Comparison

Shellton vs Shellby

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

Head to head
About

Shellton

Features
Read full description

Shellton is a native ACP cockpit and persistent SSH/Mosh terminal for developers who want to run coding agents from iPhone without moving their work into a proprietary cloud relay. RUN CLAUDE AND CODEX ON YOUR HOSTS. Connect to a saved SSH or Mosh host, choose Claude or Codex, and start or resume an agent session in the directory where your code already lives. Shellton launches the official Agent Client Protocol adapter on demand and carries the session over your existing encrypted connection—no Shellton account, relay server, or host daemon. AN AGENT INTERFACE BUILT FOR MOBILE. Follow live transcripts, reasoning, tool activity, and plans without squeezing a desktop terminal onto your phone. Approve or deny tool requests, send the next instruction by keyboard or voice, switch between conversations, and hand control back to tmux when you return to a computer. EVERY DROPPED SESSION IS A BUG. Shellton tries Mosh first on every connection. Mosh survives Wi-Fi handoffs, dead zones, and locked-screen suspends. If the server does not have mosh-server installed, Shellton transparently falls back to SSH. VOICE INPUT, ON-DEVICE. Tap the mic and dictate agent prompts or terminal commands. Supported speech engines run on your device; your audio is never sent to Shellton. KEYBOARD THAT WORKS FOR DEVELOPERS. Use a configurable accessory bar with modifier keys, arrows, and custom escape sequences. Build bars in the app or author them in YAML and import them from Files. Hyper, Meh, Kitty keyboard protocol, and tmux prefix shortcuts are supported. FULL-SCREEN TERMINAL. Use a true-color SwiftTerm terminal with Nerd Font glyphs, themes, snippets, per-host history, SSH key management, host-key verification, Live Activities, and tmux-aware navigation. YOUR DATA STAYS YOUR OWN. Shellton uses privacy-preserving product analytics for feature adoption and connection reliability. Analytics never include hostnames, addresses, usernames, commands, terminal text, credentials, voice audio, transcripts, or raw errors, and can be disabled in Settings. There is no advertising or cross-app tracking. SSH keys live in the iOS Keychain, app data remains local, and accessory-bar configuration can sync through your private iCloud container. KEY FEATURES • Native ACP conversations with Claude and Codex • Live transcripts, plans, tool activity, and permission approvals • Direct operation over your SSH or Mosh hosts; no proprietary relay • Auto Mosh-to-SSH fallback per host • On-device voice input • Customizable accessory bar with YAML import/export • Live Activities for active sessions • Ed25519 and ECDSA SSH key generation and import • Optional Face ID protection for stored credentials • Trust-On-First-Use host-key verification • Anonymous, opt-out product analytics; no tracking or ads CONVERSATION REQUIREMENTS • A saved SSH-accessible host with Node.js 22 or later and npm • Authentication with the selected agent provider when prompted • Shellton resolves the official ACP adapter through npx on demand; users do not install a separate Shellton daemon or generic ACP service TERMINAL REQUIREMENTS • iOS 17.0 or later • An SSH server you can connect to • mosh-server on the remote host for persistent Mosh sessions (optional) SHELLTON PRO An optional auto-renewable subscription unlocks voice input, agent conversations, custom accessory bars, and session-continuity tools. Payment is charged to your Apple ID; the subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://datons.github.io/shellton-site/privacy/

About

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.

Highlights
  • AI-powered command generation
  • Mosh-compatible sessions
  • SFTP file transfer
  • Port forwarding and tunnels
  • Server monitoring (CPU, memory)
  • On-screen key bar
Features
Read full description

Shellby is a modern, native SSH client for iPhone, iPad, and Mac — 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 — the agent plans and runs it step by step • Every command passes an approval gate; destructive ones need explicit confirmation — nothing runs behind your back • Customizable allow/deny lists; approve & allowlist in one tap • Standard chat-completion APIs, so you pick the service — DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, or a local Ollama model • Off by default; bring your own key and endpoint — no AI service is built in EXTERNAL AGENTS — MCP (macOS) • Let claude-code, codex, and other MCP clients use hosts you already configured — 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 — no background daemon MOSH-COMPATIBLE CONNECTIONS • Switch Wi-Fi to cellular, roam, ride through a tunnel — 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 — 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 — 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) — not for bypassing network restrictions SERVER MONITOR • Live CPU, memory, swap, disk, load, and top processes SYNC — 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 — 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, 简体中文, 繁體中文. Privacy Policy: https://shellby.app.mahui.me/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Shellton4 screens
Shellby4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shellton at none against Shellby's 3. Shellby's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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. Shellby sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Shellton asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shellton ships an update every 2 weeks, Shellby every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 6 level
Shellton versus Shellby: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelltonShellby
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB15 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJesus Lopez荟 马

In-app purchases

None

Shellton

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Shellby

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Shellton free?
Shellton is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shellby free?
Shellby is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Shellton or Shellby have ads?
Neither Shellton nor Shellby shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shellton or Shellby?
Shellton ships an update every 2 weeks, and Shellby every 11 days. Most recently, Shellton was updated on September 22, 2026 and Shellby on October 2, 2026.

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