MuxAgent vs Shellby
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
MuxAgent
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Walk away from your desk. Your AI agent keeps coding. MuxAgent is a mobile command center for AI coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, Github Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, and Goose. Pair your phone with your dev machines, monitor agent activity, and approve or deny tool calls ā all through an end-to-end encrypted connection. THE PROBLEM AI coding agents are powerful, but they need you at your desk. They pause for approvals, wait for input, hit errors. Step away, and everything stops. THE SOLUTION muxagent keeps you connected. Get push notifications when your agent needs attention. Review what it wants to do. Approve or deny with a tap. Your agent keeps working while you grab coffee, commute, or sit in a meeting. CONTROL YOUR AGENTS REMOTELY Start new agent sessions or continue existing ones from your phone. Chat in real time with full Markdown rendering and syntax-highlighted code blocks. Your agent sees exactly what it would see at your terminal. APPROVE WITH CONFIDENCE When your agent wants to edit files or run shell commands, you see the full details first. Review code diffs with proper syntax highlighting. Examine execution plans before they run. Nothing happens without your explicit approval. MULTI-MACHINE MANAGEMENT Running agents on multiple dev machines? muxagent connects to all of them. Switch between machines in one tap. Each connection is independently encrypted. VOICE & IMAGE INPUT Dictate prompts with speech-to-text when typing is inconvenient. Attach screenshots or photos to give your agent visual context. SECURITY All communication is end-to-end encrypted. Your code and prompts are encrypted on your phone and decrypted only on your dev machine. The relay server cannot read your data. Built by developers, for developers. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Third-party names are used solely to identify compatibility. MuxAgent is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any third-party provider.
Shellby
A native SSH client for Apple devices that offers SFTP, tunnels, and server monitoring. It features an AI assistant to translate plain language tasks into commands and Mosh-compatible transport for resilient sessions.
- AI-powered command generation
- Mosh-compatible sessions
- SFTP file transfer
- Port forwarding and tunnels
- Server monitoring (CPU, memory)
- On-screen key bar
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Shellby is a modern, native SSH client for iPhone, iPad, and Mac ā one app, one experience across all your Apple devices. It does more than connect: a built-in AI agent turns plain-language ops tasks into commands you approve one by one, Mosh-compatible transport keeps sessions alive across network changes, and on Mac your AI coding tools reach your servers read-only, fully audited. Built for developers, sysadmins, and anyone who manages remote servers. No account, no tracking. AI ASSISTANT & AGENT (BRING YOUR OWN KEY) ⢠Describe an ops task in plain language ā the agent plans and runs it step by step ⢠Every command passes an approval gate; destructive ones need explicit confirmation ā nothing runs behind your back ⢠Customizable allow/deny lists; approve & allowlist in one tap ⢠Standard chat-completion APIs, so you pick the service ā DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, or a local Ollama model ⢠Off by default; bring your own key and endpoint ā no AI service is built in EXTERNAL AGENTS ā MCP (macOS) ⢠Let claude-code, codex, and other MCP clients use hosts you already configured ā no passwords, keys, or jump-host setup handed over ⢠Read-only: list hosts, run read-only commands, read files, fetch metrics; mutating commands are refused with a reason ⢠Loopback only, token-checked per request, token in the Keychain, every call audited ⢠Runs only while Shellby is open ā no background daemon MOSH-COMPATIBLE CONNECTIONS ⢠Switch Wi-Fi to cellular, roam, ride through a tunnel ā the session survives and resumes instantly ⢠Typing stays responsive even on slow, high-latency links ⢠Connection test detects a missing mosh-server and gives install steps for your distro TERMINAL ⢠Fast, standards-compliant terminal (xterm-256color) ⢠Password and SSH key authentication (Ed25519 / RSA / OpenSSH) ⢠On-screen key bar: Esc, Tab, Ctrl combos, arrows, symbols ⢠Full hardware-keyboard mapping on iPad and Mac ⢠Terminal themes and font size ⢠Scrollback buffer up to 50,000 lines SNIPPETS & COMMAND TOOLBAR ⢠Save commands you use daily; run, insert, or copy them from a toolbar above the terminal ⢠Shell syntax highlighting and line numbers; review before running DESKTOP-CLASS ON MAC & iPAD ⢠Three-column layout: hosts, sessions, and content each in place ⢠Multiple windows and session tabs, with live terminal previews ⢠Split view, and command broadcast ā type once, send to many sessions ⢠Native menu bar, shortcuts, and window toolbar on Mac FILES (SFTP) ⢠Browse, upload, download, rename, move, delete, create folders ⢠One transfer queue both ways ā progress, resume, choice of destination ⢠Drag & drop on Mac; notification when background transfers finish ⢠Integrates with the Files app PORT FORWARDING & TUNNELS ⢠Local (-L), remote (-R), and dynamic SOCKS5 (-D) forwarding ⢠Jump hosts / ProxyJump (-J) with multi-hop chains ⢠Standalone tunnels that stay up and auto-reconnect, with live bandwidth ⢠For reaching services inside your own server network (databases, internal dashboards) ā not for bypassing network restrictions SERVER MONITOR ⢠Live CPU, memory, swap, disk, load, and top processes SYNC ā YOUR DATA, YOUR STORAGE ⢠Optional iCloud sync of hosts, groups, and rules (CloudKit); passwords and keys only via the end-to-end-encrypted iCloud Keychain ⢠Or bring your own storage: hosts, keys, snippets, AI settings & chats via any WebDAV or S3-compatible service you control ⢠Pair a new device by scanning a QR code SECURITY & PRIVACY ⢠Credentials stored only in the device Keychain ā never in plaintext ⢠Host fingerprint verification (TOFU), with a strong warning if one ever changes ⢠Face ID / Touch ID app lock ⢠No account, no tracking, no data collection You bring your own SSH servers; Shellby connects only to machines you own or are authorized to access. Languages: English, ē®ä½äøę, ē¹é«äøę. Privacy Policy: https://shellby.app.mahui.me/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MuxAgent at none against Shellby's 3. MuxAgent also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 11 days) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Shellby sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. MuxAgent asks for nothing beyond the download.
MuxAgent ships an update every 2 days, Shellby every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MuxAgent | Shellby |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | ā | 100.0% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days ā better | Every 11 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No ā better | Yes |
| Monetization | ā | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac ā better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 ā better | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LaLanMo | č 马 |
In-app purchases
MuxAgent
No in-app purchases
Shellby
- Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
- Pro Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Pro Lifetime$29.99









