ShellYard
ShellYard vs Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager

Cross-platform. Modern.
A whole toolkit, not just connections.

Devolutions is heavy on connection types, light on everything else — and it runs best only on Windows. ShellYard ships SSH / RDP / VNC plus a 40+ network toolkit, a 6-engine database inspector, HTTP / GraphQL / Realtime, docs, and Magellan AI. On every desktop OS.

Download free for macOS, Windows, Linux

Free forever · Same app on Mac, Win, Linux · Signed + notarized

ShellYard · cross-platform parity

ShellYard runs the same everywhere

macOS

ShellYard

Windows

ShellYard

Linux

ShellYard

Devolutions: Windows ✓ · macOS limited · Linux —

SSH RDP VNC HTTP DB MTR Docs one window

Self-select in five seconds

Most RDM users fall into one of two buckets.

Stay on Devolutions if

  • — You're a 100% Windows shop and the team is happy there.
  • — You only need connection management; diagnostics live in other tools and that's fine.
  • — You're already deep in Devolutions Server or Hub Business for central policy.
  • — You need RDM's exotic protocol coverage (ARD, ICA, Teleport, every flavor of RDP) or its iOS / Android app.
  • — You're using Devolutions PAM and the approval / recording workflow matters.

Switch to ShellYard if

  • — You have Mac or Linux engineers who deserve the same app the Windows folks get.
  • — You want a network diagnostic kit, an HTTP / GraphQL client, and a DB workbench in the same window as the SSH session.
  • — You want an AI assistant that can read every tool's output — and you want to bring your own provider key.
  • — You want public, flat pricing and a real free tier instead of a quote thread.
  • — You're an MSP and per-client Spaces with their own KMS keys would change how you run engagements.

Feature-by-feature, both sides honest

Both products handle the connection well. The differences start the moment the session is open and you need to look at packets, hit an API, or query a database.

ShellYard advantage Devolutions advantage Parity
Feature Devolutions RDM ShellYard
SSH / RDP / VNC / Telnet / serial ✓ (RDM)
Built-in credential vault ✓ AES-256-GCM (KMS-wrapped on Pro+)
Connection folders + search ✓ Spaces + nested folders
Snippets / saved commands
Cloud sync of connections ✓ (Hub) ✓ (Pro)
Audit log export ✓ (Server / Hub Business) ✓ (Team) — CSV, per-Space scoped
Free tier for individual use ✓ (RDM Free) ✓ Free forever
Same app on macOS / Windows / Linux Windows first; macOS and Linux are different builds with reduced features ✓ identical Wails build on all three, signed + notarized
40+ network diagnostic tools (MTR, packet capture, TLS, SNMP, DNS, AP scanner, AAA tester…) — a handful of tools, not a kit
HTTP REST client with collections + tunnel-via-SSH ✓ (Pro) + Free 1-collection tier
GraphQL + WebSocket / SSE / MQTT ✓ (Pro)
Multi-engine database workbench — SQL Server connection launcher only ✓ Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server (T-SQL + AAD), Redis, Mongo, SQLite + live Health
Notes, runbooks, IPAM in-app — limited docs in Hub ✓ (Team) — version history, public share links, PDF export
IT Glue + Hudu importers ✓ (Team)
BYO-key AI assistant (Anthropic / OpenAI / Gemini / Ollama) ✓ Magellan — prompts go direct to provider
Per-Space customer-managed KMS ✓ (Team and Enterprise)
Postman v2.1 import + 8 other formats ✓ Postman / OpenAPI / Insomnia / Hoppscotch / Bruno / Thunder / .http / cURL / HAR
Bulk Command + Batch SSH across many hosts ✓ (Team)
Per-Space audit trail for MSP client reporting — global audit in Server ✓ (Team+) — filterable + CSV per Space
Public pricing per seat — quote for Server / Hub Business / PAM ✓ Free / $24 / $49 / $99 listed on the site
Connection-type breadth (~50 protocols incl. ARD, ICA, Teleport, legacy industrial) — SSH / RDP / VNC / Telnet / serial / SSM
On-prem self-hosted backend ✓ (Devolutions Server) — managed AWS backend only
Mature PAM (session approval, recording) ✓ (Devolutions PAM) — not a PAM platform
Mobile apps (iOS / Android) — desktop only
Deep AD / Hyper-V / Azure connectors — AD Browser only
Dedicated MSP edition + reseller ecosystem ✓ (RDM MSP) — Team tier with Spaces covers MSP shape

Reflects publicly documented Devolutions capability at time of writing. Devolutions ships a broad family — RDM, Server, Hub, and PAM — verify scope against their current docs if the distinction matters for your decision.

