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Terminalia

Comparison

Terminalia vs Termius: a Termius alternative for Mac

Terminalia is a native SSH client for macOS. It’s free, needs no account, and runs on your Mac’s own OpenSSH and your ~/.ssh/config. Termius is a cross-platform SSH client (macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android) with a free tier and paid plans that sync your hosts across devices and teams. If you work from a single Mac and your servers already live in ~/.ssh/config, Terminalia gives you SFTP, tunnels, PM2, Docker and logs over one connection. If you need mobile access, sync or a shared team vault, Termius is the better fit.

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macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon and Intel · free

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The short version

Termius takes your servers to every device you own. Terminalia stays on your Mac and works with the SSH setup you already have.

When Termius is the better choice

Pick Termius if any of these sound like you:

  • You work across devices. A Mac at the office, Windows or Linux elsewhere, or a quick fix from your phone. Terminalia only runs on macOS.
  • You need sync. You want a new host to show up everywhere without copying anything. Terminalia doesn’t sync.
  • You share access with a team. Termius has shared vaults and, on higher tiers, SSO. Terminalia is a single-user tool.
  • Your servers use passwords. Termius supports password login; Terminalia only connects with SSH keys.
  • You use Mosh, Telnet or serial. Terminalia speaks SSH and nothing else.
Terminalia

When Terminalia is the better choice

  • Your work lives on a Mac and in ~/.ssh/config. Terminalia reads your hosts, jump boxes and forwards as they are, and runs the system OpenSSH, so agents, known_hosts and ProxyJump behave exactly as in Terminal. It never writes to ~/.ssh.
  • You do more than open a shell. Upload files over SFTP, edit a remote config, open a tunnel to the database, restart a PM2 app or a Docker Compose service and tail its logs, all in one window.
  • You want one connection. Terminalia opens a master session (ControlMaster) and runs the file browser, tunnels, logs and terminal over it. You authenticate once, and if the network drops it reconnects and brings your tunnels back.
  • You don’t want accounts or data leaving your Mac. No sign-up, no telemetry. Profiles stay on your Mac and your key passphrase goes in the macOS Keychain.
  • Free is enough. There’s no paid tier and nothing locked.
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Worth knowing before you download

  • SSH keys only. If your server only accepts passwords, creating and copying a key takes a minute (Support › password).
  • It isn’t notarized by Apple yet: macOS warns you the first time, and you click “Open Anyway” in System Settings › Privacy & Security.
  • The editor needs an internet connection the first time it opens.
  • It isn’t open source.

Moving from Termius to Terminalia

  1. Check that your hosts connect from Terminal with ssh alias. If some servers only exist in Termius, add them to ~/.ssh/config (the ssh config guide has examples).
  2. Download Terminalia and import your ~/.ssh/config. Pick the hosts you want; ProxyJump, keys and forwards come with them.
  3. Connect. If your key has a passphrase, type it once and it’s stored in the Keychain.

You can keep both apps installed. They don’t share anything.

Try Terminalia with your ~/.ssh/config

Download the DMG, import your hosts and you’re connected in a minute. Free, no account, no telemetry. All you need is macOS 14 or later and an SSH key.

Download free for Mac

Free · no account · macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon and Intel

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