# Orca IDE vs MuxPad

The clearest difference is price: Orca IDE at Free against MuxPad's $5.99. Orca IDE also leads on chart position (#14 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). MuxPad's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 83%). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Orca IDE is free to download; MuxPad costs $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Orca IDE ships an update every 3 days, MuxPad every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Orca IDE | MuxPad |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $5.99 |
| Rating | **[4.6 (41 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/orca-ide/id6766130217/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **41** | — |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | **Every 2 days** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Paid |
| Best chart rank | **#14** | — |
| Size | 42 MB | 67 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.1** | 17.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Lovecast LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1498017204) | [You Dohyuk](https://appshunter.io/developer/6775334160) |

## What reviewers say

### Orca IDE

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/orca-ide/id6766130217)

**Currently charting:** #14 Top Free · Developer Tools (US App Store)

This app mirrors your desktop terminal sessions, including AI agent interactions, directly to your iPhone. It provides full keyboard input and multi-terminal support for seamless remote coding management. All processing remains on your desktop, ensuring your data stays secure.

**Highlights:** Live desktop terminal mirror, AI agent session management, Full keyboard input, Multi-worktree, multi-terminal support, Phone-fit zoom and smart keyboard, Background command execution, End-to-end encrypted pairing

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


### MuxPad

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/muxpad/id6787457752)

This app provides a native tmux terminal experience for iPads, leveraging tmux control mode to map sessions, windows, and panes to an intuitive iPad UI. It offers full hardware keyboard control, a dual-pane SFTP file manager, and seamless session persistence across devices.

**Highlights:** Native tmux pane and window mapping, Full hardware keyboard control, Dual-pane SFTP file manager, Session persistence and cross-device reconnection, iCloud synchronization for hosts and sessions, Live Activity for session status

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Orca IDE free?

Orca IDE is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is MuxPad free?

MuxPad costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Orca IDE or MuxPad have ads?

Neither Orca IDE nor MuxPad shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Orca IDE or MuxPad?

Orca IDE ships an update every 3 days, and MuxPad every 2 days. Most recently, Orca IDE was updated on October 19, 2026 and MuxPad on October 11, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*