Comparison

Nodeterm vs Drover

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

Head to head
About

Nodeterm

Access your servers and persistent terminal sessions from your mobile device. Seamlessly connect via SSH or QR code pairing, and pick up your work exactly where you left off across different devices. Offers advanced features for Pro users, including voice dictation and file uploads.

Highlights
  • SSH and tmux support
  • QR code server pairing
  • Persistent session management
  • Hardware keyboard support
  • Voice dictation (Pro)
  • File and photo upload (Pro)
Features
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nodeterm puts your terminals in your pocket. Connect to any server over SSH, or pair your Mac in seconds with a QR code and reach it from anywhere. Your tmux sessions stay exactly where you left them โ€” attach, detach, and pick up long-running work across devices. Built as the mobile companion to nodeterm on the desktop, it keeps you close to your workflow when you step away from your machine. FEATURES โ€ข SSH & tmux โ€” attach to persistent sessions; nothing is lost when you disconnect โ€ข Pair your desktop with a QR code โ€” no port forwarding, no VPN โ€ข Live agent status โ€” see when Claude, Codex or Gemini are working or need you โ€ข A real terminal โ€” hardware-keyboard support, gestures, and a fast native renderer โ€ข Projects & sessions โ€” jump straight back into what you were doing โ€ข Voice dictation โ€” speak prompts into your terminal (Pro) โ€ข File & photo upload โ€” send files straight to your server (Pro) โ€ข Custom themes โ€” make it yours (Pro) FREE & PRO Start free with 5 connections a month โ€” reconnecting to the same server on the same day is always free. Go Pro for unlimited connections, remote relay access from anywhere, voice dictation, file upload and custom themes. SUBSCRIPTIONS nodeterm Pro is available as an auto-renewable subscription: โ€ข Pro Monthly โ€” $9.99 per month โ€ข Pro Yearly โ€” $79.99 per year A one-time Pro Lifetime purchase is also available. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Privacy Policy: https://nodeterm.dev/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Your terminal, everywhere.

About

Drover

Supervise AI coding agents running on your computer directly from your phone. View sessions as a chat, interact with prompts via buttons, and receive notifications when agents need your input. Connects directly via SSH with no intermediary servers.

Highlights
  • Supervise AI coding agents
  • View sessions as chat
  • Interact with prompts via buttons
  • Receive agent status notifications
  • Direct SSH connection
  • Voice dictation
  • Attach photos to agents
Features
Read full description

Drover is a mobile client for the AI coding agents you run under Herdr on your own computer. It turns them into something you can supervise from your phone. It is not a mobile terminal. Drover speaks the agent's language: it renders a running session as a readable chat, turns permission prompts into buttons you can tap, and tells you the moment an agent is waiting on you. NO SERVER IN BETWEEN Drover connects straight from your device to your own machine over SSH. There is no service in the middle. Your transcripts, your commands and your code go to your machine and nowhere else โ€” the developer of this app cannot see them. WHAT YOU CAN DO โ€ข See every agent and its status at a glance โ€” waiting for you, working, done โ€ข Read the session as a chat, with Markdown, syntax-highlighted code and diffs โ€ข Answer an agent's permission prompt by tapping a button instead of typing into a raw terminal pane โ€ข Send follow-up instructions, cycle the agent's mode, or dictate by voice โ€ข Attach a photo from your camera or library for the agent to look at โ€ข Get a notification the moment an agent is blocked and needs you โ€ข Switch between several machines, or watch them all in one list TRY IT WITH NO SETUP Tap "Try the demo" on the first screen. It runs a scripted session entirely on your device, with no host and no connection, so you can see how Drover works before setting anything up. WHAT YOU NEED Drover is a client for a machine you already own. To use it for real you need a computer running Herdr (herdr.dev) with your coding agents in it, SSH access to that machine with key-based authentication, and Herdr 0.8.0 or newer. PRIVACY Speech recognition runs entirely on your device โ€” Drover will not fall back to a server. Notifications carry a fixed message and never any of your transcript. Your SSH key is stored in the iOS Keychain and never leaves your device. Drover is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Herdr project, Anthropic, OpenAI, or GitHub, and is not certified by any of them.

Screenshots

Nodeterm4 screens
Drover4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Drover at none against Nodeterm's 3. Drover also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Nodeterm's advantage is chart position (#98 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Nodeterm sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Drover asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences ยท 5 level
Nodeterm versus Drover: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNodetermDrover
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
MonetizationFreemiumFree โ€” better
Best chart rank#98 โ€” betterโ€”
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.015.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size35 MB37 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperEnes KircaKEISUKE NISHITANI

Customer experience

Nodeterm

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Drover

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Nodeterm

Subscriptions2
  • nodeterm Pro โ€” Monthly$9.991 Month
  • nodeterm Pro โ€” Yearly$79.991 Year
One-time1
  • nodeterm Pro โ€” Lifetime$299.00
None

Drover

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Nodeterm free?
Nodeterm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drover free?
Drover is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Nodeterm or Drover have ads?
Neither Nodeterm nor Drover shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nodeterm or Drover?
Nodeterm ships an update every 5 days, and Drover every 5 days. Most recently, Nodeterm was updated on October 31, 2026 and Drover on October 31, 2026.

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