Comparison

SSH Client vs La Terminal

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SSH Client

This app provides a fast SSH terminal and remote file access, seamlessly integrating your SSH servers with your iOS device. It offers advanced text editing gestures, drag-and-drop file management, and built-in tmux support for persistent sessions. Access your server's file system directly within the Files app and automate transfers via Shortcuts.

Highlights
  • Lightning fast SSH terminal
  • Remote file access and management
  • Standard and custom text editing gestures
  • Drag-and-drop file transfer
  • Built-in tmux support for session persistence
  • Files app integration for server file system
  • Shortcuts app integration for automation
Features
Read full description

Lightning fast SSH terminal with remote file access. No other app fuses your SSH servers and iOS devices as well as Secure ShellFish. Tap Get and see for yourself. Terminal supports standard text editing gestures for selection, scrolling and copy/paste as well as custom gestures to send arrow keys and tabulator making shell entry and full screen editing with vim or emacs delightful. Bar above the keyboard makes it easy to type special keys and insert snippets. Select and drag filenames out of the terminal as actual files and drag files from other apps into the terminal to upload. Use built-in tmux support to persist terminal sessions if you lose Internet access, pick existing sessions with thumbnails and Handoff sessions between devices. Server file system is available in the Files app and recently accessed files and directories are cached to make them available when offline. Use apps like Textastic and iA Writer for a native editing experience working on your remote server files. Upload files or entire directories from the share sheet with minimal friction as the last destination directory for each kind of file is remembered or automate file transfers in the Shortcuts app. Connect to your Mac, Synology NAS and any other SSH server or create new Digital Ocean droplets right from the app. Secure ShellFish is useful as a free app and paying pro users can disable ads in the terminal, upload through the Files app and configure unlimited number of servers.

About

La Terminal

This app provides a mobile command center for AI coding agents and server management. It offers full SSH and Mosh support for resilient sessions, along with powerful resource monitoring and an AI-powered assistant for command generation.

Highlights
  • SSH and Mosh support
  • AI-powered command assistant
  • Command Search and workflow gallery
  • Resource monitoring and process explorer
  • Secure private key storage
  • iCloud sync for settings and keys
Features
Read full description

Welcome to La Terminal, your mobile command center for AI coding agents. Connect to OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, or OpenClaw from anywhere, with full SSH and Mosh support for resilient, always-on sessions. More than just a simple command-line shell, La Terminal provides a fully-native, first-class touch experience for command-line hackers on iPhone and iPad. Built on Open Source: From the original developer of Midnight Commander, the open source visual file manager for Linux, La Terminal provides a comprehensive Xterm/DEC VT terminal emulator experience based on the popular open source SwiftTerm library with powerful client amenities for serious command-line aficionados. Command Search: Use Command Search to quickly find the command you are looking for. Search your own command history and our comprehensive workflow gallery to find and execute commands. Create and edit your own workflows for a variety of tasks, including running frequently used commands, automating a series of commands, or just tracking down a complex command that might be difficult to recall. AI-powered assistant: Get help writing Linux, Mac, or Windows terminal commands using plain English, such as “extract the name property inside the article element from a json file” or “list the most CPU consuming Kubernetes pods”. Eye candy: La Terminal sports a fully themeable experience accented with beautifully captivating live-effect backgrounds powered by Metal Performance Shaders. Secure Enclave: Your private keys are stored in the secure enclave so your private key can never be found in plain text. Powerful status visualizations: La Terminal’s resource monitoring tools put powerful CPU and memory use visualizations, as well as a native process explorer, right at your fingertips. Resource monitoring visualizations are accessible from the top of any connected terminal, and process explorer tools provide multiple views into CPU, memory, and disk utilization. Thumbnail snapshots show previews of connected hosts along with system load over time in the active Terminals view. Network monitoring plots data traffic on a world map to help you understand the sources and targets of connections to and from your connected hosts. iCloud for everyone: La Terminal makes it easy to switch between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac by syncing your settings and keys over iCloud - like magic! Host platform aware: Whether you’re managing a dozen Linux VMs on AWS or Azure, logging into zsh on your Mac desktop, or configuring your latest IoT Raspberry Pi project via bash, La Terminal provides the most productive experience possible on a mobile device. La Terminal is even Windows-aware to ensure PowerShell power users can enjoy a delightful ssh experience, too. International support: La Terminal delivers extensive support for international terminals, including rendering internationalized output as well as support for internationalized input methods from native iOS dictation and international keyboards. La Terminal Pro features - Complete SFTP File Manager - Upload, download and navigate remote filesystems with our native SFTP client. - Files can be uploaded or downloaded to the local device via the iOS Files app, or copied between remote hosts. - Files app support - Access files on any configured La Terminal host using Apple’s Files app and other File Provider-enabled apps. - SSH Agent Forwarding - Use locally configured keys to authorize connections when SSHing between remote hosts. - All Live Backgrounds - Choose from our full library of GPU-accelerated Live Backgrounds to customize your terminal experience. Terms of Service: https://la-terminal.net/la-terminal/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://la-terminal.net/privacy-policy

