Looking for a Shelly Alternative? Read This First
Shelly is a lean, PuTTY-based terminal with gesture controls built for people who live in screen and irssi, unlocked for a one-time $3.99 rather than a subscription. But it stops at the terminal. Here is an honest comparison.
If you are searching for a Shelly alternative, you already know what it does well: a fast, hardware-accelerated terminal built on the PuTTY engine, with gesture controls tuned for tools like screen and irssi, SSH key import and export, and agent forwarding for OpenSSH servers. What sends people looking elsewhere is usually that it is terminal-only, there is no SFTP, no monitoring dashboard, and no way to manage services, plus a handful of long-standing interface quirks reviewers keep running into.
Kestrel vs Shelly at a glance
| Kestrel | Shelly | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Mac (Windows coming soon) | iPhone, iPad, Mac (Apple M1 or later), Apple Vision (no Windows, Android or Linux) |
| Price | Free tier (3 servers), Pro from £3.99/month, £24.99/year, or £33.99 lifetime | Free download, one-time $3.99 "Upgrade to Pro," no subscription |
| Sync | End-to-end encrypted cloud sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac | iCloud sync, off by default, Apple devices only |
| Server management | Live CPU, RAM, disk and network dashboard, SFTP, service control, run one command across a fleet | PuTTY-based terminal, gesture controls, agent forwarding, no SFTP, monitoring or service management |
| Standout feature | AI assistant explains stack traces and suggests commands | Gesture-driven terminal control tuned for screen and irssi, hardware-accelerated rendering |
Where Shelly genuinely wins
Give credit where it is due. Shelly's terminal is built on the PuTTY engine with hardware-accelerated text rendering, and its gesture controls, swipe to switch irssi channels, hold to repeat a command, are a genuinely good fit for anyone living inside screen or irssi sessions rather than clicking through a dashboard. It supports key file import and export and agent forwarding for OpenSSH servers, and it has an Apple Vision app, which Kestrel does not. The pricing model is also hard to beat for a casual user: Shelly is free to download and a single $3.99 purchase unlocks Pro for good, no subscription, no recurring charge, ever. With a 4.4-star rating across 277 reviews, it clearly works well for the narrower job it set out to do.
Where Kestrel wins
Shelly is a terminal app, full stop. There is no SFTP or file browser anywhere in its feature list, no server monitoring dashboard, and no way to start, stop or inspect a service. Kestrel ships all three: a native SFTP file manager with drag-and-drop uploads, a live dashboard for CPU, memory, disk and network, and service control across systemd, launchd and docker, plus the ability to run one command across a whole fleet of servers at once. Reviewers of Shelly have also flagged real rough edges, saved gesture and keyboard profiles getting overwritten, no true full-screen mode because space stays reserved for the toolbar even when hidden, and simulated arrow keys that some users say should simply be real keys. Kestrel's sync is end-to-end encrypted and on by default on Pro, where Shelly's iCloud sync is opt-in and switched off until you find the setting. Kestrel also adds an AI assistant that can explain a stack trace or suggest a command mid-session, something Shelly does not attempt.
Where Kestrel does not win, yet
In the interest of an honest comparison: Shelly's one-time $3.99 Pro unlock is simply cheaper than any of Kestrel's Pro tiers if all you need is a terminal, and it never asks for a recurring payment. Shelly also has a longer track record and a larger review base to back it up, and its gesture controls for screen and irssi are more refined than anything Kestrel offers, because Kestrel does not attempt gesture-based terminal control at all. Shelly's Apple Vision app is also something Kestrel does not have. Kestrel is a newer entrant with a shorter history, its AI assistant is there to explain and suggest, not a replacement for deep protocol-level expertise, and its sync runs through a cloud backend (Supabase) rather than iCloud, which some security-conscious users may weigh differently. Neither app runs on Windows yet, Kestrel's is coming soon, Shelly has no Windows app at all.
Verdict: who should pick which
If all you need is a fast, reliable terminal for screen and irssi sessions, you want to pay once and never again, and you do not care about SFTP, monitoring or service control, Shelly is genuinely the better, cheaper tool, keep using it. If you want a file manager, a live dashboard, service control and the ability to run a command across several servers at once, alongside a terminal that syncs automatically, Kestrel fits better. If you manage servers from Windows, the honest answer is that neither app is there yet, Shelly has no Windows client at all, and Kestrel's is still coming soon.
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Add your servers once on iPhone, iPad or Mac, they’ll sync across all three.
For more on how the platforms stack up, see our posts on the best SSH client for iPhone, choosing an SSH client for Mac, and our take on a Blink Shell alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Shelly?
Yes, Kestrel's free tier connects up to 3 servers with a full SSH terminal and a basic dashboard, no account required to start. Shelly is also free to download, with a one-time $3.99 Pro unlock rather than a subscription.
Does Shelly include SFTP or a file manager?
Not that Shelly advertises anywhere, it is a terminal client built around a PuTTY-based engine and gesture controls, with no file browser or upload feature listed. Kestrel includes a native SFTP file manager with drag-and-drop uploads.
Does Shelly work on Windows or Android?
No, Shelly runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac (Apple M1 or later) and Apple Vision only. Kestrel runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac today, with a Windows app coming soon, and has no Linux or Android client either.