rootshell vs SimpleSSM
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
rootshell
This app provides a powerful, desktop-class terminal emulator with GPU acceleration and native support for SSH, Mosh, and tssh. It offers features like system-wide VPN over SSH, native Git integration, and AI assistance for hands-free command execution and web searches.
- GPU-accelerated terminal
- Native SSH and Mosh support
- System-wide VPN over SSH
- Native Git client
- AI voice and text agents
- Cloud and Kubernetes integration
- Hardware security key support
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rootshell is a desktop-class terminal emulator built on libghostty — the GPU-accelerated engine behind the Ghostty desktop terminal. A local shell on every platform, Mac screen sharing, native SSH, mosh-compatible roaming, tssh, system-wide VPN, native git, and Metal rendering in a single app. NEW: SCREEN SHARING Reach your Mac's screen, not just its shell, from your iPhone or iPad. High Performance mode streams up to 4K at 60 FPS, fully encrypted. Match Client sizing spins up a virtual display sized exactly to your device: no panning, no letterboxing, with remote system audio. Standard VNC mode covers Linux and headless machines, and tunnels over SSH jump hosts. Nothing to install on the Mac — turn on Screen Sharing and connect. Touch, trackpad, hardware keyboard, and two-way clipboard all work, in tabs, splits, or full screen. METAL-ACCELERATED TERMINAL Built on libghostty's Zig core with direct Metal rendering. Smooth scrolling, zero-flicker synchronized output, and full mouse capture for tmux, vim, and zellij. Tabs, split panes, and persistent scrollback across app restarts. THREE REMOTE PROTOCOLS, ONE APP • SSH — Native Swift SSH client with Ed25519, ECDSA, RSA, and post-quantum ML-KEM + ML-DSA. Jump hosts, port and agent forwarding, and Keychain password storage. • Rootshell Roam — Mosh-compatible sessions survive network changes and app restarts. Multipath TCP bonds WiFi and cellular. Predictive local echo keeps typing responsive. STUN-based NAT traversal punches through firewalls. • tssh with QUIC (TLS 1.3) and KCP transport for lower latency, full native scrollback, and session resumption. NATIVE TMUX INTEGRATION Attach in control mode (tmux -CC) and tmux windows become native tabs, panes become real splits — copy, search, and scroll with native gestures. A dashboard shows live window previews, and tabs survive restarts over tssh. SSH VPN Turn any SSH or tssh session into a system-wide VPN. Route all device traffic through your remote server. No extra software on the server — if you can SSH to it, you can VPN through it. NATIVE GIT Clone, commit, diff, log, blame, rebase, cherry-pick, and worktree — in native Swift with SSH transport. Syntax-highlighted pager output and optional AI-generated commit messages. VOICE AI AGENT Talk to an always-on assistant over Gemini Live. It reads scrollback, runs SSH commands hands-free, searches the web, and asks permission before anything risky. OPTIONAL TEXT AI Chat with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or 400+ models via OpenRouter. Bring your own API key. HARDWARE SECURITY KEYS Private keys never leave hardware. FIDO2/WebAuthn authentication with touch-to-sign. SANDBOXED LOCAL SHELL A full local shell with vim 9.1, Helix, SFTP, SCP, curl, jq, mtr, and standard Unix utilities. The rf browser offers yazi-style miller columns with image previews and git indicators. croc peer-to-peer file transfer, flag-aware tab completion, and prompt themes. CLOUD & KUBERNETES Connect to AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, Akamai (Linode), and Tailscale. Browse instances, access serial consoles, generate EKS kubeconfigs, and debug Kubernetes nodes with ephemeral pods. 450+ THEMES & VISUAL EFFECTS Over 450 color themes with location-based day/night switching. Animated backgrounds — solar, ocean waves, starfields, fireflies — plus Shadertoy-compatible shaders and custom fonts. CUSTOMIZABLE TOOLBAR Drag, reorder, and hide 45+ built-in keys. Create custom keys that send text, key combos, or sequences. Sticky modifiers with tap and double-tap lock. Separate iPhone and iPad layouts. CONNECTION MANAGEMENT Save profiles with folders, tags, and iCloud sync. Quick Connect autocompletes from history and cloud instances. Background SSH tunnels with auto-start. Siri Shortcuts integration. KEYBOARD POWER FEATURES QMK-style mod-tap keys, dictation and CJK input, customizable shortcuts, and Option key as Alt for international layouts.
SimpleSSM
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SimpleSSM puts your AWS EC2 fleet in your pocket. Browse instances, watch metrics, run commands, and open a full terminal on any instance — all over AWS Systems Manager (SSM), with no VPN, no bastion hosts, no SSH keys, and no open inbound ports. Whether you're on call, away from your desk, or just prefer working from an iPad, SimpleSSM gives you real access to your infrastructure — not just a dashboard. A REAL TERMINAL Open a secure shell on any SSM-managed instance, right from your iPhone or iPad. Full terminal emulation with a keyboard toolbar built for shell work. On iPad, keep multiple connections open at once and switch between them from the sidebar. YOUR WHOLE FLEET AT A GLANCE - Browse instances across AWS accounts and regions with profiles - Filter by running, favorites, or recently connected - Instance details: state, health checks, IPs, tags, security groups - Start, stop, and reboot instances with confirmation guards - CloudWatch metrics — CPU, network, disk and more — in a swipeable carousel you can customize RUN COMMANDS WITHOUT CONNECTING Send shell commands to instances via SSM Run Command and read the output in the app. Save your go-to one-liners as snippets so fixing things twice never means typing them twice. BUILT FOR SECURITY - All traffic rides AWS Systems Manager sessions — your instances need no public IPs and no open ports - Supports IAM access keys and AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO) - Credentials are stored in the device Keychain, never on our servers - Lock the app behind Face ID / Touch ID - Sessions are logged in AWS like any other SSM session, so your audit trail stays intact FREE AND PRO The free version is fully functional with one profile, one connection at a time, and one snippet. SimpleSSM Pro Mobile removes every limit on iPhone and iPad. Or step up to SimpleSSM Pro — one upgrade that unlocks everything on iPhone, iPad, AND the SimpleSSM Mac app, including Mac-only features like SSM port-forwarding tunnels and terminal themes. REQUIREMENTS You'll need an AWS account with instances managed by AWS Systems Manager (the SSM agent is preinstalled on most Amazon-provided AMIs) and IAM permissions for Session Manager. Want to try it first? Enter "demo" for both credential fields to explore the app with sample instances — no AWS account needed. SimpleSSM is an independent application and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: rootshell at none against SimpleSSM's 4. rootshell also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. SimpleSSM sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. rootshell asks for nothing beyond the download.
rootshell ships an update fortnightly, SimpleSSM every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | rootshell | SimpleSSM |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (45 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 94.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 45 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 364 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rootshell LLC | Colemaco LLC |
In-app purchases
rootshell
No in-app purchases
SimpleSSM
- Pro Mobile Monthly$2.991 Month
- Pro Mobile Yearly$24.991 Year
- Yearly$39.991 Year
- Lifetime$149.99









