Comparison

xTerminal vs Runestone Text Editor

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

Head to head
About

xTerminal

Manage servers remotely with a fast and secure SSH terminal client. Features include a powerful editor, multi-session management, file transfer, and advanced security options. Ideal for IT professionals and developers needing to control servers from anywhere.

Highlights
  • Interactive SSH terminal
  • Built-in vi/vim editor
  • Multi-session management
  • Command snippets
  • SFTP file management
  • Secure port knocking
  • Batch command execution
Features
Read full description

xTerminal - Your Ultimate SSH Terminal Shell xTerminal is your all-in-one SSH terminal client for managing servers with speed and security. Whether you're an IT professional or a developer, xTerminal gives you the tools to easily connect, control, and manage your servers from anywhere. Key Features: * Interactive SSH Terminal: A fast, reliable terminal for executing commands on your servers. Eg: Use top to monitor system status or follow logs with tail -f. * Powerful Editor: Edit documents with vi/vim just like on a desktop, with full support for CTRL and arrow keys, making your SSH terminal experience smooth. * Multi-Session Management: Manage multiple SSH connections at once. Add, remove, and switch between sessions with ease, boosting your productivity. * Snippets: Save and organize frequently used SSH commands. Quickly search by name, command, or label, making repeated tasks quicker and simpler. * Device Management: Add your SSH servers, group them by labels, and search by name, host, or labels. Connect via password or public key authentication. * Advanced SSH Options: Support for SSH jump hosts and SOCKS5 proxies for enhanced security and flexible connections. * SFTP for File Management: Upload, download, edit, move, and delete files using the built-in SFTP, allowing you to manage files on your servers directly from the terminal. * Keep Sessions Alive: Use “Keep Awake” and “Keep Alive” features to maintain persistent SSH connections without interruptions. * User-Friendly Interface: Simple navigation with pull-to-refresh, search highlights, sortable lists, and drag-and-drop to reorder devices or snippets. * Live Ping Monitoring: Check device connectivity in real-time with ping stats, including ms and TTL, helping you monitor the health of your network. * Discover Network Devices: Easily find and save neighboring network devices for quick access later. * Secure Port Knocking: Add an extra layer of protection by using port knocking to guard your servers from unauthorized access. * Enhanced Security: Use TouchID/FaceID to protect your SSH sessions, ensuring secure access to your terminal on app launch or resume. * iCloud Sync: Backup and restore your device and snippet lists across all iOS devices, ensuring seamless access to your settings anywhere. * Copy & Paste: Effortlessly run commands from the clipboard or copy terminal output, streamlining your workflow in the terminal. * Universal App: Optimized for both iPhone and iPad, giving you a consistent experience across devices. * Secure Data Storage: All credentials and data are stored securely on your device, so you can rest assured your information is safe. * Batch Execution: Execute commands on multiple servers at once and view all the outputs in one go. * Startup Snippets: Set up essential commands to run on app startup, giving you immediate access to critical tasks as soon as you connect. xTerminal is built for anyone needing a fast, reliable, and secure SSH terminal. It’s perfect for managing remote servers on various platforms, including macOS, Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, and OpenVMS. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. Terms of use https://septudio.com/terms-of-use and privacy policy https://septudio.com/privacy-policy

About

Runestone Text Editor

A powerful plain text and code editor for iPhone and iPad. Offers syntax highlighting, line numbers, find and replace, and extensive customization options for developers and writers.

Highlights
  • Syntax highlighting for many languages
  • Customizable themes and fonts
  • Advanced find and replace
  • Line numbers and cursor location
  • Code formatting with Prettier.js
  • Multiple windows on iPad
Features
Read full description

