Comparison of SSH clients

An SSH client is a software program which uses the secure shell protocol to connect to a remote computer. This article compares a selection of notable clients.

Further information: Secure Shell

General

Name	Developer	Status	First release	Latest release	Current version	Based on	License	Source available
AbsoluteTelnet	Celestial Software (Brian Pence)	Active	1996	2016-10-12	10.16[1]		Proprietary	No
Bitvise SSH Client	Bitvise Limited	Active	2001	2020-05-22	8.43[2]		Proprietary	No
ConnectBot	Kenny Root / Jeffrey Sharkey	Active	2007-11	2019-11-12	1.9.6 [3]	Trilead SSH-2 for Java	Apache	Yes
CRAX Commander	Soft4U2 Marcin Słowik	Active	2013-09	2015-12-01	1.10.6	libSSH2	Proprietary	Yes
Dropbear	Matt Johnston	Active	2003-04-06	2017-05-18	2017.75		MIT	Yes
eSSH Client	Ecode Software	Inactive	2002-07				Proprietary	No
lsh	Niels Möller	Active	1999-05-23	2013-06-26	2.1		GPL	Yes
OpenSSH (OpenBSD Secure Shell)	The OpenBSD project	Active	1999-12-01	2020-05-27	8.3[4]	ossh	BSD	Yes
PuTTY	Simon Tatham	Active	1999-01-22	2020-06-27	0.74[5]		MIT	Yes
SecureCRT	VanDyke Software	Active	1998-06	2020-02-11	8.7.0[6]		Proprietary	No
SSH Tectia Client/ConnectSecure	SSH Communications Security (former Tectia)	Active	1995-07	2020-03-18	6.4.18	Own implementation in C	Proprietary	No
SSH Secure Shell Client	SSH Communications Security Corp.	Inactive	2000	2003	3.2.9[7]		Proprietary	No
Tera Term	TeraTerm Project	Active	2004	2018-08-31	4.100[8]	Tera Term Pro 2.3 (1994–1998)	BSD	Yes
TN3270 Plus	SDI USA, Inc.	Active	2006				Proprietary	No
TtyEmulator	FCS Software	Active	2002-05				Proprietary	No
wolfSSH	wolfSSL	Active	2016-07-20	2019-10-31	1.4.3	wolfCrypt	GPL or Commercial Distribution	Yes
ZOC Terminal	EmTec, Innovative Software	Active	1995-07-01	2020-01-09	7.26.1[9]		Proprietary	No

Platform

The operating systems or virtual machines the SSH clients are designed to run on without emulation include several possibilities:

• Partial indicates that while it works, the client lacks important functionality compared to versions for other OSs but may still be under development.

The list is not exhaustive, but rather reflects the most common platforms today.

Name	macOS	Windows	Cygwin	BSD	Linux	Solaris	Java	OpenVMS	z/OS	AIX	HP-UX	iOS	Android	Maemo	Windows Phone
AbsoluteTelnet	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
Bitvise SSH Client	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
ConnectBot	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
CRAX Commander	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Dropbear	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes[Note 1]	No	Yes	?
eSSH Client	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	No	?
lsh	Yes	No	No	Partial[Note 2]	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	No	?
OpenSSH (OpenBSD Secure Shell)	Included	Included[Note 3]	Included	Included	Included[Note 4]	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[Note 1]	Yes	Yes	?
PuTTY	Partial	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	No	No	No	No	No	Beta
SecureCRT	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	?
SmartFTP	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
SSH Tectia Client/ConnectSecure	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes[Note 5]	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Tera Term	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
TN3270 Plus	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
TtyEmulator	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
WinSCP	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes[Note 1]	No	No	?
wolfSSH	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	No	No	No	No	No
ZOC	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
Name	OS X	Windows	Cygwin	BSD	Linux	Solaris	Java	OpenVMS	z/OS	AIX	HP-UX	iOS	Android	Maemo	Windows Phone

1. Only for jailbroken devices.
2. lsh supports only one BSD platform officially, FreeBSD.
3. Included and enabled by default since windows 10 version 1803. Win32-OpenSSH can be installed as an optional component in the Windows versiones before Windows 10 version 1803 to Windows 10 version 1709. Portable version can be download from Win32-OpenSSH for other versions.
4. The majority of Linux distributions have OpenSSH as an official package, but a few do not.
5. In the form of a Java Secure File Transfer API.

