Core Shell vs Xshell
Core Shell
coreshell.appXshell
xshell.comSide by side
| Figure | Core Shell | Xshell |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $2.50/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 4 |
| Spec score · SSH Clients | 8.4 (#5) | 7.6 (#24) |
| Integrations | Premium features include profile syncing across Macs and workflow automation with the Shortcuts app. | Xshell interoperates with Xmanager for X11 forwarding, Xagent for agent authentication and forwarding, and Xftp for file transfers. |
| Privacy | The maker says app data is stored locally and in iCloud Drive when sync is enabled, and saved passwords and passphrases are stored locally in macOS Keychain rather than sent remotely. | NetSarang says it does not sell collected information to third parties and says paid licenses are excluded from analytics and lead-generation uses listed in its privacy policy. |
| Purpose | Core Shell is a terminal with built-in OpenSSH support for managing hosts and logging in to remote shells. | Xshell is an SSH terminal with protocols including SFTP, Telnet, and RDP, plus tools for managing sessions. |
| Support | The maker directs users to its community to request support, report bugs, discuss ideas, and provide feedback. | One year of updates and technical support is included with the listed perpetual licenses as maintenance. |
Plans
Xshell
- Free licenseFree
- Xshell$119, paid once
- Xshell Plus$139, paid once
- Xmanager Power Suite$399, paid once
In their own words
Core Shell
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.
Xshell
Xshell is a Windows terminal for connecting to remote hosts and managing sessions. It supports SSH1, SSH2, SFTP, Telnet, Rlogin, serial, and RDP, with SFTP and port forwarding among its listed capabilities. Session, quick command, tab, and file managers help organize remote hosts. Users can create command buttons, trigger actions from terminal patterns, compose multiline input, and generate scripts from terminal input and output. Multiple tabs and tab groups can sit in one window; scripting is available in VB, JScript, and Python. Authentication profiles can store authentication variables for one or more sessions, with profile changes reflected in dependent sessions. Security features include public-key, password, and keyboard-interactive authentication, SSH PKCS#11 and CAPI, multiple encryption algorithms, and master-password encryption for saved passwords. Xshell interoperates with Xmanager, Xagent, and Xftp. The free license is restricted to personal, home, and educational use, excluding commercial use. Paid perpetual single-user options include Xshell at $119, paid once, Xshell Plus at $139, paid once, and Xmanager Power Suite at $399, paid once. A 30-day evaluation is offered without a credit card.