BranchShell Termius alternative with no subscription
Termius is a polished SSH client, but it is built on Electron, starts with a Termius account and keeps sync and session logs behind a plan billed every year. BranchShell is a native SSH client that keeps your hosts, keys and forwards in an encrypted vault on your computer, never asks for an account and costs a single payment.
No account. No card. No renewal. macOS, Windows and Linux.
Termius bills you again next year. BranchShell never does.
A subscription stops working the day you stop paying. BranchShell is $20 once for 2 computers, with updates delivered inside the app and nothing to renew.
$20 once for 2 computers, updates forever
Free Starter plan; Pro is $10 a month, billed yearly, for cloud sync and session logs
BranchShell and Termius compared
What each client is built with, what it costs and what it does in the app. Facts about the other client come from its own website and may change.
| Feature | BranchShell | Termius |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Better: Pay once: $20 for 2 computers, no renewal | Worse: Free Starter plan; Pro is $10 a month, billed yearly, for cloud sync and session logs |
| Platforms | Worse: macOS, Windows, Linux | Better: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Built with | Better: Rust, drawn on the GPU | Worse: Electron |
| Account to use it | Better: None | Worse: Termius account on first launch; local use after signing out |
| Hosts, keys and passwords | Encrypted vault on your computer | Local vault on the free plan, cloud vault on paid plans |
| Port forwarding | Local, remote and dynamic rules, one switch each | Local, remote and dynamic |
| SFTP | Two panes, sudo paths, S3 and R2 buckets | Two panes |
| Split terminals | Up to four panes per workspace | Split view in workspaces |
| Mosh | Yes | Yes |
| Snippets | Offered as you type, sorted by Laya | Yes, with autocomplete |
| Databases and SQL | Better: Fourteen engines through SSH, with a SQL client | Worse: No |
| Link to a Git client | Better: Hosts and forwards in the BranchBay tray | Worse: No |
The better side The worse side No colour: the same on both
Why developers pick BranchShell over Termius
No account, no cloud
BranchShell never asks you to sign in. Hosts, keys, identities, snippets and forwards stay in an encrypted vault on your computer and are sent nowhere.
One payment instead of a yearly plan
$20 covers 2 computers for good. Session logs and every other feature come with it, and updates never renew the price.
Native speed
Written in Rust and drawn on the GPU rather than inside a bundled browser, so the terminal keeps up with a flood of output and the app opens in a blink.
Databases on the same hosts
Open MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Redis, MongoDB and more through a host from the vault, with a table grid and a query console, without another app.
What Termius does that BranchShell does not
- Apps for iPhone, iPad and Android
- End-to-end encrypted sync of the vault between devices
- Team vaults with sharing, access control and single sign-on
- AI command generation in the terminal
- Telnet connections
If one of these is part of your day, keep Termius. The rest of the time, BranchShell does the job from one vault, for one payment.
Is BranchShell a free Termius alternative?
Does BranchShell sync my vault through a cloud like Termius?
Can I bring my hosts across from Termius?
Can I try BranchShell before leaving Termius?
What does BranchShell cost?
Try it next to Termius.
Import your SSH config and connect to the hosts you already have. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to renew and nothing to uninstall until you are sure.