When comparing Bitstream Vera Sans Mono vs Input Mono, the Slant community recommends Input Mono for most people. In the question“What are the best fonts to use in a terminal emulator?” Input Mono is ranked 9th while Bitstream Vera Sans Mono is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Input Mono is:
Many letter-forms are available in Input Mono, the width and line-height of which are changeable. There are also non-monospaced sans and sans-serif forms available.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Compact
You can fit a lot of text on the screen.
Pro Font proportion is perfect
Width is just right (not too narrow, not too wide). Many other fonts lack this.
Pro Smooth with antialiasing
Smooth at small sizes while still clear.
Pro Readable at small sizes
All characters are easy to recognize at small sizes (comma, period, etc).
Pro Easy to read
This is subjective but this font is very easy to read. The letters are all spaced and sized properly.
Pro Customizable
Many letter-forms are available in Input Mono, the width and line-height of which are changeable. There are also non-monospaced sans and sans-serif forms available.
Pro Great on small-sized, high-resolution screens
Input Mono is designed to look good on HiDPI and low-resolution screens of variable zoom levels.
Pro Free for private use
Pro Large punctuation
The punctuation symbols are larger than in other traditional fonts, making for greater visibility.
Pro Non-monospaced sibling fonts
In addition to the monospaced variant, the Input family of fonts includes serif and non-serif proportional font families.
Cons
Con Line doesn't cover text right
When using Neomutt or htop, the line drawn over is too low - the top of the characters cut into the top of the line.
Con "mp" clump together with smaller sizes
E.g. in "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".