Where Devolutions still wins

The honest gaps, named in one place.

  • Connection-type breadth. Devolutions supports roughly fifty protocols, including industrial and legacy ones (ARD, ICA, Teleport, every flavor of RDP, mainframe emulators) that ShellYard does not. If your inventory leans on any of these, RDM is the right tool.
  • Devolutions Server. A self-hosted central vault you run inside your own perimeter. ShellYard does not have an on-prem server product — the cloud sync is a managed AWS backend.
  • Active Directory depth. RDM's AD integration and the broader Windows-ecosystem connectors (Hyper-V, Azure RM, AD topology) go further than ShellYard's AD Browser does.
  • Established MSP ecosystem. Devolutions has a dedicated MSP edition and reseller channel. ShellYard's MSP path is per-client Spaces with per-client KMS on Team+, which most MSPs prefer once they try it — but the ecosystem is younger.

ShellYard fits comfortably alongside Devolutions if your team has both — RDM governs sensitive access, ShellYard runs the operator workflow.

Switching path

Three steps. About an afternoon.

  1. 1 Export your RDM connection list. RDM has a built-in export-to-CSV — File → Export → Connections, pick a vault, save the .csv.
  2. 2 Import into ShellYard. Connections → Import → CSV. Folder structure and host metadata land intact. (We also accept OpenSSH config, SecureCRT, and PuTTY exports if you'd rather skip RDM on the way out.)
  3. 3 Open the connections. Credentials go in the vault on first use; routing rules (jump host, SSM, tunnel) live on each connection. The session opens in the same window as the network kit, the HTTP client, the DB inspector, and Magellan.

Before you install

The questions an RDM user asks first.

Mac and Linux feature parity?
Yes — it's the exact same Wails build on all three operating systems. Code-signed and notarized on macOS (Apple Developer ID), Authenticode-signed on Windows via Azure Trusted Signing, and shipped as .deb / .rpm / AppImage on Linux. No feature is gated by OS. This is the single biggest difference between us and Devolutions RDM — their Mac client is a separate codebase with fewer features and their Linux story is even thinner.
What's the connection-import path from RDM?
RDM has a built-in export-to-CSV. Open ShellYard → Connections → Import → CSV and pick the file. We also support direct OpenSSH config, SecureCRT session-file, and PuTTY registry imports if you'd rather skip RDM entirely on the way out.
Self-hosted vault, like Devolutions Server?
No — there's no on-prem ShellYard backend. On Free, the vault is local AES-256-GCM with the master key in your OS keychain. On Pro and above, credentials are envelope-encrypted with AWS KMS and synced through our managed backend. Team and Enterprise get per-Space customer-managed CMKs so each Space (or each MSP client) is cryptographically isolated.
RDP support — does it match RDM?
Yes for the common cases. ShellYard launches the native client (macOS Microsoft RDP, Windows mstsc) with credential injection from the vault. We don't bundle a custom RDP rendering engine the way RDM does, so a few advanced RDP-gateway features and protocol-version controls live with RDM. For SSH, VNC, Telnet, serial, and AWS SSM, we render in-app.
MSP-specific features?
Spaces are the MSP shape. Each client gets a Shared Space with its own credentials, its own audit trail, its own customer-managed KMS key (Team+), and its own RBAC. Team tier is 25 Shared Spaces; Enterprise is unlimited. See /use-cases/client-spaces-for-msps/ for the full layout.
How does the pricing actually compare?
Devolutions RDM is free for individual use; team licensing scales through RDM Team, Devolutions Server, Hub Business, and (separately) PAM — most of those are quote-based. ShellYard publishes flat per-seat pricing: Free, Pro $24/mo, Team $49/mo, Enterprise $99/mo. No quote, no sales call to see the number.

Stop running RDM in a VM on your MacBook.

Install the same app the Windows folks get. Import your connections in five minutes. Try the network kit, the HTTP client, the DB workbench, and Magellan against your own infrastructure. If it doesn't replace half your dock, uninstall — no account required to try it.

Download free for macOS, Windows, Linux

Free forever · Same app on Mac, Win, Linux · Signed + notarized