Comparison

a vs gitbay

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

Head to head
About

a

Run Unix commands locally on your iOS device with a powerful terminal emulator. Supports file transfer, editing, scripting with Python and Lua, and network utilities. Integrates with Shortcuts and supports multiple windows for multitasking.

Highlights
  • Local Unix terminal emulator
  • SSH client
  • File transfer (scp, curl)
  • Text editing (vim, ed)
  • Scripting (Python, Lua, JavaScript)
  • Network utilities (nslookup, ping)
  • Shortcuts integration
  • Multi-window support
Features
Read full description

a-Shell mini is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on you iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. Work with git repositories using lg2. Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with iOS underlying BSD Unix. a-Shell mini includes Python, Lua, JavaScript and webAssembly for programming and scripting. It also includes native ffmpeg and convert for fast image and video conversion. 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 mini 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 mini uses iPadOS 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. a-Shell mini is a minimalist terminal, designed to have a very small footprint (less than 250 MB). If you need more commands, please consider a-Shell, which has more Python packages, more JavaScript modules, Perl, make, a C and C++ compiler and TeX.

About

gitbay

Access and manage your git repositories on the go. Review code, track issues, and monitor builds from your mobile device. Securely connect to your own git forge instance without sharing passwords.

Highlights
  • Browse files, commit history, and branches
  • Review merge requests with diffs and threads
  • Manage issues with labels and milestones
  • Monitor CI builds and trigger jobs
  • View READMEs and wikis
  • Secure token-based authentication
Features
Read full description

gitbay is a CLI-first git forge. This is its iOS client: somewhere to read, review and respond when you are away from a keyboard. Sign in with a token you mint over SSH. There is no password, no browser flow, and no account with us — the app talks only to the instance you name, and the token stays in the device Keychain. BROWSE - Files, directory trees, and syntax-highlighted source - Commit history, a single commit with its patch, and blame - Branches, tags, and full-text search across a repository - READMEs and wikis, rendered as Markdown or Org REVIEW - Merge requests with the diff, file by file and hunk by hunk - Review threads anchored to diff lines, with replies and resolution - Approve, request changes, and merge with the strategies the server allows TRIAGE - Issues with labels, assignees, and milestones - Open, edit, comment, and close from the phone - Signature verdicts shown on every commit WATCH - A dashboard of what waits on your review, what is assigned to you, and what is still open - CI builds with their logs, and a trigger for any job the config names - Releases, organisations, teams, and profiles Every screen is backed by a command the server already exposes, so the app cannot drift from what the CLI and the web can do. Requires your own gitbay instance. gitbay is free software; the forge and this client are developed in the open at gitbay.org.

Screenshots

a4 screens
gitbay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: gitbay at free against a's paid. gitbay also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). a's advantage is ratings volume (123 vs 1) and chart position (#36 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

gitbay holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: a has 123 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

a ships an update monthly, gitbay every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
a versus gitbay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameteragitbay
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (123 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings123 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#36 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size383 MB17 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNicolas HolzschuchChristian Cleberg

Customer experience

a

All ratings122 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive78.0%
Neutral5.5%
Negative16.5%

gitbay

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

a

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Keyboard icons comically large
  • App deletes itself
  • Rotating iPhone/iPad scrambles display
  • Pasting text results in strange characters
  • App only uses half of the screen when editing files
Show 7 more
  • Command not found errors for all commands
  • App crashes on launch after update
  • Cannot get own absolute path
  • Cannot execute own programs
  • App messes up .txt file association
  • Trouble selecting characters to copy and paste
  • No module named requests in shortcuts

Requested features

8 requests
  • Option to use old keyboard buttons
  • Add openssl support
  • Add libx265 codec for ffmpeg
  • Support telnet command
  • Add possibility to compile from source
Show 3 more
  • Make Ubuntu default
  • Add expansion of keys (e.g., echo {a..z})
  • Adjustable font size

gitbay

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

a

No in-app purchases

None

gitbay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is gitbay free?
gitbay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, a or gitbay?
gitbay is rated higher. a averages 4.6 out of 5 from 123 ratings, while gitbay averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do a or gitbay have ads?
Neither a nor gitbay shows ads.
Which is updated more often, a or gitbay?
a ships an update monthly, and gitbay every 2 days. Most recently, a was updated on November 3, 2026 and gitbay on October 29, 2026.

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