Comparison

Prompt 3 vs Helmrig Shell

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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/

About

Helmrig Shell

Features
Read full description

The terminal from your desk, now on iPhone and iPad. Helmrig Shell is a native terminal — btop, tmux, vim, true color, ligatures, full escape-sequence support, rendered natively. Not a web view, not a cut-down mobile shell. A real desktop terminal that feels like the one you already use. Your sessions run on your own Mac or server. The iPad or iPhone is just the window — so they never drop. Lock the screen, lose signal, switch to another app, come back hours later: every tab, every running process, your full scrollback, exactly where you left it. No reconnect dance, no lost output. Drop a file onto the terminal and it uploads to your machine, with the full path dropped straight into your command line. Hand a screenshot to a CLI tool, attach a file to a running command — it just works, as if the file were already there. Built on libghostty for the rendering you'd expect from a desktop terminal. Hardware keyboard shortcuts, split panes, tabs that name themselves after what's running. Designed for iPad first, not ported from somewhere else. Works anywhere over an end-to-end encrypted connection — at your desk, on the couch, or across the world. Not limited to your local network. Helmrig Shell requires a subscription to use. A free trial is available, after which continued access requires Helmrig Shell Pro at $8.99/month. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. WHAT IT IS A window into your own machine. Your shell, your tools, your environment — running where they always have, now reachable from your iPad. WHAT IT NEEDS A Mac or Linux machine you control, running the Helmrig server. Setup takes one command. PRIVACY No third-party SDKs. No analytics. No crash reporting. Helmrig Shell servers never see terminal output. Full policy at helmrig.app/shell-privacy.html CONTACT hi@helmrig.app Support Link: https://helmrig.app/support Privacy Policy: https://helmrig.app/shell-privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://helmrig.app/shell-terms.html

Screenshots

Prompt 34 screens
Helmrig Shell4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Helmrig Shell at none against Prompt 3's 2. Helmrig Shell also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). Prompt 3's advantage is chart position (#24 vs unranked) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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. Prompt 3 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Helmrig Shell asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Prompt 3 ships an update every 6 weeks, Helmrig Shell every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Prompt 3 versus Helmrig Shell: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrompt 3Helmrig Shell
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (372 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews21.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings372 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank#24 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPanic, Inc.Nikita Kislitsin

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
Show 3 more
  • Alt/Meta key support for Emacs
  • iCloud sync option
  • Sign in with Apple for Panic Sync

Helmrig Shell

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Prompt 3

Subscriptions1
  • Prompt 3 iOS + Mac (Annual)7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Prompt 3 One Time$49.99
None

Helmrig Shell

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Prompt 3 free?
Prompt 3 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Helmrig Shell free?
Helmrig Shell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Prompt 3 or Helmrig Shell have ads?
Neither Prompt 3 nor Helmrig Shell shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Prompt 3 or Helmrig Shell?
Prompt 3 ships an update every 6 weeks, and Helmrig Shell every 2 weeks. Most recently, Prompt 3 was updated on October 16, 2026 and Helmrig Shell on September 30, 2026.

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