mintty

Windows

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Freedom report

No signalScore 5.2

Free tierNo free tier on record
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely1 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedThinly documented

mintty is ranked #31 of 40 in terminal emulators on Freedom251. It runs on Windows.

Compared on terminal emulators

Free plan: Yes
Supported platforms: Windows
Split panes: No
Scripting API: Yes
SSH support: No

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The record

Purpose: Mintty is a terminal emulator for Cygwin, MSYS, MSYS2, derived projects, and WSL.
Terminal emulation: It provides xterm-compatible terminal emulation and DEC terminal screen control features.
Display: It supports 256 colours, True Colour, Unicode, bidirectional text, emoji, image display, Sixel, ReGIS, and Tektronix 4014 vector graphics emulation.
Input and interaction: Features include configurable keyboard shortcuts, mouse selection, copy and paste, drag and drop, and Ctrl-click opening of files and URLs.
Window features: It supports virtual tabs, a tab bar, session switching, fullscreen and transparency options, multiple monitors, and high DPI.
Configuration: Settings can be supplied as command-line options or in a configuration file, and options are stored in a text file without registry entries.
Platforms: The site says mintty works on Windows versions from Windows XP onwards and can host WSL.
Integrations: Mintty is installed as the default Cygwin Terminal, is installed by default in MSYS2, and is included by default in Git for Windows as Git Bash.
Networking: Mintty leaves out PuTTY's networking functionality, which the site says is provided by packages such as OpenSSH and inetutils.
Downloads: The site links to source code, releases, a release archive, and a current snapshot download.
Documentation: The Cygwin package includes a mintty manual page, and the site links to a wiki for keycodes, control sequences, and other hints.
Support: The site directs users to the issue tracker for bug reports and enhancement suggestions, and to the Cygwin mailing list for general Cygwin questions.
Compatibility caveat: The site notes that Windows console input and output can have interworking problems with pseudo-terminal mode; it says Cygwin 3.1.0 compensates through the Windows 10 ConPTY API.
Latest release shown: The releases page lists version 3.8.3 as the latest release.

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Terminal Emulators in 2026#31 of 40

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Sources

mintty.github.io· checked 9 Oct 2026
github.com/mintty/mintty/releases· checked 9 Oct 2026