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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Desktop App

Zellij

A friendly terminal workspace with panes, tabs and saved layouts built in.

Visit Zellij4.6

  • Rating

    4.6 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Intermediate

  • Works on

    macOS, Linux, Offline

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What is Zellij?

Zellij is a free, open-source terminal workspace that splits one window into panes and tabs. It shows its shortcuts on screen, saves layouts you can reopen in one command and keeps sessions running in the background, so your whole development setup comes back exactly as you left it.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what Zellij does well

  • On-screen hints make it easy to learn
  • Saved layouts restore your setup instantly
  • Free and open source

Cons: where it falls short

  • Terminal only
  • No native Windows support

Who Zellij is for

Developers who juggle several terminal windows at once.

Who can skip it

Anyone who rarely works in the terminal.

Zellij alternatives

Not sold on Zellij? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Workflows resources

Zen Browser

Focus: web browser, vertical tabs and workspaces. Shares open source and github with Zellij. Adds Windows. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.6Visit

AeroSpace

Focus: tiling window manager, window management and keyboard shortcuts. Shares open source and github with Zellij. A Mac app, not a desktop app. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Mac AppFreemacOS
4.7Visit

Starship

Focus: shell prompt and terminal. Shares developer tool and open source with Zellij. Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

Yazi

Focus: file manager and terminal ui. Shares developer tool and open source with Zellij. Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

Amethyst

Focus: window manager, tiling and mac utility. Shares open source and github with Zellij. A Mac app, not a desktop app. Same 4.6 rating.

Mac AppFreemacOS, Offline
4.6Visit

superfile

Focus: file manager and terminal ui. Shares developer tool and open source with Zellij. Adds Windows. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

Free alternatives to Zellij

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Atuin

Focus: shell history, terminal and command line. Shares open source and github with Zellij. Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

btop

Focus: system monitor, terminal and processes. Shares open source and github with Zellij. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

chezmoi

Focus: dotfiles, config management and command line. Shares open source and github with Zellij. Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

htop

Focus: process viewer, system monitor and terminal. Shares open source and github with Zellij. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

Hugo

Focus: static site, blog and documentation. Shares open source and github with Zellij. Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (Zellij: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

Alacritty

Focus: terminal, command line and gpu. Shares open source and github with Zellij. Adds Windows. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
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