Best SSH Clients for Mac

The short answer. Termius is the modern multi-platform choice with a connection library. Core Tunnel is the native macOS one for managing a list of hosts. Electerm bundles terminal, SSH and SFTP. SecureCRT and Zoc Terminal are the long-established commercial emulators. Fob is the different one: it is a menu bar SSH agent that keeps keys in the Secure Enclave and gates every use behind Touch ID, which is key management rather than a terminal. The decision is whether you want a connection manager — a saved list of hosts you can search — or a terminal that happens to open SSH. Most people want the list.

This guide covers 6 ssh clients for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment.

Quick comparison

What actually decides this

• Connection library or terminal first. A library means hosts, keys, jump hosts and search. A terminal-first tool means you type ssh as you always did. The first scales to dozens of machines; the second scales to about five.
• Key and agent handling. Where private keys live, whether the system agent is used, and whether a passphrase can be cached for a session. This is the difference between a tool you trust with production access and one you do not.
• Jump hosts and port forwarding. Tunnelling is often the reason a client is chosen at all. Check whether the tool configures forwarding itself or expects you to pass flags.
• Sync of the host list. If the same list has to exist on a laptop and a desktop, the client needs to sync it. A local-only list quietly becomes two divergent lists.
• Whether it runs on the other machines you use. A Mac-only client is fine until you need the same connections from a Linux box or an iPad. The cross-platform tools cost you nothing to keep, and the native ones do not run at all.

Our picks

• Termius — Its record describes an SSH and SFTP client, which is the pair most people need in one window. Choose it when you want a searchable library of hosts with SFTP alongside the terminal.
• Core Tunnel — Its record describes managing SSH connections specifically, which is the narrow version of a connection library. Choose it when you want a native Mac app whose whole job is managing SSH connections.
• electerm — Its record covers all three, which is the combination for people who would rather run one app. Choose it when you want terminal, SSH and SFTP together in an open-source tool.
• SecureCRT — Its record describes terminal emulation supporting SSH, Telnet and other protocols, which is the generalist emulator case. Choose it when you need an established emulator with broad protocol support.
• fob — Its record describes a menu bar SSH agent that keeps keys in the Secure Enclave and gates each use behind Touch ID, which is key handling rather than connection management. Choose it when what you want is Touch ID on every key use, not another terminal.

The apps

Core Tunnel

Core Tunnel is a SSH client for macOS. Application for managing SSH connections. Its pricing is not published.

What it does. The missing tunnel manager, compatible with OpenSSH, automatic and intuitive. Don’t waste your time; be productive.

Core Tunnel is listed with current version 5.1.

Full profile and verified facts for Core Tunnel →

electerm

electerm is a developer tool for macOS. Terminal, SSH, and SFTP client. It is released under MIT.

What it does. Works as a terminal/file manager, ssh/sftp/ftp/telnet/serialport/RDP/VNC/Spice client. Global hotkey to toggle window visibility (similar to guake, default is ctrl + 2). Multi-language support(electerm-locales, contributions/fixes welcome). Double click to directly edit (small) remote files.

electerm is listed with current version 5.5.66.

Full profile and verified facts for electerm →

fob

fob is a security tool for macOS. Menu bar SSH agent that keeps keys in the Secure Enclave and gates every use behind Touch ID. It is released under AGPL-3.0.

What it does. SSH keys that live in the Secure Enclave, open only the doors they.

fob is listed with current version 0.17.1.

Full profile and verified facts for fob →

SecureCRT

SecureCRT is a developer tool for macOS. Terminal emulation which supports SSH, Telnet or other protocols. Its pricing is not published.

Full profile and verified facts for SecureCRT →

Termius

Termius is a developer tool for macOS. A beautiful SSH and SFTP client for Mac. It is also available for mobile. It is free.

What it does. Termius is a modern SSH client for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. Connect with one click from any device.

Termius is listed with current version 10.1.3.

Full profile and verified facts for Termius →

ZOC Terminal

ZOC Terminal is a developer tool for macOS. Terminal emulator which supports SSH, telnet, connections and other protocols. Its pricing is not published.

What it does. The SSH client ZOC is a professional terminal emulator for Windows and macOS. It offers many terminal emulations (xterm, tn3270, vt420, …) and a modern user interface.

Full profile and verified facts for ZOC Terminal →

How to choose

• Free of charge. Termius — no payment is required.
• No licence fee, source available. electerm and fob — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
• Pricing not published in our data. Core Tunnel, SecureCRT and ZOC Terminal — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.

Open source: electerm and fob (2 of 6).

Common mistakes

• Storing private keys in a client’s own keychain without knowing whether they can be exported. Ask before you put a production key in.
• Confusing an SSH client with an SFTP client. They share a transport and nothing else.
• Assuming a connection library syncs. Check, or you will end up maintaining two.
• Judging an SSH client by its theme. The part that matters is what it does when a key is rejected.

How this guide was put together

Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.

A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.

The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.