Comparison

rootshell vs Filaire

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

Filaire

Features
Read full description

Filaire is a native SSH terminal and tmux client for iPad and iPhone. • TMUX, BUILT IN Attach to or create a tmux session when you connect. Switch windows, split and zoom panes from a pull-down control bar, swipe with three fingers to change windows, and use your own prefix key. • SECURE BY DEFAULT Lock hosts behind Face ID or Touch ID. Generate Ed25519 and RSA keys on-device and keep them in the iOS Keychain. Forward your SSH agent to remote servers and approve each signature with Face ID or Touch ID, so private keys never leave your device. • MADE FOR IPAD One window per host, with Split View, Slide Over and Stage Manager. Drag a host out to open it in its own window, and reconnect to recent hosts from Home Screen quick actions. • NETWORKING Jump hosts (ProxyJump), local and SOCKS5 port forwarding, and automatic reconnection when your network changes. • KEYBOARD, TOUCH & TRACKPAD Hardware keyboard shortcuts, a customizable on-screen key bar, mouse support, trackpad scrolling and pinch to zoom. • COMPANION CLI: FIL Install fil on your servers to copy to your device's clipboard, open links, preview files in Quick Look, send notifications and use your forwarded SSH agent. • THEMES Solarized Dark, Solarized Light, Dracula, Nord and Monokai. Filaire is open source.

Screenshots

rootshell4 screens
Filaire4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Filaire at every 5 days against rootshell's fortnightly. rootshell's advantage is chart position (#190 vs unranked). 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

rootshell ships an update fortnightly, Filaire every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
rootshell versus Filaire: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterrootshellFilaire
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (47 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings47 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#190 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size379 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRootshell LLCTeam OT

In-app purchases

None

rootshell

No in-app purchases

None

Filaire

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is rootshell free?
rootshell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Filaire free?
Filaire is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do rootshell or Filaire have ads?
Neither rootshell nor Filaire shows ads.
Which is updated more often, rootshell or Filaire?
rootshell ships an update fortnightly, and Filaire every 5 days. Most recently, rootshell was updated on October 21, 2026 and Filaire on October 13, 2026.

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