MXterm Pro vs Tern
A side-by-side of two tools that overlap but start from different places. Facts come from each vendor's own pages, checked 2026-10-20.
| MXterm Pro made by us | Tern | |
|---|---|---|
| platforms | macOSWindowsLinux | macOSLinux |
| price | FreemiumFree plan, no account (unlimited terminal panes, up to 5 SSH servers, 1 Control Room with 2 agents). Pro: lifetime licence from $29 for 3 devices for the first 100 licences, then from $8.9/month (seen 2026-10-20 on mxterm.net). | FreeSite states 'Free'; no paid tiers listed and no pricing page (seen 2026-10-20). |
| source | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| SSH | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| SFTP | ✓ yes | ? not verified |
| Tabs | ✓ yes | ? not verified |
| Split panes | ✓ yes | ? not verified |
| Port forwarding | ✓ yes | ? not verified |
| Jump host | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| X11 | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| Serial | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| Telnet | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| Mosh | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| Cloud sync | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| Team sharing | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| Scripting / API | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| AI agents | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| MCP | ? not verified | ? not verified |
| Phone control | ? not verified | ✓ yes |
| Mobile app | ✓ yes | ? not verified |
| Multi-agent | ? not verified | ✓ yes |
| Git worktrees | ? not verified | ✓ yes |
+ Tern is stronger at
- Each agent task gets its own worktree and branch, with one review queue and merge/PR flow
- Conflict radar flags tasks editing the same file before merge
- Phone pairing by QR over Tailscale, LAN or your own relay, with no Tern servers
- Supports 16 agent CLIs including Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor Agent and OpenCode
+ MXterm Pro is stronger at
- Runs several AI coding agent CLIs side by side in a Control Room, optionally one git worktree per agent
- SSH hosts, an SFTP panel with an editor, and local terminal panes live in the same tabbed window
- Local-first: conversation records stay on your machine and provider keys sit in the OS keychain
- Free plan needs no account and has no pane limit
~/which to pick
- pick Tern if
- Developers running several coding agents in parallel who want worktree isolation, review queue and phone approval for free.
- pick MXterm Pro if
- Developers who run AI coding agents and SSH sessions together and want one native window, plus phone access to those sessions.
- skip Tern if
- Users needing a general SSH/SFTP client, Windows support, or open source.
- skip MXterm Pro if
- Anyone who needs an X11 server, RDP/VNC, serial consoles or a hosted team vault today.