There are more good terminals on iOS than there were a year ago, and they are no longer variations on the same idea. Some are cross-platform fleet managers. Some are file browsers that happen to have a shell. Some launched this year aimed squarely at supervising coding agents. They are priced very differently, and the differences that matter are not the ones on the feature grid.
This page lays out where Tessera actually differs, and — because a comparison written by a vendor is worth nothing otherwise — where it doesn't, and who to buy instead when it doesn't.
How they're sold
This is the table most people are really looking for.
| Tessera | Termius | Blink Shell | Prompt 3 | Secure ShellFish | Moshi | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | free; $9.99 once | free tier; $10/user/mo | $19.99/yr | paid, yearly with a lifetime tier | free; lifetime unlock or monthly | free tier; $7.99/mo, $69.99/yr, $199 lifetime |
| Subscription | no | yes | yes | yes, with a lifetime option | optional | yes, with a lifetime option |
| What the paid tier buys | unlimited saved hosts, nothing else | SFTP, sync, vaults, teams | the app | the app | pro features | agent features, unlimited hosts |
| Everything else free | yes — every feature | no | no | no | no | no |
| Source published | yes, GPL-3.0 | no | yes, GPL-3.0 | no | no | no |
| Account required | none | yes | no | optional (Panic Sync) | no (iCloud) | no |
| Analytics / tracking | none | vendor-operated | — | — | — | — |
| Vendor servers in the path | none | sync/vault service | — | Panic Sync (optional) | iCloud only | — |
La Terminal is left out of the grid to keep it readable: it is free with a monthly pro tier, closed-source, and has repositioned around coding agents. Read it as sitting close to Moshi on this table.
Two rows there are the whole argument for Tessera.
The first is "everything else free." Most apps in this category put a capability behind the paywall — SFTP in Termius, pro features in Secure ShellFish and Moshi. Tessera puts a quantity behind it. Every feature works in the free app: tmux, mosh, port forwarding, keys, jump hosts, the agent center, Handoff. The one-time $9.99 lifts the one-saved-host limit and nothing else. If one host is all you have, you are not on a lesser version of the app.
The second is "source published, no account, no servers." Blink also publishes GPL-3.0 source, and deserves credit for it, but its App Store build is a subscription. Tessera is the combination: readable source, a free binary, and nothing of yours passing through a machine we run — because we don't run one.
What they do
| Tessera | Termius | Blink Shell | Prompt 3 | Secure ShellFish | Moshi | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSH | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| mosh | yes | yes | yes | yes | not advertised | yes |
| Native tmux control mode | yes — windows as tabs, panes as real splits | runs tmux as terminal output | runs tmux as terminal output | runs tmux as terminal output | tmux session support with thumbnails | tmux-aware, host-side workspace |
| Handoff a live session between devices | yes | no | no | no | yes | no |
| Agent view for Claude Code / Codex | yes (experimental) | tips and autocomplete | no | no | agent detection, push, Live Activity | yes — approval inbox, diffs, Watch |
| SFTP / Files app mounting | no — a file panel that follows your shell | yes (paid) | yes | yes | yes, best in class | yes |
| Port forwarding | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Keys in Secure Enclave | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Mac app | no | yes | no | yes | yes | yes |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac, visionOS | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro | iPhone, iPad, Android |
On tmux, specifically
"Supports tmux" means two very different things, and the grid above flattens it.
Almost every terminal here can run tmux: you type tmux attach, and the app
draws whatever characters tmux sends. Status bar, pane borders and all. Switching
a window means Ctrl-B then a number, and the panes are a picture of panes.
Tessera speaks tmux's control mode — the same protocol iTerm2 uses on the Mac. tmux reports its structure rather than drawing it, so Tessera renders your tmux windows as real tabs and your tmux panes as real split views, with native scrolling and native selection in each one. Attaching happens automatically on connect, so a dropped connection costs you nothing.
To be clear about the landscape: Tessera is not alone in this any more. dotMux and rootshell both shipped control-mode clients in 2026, and both are worth your attention if control mode is the only thing you care about. What Tessera pairs it with — mosh underneath, GPL source, a one-time price, no account — is the part that is harder to find in one app.
Where Tessera is not the right answer
A comparison page that concludes "buy ours" for every reader is an advertisement. These are real:
- You want your servers mounted in the Files app. Buy Secure ShellFish. It has spent years on exactly this and does it better than anyone; Tessera's file panel follows your shell's working directory and is not a Files provider.
- You want the same app on your Mac. Tessera is iPhone and iPad only. Prompt 3, Secure ShellFish and Termius all have Mac apps.
- You manage servers with a team. Termius is built for shared vaults, shared credentials and audit trails. Tessera has no account, which is precisely why it cannot do this.
- You want an agent cockpit above all else. Moshi is further along here — an approval inbox, a diff viewer, Apple Watch actions. Tessera's agent center is deliberately a view onto real terminal sessions, and it is still marked experimental.
- You want a long track record. Termius has been on the App Store since 2012 and Secure ShellFish since 2019. Tessera arrived in 2026 and has the review count you would expect of that.
Where Tessera earns its place
- A terminal you can read the source of, free, with no account. The combination is genuinely rare on iOS.
- One payment, and the app never asks again. No renewal, no tier, no feature that stops working.
- tmux as structure, not as characters. Tabs and splits that behave like the app's own.
- mosh with real scrollback. Sessions survive Wi-Fi to cellular and sleep, and you can still search back through them.
- Your session moves between your devices. Start on the iPad, pick it up on the iPhone, hand it back. The session keeps running either way, and no password or private key moves with it.
- Setting up a new device over the LAN. Nearby Setup copies hosts, keys and preferences directly between your devices — no cloud, both ends confirm a matching code, and every grant needs Face ID.
Questions
Which iPhone or iPad SSH client has no subscription?
Tessera is free with every feature included and charges $9.99 once to lift the one-saved-host limit. Secure ShellFish sells a lifetime unlock, Prompt 3 offers a lifetime tier alongside its yearly price, and WebSSH is a small one-time purchase. Termius, Blink Shell, Moshi and La Terminal are subscription-first.
Is there an open-source SSH client on the iOS App Store?
Yes — two, in fact. Tessera is GPL-3.0 and free to download. Blink Shell is also GPL-3.0, though its App Store build is sold as a subscription. The common claim that GPL software cannot ship on the App Store is out of date.
Which iOS terminal has real tmux panes rather than drawn ones?
Those that speak tmux control mode: Tessera, dotMux and rootshell. Other clients
run tmux and render its output as text, which works, but leaves you driving panes
with Ctrl-B.
Can any of them hand a live session between iPhone and iPad?
Tessera and Secure ShellFish both do. In Tessera the session keeps running on whichever device you left it on, your focused session shows up in the App Switcher and Dock on your other devices, and a double tap takes control back.
Which one should I use to watch Claude Code or Codex?
If you want a purpose-built agent cockpit, Moshi is ahead today. If you want a
real shell underneath — so you can also read logs, check git, restart a service
and drive any agent, not just the supported ones — that is what Tessera's agent
center is built around, and it is free to try.