Zsh comparisons
Zsh is compared head-to-head with Bash, Fish and Dash and more: 7 head-to-heads in Command-Line Shells, each with the specs and prices we checked.
Zsh head-to-head
- Zsh vs Bash
- Zsh vs Fish
- Zsh vs Dash
- Zsh vs BusyBox ash
- Zsh vs OpenBSD KornShell (ksh)
- Zsh vs tcsh
- Zsh vs PowerShell
Zsh vs each of them
| # | Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Supported platforms | Scripting language | Command completion | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Zsh | Yes | None | Unix; Windows via Cygwin | Zsh shell scripting language | Yes | 8.8 |
| 1 | Bash | Yes | None | GNU operating systems, Unix, and several non-Unix systems | Bash shell language | Yes | 9.3 |
| 3 | Fish | Yes | None | macOS, Linux, BSD, and Windows environments (WSL, Cygwin, MSYS2) | fish | Yes | 8.7 |
| 4 | Dash | Yes | None | linux | POSIX sh shell language | No | 8.5 |
| 5 | BusyBox ash | Yes | None | Linux | POSIX shell | Yes | 8.3 |
| 6 | OpenBSD KornShell (ksh) | Yes | None | OpenBSD | KornShell language (superset of sh) | Yes | 8.1 |
| 7 | tcsh | Yes | None | Linux (Debian and Ubuntu); most Unix variants | C shell (csh) | Yes | 8.0 |
| 8 | PowerShell | Yes | None | Windows, macOS, Linux | PowerShell | Yes | 7.9 |
Compare Zsh with any command-line shell
These are the matchups our editors wrote up. The compare tool pairs Zsh with any other product in Command-Line Shells — and up to four at once — from the same checked specs.
Compare Zsh with any tool side by side →
Every Command-Line shells head-to-head →
Our full Zsh verdict, pricing and fact sheet →
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Compared by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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