Shelly vs Blink Shell, Build & Code
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shelly
A powerful and user-friendly SSH client for mobile devices. It offers robust terminal emulation, gesture controls, and customizable keyboard shortcuts for efficient remote server management. Supports key-based authentication and iCloud sync.
- Hardware accelerated text rendering
- Robust terminal emulation
- Gesture control for navigation
- Customizable keyboard toolbar
- Key file authentication
- iCloud sync support
- Terminal color themes
Read full descriptionHide full description
SSH client designed for usability and performance. RELIABLE AND FAST • Hardware accelerated text rendering. • Robust terminal emulation based on the PuTTY engine. • Works great with programs such as 'screen' and 'irssi'. CONTROL WITH GESTURES • Default gestures optimized for irssi. Just swipe to switch channels or to scroll up and down. • Fully customizable. Any keypress or action can be attached to any gesture. EASY CONNECTING • Save user credentials and configure a remote command such as ‘screen -rd’ to connect with one tap. • 3D touch support. Connect directly from the iOS home screen. CUSTOMIZABLE KEYBOARD • Easily bind custom actions to buttons on the keyboard toolbar. • Works with custom iOS keyboards such as SwiftKey. OPEN LINKS AND SELECT TEXT • Familiar iOS text selection experience. Long-press on text to show the selection controls. • Copy and paste text. • Select a URL to easily open it in the web browser. OTHER FEATURES • iCloud sync support. • Terminal color themes. Choose your favorite from the several themes included or make your own. • Key file authentication support. Import an existing private key, or create a new key and export the public key. • Host key verification and management. • Agent forwarding (OpenSSH servers only). • Keep connections alive while the app is in the background. • Connection history with optional realtime location data. • Plenty of other configuration options. Please note that some features require a paid upgrade. You can try all features for free for a limited time.
Blink Shell, Build & Code
Transform your iOS device into a powerful terminal for coding and development. Leverage Mosh and SSH for stable, fast connections. Integrate with VS Code and manage your entire development workflow from your pocket.
- Mosh and SSH connections
- VS Code integration (Blink Code)
- Remote runtime creation (Blink Build)
- Full SSH toolset
- Hardware keyboard support
- External display support
- SFTP transfers
Read full descriptionHide full description
Do Blink! Transform your iOS device into a pro-grade terminal. Blink is the first professional, desktop-grade terminal for iOS that leverages the support of Mosh and SSH. Thus, we can guarantee stable connections, crazy-fast speeds, and full configurations. It can and should be your all-day-long tool. **Start your 14-day free trial now!** But, Blink is much more. Now with Blink Code and Blink Build**, your entire development workflow fits in your pocket. What the Blink community is saying: “In some ways, I prefer my iPad / Blink / Digital Ocean setup to coding on my Mac“ - TheVerge "I have tried a number of terminals on iOS and this is really The One." - Twit.tv “Connections still come up when I get back to a client project after a weekend off.“ - The Sweet Setup “The way to use VS Code on the iPad” - programminglife.io What our users love the most from Blink Shell: - Mosh connections that even survive a device reboot. - Most complete SSH implementation on iOS. - Code command for VS Code integration. - Blazingly fast terminal and SFTP transfers. - Includes Pragmata Pro with ligatures. Blink Shell has a fully loaded SSH toolset: - SSH with PKI support: DSA, RSA, ECDSA & ED25519 keys. - Support for Secure Enclave Keys and Certificates. - Port forwarding with local, remote & dynamic tunnel support. - SOCKS5 proxy for a private VPN. - Agent Forwarding. - Complete SSH Config file support. - ControlMaster and pooled connections. - Files.app integration for SFTP remote hosts. - SFTP with copy-on-change. Blink has been the leading developer tool in the AppStore for +5 years, so there is a lot more: - External Display support. - Legendary Hardware Keyboard support, even remap shortcuts and keyboard codes. - Local & iCloud Blink Shell folders for Files.app access across devices. - Host sync over iCloud. - Link-files from other applications and work with them in Blink. - Cool themes and fonts, and install your own! - Smart Keys on SW Keyboard to navigate with touch. - FaceCam command to create tutorials and streams. - Bell notifications. - Supports multiple windows and multiple tabs. - Network & UNIX CLI tools, check our docs for more information. Blink Code integrates with VS Code: - Code on local projects, or seamlessly on remote machines. - Fully-loaded code editor. - A coding experience fitted to your device, that connects to VS Code for web, GitHub Codespaces, GitPod or your own VS Code server. Blink Build (Requires a $7.99/month subscription) Creates remote runtimes that can be accessed on all your devices. You can use Build in your day-to-day workflows whether you need to do development, DevOps or just play around with new tooling. Participate in our community, and don’t forget to leave us your feedback and your feature(s) requests. Enjoy! http://blink.sh http://twitter.com/blinkshell http://GitHub.com/blinksh Terms of Use: https://blink.sh/blink-gpl Privacy Policy: https://blink.sh/pp * Blink Code is not affiliated nor endorsed by Microsoft. ** Blink Build requires a separate subscription to make use of our Virtual Machines.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Shelly at 4.4 against Blink Shell, Build & Code's 3.1. Shelly also leads on review sentiment (76% vs 37%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.6). Blink Shell, Build & Code's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and chart position (#14 vs unranked). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Shelly sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Blink Shell, Build & Code sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Shelly holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 273 and 418 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Shelly's written reviews are positive against 37% of Blink Shell, Build & Code's.
Shelly ships an update every 2 months, Blink Shell, Build & Code every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 13, 2026.
| Parameter | Shelly | Blink Shell, Build & Code |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (273 ratings) — better | 3.1 (418 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.3% of reviews — better | 36.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 273 | 418 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #14 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 211 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Touch Foo | Blink Shell, Inc |
Customer experience
Shelly
Blink Shell, Build & Code
Bugs and requests
Shelly
Reported bugs
4 issues- Saved profiles get overwritten unexpectedly
- Toolbar persists even with auto-hide enabled
- Cursor movement issues with hardware keyboard
- Inability to copy/paste with Magic Keyboard
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for port forwarding
- Implement Mosh protocol support
- Allow customization of default font
- Provide option for multiple app instances
- Add ability to remap hardware keyboard keys
Blink Shell, Build & Code
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Shelly
- Upgrade To Pro$3.99
Blink Shell, Build & Code
- Build Basic - 50 credits/month1 Month trial$7.991 Month
- Blink+Build Basic7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Blink Plus$19.991 Year
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Blink+14 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Blink Shell ClassicFree
Questions
Is Shelly free?
Is Blink Shell, Build & Code free?
Which has better reviews, Shelly or Blink Shell, Build & Code?
Do Shelly or Blink Shell, Build & Code have ads?
Which is updated more often, Shelly or Blink Shell, Build & Code?
Other comparisons















