PuTTY for Mac: 10 Free Alternative SSH Clients to Use

Jun. 11, 2019

In this era dominated by the web, havingyour own websiteis very important. Whether it is to support your business or just to fuel your passion forweb development, you might need to login in or transfer files remotely to servers hosting your website. For this, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the most common option. But if you want to ensure that the connection is protected, you should use Secure SHell protocol (SSH) which is encrypted to prevent any leakage of data. Over time, PuTTY has become the most popular terminal emulator that supports a variety of protocols. While PuTTY is very versatile, it is only available on Windows and that’s a problem for Mac users. So, if you’re a Mac user looking to utilize the power of SSH, here are some of the PuTTY alternatives SSH clients for macOS that you can check out.

1. Terminal

1. Terminal

The Terminal app is thedefault CLIthat comes bundled with the Mac, and is arather powerful tool, in case you didn’t know. You can use the Terminal to SSH into a remote server, provided, obviously, that you have the valid login credentials. Here’s a short example of how you can use the Terminal to SSH into a web-server. I’m using my website’s hosting server for illustration purposes. All you will need to do, is change the server name to your server and use your login credentials.

LaunchTerminal.
Use the followingcommandto connect to your web server using SSH:

ssh <server_name> -p <port_number>

It is likely that Terminal shows you the following message:

The authenticity of host ‘xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx’ can’t be established.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

TypeYesto continue.

You will be asked to enter the password to the server or (or control panel in case of shared hosting service). The password will not be shown, even using asterisks (*), so make sure you enter it correctly. Once you have entered the login password,hit Enter, and you will be connected via SSH. You can nowrun shell commandson your server.

iTerm2 is aTerminal replacement for Macwith a plethora of added features that the default Terminal app doesn’t offer. Notable among the various features that iTerm2 offers are:

There are a lot of other features that are offered by iTerm2. You can read about them on theirofficial website. The process to SSH into a web server using iTerm2 is exactly the same as the process in Terminal, except, iTerm2 will make your life easier inside the Terminal.

Downloadhere

Termius, earlier known as Serverauditor, is more than just a simple SSH client. It is a broad set of tools which facilitates a panorama of server management applications and uses commonprotocols such as SSH, Mosh, and Telnet. In Termius, you cansave a host so that there’s no need to enter the host address, username, or password every timebefore interacting with the server. Further, instead of being saved on your local machine, this data is associated with your Termius account which can beaccessed on any other machine – even on an Android or iOS smartphone.

Additionally, there’s agraphical SFTP interfacewhich lets you easily create new folders, copy new files, and manage the existing ones using simple actions. Overall, Termius is a great SSH tool for new users as well for anyone administrator who works remotely and uses many different machines to manage the server.

Terminus offers both free and paid versions. The free version comes with all basic features including SSH, Telnet and Mosh, and support for port forwarding. However, if you need other features such as secure sync, SFTP, and more, you will have to buy the paid version that costs $8.33/month.

Downloadhere

OpenSSH is a free and open source SSH protocol with a major focus on encryption and data protection. Data, including passwords, transmitted using OpenSSH areencrypted with multiple protocolsto ensure full security of the contents on your server. Other than SSH, OpenSSH can also be used for file transfer using commands like SCP and SFTP. Besides ensuring secure tunneling of data, OpenSSH pays strong attention to passive ways of securing connections includingsupport for multi-factor authentication and one-time passwordstoprevent IP or DNS spoofingand avert fake routes. Lastly, OpenSSH also gives users theoption to compress databefore transmitting to ensure faster file transfers.

Setting up OpenSSH can be a bitoverwhelming for new usersand is only advised for those who have sufficient knowledge about SSH and other server management tools.

Downloadhere

Setup Instructionshere.

Royal TSX is an extensivetool for managing multiple applications, virtual desktops, and server connections remotely, and all of this can be done simultaneouly. Using Royal TSX, you can load and use multiple well-knownsoftware like TeamViewer, VMware, Chicken, FreeRDP etc and protocols such as SFTP, SCP, VNC, SSH, Telnet – all of these and much more from a single interface. To manage each of these applications, IT admins must download small plug-ins but support for SSH is built it.

To start an SSH shell in Royal TSX on Mac, follow the following steps:

ssh://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:yy

Here “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx” refers to the IP address of the server and “yy” refers to the port number.

PressEnterand you’ll be asked toenter the usernameandthen the passwordto enter the server.
Once you enter the password, you can use the Royal TSX in a Terminal-like interface

Royal TSX isavailable for freebut while using the software under the shareware model, you will belimited to 10 connectionsand only asingle documentper application.

Downloadhere

Hyper is a gorgeous-looking command line interface (CLI) which offersuniformly appealing interface across all major operating systemsfor desktops such as Windows, Mac, and Linux. Being a CLI, itworks exactly like Terminaland you can execute the same commands to call a server via SSH. As per the official website, Hyper is built around open web standards and isdesigned to prioritize speed and stability, but one cannot deny its attractive visuals and smooth animations are what make it a much more appealing PuTTY alternative than Terminal or iTerm2.

Downloadhere

Developed by Google Secure Shell Developers, the Chrome Secure Shell is a good PuTTY for Mac alternative for anyone who works with theGoogle Chrome browser. It is anxterm-compatible terminal emulator and stand-alone ssh clientfor Chrome. The app uses Native-Client to connect directly to ssh servers without the need for external proxies. It also includes an SFTP command-line tool. I love that the developers have createdextensive documentationthat can teach you everything about SSH and how the app works. If you are looking for a free SSH client for Mac, you should give it a chance.

Downloadhere

Kitty Terminal is a fast GPU-based terminal emulator thatoffloads rendering to the GPU for lower system loadand buttery smooth scrolling. If you are using one of the newest MacBook Pro and Air that comes with better-integrated graphics or the 16-inch MacBook Pro that has dedicated graphics support, you will find the performance smoother than some of the other PuTTY for Mac alternatives that we have mentioned on this list. And the performance is not the only thing that it offers. Kitty Terminal is not light on features either.

The app is also open-source and free to use forever. Overall, I would say that it’s a very capable free SSH client for Mac and can easily negate the absence of PuTTY on the platform.

Downloadhere

Codinn Core Shell is a fully-featured terminal app with built-in support for OpenSSH. It lets you effectively login and manage hosts. The app is intuitive to use and hence great for productivity. And I know that users will enjoy its UI as it feels native to macOS. Codinn Core Shell is compatible with both Terminal.app and xterm.It supports ANSI 16 and 256 color palettes, along with 24-bit true color. It can also work with GnuPG agent, YubiKey, Authy, and Google Authenticator. The last feature that I want to mention is the theme support. It offers 8 built-in themes, and all of them look great. As you can see, It’s a capable alternative for PuTTY on Mac. The basic version of the app is free, and the premium version starts art $9.99/year.

Downloadhere

While Mac already comes with Terminal built-in to run SSH commands, the options listed above expand the horizon of opportunities for you. If you’re managing a small website,learning how to use SSH can be vital, especially with the rising concerns about the safety of remotely-stored data. We would love to hear about your experience with SSH on a Mac, and the problems (if any), that you have had to face due to the lack of PuTTY support for macOS. Share your opinions in the comments section below.