Best FTXUI Alternatives ranked by AI · updated Aug 2026

FTXUI is a modern C++17 library for building cross-platform terminal user interfaces. It uses a functional, component-based design with support for layouts, widgets, mouse input, Unicode, animation, and screen rendering.

Developer: Arthur Sonzogni and contributors Price: Free, open source 🎯 snapcraft.io/ftxui-starter

🔓 Open Source CLI C tui terminal ui

Top 6 FTXUI alternatives

ncurses

💡 Pick it for maximum Unix portability, ecosystem maturity, and compatibility with existing C or C++ terminal applications.

The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo...

Free

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Notcurses

Nick Black and contributors

💡 Choose it when your terminal UI needs graphics, images, video, or richer rendering than FTXUI's text-focused approach.

Notcurses is a C library for building modern terminal user interfaces with support for text, colors, graphics, multimedia, and complex layouts. It...

Pros

Much stronger graphics and multimedia support than FTXUI
Supports high-resolution visual output where terminals allow it
Provides C and C++ interfaces

Cons

Heavier and more complex than FTXUI for ordinary forms and dashboards
Terminal capability requirements vary more than with text-focused libraries
Smaller community and ecosystem than ncurses

Free, open source

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Ratatui

Ratatui contributors

💡 Pick it if you want a modern Rust TUI with strong type safety and an active widget ecosystem.

Ratatui is a Rust library for building terminal user interfaces with composable widgets and immediate-mode rendering. It is aimed at Rust developers...

Pros

Stronger compile-time safety than FTXUI's C++ API
Excellent widget, layout, and styling primitives for dashboards
Fits naturally with Rust's async and systems-programming ecosystem

Cons

Requires Rust rather than C++
Immediate-mode rendering can require more application state management than FTXUI components
Less suitable for teams standardized on native C++

Free, open source

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Bubble Tea

Charmbracelet

💡 Choose it for Go applications that benefit from an Elm-style architecture and Charmbracelet's surrounding CLI ecosystem.

Bubble Tea is a Go framework for building terminal user interfaces using an Elm-inspired model, update, and view architecture. It suits developers...

Pros

Simpler event-driven architecture than many C++ TUI libraries
Works well with Go's concurrency and networking features
Strong companion ecosystem for styling, components, and CLI tooling

Cons

Requires Go rather than C++
Less flexible than FTXUI for deeply customized layouts and rendering
Elm-style state transitions may feel verbose for small screens

Free, open source

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Textual

💡 Pick it for faster Python development and CSS-like styling instead of native C++ performance and deployment.

Textual is a software product for advanced text editing and manipulation with a focus on programmers and writers.

Starting from $29.99/month

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termbox2

termbox2 contributors

💡 Choose it when you need a tiny, low-level terminal layer rather than FTXUI's full component and widget framework.

termbox2 is a small C library for creating portable cell-based terminal interfaces. It provides keyboard and mouse input, colors, Unicode-aware output, and...