Alacritty is a free and open-source GPU-accelerated terminal emulator focused on performance and simplicity. Consequently, it does not support tabs or splits and is configured by editing a text file. It is written in Rust and uses OpenGL.
Joe Wilm announced Alacritty in his blog on 6 January 2017. He describes it as "the result of frustration with existing terminal emulators. Using vim inside tmux in many terminals was a particularly bad experience. None of them were ever quite fast enough". He found urxvt and st difficult to configure and criticized their "inability to run on non-X11 platforms".
With the release of version 0.2.0 in September 2018 Alacritty gained support for scrollback.
In version 0.3.0, released in April 2019, Alacritty entered beta stage and support for Windows, text reflow, and clicking on URLs was added.
In version 0.5.0, released in July 2020, a mode with vi keybindings for searching and copying text was added.
What is Alacritty?
Alacritty by Alacritty (developed by Joe Wilm) is open-source Windows software in the terminals & cli tools category. It ranks 9th by popularity among terminals & cli tools in this catalogue. The first release dates back to 2016. It is written in Rust. Besides Windows, it is available for macOS, Linux and FreeBSD.
Installation and requirements
The publisher provides MSI installers for 64-bit Windows. Installation asks for administrator rights. A silent install is possible with the installer’s documented switches. An MSI package is available for deployment with Group Policy, Intune or Configuration Manager.
Updates and version history
The current version is 0.17.0, released on April 6, 2026. The version history goes back to March 30, 2021: 19 releases, all linked to the official files. That is about 3.8 releases a year.
Popularity and file types
The Chocolatey package has been downloaded 75,872 times. The source code on GitHub (alacritty/alacritty) has 66,019 stars. Wikipedia has an article about it in 4 of our languages. Similar programs include PowerShell, Oh My Posh and ConEmu.
Project description on GitHub: “A cross-platform, OpenGL terminal emulator.”
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Open source: the code can be inspected and built by anyone
- MSI package for managed deployment
- Documented silent install
- Also runs on macOS, Linux and FreeBSD
- Large user base
- Mature project (since 2016)
Cons
- No native ARM64 build
- Installation needs administrator rights
In short: Alacritty is an open-source terminals & cli tool tool for 64-bit PCs. Administrators can deploy it unattended.
Screenshots
Is Alacritty safe to download?
- The file is served by github.com, the publisher’s own domain
- The download link uses HTTPS
- A SHA256 hash is published, so you can verify the file:
ACDB4D6E52BD23225497557FC19119AB1A2E6BF3439A7FAF47FFE86804301132· Open the VirusTotal report for this hash - The link has not been checked yet
- The source code is public
- ExeAtlas does not host, wrap or modify installers
Related guide: How to check a file’s SHA256 hash on Windows
Security practices (OpenSSF Scorecard)
Automated checks of the alacritty/alacritty repository on GitHub by the Open Source Security Foundation, last run on October 19, 2026.
- Code review10
- Actively maintained10
- No dangerous workflows10
- No binaries in the repository10
- Licence declared10
- Restricted token permissions0
- OpenSSF Best Practices badge0
- Security policy0
- Pinned dependencies0
- Fuzzing0
- Signed releases0
- Static code analysis0
The score rates how the project is developed and released, not whether the program is safe to install. scorecard.dev
Recent versions
All 19 versions ›19 versions over 5 years · about 3.8 a year
| Version | Date | Size | Files |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.17.0Latest | April 6, 2026 | — | 64-bit MSI |
| 0.16.1 | October 22, 2025 | — | 64-bit MSI |
| 0.16.0 | October 18, 2025 | — | 64-bit MSI |
| 0.15.1 | February 16, 2025 | — | 64-bit MSI |
| 0.15.0 | January 13, 2025 | — | 64-bit MSI |
| 0.14.0 | October 22, 2024 | — | 64-bit MSI |
| 0.13.2 | March 24, 2024 | — | 64-bit MSI |
| 0.13.1 | January 8, 2024 | — | 64-bit MSI |
Install from the command line
Silent install ›winget install --id Alacritty.Alacritty -echoco install alacritty -yscoop install extras/alacrittymsiexec /i Alacritty-v0.17.0-installer.msi /qn /norestartmsiexec /x {EB4FE5BE-6897-441C-933D-4E592B392C63} /qn /norestartRelated guide: How to use winget: install and update apps
Information
- Publisher
- Alacritty
- Developer
- Joe Wilm and Kirill Chibisov
- Category
- Terminals & CLI tools
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Price
- Free
- Source code
- github.com/alacritty/alacritty
- Written in
- Rust
- Requires
- Windows 11 / 10
- Architecture
- 64-bit
- Installer
- MSI
- Other platforms
- macOS, Linux, FreeBSD
- Version
- 0.17.0
- Released
- April 6, 2026
- First release
- 2016
- Added to the catalogue
- March 30, 2021
- Versions listed
- 19
- Updates / year
- 3.8
- Chocolatey downloads
- 75,872
- GitHub stars
- 66,019
- GitHub forks
- 3,662
- Website
- github.com
- winget ID
- Alacritty.Alacritty
- Chocolatey package
- alacritty
- Scoop package
- extras/alacritty
- MSI product code
- {EB4FE5BE-6897-441C-933D-4E592B392C63}
Ratings and reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to rate it.
Alternatives to Alacritty
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Frequently asked questions
Is Alacritty free?
Yes. Alacritty is open-source software under the Apache-2.0 licence.
Is Alacritty safe to download?
The download comes from github.com, which belongs to the publisher; ExeAtlas does not host or change the file. Compare its SHA256 hash with the one shown here, or open the VirusTotal report for that hash.
How do I install Alacritty with winget?
Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the winget command shown on this page. winget downloads the official installer and checks its SHA256 hash before running it.
Can Alacritty be installed silently?
Yes. The silent install page lists the exact command for each installer, including msiexec for the MSI package.
Does Alacritty run on ARM (Windows on Arm)?
There is no ARM64 build; Windows 11 on Arm can run the 64-bit version through emulation.
Where can I download an older version of Alacritty?
The versions page lists all 19 versions with links to their official installer files, back to March 30, 2021.
What are alternatives to Alacritty?
PowerShell, Oh My Posh, ConEmu, QPDF and Cygwin. The alternatives page compares them.