Technical

Name	User interface	SSH1	SSH2	Additional protocols		Tunneling			Session multiplexing [Note 1]	Kerberos	IPv6	Terminal	SFTP/SCP	Proxy client[Note 2]
				TELNET	rlogin	Port forwarding	SOCKS [Note 3]	VPN [Note 4]
AbsoluteTelnet	GUI (multi-session, single-window)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	SOCKS 4, 5; HTTP
Bitvise SSH Client	GUI or command line	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	SOCKS 4, 5
Dropbear	command line	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
lsh	command line	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
OpenSSH (OpenBSD Secure Shell)	command line	No[Note 5]	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	ProxyCommand
PuTTY	GUI or command line	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes[Note 6]	Yes	Yes	Yes[Note 7]	SOCKS 4, 5; HTTP; Telnet; Local
SecureCRT	GUI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	SOCKS 4, 5; HTTP; Telnet; Generic
SmartFTP	GUI (multi-session, single-window)	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	SOCKS 4, 5; HTTP
SSH Tectia Client/ConnectSecure	GUI or command line	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	SOCKS 4, 5; HTTP
Tera Term	GUI	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	SCP	SOCKS 4, 5; HTTP; Telnet
TN3270 Plus	GUI	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	SOCKS 4
TtyEmulator	GUI or command line	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	SOCKS 4,4a, 5; HTTP Local
WinSCP [Note 8]	GUI or command line	Yes	Yes	No	No	limited[Note 9]	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	simple	Yes	SOCKS 4, 5; HTTP; Telnet; Local
wolfSSH	command line	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	simple	Yes	?
ZOC	TDI or command line	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	SCP through terminal[Note 10]	SOCKS 4; 5; HTTP; Jumpserver
Name	User interface	SSH1	SSH2	Additional protocols		Tunneling			Session multiplexing [Note 1]	Kerberos	IPv6	Terminal	SFTP/SCP	Proxy client[Note 2]
				TELNET	rlogin	Port forwarding	SOCKS [Note 3]	VPN [Note 4]

1. Accelerating OpenSSH connections with ControlMaster.
2. Can the SSH client connect itself through a proxy? This is distinct from offering a SOCKS proxy or port forwarding.
3. The ability for the SSH client to perform dynamic port forwarding by acting as a local SOCKS proxy.
4. The ability for the SSH client to establish a VPN, e.g. using TUN/TAP.
5. OpenSSH deleted SSH protocol version 1 support in version 7.6 (2017-10-03)
6. The version 0.63 supports GSSAPI. Successfully tested on Win 8 using Active Directory
7. The PuTTY developers provide SCP and SFTP functionality as binaries for separate download.
8. Winscp bundles a number of software components including putty. .
9. WinSCP connection tunneling.
10. SCP according to ZOC features page.

Features

Name	Keyboard mapping	Session tabs	ZMODEM transfers	Find text in buffer	Mouse input support[Note 1]	Unicode support	URL hyperlinking	Public key authentication	Smart card support	Hardware encryption	FIPS 140-2 validation	Scripting	Shared Database	Auto-reconnect	CA Certificates
AbsoluteTelnet	full	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
Bitvise SSH Client	?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	?	Partial	Yes	No	Yes	No
OpenSSH (OpenBSD Secure Shell)	?	No	No	?	Yes[Note 2]	Yes	not native[Note 3]	Yes	Yes[Note 4]	Yes	Partial[Note 5]	No	No	?	Yes[Note 6]
PuTTY	No	No[Note 7]	No	No	Yes	Yes	No[Note 8]	Yes	No[Note 9]	Yes	No	No	No	No	No[Note 10]
SecureCRT	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	?	?
SmartFTP	Partial	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	AES-NI	Yes	No	?	?	?
Tera Term	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	?	?
TN3270 Plus	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	?	?	?
TtyEmulator	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	?	?	?
wolfSSH	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	Yes
ZOC	full	Yes	Yes	Alt+F	Yes	UTF-8	Yes	Yes	pkcs#11	No	No	Yes	?	?	?

1. The ability to transmit mouse input to text mode applications such as Midnight Commander
2. Only when the terminal itself supports mouse input. Most graphical ones do, e.g. xterm
3. No native URL highlighting; however most graphical consoles support URL highlighting
4. OpenSSH needs to be patched to ask for the pin of the smartcard. If you don't want to patch OpenSSH you can use ssh-agent (the link is in french).
5. Validated when running OpenSSH 2.1 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 in FIPS mode or when running OpenSSH 1.1 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 in FIPS mode
6. OpenSSH supports the minimal certificate format since v5.4. See the release notes for OpenSSH v5.4.
7. PuTTY does not support tabs directly, but many wrappers are available that do (e.g. PuTTY Connection Manager, SuperPuTTY, MTPuTTY, PuTTYTabManager, mRemoteNG, WinSSHTerm, PuTTY Manager, PuttyTabs and TWSC (Terminal Window ShortCuts)).
8. PuTTY does not support this, some forks of PuTTY do (e.g. PuTTY Tray and KiTTY).
9. PuTTY does not support smart cards, but is supported in puttywincrypt, PuTTY-CAC, and in Smartcard Authentication – Secure & Easy putty version.
10. Putty v71.0 doesn't support Openssh Certificates. See Ben Harris' 2016-04-21 wish. and

See also

• Comparison of SSH servers
• Comparison of FTP client software
• Comparison of remote desktop software

References

1. https://www.celestialsoftware.net/absolutetelnet-ssh-client/absolutetelnet/ssh-version-history-9.53.html
2. "Bitvise SSH Client Version History | Bitvise". bitvise.com. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
3. https://github.com/connectbot/connectbot
4. "OpenSSH 8.3 release notes".
5. "PuTTY Change Log".
6. "SecureCRT Release History".
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. "Download Files List – Tera Term – OSDN".
9. "ZOC version number and version history".

External links

• SSH for Java – Comparing Java clients