Your terminal emulator is one of the most security sensitive things you use. Sudo password? SSH keys? logs? A lot goes through your terminal, so I think about 5 times before trying out new terminals.
The major reason I switched from iTerm to Alicritty is the config. I use cmd as my tmux key. This was really annoying to get working in iTerm and was brittle. It required all of macos overrides, iTerms overrides, Tmux config, and Karabiner Elements to get it how I liked it. With Alacritty, it's all done with a clean Alacritty config and a couple of macos-level overrides (I use cmd-q and cmd-h differently in Terminal). Also, the vim+tmux combo is noticeably faster in Alacritty. I'm very interested in Contour.
> The major reason I switched from iTerm to Alacritty is the config.
Exactly the same for me! My terminal config *must* be in version control. But iTerm2 keeps it in some sort of Apple Plist crap. It has a "dynamic JSON profile" feature but it's hard to use correctly.
Switching to Alacritty from iTerm2 has been fantastic; I don't miss anything. I don't use tabs; I use tmux. I need an OS-wide "hotkey" but a few lines of hammerspoon seem to do that perfectly.
It depends what kinds of things you find compelling but I would guess probably nothing if you haven't already been sucked into the terminal emulator rabbit hole. iTerm2 and gnome terminal are both perfectly functional for 100% of the tasks you will actually need them for.
Good point. I share my shell config between Linux and macOS so my UX is mostly the same. Gnome-terminal and iTerm2 act similarly enough that it doesn't really bother me moving between the two.
alacritty's configurability is incredibly good, also the scrolling and crispness in rendering is a godsend, particularly if you're a heavy user or even just do long tails.
What's a compelling reason to switch terminals? Or maybe: is there a compelling reason not to switch?