Comparison

Surge 5 vs a

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

Head to head
About

Surge 5

This advanced network utility allows developers to intercept, process, and forward network traffic. It offers deep control over connections, including URL redirection, local file mapping, and HTTPS decryption. Ideal for debugging and network analysis.

Highlights
  • Network connection takeover
  • Modify network requests/responses
  • Forward traffic to other proxies
  • Intercept and save network data
  • Decrypt HTTPS traffic
  • Rule-based forwarding
  • Ad blocking by domain
Features
Read full description

Surge is an advanced network toolbox and proxy utility. It is designed for developers and therefore requires professional knowledge to use. These four capabilities form the core workflow of Surge: · Takeover: Take over the network connections sent by the device. Surge supports both proxy service and virtual NIC takeover, capturing HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, and UDP traffic from any app — even those ignoring proxy settings. All features work on the cellular network. · Processing: Modify the requests and responses that have been taken over: URL rewrite, header and body rewrite, local file mapping, custom DNS answers, and JavaScript-based modification. · Forwarding: Forward requests to proxy servers, either globally or driven by a flexible rule system. Policy groups select the best server automatically by latency, availability, or learned connection quality. · Intercept: Record and inspect requests and responses, including headers and bodies, and decrypt HTTPS traffic with MITM. Highlighted Features · Proxy protocols: HTTP/HTTPS, SOCKS5, SOCKS5-TLS, HTTP2 CONNECT, TrustTunnel, Shadowsocks, Snell, Trojan, Hysteria 2, AnyTLS, and SSH, with UDP relay support. · Used as a WireGuard or Tailscale client, converting the L3 VPN into a proxy policy. · Rules based on domain match/suffix/keyword/wildcard, CIDR IP range, GeoIP, ASN, protocol, port, and logical combinations; reusable rule sets hosted locally or remotely. · Policy groups: manual selection, automatic latency testing, fallback, load balancing, and the self-learning Smart group. · Complete DNS suite: DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-HTTP/3, DNS-over-QUIC, DNS-over-TLS, and concurrent queries for the fastest answer. · Local DNS mapping (equivalent to /etc/hosts) with wildcards, aliases, and per-domain DNS servers. Switch your app between production and development environments without changing any code. · Decrypt HTTPS traffic with Man-in-the-Middle and a built-in CA certificate generator. · Record and display HTTP requests and responses with JSON, text, image, and video viewers for the captured body; album mode for the request list; pre-filter for capturing. · Raw L3 packet capture. · Scripting: extend Surge with JavaScript — modify requests and responses, write custom rules, customize DNS answers, and run scheduled tasks. · Block unwanted requests by rules with high-performance pre-matching. · Measure traffic usage and network speed on Wi-Fi, cellular, and proxy connections. · Remote Dashboard: observe and debug traffic in real time from a Mac via Wi-Fi or USB, including cellular traffic. · Surge Ponte: access your home or office network remotely via your own devices, with no third-party service involved. · HTTPS proxy protocol supports client-side TLS certificate validation. · Safari extension to add rules; widgets and Information Panel for quick control. · Sync profiles across devices with iCloud Drive or Dropbox. · Full IPv6 support, TLS 1.3, HTTP/2, and QUIC. · High performance and industrial-grade stability, suitable for intensive use. Surge does not provide any proxy or VPN service; you need to configure your own servers. You may read the online manual for more information: https://nssurge.com/support Terms and Conditions: https://nssurge.com/legal/terms Privacy Policy: https://nssurge.com/legal/privacy

About

a

Run a full Unix-like terminal environment on your iOS device. Execute a wide range of commands, edit files, and even program using included interpreters and compilers. Supports multitasking and integration with Shortcuts.

Highlights
  • Local Unix terminal emulator
  • SSH client
  • File transfer (scp, curl)
  • Text editing (vim, ed)
  • Scripting languages (Python, Lua, Perl, JS)
  • C/C++ compiler
  • TeX distribution
Features
Read full description

a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on your iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. You can work with git repositories using lg2.  Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with the BSD Unix that powers iOS/iPadOS. a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, C++ for programming and TeX (texlive 2025, with Tikz and LuaTeX) for text processing. There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands. a-Shell can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps... a-shell uses iOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python. Compile your C or C++ programs to webAssembly using clang or clang++, and execute the resulting binary. A complete webAssembly SDK is included (WASI-libc). a-Shell is the complete version. If you need a smaller app, and you don't need a C compiler, a TeX engine, or numpy and matplotlib, there is a-Shell mini.

Screenshots

Surge 54 screens
a4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: a at 4.6 against Surge 5's 4.1. a also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (79% vs 51%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Surge 5 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. a asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

a holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 994 and 553 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 51% of Surge 5's written reviews are positive against 79% of a's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Surge 5 ships an update every 5 weeks, a monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Surge 5 versus a: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSurge 5a
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (994 ratings)4.6 (553 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.5% of reviews78.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings994 — better553
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#7 — better#18
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TViPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size81 MB1.9 GB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperSurge Networks Inc.Nicolas Holzschuch

Customer experience

Surge 5

All ratings994 ratings
Positive77.1%
Neutral2.4%
Negative20.5%
Written reviews447 reviews
Positive51.5%
Neutral4.3%
Negative44.3%

a

All ratings553 ratings
Positive88.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews294 reviews
Positive78.6%
Neutral10.2%
Negative11.2%

Bugs and requests

Surge 5

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

a

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Toolbar buttons not accessible in portrait mode on some devices
  • Pasting from clipboard can insert unexpected characters
  • Sourcing certain script files causes crashes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for package managers like Homebrew or APT
  • Implement more advanced shell features like job control and better tab completion
  • Integrate Git for version control
  • Allow installing additional packages and libraries
  • Improve clipboard and file management integration

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Surge 5

Subscriptions1
  • Feature Subscription$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Surge Pro$49.99
None

a

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Surge 5 free?
Surge 5 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Surge 5 or a?
a is rated higher. Surge 5 averages 4.1 out of 5 from 994 ratings, while a averages 4.6 from 553 ratings.
Do Surge 5 or a have ads?
Neither Surge 5 nor a shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Surge 5 or a?
Surge 5 ships an update every 5 weeks, and a monthly. Most recently, Surge 5 was updated on September 30, 2026 and a on October 2, 2026.
Which is more popular, Surge 5 or a?
Surge 5 currently peaks at #7 in the App Store charts, and a at #18. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons