When comparing robbyrussell vs Spaceship, 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 robbyrussell is ranked 8th. 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 The default theme for oh my zsh
You don't need to change anything to use this. It's the default theme.
Pro Very simple
Shows the folder you are in and if there's a git repository it shows the current branch.
Pro Nice color
Nice color codes.
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
Cons
Con Does not show your current directory
Plain PROMPT='%~ '
has a big advantage over this theme.
Con Slow when working with large Git repositories
Con Prompt screws up cursor
The right arrow used in the prompt seems to be larger than 1 character, but slightly smaller than two. As such, your cursor will either be very slightly offset, or so offset that it is unworkable.
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.