When comparing Spaceship vs Powerlevel9K, the Slant community recommends Spaceship for most people. In the question“What's the best theme for Oh My Zsh?” Spaceship is ranked 4th while Powerlevel9K is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Spaceship is:
Spaceship isn't included in Oh My Zsh by default, but the repo includes an install script that takes less than a second to get it up and running.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy installation
Spaceship isn't included in Oh My Zsh by default, but the repo includes an install script that takes less than a second to get it up and running.
Pro Node and nvm integration
When using the spaceship theme and you use nvm so switch to an older version of Node, the prompt will show the version of Node you are currently using.
Pro Git integration
If you're inside of a directory that has a Git repository setup, Spaceship shows you information like what branch you're on, if your repository has changes and if there are unpushed commits or upstream commits.
Pro Easily customizable
Spaceship has lots of options to let you customize it to your heart's desire with variables set in your .zshrc file.
Pro Notifies on non-zero exit codes
The cursor turns red if the command executed exited with a non-zero exit code.
Pro Ruby and rvm integration
When using Spaceship, you also get a nice little gem showing the Ruby version currently used in RVM.
Pro Available through the AUR
If you are on Arch this ensures an easy install. Just search for spaceship-prompt-git!
Pro Looks good
Pro Interfaces seamlessly with oh-my-zsh
While notably more complex than most other oh-my-zsh themes, the developer has taken care to ensure that the two function naturally together, though the implementation can appear unwieldy at first.
Pro Excellent documentation
Not only are all the possible variables clearly defined, most have visual examples as well. The gallery of screenshots shared by users is also well-curated and provides no end of inspiration for what you yourself might want.
Pro Support for all major families of patched font methods
Not only are the standard Powerline fonts supported, but so too are the Awesome fonts and the Nerd fonts, all offering a different approach to adding more glyphs to your standard mono-spaced terminal typography.
Pro Keeps terminal responsiveness high
One sad realization often encountered shortly after testing a new terminal theme or framework is that suddenly a noticeable lag is present when working in it. While it can happen with Powerlevel9k too, if you're deliberate in the elements you place in your prompt, it can also be mostly sidestepped.
Pro Plays well with almost every existing zsh framework or add-on
Powerlevel9k lists step-by-step instructions for integrations into a plain zsh shell, as well as how to intergrate it with: oh-my-zsh, NixOS, Prezto, antigen, Zplug, Zgen, Antibody, ZPM, and zim. No matter what you've already found to enhance your zsh terminal, this theme will complement rather than displace them.
Pro Sensitive to an extremely broad set of contextual environments
Powerlevel is capable of recognizing all of the following conditions and altering your prompt automatically to alert you or provide more relevant information to suit them: logged in as default user, logged in via SSH, low battery, background jobs running, whether the working directory is read-only or writable, VPN in use, operating with elevated privileges (sudo), vi mode (editing), working in a version-controlled directory tree, logged into AWS profile, dynamic display of Wi-Fi signal strength in the prompt itself, current partition free space, and so many more it's nearly obscene.
Cons
Con Really slow when working with kubernetes or big repositories
Con npm install empties your zshrc file without even making a backup
Con Not included in Oh My Zsh
You have to install this script manually, or with the provided installation script.
Con Doesn't support older zsh
Doesn't work on debian jessie with zsh 5.0.7.
Con Very slow
Powerlevel10k is a fast reimplementation of this theme.
Con Project seems dead
GitHub issues don't get attention. No new features added in the last year.