Comparison

TermOnMac vs DR

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

Head to head
About

TermOnMac

Features
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TermOnMac puts your Mac terminal on your iPhone and iPad β€” through a built-in relay server, zero setup, end-to-end encrypted. FREE TO GET STARTED The free plan lets you connect up to 4 Macs with 4 sessions β€” perfect for checking builds, running quick commands, and trying out the full experience. VIBE CODING FROM ANYWHERE β€” JUST $0.99/MO Run Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor sessions for hours from your iPhone or iPad. Pro at $0.99/month gives you the headroom for real AI coding workflows. Heavy users: Premium at $2.99/month is still cheaper than a coffee. SIMPLE, TRANSPARENT PRICING Usage is measured by relay traffic β€” data sent through the relay including commands, output, heartbeats, and system requests. No hidden fees. You only pay for what you use. RELAY SERVER β€” WORKS BEHIND ANY FIREWALL No SSH keys. No Tailscale. No port forwarding. No public IP needed. Install the Mac agent, scan a QR code on your iPhone or iPad, and you're connected β€” even behind corporate firewalls, NATs, or VPNs. BUILT FOR AI CODING AGENTS TermOnMac is a relay terminal β€” bring your own AI. Run Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, or any terminal-based tool on your Mac, then control it remotely from your iPhone or iPad. No vendor lock-in, no extra cost β€” just your tools, from anywhere. NEVER LOSE YOUR SESSION Network switches, device sleep, subway tunnels β€” your session stays alive. Auto-reconnect picks up right where you left off. Input is buffered while disconnected. SESSION HANDOFF β€” IPHONE ↔ IPAD ↔ MAC Start a terminal session on your iPhone, continue on your iPad, and pick it up on your Mac β€” or any direction. Same session, zero interruption. Like Apple Handoff, but for your terminal. TOUCH KEYBOARD β€” BUILT FOR TERMINAL A custom toolbar above the on-screen keyboard gives you Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, and modifier toggles β€” the keys iOS doesn't have. Search your shortcuts by name and trigger them with a tap. HARDWARE KEYBOARD β€” FULL CONTROL Connect a Magic Keyboard or any Bluetooth keyboard to your iPad. 12 dedicated shortcuts (⌘βŒ₯ prefix): toggle sidebar, switch sessions, run builds, and more. Full terminal control without touching the screen. CUSTOM SHORTCUTS Create reusable commands as one-tap shortcuts. Build your own mobile developer toolbar. Export as JSON for backup or sharing with teammates. END-TO-END ENCRYPTED Curve25519 key exchange, AES-256-GCM encryption, ephemeral keys for forward secrecy. The relay only forwards ciphertext β€” it cannot read your terminal content. PLANS β€’ Free β€” 4 Macs, generous daily usage β€’ Pro ($0.99/mo) β€” 32 Macs, higher usage limits β€’ Premium ($2.99/mo) β€” 32 Macs, maximum usage limits Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled 24 hours before the current period ends. REQUIREMENTS β€’ iOS/iPadOS 17.0 or later β€’ TermOnMac Agent on Mac (macOS 13+) LEARN MORE β€’ Documentation: https://termonmac.com/docs β€’ How It Works: https://termonmac.com/how-it-works β€’ Engineering Blog: https://termonmac.com/blog Privacy: https://termonmac.com/privacy Terms: https://termonmac.com/terms

About

DR

Features
Read full description

DR-Terminal turns your iPhone and iPad into a full terminal for every host: SSH, Telnet, SFTP and SCP, a dual-pane file manager, SSH key tools and hardware security keys β€” servers, routers, switches, embedded boards and Raspberry Pi in a single app. The same app runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. KEY FEATURES: Terminal β€’ Own terminal engine: true color, Unicode and full-screen TUI apps β€” htop, vim, tmux and mc render as they should β€’ DevOps Keyboard β€” split terminal keyboard with arrows, modifiers, shortcuts and snippet tiles, adjustable size and opacity β€’ Output highlighting β€” colorize logs and command output with custom rules β€’ Multiple concurrent sessions with keep-alive in the background β€’ Command history and autocomplete Connections β€’ SSH with password, key, keyboard-interactive and hardware security key authentication β€’ Post-quantum key exchange (sntrup761x25519, mlkem768x25519) β€’ Jump Host (ProxyJump) for multi-hop connections β€’ Quick Connect without saving credentials; connection groups β€’ Automatic server discovery on your local network (Bonjour/mDNS) β€’ Classic Telnet client for network gear and embedded systems Files β€” SFTP, SCP and the Commander β€’ SCP for hosts without SFTP: OpenWrt, Dropbear and BusyBox routers β€” Auto picks the transport per host, or pin SFTP or SCP per connection β€’ Dual-pane Commander: local and remote panels side by side; copy, move and delete between any two locations with one tap β€” server to server too β€’ Open ZIP, TAR and ISO archives in place, even on remote servers, without downloading β€’ Built-in viewer for text, Markdown, images and PDF; copy an image straight to the clipboard β€’ Bookmarks and a default directory per connection β€’ File sharing β€” send files from other apps straight to a server, over SFTP or SCP Snippets β€’ Parameterized command snippets with typed fields and a live command preview β€’ Built-in catalog of 120+ DevOps commands: packages, services, Docker, network, storage and ZFS β€’ System-aware variants β€” the detected host OS picks the right tool (apt, dnf, pacman, zypper, brew, pkg, apk) Host Insight β€’ Detected OS, CPU and hardware plus live load, memory, swap and disk gauges in the session sidebar Keys and Security β€’ SSH key generation (Ed25519, ECDSA, RSA) β€” also directly on a YubiKey over NFC or USB-C β€’ SSH key converter β€” OpenSSH, PEM, PuTTY PPK, PKCS#1/PKCS#8, DER β€’ FIDO2/YubiKey security keys (Ed25519-SK, ECDSA-SK) over NFC and USB-C β€’ One-tap migration from password to key-based authentication β€’ Host key verification with fingerprint display and trusted hosts management β€’ Encrypted credential storage (iOS Keychain) β€” no credentials in plaintext β€’ Encrypted configuration backup and restore Customization β€’ Dark, Light, and System theme; 435 terminal color themes; per-connection theme and font size β€’ Built-in documentation in 33 languages PRO (In-App Purchase): β€’ Removes the ads and the welcome screen at launch β€” every feature above is free, with no connection limits Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

TermOnMac4 screens
DR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: DR at every 4 days against TermOnMac's every 2 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. TermOnMac sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and DR sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TermOnMac ships an update every 2 weeks, DR every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
TermOnMac versus DR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTermOnMacDR
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad β€” better
Requires iOS17.016.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size5 MB101 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChun-Pai YangDR-Online Sp. z o.o.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

TermOnMac

Subscriptions4
  • Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$8.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium Yearly$29.991 Year
6 purchases

DR

Subscriptions5
  • DR Terminal PRO β€” 1 Week$1.997 Days
  • DR Terminal PRO β€” 1 Month$2.991 Month
  • DR Terminal PRO β€” 3 Months$4.993 Months
Show 2 more
  • DR Terminal PRO β€” 6 Months$7.996 Months
  • DR Terminal PRO β€” 1 Year$12.991 Year
One-time1
  • DR Terminal PRO β€” Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is TermOnMac free?
TermOnMac is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DR free?
DR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TermOnMac or DR have ads?
Neither TermOnMac nor DR shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TermOnMac or DR?
TermOnMac ships an update every 2 weeks, and DR every 4 days. Most recently, TermOnMac was updated on November 9, 2026 and DR on October 31, 2026.

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