A plain text editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers, search and replace, page guide, and much more. It's like TextEdit but more powerful and optimised for iPhone and iPad. Runestone is made by a single person with a love for text editors and a vision of building the most lightweight text editor for iPhone and iPad that still has the core features for editing code. Features: - Syntax highlighting of many languages including HTML, JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, Swift, Python, PHP, YAML, and many more. - Select one of the twelve standard themes including popular themes like Tomorrow, Dracula, Solarized, and One Dark Pro. - Innovative find and replace for searching and modifying text while still viewing your file. - Choose font and font size, including support for custom fonts imported using another third-party app. - Show the line and column the cursor is located on. - Uses the standard document browser for an experience similar to the Files app. - Quickly navigate to a specific line. - Automatically close opening brackets and quotes. - Multiple windows on the iPad. - Format code using Prettier.js. Supported languages include CSS,HTML, JavaScript, JSON, PHP and more. - Choose text encoding between popular encodings like UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO Latin 1, and many more. - Enable or disable autocorrection, autocapitalization, and smart punctuation. - Set default file extension of new files. - Open files in Runestone from the Share Sheet. - Print documents. Premium features: - Choose between eight app icons. - Show line numbers. - Highlight the selected line. - Increase line height and letter spacing. - Disable line wrapping to allow horizontal scrolling. - Show tabs, spaces, and line breaks using a selected symbol. - Enable page guide at a specific column to easily tell when lines are getting too long. - Add vertical and horizontal overscroll. - Remember the selected language per file. - Save file extensions and filenames that should always be treated as plain text files. - Enable soft tabs and choose the width of the tab character. - Specify whether pressing the tab key should insert a tab or indent the line. - Adjust the scaling of Markdown headings and disable highlighting of code blocks in Markdown. Runestone was built on the open-source framework with the same name. Find more information on the Runestone framework at github.com/simonbs/runestone

Screenshots

xTerminal4 screens
Runestone Text Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Runestone Text Editor at none against xTerminal's shown. Runestone Text Editor also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. xTerminal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 — 4.7 for xTerminal against 4.7 for Runestone Text Editor. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.9K and 2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of xTerminal's written reviews are positive against 76% of Runestone Text Editor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

xTerminal ships an update every 3 weeks, Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
xTerminal versus Runestone Text Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterxTerminalRunestone Text Editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.9K ratings)4.7 (2K ratings)
Positive reviews68.6% of reviews76.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.9K2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#48#26 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer婉媚 邵Simon B. Støvring

Customer experience

xTerminal

All ratings1,919 ratings
Positive93.7%
Neutral1.4%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews172 reviews
Positive68.6%
Neutral2.3%
Negative29.1%

Runestone Text Editor

All ratings1,962 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews363 reviews
Positive76.0%
Neutral9.6%
Negative14.3%

User reviews

xTerminal

From 1.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast connections
  • 👍 Easy to navigate
  • 💡 Useful app
  • 👍 Great support team

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Security risks with storing credentials
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs
  • 🔒 Lack of secure credential entry

Runestone Text Editor

From 2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Excellent text editor
  • 🚀 Smooth and responsive
  • 🎨 Customizable themes and appearance
  • 🔒 Secure file storage and sync
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
  • 🔍 Difficulty navigating files/folders
  • 📝 Limited functionality without premium
  • 🔌 Performance issues on older devices
  • 🔒 Difficulty accessing files in cloud storage

Bugs and requests

xTerminal

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Blank screen on connection
  • Incompatibility with older devices
  • Nano text editor issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Import key functionality
  • Improved ANSI support

Runestone Text Editor

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Disappearing files
  • Difficulty pasting text
  • Scroll position not saved
  • Hangs on startup
  • Trouble opening large files
Show 1 more
  • Issues after iOS updates

Requested features

6 requests
  • Markdown preview
  • Code folding
  • Syntax highlighting for more languages
  • Ability to run/execute code
  • Multiple file/window support
Show 1 more
  • Improved undo/redo functionality

In-app purchases

3 purchases

xTerminal

Subscriptions2
  • xTerminal Pro Monthly$6.991 Month
  • xTerminal Pro7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • xTerminal Pro2 variants$59.99
1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99

Questions

Is xTerminal free?
xTerminal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, xTerminal or Runestone Text Editor?
xTerminal and Runestone Text Editor are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1.9K and 2K ratings respectively.
Do xTerminal or Runestone Text Editor have ads?
xTerminal shows ads; Runestone Text Editor does not.
Which is updated more often, xTerminal or Runestone Text Editor?
xTerminal ships an update every 3 weeks, and Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. Most recently, xTerminal was updated on October 15, 2026 and Runestone Text Editor on October 16, 2026.
Which is more popular, xTerminal or Runestone Text Editor?
xTerminal currently peaks at #48 in the App Store charts, and Runestone Text Editor at #26. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons