Comparison
Cross Platform Terminal vs kitty
A GPU-based terminal emulator built around OpenGL, with its own graphics protocol and a scripting layer called kittens. kitty’s own site →
| Feature | Cross Platform Terminal | kitty |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Linux, Windows (macOS in progress) | Linux and macOS (Unix-like systems) |
| Windows | Native, identical to the Linux build | Not supported |
| Licence | Proprietary | GPL-3.0, open source |
| Price | €7.49/month or €67.41/year, no free tier | Free |
| Rendering | GPU, whole grid in one draw call | OpenGL, with no large UI toolkit underneath |
| Configuration | In-app settings, per-profile | A single human-editable kitty.conf |
| Session persistence | Opt-in detachable sessions, no multiplexer needed | Session files and remote control, including across a network |
| Agent awareness | Detects 8 agent CLIs and reports five states per pane | None |
Where kitty is the better choice
- Free, fast, and years ahead on terminal graphics — its image protocol is the one other tools implement.
- Kittens give it a real extension story: image viewing, diffing, unicode input, and anything you write yourself.
- Seven built-in layouts and deep shell integration for zsh, fish and bash.
Where CPT is the better choice
- It runs on Windows. kitty does not, and that is the whole reason CPT exists.
- Detachable sessions that reattach with scrollback intact, from a settings toggle.
- Agent detection, per-pane status and the AI Inventory panel.
The short version
On Linux or macOS alone, kitty is excellent and free, and the graphics protocol is a real advantage. CPT is the answer only if part of your week is spent on Windows and you want that half to behave identically.