Bubble Tea vs tview
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A Go framework for building interactive terminal apps using the Elm Architecture.
Open source · MIT
A Go library for building interactive terminal user interfaces with ready-made widgets.
The short answer
Choose Bubble Tea if you need…
- Go developers who want to build interactive command-line tools with a visual interface
- Developers who prefer a functional, state-driven way to structure UI code
- Teams building simple or complex terminal apps that need keyboard and mouse input
- People who want to follow the official tutorial to learn terminal UI basics in Go
Choose tview if you need…
- Go developers building interactive command-line tools with menus, forms, or tables
- Developers who want prebuilt terminal widgets instead of drawing everything by hand
- Projects that need a terminal dashboard or file browser written in Go
Side-by-side
| Bubble Tea | tview | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 45.6k | 14.1k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Go | Go |
| Last code update | 4 days ago | 3 months ago |
What each one is
Bubble Tea
Bubble Tea is a Go framework for building terminal applications, the text-based programs you run in a command line window. It uses The Elm Architecture, a pattern where the app keeps a model of its state, updates that state when events like key presses arrive, and renders a view from that state. The README says it supports inline, full-window, or mixed terminal UIs and includes features such as keyboard and mouse handling and native clipboard support.
tview
tview is a Go package that provides common building blocks for terminal programs, such as input forms, tables, lists, tree views, text areas, and modal windows. Developers use it to create interactive screens that run inside a terminal instead of a graphical window. The README says the components can be customized and extended.
Best for
Bubble Tea
- Go developers who want to build interactive command-line tools with a visual interface
- Developers who prefer a functional, state-driven way to structure UI code
- Teams building simple or complex terminal apps that need keyboard and mouse input
- People who want to follow the official tutorial to learn terminal UI basics in Go
tview
- Go developers building interactive command-line tools with menus, forms, or tables
- Developers who want prebuilt terminal widgets instead of drawing everything by hand
- Projects that need a terminal dashboard or file browser written in Go
Strengths
Bubble Tea
- Simple, clear structure based on Init, Update, and View methods that the README explains step by step
- Includes a tutorial, examples, and Go docs to help you get started
- Used in production according to the README, with an MIT license
tview
- Covers many common widget types, including forms, tables, trees, and lists
- The README lists many real projects that use it, such as K9s
- Includes examples in a demos folder and a GitHub Wiki
Not ideal for
Bubble Tea
- People who do not write Go, since the framework is only for Go code
- Anyone who needs a ready-made finished app rather than a library to build one, because it is a framework for developers
- Projects that need a graphical desktop or web interface, since it targets terminals
tview
- People who want to use a finished app rather than write code, since this is a library and needs a Go program around it
- Developers not using Go, because the package is written for the Go language
- Projects needing a graphical desktop or web interface
Trade-offs
Bubble Tea
- Requires working knowledge of Go, as the README's tutorial states
- The README mentions an upgrade guide from v1, so older code may need changes to work with v2
- No binaries are provided with the latest release, so you must build from source using Go
tview
- The README's install instruction points to the master branch, and the latest release shown is v0.42.0 with no binaries
- Requires writing Go code; there is no standalone program to download
- The README shown is truncated, so detailed API behavior is not fully covered here
Getting started
tview
Add the package to your Go project
go get github.com/rivo/tview@masterFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Bubble Tea and tview?
Bubble Tea: A Go framework for building interactive terminal apps using the Elm Architecture. tview: A Go library for building interactive terminal user interfaces with ready-made widgets. Bubble Tea suits go developers who want to build interactive command-line tools with a visual interface, while tview suits go developers building interactive command-line tools with menus, forms, or tables.
Are Bubble Tea and tview free?
Bubble Tea: Free and open source. tview: Free and open source.
Is Bubble Tea or tview more popular?
Bubble Tea has more GitHub stars (45.6k) than tview (14.1k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Bubble Tea and tview?
Other options people compare them with include termui, RxSwift, lo, FTXUI.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.