Open-source terminals and SSH clients

~/notes

• Alacritty best for: Users who want a lean terminal and already handle layouts with tmux or a tiling window manager. look elsewhere if: Anyone who wants built-in tabs, splits, saved SSH hosts or a GUI settings screen.
• Blink Shell best for: iPad or iPhone users who want Mosh and OpenSSH-style config in a terminal whose source they can read. look elsewhere if: Anyone who needs a client on Android or desktop, or who wants a one-time purchase instead of a yearly subscription.
• cmux best for: Mac users who want a Ghostty-based terminal that surfaces which agent needs attention, with scriptable browser and CLI. look elsewhere if: Windows or Linux users, or people wanting automatic per-agent git worktree isolation.
• ConnectBot best for: Android users who want a free, open-source SSH client with port forwarding and no account. look elsewhere if: Users who need documented jump-host chaining, team sharing, or cross-device sync of hosts.
• Cyberduck best for: Mac or Windows users who move files between SFTP servers and many cloud storage services. look elsewhere if: Users who need an interactive SSH terminal or Linux desktop client.
• Electerm best for: Users who want SSH, SFTP and RDP/VNC/serial in one free, open-source app across desktop and mobile. look elsewhere if: Users who need team sharing, audit or admin controls, which the sources do not list.
• Emdash best for: Developers on any desktop OS who want a free, open-source worktree-per-task agent manager with SSH remote support and issue-tracker intake. look elsewhere if: Users who need a mobile companion or a lightweight terminal-only tool.
• Ghostty best for: Mac or Linux users who want a fast native terminal with sensible defaults and little configuration. look elsewhere if: Windows users, or anyone who wants saved SSH hosts, SFTP or tunnels built into the terminal.
• Happy best for: Developers who already pay for Claude/Codex and want an open-source phone and desktop front end for those agent sessions. look elsewhere if: People who need a general-purpose SSH/SFTP client for arbitrary servers.
• Herdr best for: Developers who live in a terminal and want persistent, status-aware multi-agent sessions across local and SSH machines. look elsewhere if: Users wanting a graphical app with built-in diff review, browser panes or a phone companion.
• Hyper best for: Web developers who want a themeable, JavaScript-extensible local terminal. look elsewhere if: Users who need a built-in SSH/SFTP session manager, serial or port-forwarding UI.
• iTerm2 best for: Mac users who live in tmux over SSH and want scripting and per-host profiles. look elsewhere if: Anyone needing Windows or Linux, or a dedicated SSH client with a connection manager and file browser.
• Kitty best for: Linux or macOS users who want a scriptable GPU terminal with built-in layouts instead of tmux locally. look elsewhere if: Windows users, or anyone wanting a saved-host SSH manager with SFTP and tunnels.
• Orca best for: Developers who want a free, open-source, cross-platform app to run several coding agents side by side in separate worktrees. look elsewhere if: Users who want a plain terminal emulator or SSH client without agent and git-worktree workflow.
• Paseo best for: Developers running several coding agents at once who want to monitor and steer them from a phone. look elsewhere if: Users wanting a general SSH/SFTP client or a hosted, zero-setup agent service.
• PuTTY best for: Windows users who want a small, long-established SSH/serial client plus command-line SFTP/SCP tools. look elsewhere if: Users who want tabs, split panes or a modern session manager inside one window, or an official macOS/Linux/mobile app.
• Splash best for: Developers who want a free, open-source GUI to run several ACP-compatible agents in parallel worktrees across macOS, Windows or Linux. look elsewhere if: Anyone needing a mature, supported product or a native phone app for steering agents.
• T3 Code best for: Developers who run several agent CLIs and want one open-source UI usable from desktop, browser and phone. look elsewhere if: Anyone who needs a stable, fully documented, contribution-friendly project today.
• Tabby best for: Users who want one desktop app for local shells, SSH and serial ports with split panes. look elsewhere if: Users who need built-in desktop SFTP file browsing or first-party cloud sync of connections.
• TermOnMac best for: Mac users who want to continue a terminal or Claude Code session from iPhone or iPad without configuring SSH. look elsewhere if: People who need to connect to Linux servers, use SSH keys or jump hosts, or use Android.
• Termux best for: Android users comfortable in a shell who want SSH plus a scriptable Linux-style environment on the phone. look elsewhere if: Users who want a point-and-tap SSH manager with saved hosts, SFTP browser and key UI.
• Voltius best for: Windows or Linux users wanting an open-source Termius-style client with self-chosen sync backends. look elsewhere if: Mac-first users who want a mature, non-experimental macOS build or an iOS app today.
• Warp best for: Developers who want an AI-agent-centric terminal with shared workflows and optional team plans. look elsewhere if: Users who want a classic SSH/serial/port-forwarding client or a terminal with no AI or paid-tier surface.
• Wave Terminal best for: Developers who want a graphical, widget-based terminal with remote file editing and AI over SSH. look elsewhere if: Users who need serial, Telnet, X11 or documented tunnel/SFTP management.
• WezTerm best for: Users who want one Lua-scripted terminal with built-in multiplexing and SSH on Windows, macOS and Linux. look elsewhere if: People who want a GUI host manager, SFTP browser or tunnel manager.
• Windows Terminal best for: Windows developers who switch between PowerShell, cmd and WSL shells in one tabbed window. look elsewhere if: Anyone who wants a saved-host SSH manager or file transfer UI, or who works on macOS/Linux.
• WinSCP best for: Windows users who need a scriptable GUI client for SFTP/SCP and S3 file transfers. look elsewhere if: macOS or Linux users, or those who need a terminal-first SSH workflow.
• Xum (formerly Mux) best for: Developers who want an open-source, model-agnostic agent workspace with worktree and SSH runtimes and browser access. look elsewhere if: People who want a polished stable Windows app or to run vendor CLIs such as Claude Code inside the app.
• Zellij best for: Developers who want a modern, configurable multiplexer with layouts and plugins on macOS, Linux or Windows. look elsewhere if: Users who want a standalone terminal app, an SSH connection manager, or file transfer.