Comparison

PureTerm vs SSH Connect

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

Head to head
About

PureTerm

Features
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PureTerm is a real terminal for your iPhone and iPad: connect to your own servers over SSH or Telnet and work as if you were sitting at the console. FREE TRIAL: try the yearly plan free for 3 days. After the trial it renews at the yearly price unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. A REAL TERMINAL Full PTY with xterm-256color emulation. vim, htop, nano, colors, mouse modes and live window resizing behave the way they should โ€” this is not a fake command box. SSH DONE RIGHT - Log in with a password or an SSH key - Generate modern ed25519 keys directly on your device (Pro) - Import existing OpenSSH private keys โ€” ed25519 or RSA, passphrase supported (Pro) - Passwords and private keys are stored in the iOS Keychain, on this device only TELNET TOO Network gear, retro machines, BBS and MUD servers: plain Telnet is one tap away, with correct option negotiation and window-size support. YOUR CREDENTIALS STAY YOURS PureTerm has no account, no sign-up, no analytics and no servers of its own. The app connects only to the hosts you add yourself. Nothing about you or your servers is uploaded anywhere. SAVED HOSTS Keep each machine as a profile โ€” name, address, port, username, auth method โ€” and connect with a tap. FREE AND PRO Free: 1 saved host and sessions up to 60 seconds โ€” enough to check a service or fix a config line. PureTerm Pro unlocks unlimited hosts, unlimited session length and SSH key management, from $0.99/month (yearly and lifetime options available). WHO IT'S FOR - Developers and sysadmins who need a quick shell from anywhere - Homelab owners with a Raspberry Pi or NAS in the closet - Anyone who loves a proper terminal โ€” including the retro Telnet corners of the internet No ads, no tracking, no dark patterns. Just a clean, fast terminal in your pocket. Note: features listed under PRO require a separate purchase โ€” an auto-renewable subscription (monthly or yearly) or a one-time Lifetime unlock. โ€”โ€”โ€” Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://hdappstudio.com/pureterm/privacy/

About

SSH Connect

Features
Read full description

SSH Connect : Secure is a fully offline SSH client and credential vault for your phone. Connect to your servers, run real commands in a full terminal, and keep every key and password encrypted on-device โ€” no account, no cloud sync, no telemetry, ever. TERMINAL โ€ข Real interactive SSH sessions โ€” not a mockup. Full ANSI color output, multiple tabs for multiple hosts at once. โ€ข On-screen key row (Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrows, Ctrl+C) built for typing commands without a physical keyboard. โ€ข Pin your most-used commands per host for instant one-tap re-run, ranked by how often you actually use them. โ€ข Reconnects automatically if a session drops while the app is backgrounded. IDENTITIES & CLIENTS โ€ข Save reusable login identities โ€” password, pasted private key, or an imported key file โ€” independent of any single server. โ€ข Add servers manually, or import an existing ~/.ssh/config file (including wildcard Host blocks and Include directives). โ€ข Organize with tags and favorites; search across hosts, tags, and usernames. SESSIONS โ€ข Every session's full transcript (commands and output, timestamped) is saved locally. โ€ข Review it anytime, or export and share any transcript through the share sheet. SECURITY โ€ข App lock: Face ID, a 6-digit PIN, or no lock at all โ€” your choice, changeable anytime in Settings. โ€ข Every credential and every byte of local data is encrypted at rest, keyed by your device's own Keychain โ€” never written to disk in plaintext. โ€ข Back up your whole vault (servers, identities, pinned commands) to a single password-protected, AES-256-encrypted file, and restore it on another device โ€” merge-safe, it never overwrites what's already there. PRIVACY No account. No backend. No analytics. No ads. Nothing ever leaves your device except your own SSH traffic to your own servers. Built for developers and sysadmins who need a real terminal in their pocket.

Screenshots

PureTerm4 screens
SSH Connect4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SSH Connect at none against PureTerm's 3. SSH Connect also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support 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. PureTerm sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. SSH Connect asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PureTerm ships an update every 2 months, SSH Connect daily. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
PureTerm versus SSH Connect: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPureTermSSH Connect
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsDaily โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.015.1 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size18 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHD YAPIMCILIK VE TEKNOLOJI ITHALAT IHRACAT TICARET LIMITED SIRKETIShreyansh Jain

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PureTerm

Subscriptions2
  • PureTerm Pro โ€” Monthly$0.991 Month
  • PureTerm Pro โ€” Yearly$5.991 Year
One-time1
  • PureTerm Pro โ€” Lifetime$14.99
None

SSH Connect

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PureTerm free?
PureTerm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SSH Connect free?
SSH Connect is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PureTerm or SSH Connect have ads?
Neither PureTerm nor SSH Connect shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PureTerm or SSH Connect?
PureTerm ships an update every 2 months, and SSH Connect daily. Most recently, PureTerm was updated on October 29, 2026 and SSH Connect on October 31, 2026.

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