Comparison

gterm vs Shepherd

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

Head to head
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

About

Shepherd

This app provides a fast and secure SSH client for accessing servers directly from your mobile device. It offers features like saved connections, custom command shortcuts, and extensive theming options for a personalized experience.

Highlights
  • Fast SSH client
  • Save server connections
  • Custom command shortcuts
  • Extensive terminal themes
  • Face ID protected keys
  • Multiple simultaneous sessions
Features
Read full description

Mochi is the place to control your AI coding agents from your iPhone. The agents run in herdr on your server. Mochi shows what each one is doing and takes you to it when it needs you. CONTROL YOUR AGENTS WITH HERDR • Live Activity on the lock screen: which agents are working and which are waiting for you • A notification when an agent is blocked or done, even when Mochi is closed • Tap it to open that agent's pane and answer from the chat input • Swipe to switch herdr tabs A REAL TERMINAL UNDERNEATH Mochi is a fast, beautiful SSH client built on the Ghostty terminal engine — a real terminal emulator in your pocket, not a toy. SSH INTO ANY SERVER Save your connections and jump into any of them in a tap. Password and key auth, custom ports, works great over Tailscale. FIRE COMMANDS IN ONE TAP Build your own shortcut groups: tmux prefixes, Ctrl combos, slash commands, whole snippets with Enter. The keyboard toolbar puts esc, tab, ctrl and ⌘ right above the keys — no more fighting the mobile keyboard. MAKE IT YOURS 500+ built-in terminal themes with search and light/dark filters. Real monospace fonts (JetBrains Mono and more), adjustable size, pinch to zoom in session. LOCK KEYS BEHIND FACE ID Private keys live in the iOS Keychain. Flip one switch and every use of a key requires Face ID. BUILT FOR ENGINEERS • Ghostty-powered terminal emulation — fast, correct, modern • Multiple simultaneous sessions • Native iOS design that feels at home on iOS 26 • No accounts, no tracking — your servers are your business

Screenshots

gterm4 screens
Shepherd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Shepherd at Free against gterm's $1.99. Shepherd also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs monthly). gterm's advantage is chart position (#199 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases, device support 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

Shepherd is free to download; gterm costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

gterm ships an update monthly, Shepherd every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
gterm versus Shepherd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametergtermShepherd
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating—5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
Best chart rank#199 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShanghai Tangzixiang Information Technology Co., LtdEgor Kolesnikov

In-app purchases

None

gterm

No in-app purchases

None

Shepherd

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is gterm free?
gterm costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shepherd free?
Shepherd is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do gterm or Shepherd have ads?
Neither gterm nor Shepherd shows ads.
Which is updated more often, gterm or Shepherd?
gterm ships an update monthly, and Shepherd every 6 days. Most recently, gterm was updated on November 5, 2026 and Shepherd on November 7, 2026.

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