Written by the team building Shepherd. Competitor capabilities are based on the official sources linked below, checked September 8, 2026; this is a documentation comparison, not a hands-on benchmark.
An iTerm2 alternative can mean another terminal emulator or a broader coding workspace. Decide which change you want first. If your current terminal works well and the problem is keeping track of agents, replacing text rendering alone may not solve it.
iTerm2 already offers split panes, profiles, search, shell integration, and notifications. It also has tmux integration. Treat these as part of the baseline rather than crediting another product for features iTerm2 already supplies.
Ghostty for a different terminal foundation
Ghostty is a terminal emulator with native platform interfaces and GPU rendering. Put it on the shortlist when terminal behavior, appearance, and configuration are the parts you want to change. Keep your normal shell, SSH access, and session-management tools in the evaluation.
Try the output you actually read: a test failure with a long stack trace, a wide diff, a full-screen editor, and mixed-language text if you use it. Compare how comfortably you can navigate and copy that output. We have not measured comparative latency or resource use, so this guide does not rank those properties.
Shepherd for the work around the terminal
Shepherd adds a workspace around persistent terminals, including an agent overview, files, and review tools. It is a candidate if you spend time matching an agent to its project, reopening review surfaces, or finding where a task left off.
The public desktop download is for Apple silicon Macs. The iOS app is currently listed as coming soon. If you are choosing for another desktop platform or need an available phone client immediately, apply that constraint before comparing the interface.
Orca for an agent development environment
Orca organizes agent work around an environment with worktrees and review surfaces. Its terminal documentation describes tabs, splits, search, and agent-related terminal information. Include it if you want to evaluate the complete agent workflow alongside the shell.
The distinction to investigate is how much of your routine should belong to the workspace. Some people want their editor, terminal, and browser configured independently. Others want a task to carry its review surfaces with it. Neither preference requires a universal winner.
Compare your most-used actions
| Action | What to record during a trial |
|---|---|
| Connect to a regular SSH host | Setup required and how the destination is identified |
| Find a failed command | Search scope, scrollback behavior, and copying output |
| Run two agent tasks | Directory and branch clarity; navigation between tasks |
| Review a change | Steps from the agent’s message to the exact diff |
| Return after disconnecting | Which state is still live and which is reconstructed |
Use the same repository, commands, font size, and window dimensions where practical. Keep your existing configuration as a reference. A trial with an empty default profile is less useful than a trial reflecting the setup you have spent time building.
Preserve the useful parts of your setup
Move one project first. Keep your shell configuration and SSH files under your own control, and check whether the new environment reads the settings you depend on. Do not assume that copying a theme also transfers profiles, notifications, or shortcuts.
If the underlying concern is remote persistence, evaluate the multiplexer or service that owns the process as well as the visible terminal. The Ghostty + tmux vs Shepherd guide walks through that distinction. If only tmux’s interface is uncomfortable, the tmux alternatives guide includes an option that retains your existing sessions.
Your next workspace
Put it to work.
Try Shepherd on an Apple silicon Mac. The iOS app is currently listed as coming soon.
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