The Best Xshell Alternatives for Secure Terminal Emulation
Xshell is a powerful SSH1, SSH2, SFTP, TELNET, RLOGIN, and SERIAL terminal emulator designed for Windows platforms. It provides users with secure and easy access to Unix/Linux hosts from a Windows workstation, utilizing the SSH (Secure Shell) protocol for encrypted connections. While Xshell is a robust solution, many users seek Xshell alternatives for various reasons, including cost, platform compatibility, specific features, or open-source preferences. This article explores the top alternatives to Xshell, helping you find the perfect terminal emulator for your needs.
Top Xshell Alternatives
Whether you're looking for free, open-source, multi-platform, or feature-rich options, there's an Xshell alternative out there for you. Here's a curated list of excellent choices:
PuTTY
PuTTY is a widely recognized, free, and open-source terminal emulator, serial console, and network file transfer application. It's an excellent Xshell alternative for users on Free, Open Source, Windows, Linux, BSD, PortableApps.com, and ReactOS platforms. Key features include SSH, a built-in SSH client, Telnet client, host management, support for SFTP, configurable settings, and a lightweight, tabbed interface with Xterm emulation.
OpenSSH
OpenSSH is the free and open-source version of SSH connectivity tools that many technical users rely on, making it a fundamental Xshell alternative. It encrypts all traffic, including passwords, providing secure connections. Available on Free, Open Source, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, BSD, Cygwin, and Haiku, OpenSSH boasts features like strong encryption, file transfer capabilities (including SFTP support), and is even bundled with macOS.
MobaXterm
MobaXterm is an advanced terminal for Windows users, offering a powerful, Unix-like command-line experience. This freemium Xshell alternative is packed with features such as SFTP support, an integrated X server, a tabbed interface, a built-in SSH client, FTP support, RDP functionality (with RDP sessions in a tab), Secure Copy (SCP), and extensive customization options. It's also portable and integrates with PuTTY configurations.
Terminator
Terminator excels at managing multiple terminals in one window, making it a fantastic free and open-source Xshell alternative for Mac, Linux, and BSD users. Its goal is to provide a useful tool for arranging terminals, offering features like split-screen view, split windows, configurable layouts, support for multiple monitors, plugins, and themes, all within a robust terminal emulator.
mRemoteNG
mRemoteNG is a free and open-source fork of mRemote, serving as a versatile, tabbed, multi-protocol, remote connections manager for Windows. This Xshell alternative provides RDP functionality, a built-in SSH client, support for multiple protocols, a tabbed interface with RDP sessions in a tab, VNC Viewer, Secure Copy (SCP), and robust support for SSL certificates, organized in a convenient tree view.
KiTTY
KiTTY is an open-source terminal emulator for Windows, forked from PuTTY, that enhances the original software with many extra features. As a portable Xshell alternative, KiTTY offers SSH and SSH tunnel capabilities, auto-saving, auto-login, a built-in editor, support for keyboard shortcuts, multiple browser tabs, and comprehensive session management within its terminal emulator.
Alacritty
Alacritty is a blazing-fast, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator, written in Rust and leveraging OpenGL for rendering. This free and open-source Xshell alternative is available on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It stands out for its lightweight design, no input delay, and overall speed, making it one of the fastest terminal emulators available for users prioritizing performance.
ConnectBot
ConnectBot is a free and open-source Secure Shell client specifically designed for the Android platform. Its primary goal is to establish secure connections for remote shell usage, making it a key mobile Xshell alternative. Features include a Telnet client and robust SSH capabilities, allowing secure access to remote machines from your Android device.
JuiceSSH
JuiceSSH is an all-in-one terminal client for Android, offering comprehensive support for SSH, Local Shell, Mosh, and Telnet. This free Xshell alternative for mobile provides a full-color terminal/SSH client, a popup keyboard with essential shortcuts, host management, SSH tunnel capabilities, and seamless integration with OpenSSH, Mosh, and Dropbear SSH servers.
Royal TSX
Royal TS provides easy and secure access to your remote systems across multiple platforms, including Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS. As a freemium Xshell alternative, it offers RDP sessions in a tab, excellent stability, a clientless remote connection option, an explorer-like interface, remote desktop functionality, SSH support, and a convenient tabbed interface for managing various connections.
Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is a new, modern, and feature-rich terminal application from Microsoft, designed for command-line users on Windows. This free and open-source Xshell alternative is highly customizable, supporting background transparency, command-line interface, emoji text, keyboard shortcuts, multi-tabs, multiple shells, multiple window layouts, and seamless WSL integration, configurable via JSON.
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager is a freemium solution that centralizes all your remote connections, passwords, and credentials into a unique, securely shareable platform across users. Available on Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS, this comprehensive Xshell alternative offers a tabbed interface, Active Directory integration, centralized credentials, file and password management, remote desktop capabilities, role-based security access, SSH, and task automation, including VPN support.
Termius
Termius is a complete command-line solution redefining remote access for sysadmins and network engineers, making it a robust freemium Xshell alternative. Available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and Chrome OS, it provides secure SSH access to Linux hosts, Mosh client, SFTP support, a built-in SSH client, cloud sync, FTP server migration, keychain integration, port forwarding, secure copy (SCP), security-focused design, server management, and user session recording.
Ásbrú Connection Manager
Ásbrú Connection Manager is a free and open-source user interface for Linux that helps organize remote terminal sessions and automate repetitive tasks. This Xshell alternative features a Debian package, FLOSS compliance, SSH support, RDP sessions in a tab, remote shell capabilities, SSH tunnel functionality, a tabbed interface, and a fully-fledged terminal emulator.
Chrome Secure Shell
Chrome Secure Shell is an xterm-compatible terminal emulator and stand-alone SSH client for Chrome, providing a convenient Xshell alternative within your browser. Available on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, it uses Native-Client to connect directly to SSH servers without extra plugins. Features include integration with PuTTY configurations, SSH, Secure Copy (SCP), and a fully functional terminal emulator.
With such a diverse range of Xshell alternatives available, you're sure to find a terminal emulator that perfectly fits your specific operating system, feature requirements, and budget. Explore these options to discover the best fit for your secure remote access needs.