonts people recommend
The four most recommended other monospace fonts, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iosevka | 108 | 10 | 92% | 9 | 5 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| Nordwand Mono | 40 | 4 | 91% | 1 | — | — |
| Myna | 29 | 10 | 74% | 1 | — | — |
| Berkeley Mono | 27 | 6 | 82% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Terminus fontThis page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“terminus, for example, looks quite brittle at large sizes”
“I find the lack of blurred edges to be extremely refreshing.”
“But yeah I'm a very happy camper.”
“For programming, you can also try out Terminus”
“Terminus has too much spacing between the letters for my liking”
“Pixel-perfect Terminus for the win in my terminals and in my beloved Emacs.”
“I like it so much my main coding font is a modified, pixel-perfect (no AA at all) version of Terminus since forever”
“I've been using it for a long time and I can't use a new computer or a work computer without it”
“One of the few bitmap fonts (with terminus) having somewhat complete unicode support”
“I get headaches from blurry text, so I daily drive Terminus TTF”
“I fully agree with their description of it as a workhorse font.”
“My favorites, however, aren't even there.”
“it is actually a bitmap font, which means it is sharp and crisp”
“For the past 10 years I've being using terminus bitmap font, so I have strong opinions about it.”
“I also found the TTF version of Terminus to be pleasant”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.