Comparison

rootshell vs TouchQube Terminal

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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.

About

TouchQube Terminal

Features
Read full description

TouchQube Terminal turns your phone or tablet into a real, full-featured SSH client — built for developers, sysadmins, and anyone who manages servers on the go. Unlike apps that just show text output, TouchQube Terminal runs true VT100/xterm-compatible terminal emulation, so full-screen tools like vim, htop, top, and tmux render and respond exactly as they do on a desktop. KEY FEATURES Secure, Key-Based Login Connect using your own SSH private key (.pem or similar). Your private key is encrypted and securely stored using Apple's Keychain, ensuring it never leaves your device. Real Terminal, Not a Toy Full ANSI/VT100 emulation means your remote shell behaves exactly as expected — colors, cursor movement, redraws, and interactive programs all work properly. One-Tap Reconnect Save your connection once. Every time after, just open the app and tap Connect — no retyping host details or hunting for your key file. Built-In Command Toolbar A row of Esc, Tab, Ctrl, and arrow keys sits above your keyboard, so you're never stuck without the control keys mobile keyboards leave out. Smart Command History Pulls your real command history straight from the server, deduplicates it, and keeps your last 100 unique commands on hand. Star any command to pin it permanently to the top of the list, and tap any command to run it again instantly. WHO IT'S FOR Whether you're restarting a service on an EC2 instance, checking logs on a home server, managing IoT devices, or just need a terminal in your pocket, TouchQube Terminal is built to get you connected and working in seconds, not minutes. TouchQube Terminal is part of the TouchQube family of tools for builders who work across hardware, cloud, and mobile.

Screenshots

rootshell4 screens
TouchQube Terminal3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: rootshell at #79 against TouchQube Terminal's unranked. TouchQube Terminal's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). 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.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
rootshell versus TouchQube Terminal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterrootshellTouchQube Terminal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (53 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews91.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings53 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#79 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size376 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRootshell LLCTouchQube

In-app purchases

None

rootshell

No in-app purchases

None

TouchQube Terminal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is rootshell free?
rootshell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TouchQube Terminal free?
TouchQube Terminal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do rootshell or TouchQube Terminal have ads?
Neither rootshell nor TouchQube Terminal shows ads.

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