Core Shell vs MobaXterm

Core Shell is a terminal app for managing hosts and opening remote shells with built-in OpenSSH support. It supports remote sessions, certificates and proxy jump, and the maker says a remote host can be reached with one click. Tags help organize large host lists, while per-host advanced SSH options come with contextual help. The app integrates with macOS Keychain for passphrases and can try to restore connections after network failure or waking from sleep. It also supports USB, Bluetooth and built-in serial interfaces, with common UART, RS-232, RS-422 and RS-485 adapters. Its terminal supports Terminal.app, iTerm2 and xterm compatibility and ANSI 16-color, 256-color and 24-bit color modes. SFTP is supported, and sessions use tabs. The free Basic plan allows unlimited hosts. Premium costs $29.99 a year, billed as a 4-Year License, and adds unlimited SSH and serial connections, profile importing and exporting, profile and tag sync across Macs, Shortcuts automation and priority support. It is listed for Mac, iPhone and iPad; macOS 15.0 or later is specified.

MobaXterm combines remote-computing tools and Unix commands in a Windows application. It supports remote sessions over SSH, Telnet, Rlogin, RDP, VNC, XDMCP, FTP, SFTP, Mosh, and Serial, among other listed protocols. Its embedded X server supports OpenGL and extensions for running remote graphical applications on Windows. An SSH session can open a graphical SFTP browser for transferring files between a computer and a remote server. The terminal includes Unix commands, and additional tools can be added through downloadable plugins or the MobApt package manager. The session manager can route connections through an SSH gateway before reaching an end server. MobaXterm is offered as a single executable that can run from a USB stick without admin rights. The Home Edition has limits of 12 sessions, 2 SSH tunnels, and 4 macros; its license does not obligate the maker to provide technical assistance or maintenance. Professional Edition costs $69 per user per year, with first-year updates and optional renewal. The maker, MobaXterm, was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Toulouse, France.