Stay on Termius if
SSH is the whole job.
- · SSH is 95% of your day.
- · You need a mobile SSH client (iOS / iPadOS / Android).
- · Their cross-device sync is critical to how you work.
- · You like their snippet ecosystem and team key-sharing flows.
ShellYard vs Termius
Keep the SSH speed.
Keep the SSH speed.
Get the workspace around it.
Termius gives you fast, polished SSH. ShellYard gives you fast, polished SSH plus an HTTP client, a 6-engine database inspector, 40+ network tools, vault with KMS, docs, and AI — in one tab strip.
Free forever · macOS · Windows · Linux
ShellYard · Personal Space
prod-edge-01 · SSH
api.acme.io · HTTP
customers.psql · DB
mtr 8.8.8.8 · MTR
incident-2026-06-02.md · Note
admin@prod-edge-01:~$ show version | inc uptime
uptime is 184 days, 4 hours, 22 minutes
admin@prod-edge-01:~$
Termius shows just the SSH tab.
Pick your side first
The 30-second decision.
Switch to ShellYard if
You also have four other apps open.
- — You also test APIs, query databases, or troubleshoot networks.
- — You want one app, not five.
- — You want an AI in your workflow that can see what's on screen.
- — Your work is desktop-first and you're tired of paying four subscriptions for adjacent tabs.
Feature-by-feature
SSH parity first. Then the tabs Termius doesn't have.
Both products handle SSH well. The differences show up the moment a session ends and you need to look at packets, hit an API, or read a database — without alt-tabbing.
ShellYard advantage Termius advantage Parity
| Feature | Termius | ShellYard |
|---|---|---|
| SSH terminal (xterm-class, true colour, ligatures) | ✓ | ✓ |
| ProxyJump / multi-hop SSH | ✓ | ✓ native, ~/.ssh/config-compatible |
| SSH agent forwarding | ✓ | ✓ forwards your local agent through the session |
| Port forwarding (local + remote) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Snippets / saved commands | ✓ | ✓ per connection or per Space |
| Terminal history search | ✓ | ✓ |
| SFTP file transfer | ✓ | ✓ plus TFTP / FTP under one File Transfer tool |
| Cross-platform desktop | macOS · Windows · Linux | macOS · Windows · Linux |
| RDP client (vault-injected credentials) | — | ✓ |
| VNC client (in-app, no native client) | — | ✓ built-in |
| Serial / console (USB-to-serial) | — | ✓ |
| AWS SSM Session Manager | — | ✓ auto-installs the session-manager-plugin |
| HTTP REST client + SSH-tunnel routing | — | ✓ free for 1 collection, unlimited at Pro |
| GraphQL workspace (introspection + autocomplete) | — | ✓ (Pro) |
| Realtime client (WebSocket · SSE · MQTT) | — | ✓ (Pro) |
| Database inspector — 6 engines | — | ✓ Postgres · MySQL · SQL Server (T-SQL + AAD) · Redis · Mongo · SQLite |
| Live DB Health dashboards | — | ✓ per engine, polled with pause/resume |
| Network toolkit (MTR, packet capture, TLS, SNMP, AAA, …) | — | ✓ 40+ tools, Free + Pro |
| Magellan AI (BYO key) | Termius AI (subscription) | ✓ Anthropic · OpenAI · Gemini · Ollama / OpenAI-compatible |
| Credential vault (local AES-256-GCM) | ✓ cloud-only | ✓ local on Free, KMS-wrapped cloud on Pro+ |
| Cross-device sync via per-Space CMK | ✓ vendor-managed | ✓ customer-managed KMS at Team+ |
| Per-Space audit log | — | ✓ (Team — CSV export) |
| Documents / runbooks / IPAM | — | ✓ (Team+) |
| Free-tier scope | Limited (paywalls cloud sync, SFTP) | Full toolkit, vault, AI, 40+ network tools — forever |
| Mobile apps (iOS / iPadOS / Android) | ✓ | — desktop only |
| Years of polish on cross-device sync UX | ✓ | Newer — shipping fast |
Reflects publicly documented Termius capability at time of comparison.
Where Termius still wins
We're not better at everything.
- Mobile. iOS, iPadOS, Android. ShellYard is desktop-only and will be for the foreseeable future.
- Cross-device sync, polished for years. They've had a decade to refine that surface. We're newer.
- Team key + host sharing. Their team feature set for distributing keys and hosts is mature; ours is solid but younger.
- Niche SSH UX. Their port-forwarding panel and a couple of micro-affordances are genuinely nice. We have parity on the underlying transport; the UI for it is less ornate.
If those four bullets are the centre of your workflow, stay on Termius. If they're peripheral — keep reading.
Switching (or supplementing) path
Five minutes, no migration tax.
- 1 Install ShellYard. macOS, Windows, or Linux. Code-signed, notarized, ~120 MiB. No account required to try it.
- 2 Connections → Import. Point at your
~/.ssh/configor drop a Termius CSV export. Hosts, jump chains, and identities land in your Personal Space. - 3 Open an SSH session. Compare the speed. Then open an HTTP tab in the same window. Then a DB tab. That's the part Termius can't show you.
Before you install
The questions a Termius user asks first.
Does ShellYard have a mobile app?
No. Termius wins on mobile, full stop — and that's not a fight we're picking right now. ShellYard is a desktop workspace (macOS, Windows, Linux). If you SSH from a phone, keep Termius for that and run ShellYard on the laptop. They don't conflict.
ProxyJump and multi-hop SSH?
Yes, native. ShellYard reads your ~/.ssh/config-style jump chains and supports arbitrary hops. You can also chain through AWS SSM Session Manager into a private instance and tunnel HTTP requests out the far side in the same window.
SSH agent forwarding?
Yes. Your local SSH agent forwards through the session — keys never leave your machine, downstream hops authenticate against your agent.
Snippets — same idea as Termius?
Yes. Saved commands per connection or per Space, with variable substitution ({host}, {user}, {date}), dockable at the bottom-left of any terminal, one click to send. Works in SSH, Telnet, serial, SSM, and the VNC text overlay.
Cross-device sync?
Yes on Pro and above. Your vault, connections, HTTP collections, snippets, and saved DB queries sync across machines via an AWS-KMS-wrapped DynamoDB store. At Team and Enterprise the encryption key is a customer-managed CMK per Space — cryptographic erasure is one API call.
How does ShellYard pricing compare to Termius?
Termius pricing has been climbing — recent listings put their Pro tier near $10-15/mo per seat after their reshuffles. ShellYard Pro is $24/mo flat and includes the full HTTP + GraphQL + Realtime client, the 6-engine database inspector, the full Pro network toolkit, vault cloud sync, and Magellan AI with your own provider key. There's no upcharge for the database tab, the API tab, or the AI tab.
Run them both for a week.
See which window you keep open.
ShellYard is free forever for personal use — the full toolkit, the vault, the 40+ network tools, and Magellan AI with your own provider key. No card. No trial timer.
Free forever · macOS · Windows · Linux