Comparison

Echo vs gterm

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

Head to head
About

Echo

This app provides a fast and modern terminal experience for iOS devices, enabling secure SSH and Mosh connections. It's designed for efficient interaction with servers, code deployment, and managing AI agents on the go.

Highlights
  • SSH + Mosh client
  • Fast terminal emulator
  • SSH certificate authentication
  • Face ID integration
  • Touch-optimized toolbar
  • Customizable themes
Features
Read full description

Echo is the SSH + Mosh client iOS deserves — beautiful, minimal, fast. Whether you're checking server logs, deploying code, or guiding AI agents on the go, Echo puts powerful terminal access in your pocket. POWER UNDER THE HOOD Echo is backed by Ghostty, the blazing-fast terminal emulator built for performance and correctness SECURITY FIRST SSH certificate authentication Face ID integration for seamless, secure connections Your keys stay in the Keychain Sync securely via iCloud DESIGNED FOR THUMBS We rebuilt terminal interaction for touch. A specially designed toolbar sits above your keyboard with quick keys and gesture-based arrow movement. It actually feels good to use. AI AGENTS, ANYWHERE Monitor builds. Approve changes. Remote AI coding agents work perfectly inside Echo. Echo's minimal, distraction-free UI is perfect for keeping your AI agents on track while you're on the move. FIND YOUR THEME Choose from over 400 themes, light and dark — match them to your system appearance and tint Echo's interface for a seamless look and feel. 400 themes not enough? Create your own, or import any Ghostty compatible theme config.

About

gterm

Features
Read full description

gterm is a real terminal for iOS. It renders with Ghostty's GPU engine for true xterm/VT emulation, connects straight to your servers over SSH, keeps your keys on device, and ships an AI command assistant that writes the commands for you. It's the same renderer and VT parser as the Ghostty desktop app. iOS can't fork/exec a local shell, so gterm drives the terminal straight from the SSH stream through a custom passthru IO backend added to libghostty — giving you a real terminal in a sandboxed iOS surface. GPU-RENDERED TERMINAL Real xterm/VT emulation via Ghostty's libghostty, drawn on Metal. Colors, ligatures, and reflow that feel native — not a web shim. SSH-NATIVE Connects with swift-nio-ssh — password and public-key auth, a PTY shell, live window resizing, and trust-on-first-use host-key verification. KEYS STAY ON DEVICE Import Ed25519 / ECDSA private keys into the iOS Keychain — device-only, never synced. Pick one or more keys to try per host. SHELL-GRADE KEYBOARD A custom accessory keyboard with the keys iOS forgets — Esc, Ctrl, Alt, Tab, arrows, and sticky modifiers for real TUI navigation. AI COMMAND ASSISTANT Describe what you want in plain English. The AI reads your recent commands and visible screen, proposes a command, and shows it to you for review before it runs. AI AUTO-COMPLETION As you type, suggestions surface above the keyboard — from your history and from your provider. Bring your own key; it's stored masked in the Keychain. Open source: https://github.com/madeye/gterm

Screenshots

Echo4 screens
gterm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Echo at every 2 days against gterm's every 3 weeks. gterm's advantage is price ($1.99 vs $2.99) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.2). On ads, in-app purchases, chart position 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

Echo costs $2.99 and gterm $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Echo ships an update every 2 days, gterm every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Echo versus gterm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEchogterm
Price$2.99$1.99 — better
Rating3.7 (37 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews57.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings37 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#25#19 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.217.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperReplay Software LimitedShanghai Tangzixiang Information Technology Co., Ltd

In-app purchases

None

Echo

No in-app purchases

None

gterm

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Echo free?
Echo costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is gterm free?
gterm costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Echo or gterm have ads?
Neither Echo nor gterm shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Echo or gterm?
Echo ships an update every 2 days, and gterm every 3 weeks. Most recently, Echo was updated on September 22, 2026 and gterm on September 14, 2026.
Which is more popular, Echo or gterm?
Echo currently peaks at #25 in the App Store charts, and gterm at #19. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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