Screenshots

SSH Client4 screens
La Terminal4 screens

Verdict

The call

SSH Client and La Terminal both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 94% of SSH Client's written reviews are positive against 66% of La Terminal's. SSH Client also leads on ratings volume (1.6K vs 104) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. SSH Client sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and La Terminal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for SSH Client against 4.7 for La Terminal. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SSH Client has 1.6K ratings behind it against 104, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of SSH Client's written reviews are positive against 66% of La Terminal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SSH Client ships an update weekly, La Terminal every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
SSH Client versus La Terminal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSSH ClientLa Terminal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1.6K ratings) — better4.7 (104 ratings)
Positive reviews94.4% of reviews — better66.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1.6K — better104
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#18 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Vision Pro
Requires iOS17.4 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size132 MB85 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAnders BorumXibbon, Inc

Customer experience

SSH Client

All ratings1,545 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.2%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews628 reviews
Positive94.4%
Neutral1.8%
Negative3.8%

La Terminal

All ratings104 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral1.0%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive66.0%
Neutral14.0%
Negative20.0%

User reviews

SSH Client

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Turns iPad into productivity machine
  • 🚀 Seamless SSH experience
  • 👍 Excellent integration with Files app
  • 👍 Robust key management and syncing
  • 👍 Powerful terminal with great features

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
  • 🐛 Inconsistent behavior with some commands
  • 🔒 Concerns about data privacy and security

La Terminal

From 104 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Best SSH client on iOS/iPadOS
  • 👍 Great UI and design
  • 💡 Innovative features like session keep alive
  • ✨ Nerd font support for icons
  • ✅ SFTP server works well

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Laggy performance for some users
  • 🐛 File transfer corrupts uploads
  • 🐛 Connection silently dies after app switch
  • 🐛 Keyboard doesn't hide on sessions page
  • 🐛 Blurry fonts on Vision Pro

Bugs and requests

SSH Client

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes when running certain commands
  • Issues with file transfer progress reporting

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved documentation and tutorials
  • Support for additional authentication methods
  • Customizable keyboard shortcuts and layouts
  • Tabbed terminal interface

La Terminal

Reported bugs

23 issues
  • Stuck in "keys" dialog on first use (Vision Pro)
  • Nerd symbols do not display well
  • Session keep alive technology stopped working well
  • File transfer corrupts uploads
  • Connection silently dies after app switch, folders appear empty
Show 18 more
  • Korean language is de-composed
  • No character support for 2-character-wide characters
  • App crashes reproducible on iOS 18.1 when loading SSH key from file
  • Keyboard will not hide on sessions page, tab bar unreachable
  • Lot of lag when typing, making app unusable
  • Blurry fonts compared to other SSH apps
  • Unable to open more than two SSH sessions
  • Clicking on terminal pastes clipboard content
  • Cannot get anything to connect using Vision Pro initially (PolicyDenied)
  • VisionOS local network access issues
  • App sometimes crashes when scrolling to appearance section of a connection
  • Can’t change default port number
  • Text is clipped entirely on the four rounded corners
  • Cannot figure out how to highlight text and paste
  • Need to put login/password for every individual host
  • Need to use ed25519 SSH key
  • Sneaky processes uploaded to server without permission/explanation
  • Monitoring bug: typing doesn't input after dismissing charts

Requested features

34 requests
  • Add English option
  • Ability to change text size easily
  • Support for ed25519 SSH keys
  • Option to turn off rendering bright colors as bold fonts
  • Ban the soft keyboard from ever appearing again
Show 29 more
  • Open a second session with a host
  • Customization for monitoring (exclude/hide mount points)
  • Ability to highlight text and paste easily
  • One spot for passwords (accounts/group menu)
  • Support for 2-character-wide characters
  • Ability to change font
  • Disable mouse reporting option
  • Fix file transfer corruption
  • Improve session keep alive technology
  • Fix connection dying after app switch
  • Fix keyboard not hiding on sessions page
  • Fix blurry fonts
  • Support more than two windows
  • Fix pasting on click
  • Remove black bars on Vision Pro windows
  • Add margin to terminal windows
  • Fix text clipping at rounded corners
  • Fix laggy performance
  • Make scrolling work with Neovim
  • Fix VisionOS local network access issues
  • Allow changing default port number
  • Fix native session persistence
  • Fix tmux option to attach to existing session
  • Improve handling of network glitches
  • Fix Korean language de-composition
  • Fix tutorials not working
  • Fix settings buttons
  • Add dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard

In-app purchases

3 purchases

SSH Client

Subscriptions2
  • ShellFish Monthly subscription14 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • ShellFish Annual subscription$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • ShellFish Lifetime Pro Unlock$29.99
3 purchases

La Terminal

Subscriptions2
  • La Terminal Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • La Terminal Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • La Terminal Pro Lifetime$99.99

Questions

Is SSH Client free?
SSH Client is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is La Terminal free?
La Terminal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SSH Client or La Terminal?
SSH Client is rated higher. SSH Client averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while La Terminal averages 4.7 from 104 ratings.
Do SSH Client or La Terminal have ads?
Neither SSH Client nor La Terminal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SSH Client or La Terminal?
SSH Client ships an update weekly, and La Terminal every 3 weeks. Most recently, SSH Client was updated on October 22, 2026 and La Terminal on October 22, 2026.

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