Prompt 3 vs Terminalko
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Prompt 3
A fully-native terminal emulator for Apple devices, offering robust connectivity for SSH, Mosh, and more. It features fast emulation, customizable clips, secure authentication, and cross-device syncing for a seamless experience.
- Native terminal emulator
- SSH, Mosh, Eternal Terminal, Telnet support
- Panic Sync for cross-device server syncing
- Superfast emulation with GPU acceleration
- Customizable clips for commands
- FaceID/TouchID authentication
- Jump Hosts and Agent Forwarding
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Prompt 3 is our #1 fully-native terminal emulator for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and now, Apple Vision Pro! Yes, with one purchase, you get four platforms. Supporting SSH, Mosh, Eternal Terminal, Telnet, and Local Shells (on Mac), you can stay connected even on the most unstable networks. And with Panic Sync, your servers sync everywhere. For terminals, this is the only app you need. NOW EVEN BETTER: • SSH, Telnet, and Local (for Mac) Rock-solid and reliable connectivity to your hosts. • Mosh and Eternal Terminal Keep your terminal open even when you get disconnected. Mosh is optimized for high-latency, low-throughput networks. Eternal Terminal is great for when you need to keep your full terminal history on a flaky connection. • Lower Price Everything is so expensive right now. So we made Prompt cheaper. Take that, capitalism. • Superfast Emulation We retooled the text engine in Prompt 3 to be up to 10x faster, including GPU acceleration, and with improved terminal emulation, you can run nvim inside tmux without breaking a sweat. • Clips Put your most-used commands and text bits into clips and access them with a single tap via Prompt’s keyboard bar. Clips can be stored globally or per-server. • Secure Enclave Authenticate with FaceID and TouchID. The keys will stay secure on your device. • Panic Sync Sync your favorite servers, passwords, private keys, and clips, between Prompt on all of your devices. • Customizable Make Prompt perfect with new themes, fonts, and a very configurable iOS keyboard. • Jump Hosts and Agent Forwarding Access corporate servers, even at the beach. • Mouse Support Use your mouse to interact with TUI-based apps that run through the terminal. AND YES, A DARK ICON. What more can we say? TAKE CONTROL FROM ANYWHERE, INCLUDING YOUR MAC AND APPLE VISION PRO. WE HOPE YOU ENJOY PROMPT 3. © Panic EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Terminalko
Connect to remote servers like VPS, Raspberry Pi, or Linux boxes directly from your iPhone or iPad. This app provides a real terminal experience with advanced features for managing connections and executing commands securely.
- Connect to VPS, Raspberry Pi, Linux
- xterm-256color PTY with ANSI colors
- Password or key authentication
- Jump hosts support
- Command snippets
- Auto-reconnect for dropped sessions
- Multiple parallel sessions
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Terminalko is a fast, focused SSH terminal for iPhone and iPad. Connect to your VPS, Raspberry Pi or any Linux box, run a real shell, get work done without a laptop. Add a server and you are at a prompt in a minute. [ A real terminal ] A true xterm-256color PTY with ANSI colors, scrollback and a keyboard aware layout. htop, vim and tmux behave exactly like they should. [ SSH, Mosh and Telnet ] SSH with password or key auth, jump hosts through a bastion in one hop. Mosh survives Wi-Fi to cellular switches, IP changes and long sleeps. Your prompt is still there hours later. Telnet for legacy gear: switches, routers, the odd BBS. [ Edit files over SFTP ] Open the config, fix the wrong line, save it back in place. Sizes, permissions and dates on every row. Upload, download, rename, delete, new folder. [ SSH keys, Secure Enclave included ] Generate an Ed25519 key on device and copy its authorized_keys line, ready to deploy. Paste an existing OpenSSH key. Or make one in the Secure Enclave, where the private half cannot leave the chip. A different key per server. Secrets live in the iOS Keychain. [ Dropped connections reconnect ] Connection Keeper retries a dropped session with a visible overlay and a cancel button. Lock the phone, tmux keeps working server side, the session re-attaches when you return. [ Themes and fonts ] Fifteen built in themes, plus an editor for your own: all 16 ANSI slots, text, background, cursor and selection, live preview. Twenty monospace faces bundled, nothing to download. [ Maximum Privacy and Security ] No tracking, no ads, no spying. Face ID, Touch ID, Optic ID or your passcode, with a grace period you choose, and masks it in the app switcher. No analytics, no ads, no accounts, no telemetry. The app talks to your servers and to nothing else. [ Our mission ] Make the best terminal and SFTP app there is. Every version came from someone saying what was missing. If something is missing for you, say so. [ Requirements ] iOS or iPadOS 17 or later. Built for developers, sysadmins and homelab tinkerers. Check a server from the couch, SSH into a Pi from bed, restart a service from the train. Terms of Use: https://terminalko.com/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Terminalko at 100% against Prompt 3's 22%. Terminalko also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 6 weeks). Prompt 3's advantage is price (Free vs $4.99) and ratings volume (376 vs 2). On 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
Prompt 3 is free to download; Terminalko costs $4.99 up front. Prompt 3 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year and Terminalko sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Terminalko holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Prompt 3 has 376 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 22% of Prompt 3's written reviews are positive against 100% of Terminalko's.
Prompt 3 ships an update every 6 weeks, Terminalko every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prompt 3 | Terminalko |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.3 (376 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 21.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 376 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #37 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Panic, Inc. | BEGRIP |
Customer experience
Prompt 3
Terminalko
Bugs and requests
Prompt 3
Reported bugs
5 issues- Server list randomly disappears with Panic Sync
- Crashes when connected to external monitor
- Black screen issues with custom font configurations
- Sync issues causing data loss
- Vertical display sync issues
Requested features
8 requests- Shortcuts support on macOS
- Ability to click and select within commands
- Local shell option
- Run clips on server connection
- Export/backup clips
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- Alt/Meta key support for Emacs
- iCloud sync option
- Sign in with Apple for Panic Sync
Terminalko
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Prompt 3
- Prompt 3 iOS + Mac (Annual)7 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Prompt 3 One Time$49.99
Terminalko
- Terminalko Monthly$2.991 Month
- Terminalko Pro$6.99









