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Warp terminal

Ranked 4 of 40 terminal emulators by recommenders

Praised for block-based output, command suggestions, and easy editing in a modern terminal; critics say it pushes AI features, login and analytics.

Praised for block-based output, command suggestions, and easy editing in a modern terminal; critics say it pushes AI features, login and analytics.

170 people gave an opinion

recommend it
84
criticize it
86
approval share
49%
Each figure is 2 people. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 11 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Owned for 1 year

Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.

Each square is one year.

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 84 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 0.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
  • Recommended in 11 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

  • Block-based output navigation

    “I use Warp. I like it - notifications for failed processes, terminal pages so you can easily navigate between input+output pairs”

    Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Hacker News.love – 22 projects Hacker News didn't love”

    “The _block_ system where you could navigate up and down without scrolling the whole buffer rigidly”

    Comment from 1 May 2026 in “OpenWarp”

    “what i like about warp is that it treats the output of each command as a separate entity”

    Comment from 10 May 2026 in “The text mode lie: why modern TUIs are a nightmare for accessibility”
  • Familiar text editing and input

    “Warp’s convenience shell wrapping is amazing. It’s the only terminal where I can actually edit a long command in place”

    Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

    “treated the input as a normal text input field so I could use my normal keyboard text editing shortcuts”

    Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

    “Multiline input that works like text editor, separated input and output blocks”

    Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”
  • Fast, stable terminal core

    “just build a really nice, fast terminal emulator and figure out the money later”

    Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

    “Warp is equally stable, almost as fast, while being more usable than Ghostty.”

    Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”
  • Open-source with FOSS licenses

    “Warp made heavy use of open source itself, and then realized that even more open was the only good way to make this work.”

    Comment from 1 May 2026 in “OpenWarp”

    “there are a few projects with interesting ideas already, warp terminal, which was recently released as FOSS is one”

    Comment from 8 May 2026 in “The text mode lie: why modern TUIs are a nightmare for accessibility”

    “They are available on many platforms with FOSS licenses with very limited centralization.”

    Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: WeTransfer Alternative for Developers”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Pushes AI features on users

    “Great terminal, annoying that everytime it updates I have to go back to the settings to disable new AI features or layout changes.”

    Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

    “rip out all the AI and cloud shit, and turn it into just a nice terminal with some neat features”

    Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

    “The terminal experience is the best, but I don't have any use for the agentic stuff”

    Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”
  • Requires login or account

    “Looking forward to use all these nice AI features without using the warp account/service.”

    Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

    “doesn't seem to work without login. after going through all the setup i got stuck at a prompt asking me to log in with no option to skip it.”

    Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”
  • Sends telemetry and network calls

    “The very moment you start Warp, it sends 5 HTTP requests, (1 version check, 1 LLM model list, 3 telemetry events).”

    Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

    “Just silly that my terminal is sending a bunch of analytics and also refuses to start of there's no internet.”

    Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”
  • Paid plans push subscriptions

    “Warp terminal got the job done. It blew through half a month’s tokens on the Build subscription tier.”

    Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Move FreeBSD System Between ZFS Disks”

    “the second my own _terminal_ tried to get me to subscribe to a monthly plan I uninstalled that shit so fast”

    Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: If the models are so good, why doesn't OpenAI just start 100 companies?”

    “When Warp owns both agent and the terminal, they can a) give terminal for free and charge on the agent”

    Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

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.

Warp terminal compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Ghostty40115872%123 mo22 ownersApproved
Termux1883186%121 yr6 ownersApproved
iTerm2956958%1210 yrs4 owners—
Warp terminalThis page848649%111 yr5 owners—
Kitty terminal emulator792973%122 yrs3 ownersApproved
See all 40 terminal emulators, ranked

What people said

40 of the 208 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“I'm fairly sure the ZDR on their site impled that neither the prompts or the model output was collected”

MixedComment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Tell HN: Warp.dev Security Incident”

“the second my own _terminal_ tried to get me to subscribe to a monthly plan I uninstalled that shit so fast”

CriticizesComment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: If the models are so good, why doesn't OpenAI just start 100 companies?”

“Warp terminal got the job done. It blew through half a month’s tokens on the Build subscription tier.”

MixedComment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Move FreeBSD System Between ZFS Disks”

“full vim functionality with visual mode, multi-cursor, mouse selection, syntax highlighting”

RecommendsComment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

“When Warp owns both agent and the terminal, they can a) give terminal for free and charge on the agent”

CriticizesComment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

“I still love Warp and their TOML/YAML based config which preloads my 10 tabs + tab groups on init”

RecommendsComment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

“I like the terminal emulator but I just don't see any use for the agentic stuff.”

MixedComment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

“treated the input as a normal text input field so I could use my normal keyboard text editing shortcuts”

MixedComment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

“My absolute favorite thing about Warp is the function that suggest a new command intelligently when the one I just ran failed”

RecommendsComment from 4 Aug 2026 in “The Warp Agent CLI”

“the interesting bit for people who work on a lot of machines is that this also works when you ssh to any remote machine”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “SpaceX to buy Cursor AI coding agent operator Anysphere for $60B”

“what i like about warp is that it treats the output of each command as a separate entity”

MixedComment from 10 May 2026 in “The text mode lie: why modern TUIs are a nightmare for accessibility”

“there are a few projects with interesting ideas already, warp terminal, which was recently released as FOSS is one”

RecommendsComment from 8 May 2026 in “The text mode lie: why modern TUIs are a nightmare for accessibility”

“most of Warp is really centered around trying to make a terminal interface not anchored to legacy assumptions”

MixedComment from 1 May 2026 in “OpenWarp”

“The _block_ system where you could navigate up and down without scrolling the whole buffer rigidly”

MixedComment from 1 May 2026 in “OpenWarp”

“they did something cool (terminal app), pivoted that attention into a profitable AI play”

MixedComment from 1 May 2026 in “OpenWarp”

“Warp made heavy use of open source itself, and then realized that even more open was the only good way to make this work.”

RecommendsComment from 1 May 2026 in “OpenWarp”

“Just silly that my terminal is sending a bunch of analytics and also refuses to start of there's no internet.”

CriticizesComment from 1 May 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“doesn't seem to work without login. after going through all the setup i got stuck at a prompt asking me to log in with no option to skip it.”

CriticizesComment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“The very moment you start Warp, it sends 5 HTTP requests, (1 version check, 1 LLM model list, 3 telemetry events).”

CriticizesComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“very nice UI and completely ruin it with greed, closed-source, and by not listening to your customers”

MixedComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“one thing I'm really missing is the ability for this to be toggled on/off per device”

MixedComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“I personally love the Shift+Cmd+J that jumps to whichever Claude is finished and waiting for my input”

RecommendsComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“Warp is equally stable, almost as fast, while being more usable than Ghostty.”

RecommendsComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“Multiline input that works like text editor, separated input and output blocks”

RecommendsComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“I know Warp has interesting terminal innovations because I've been familiar with it since before the AI boom”

MixedComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“just build a really nice, fast terminal emulator and figure out the money later”

MixedComment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“IMO it's quite a good terminal now, even if they do still have a few other remaining throat-shoving dark patterns in the UI”

MixedComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“I never really understood why anyone would use this when you can just fire up claude code from your favorite terminal.”

CriticizesComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“Just the copy paste and search functionality is miles of any terminal I’ve ever used.”

RecommendsComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“Since your company is basically based on this agentic coding thing, i really don't see why anybody would run Warp without AI”

CriticizesComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“The thing that has kept me away from Warp has been support for bind keys and Atuin.”

MixedComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“Looking forward to use all these nice AI features without using the warp account/service.”

MixedComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“Great terminal, annoying that everytime it updates I have to go back to the settings to disable new AI features or layout changes.”

MixedComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“it looks more or less too flat with just maybe 2 main colors and just one font variant”

MixedComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now Open-Source”

“The terminal experience is the best, but I don't have any use for the agentic stuff”

MixedComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“Warp’s convenience shell wrapping is amazing. It’s the only terminal where I can actually edit a long command in place”

RecommendsComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“rip out all the AI and cloud shit, and turn it into just a nice terminal with some neat features”

MixedComment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Warp is now open-source”

“They are available on many platforms with FOSS licenses with very limited centralization.”

RecommendsComment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: WeTransfer Alternative for Developers”

“I use Warp. I like it - notifications for failed processes, terminal pages so you can easily navigate between input+output pairs”

MixedComment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Hacker News.love – 22 projects Hacker News didn't love”

“I primarily use the terminal and they have just released a new plan which outwardly states lower cost per request”

RecommendsComment from 13 Nov 2025 in “I spent $638 on AI coding agents in 6 weeks.”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.