Where Moshpit fits, and where it doesn't.
iPhone terminals are a crowded shelf, and several of them are very good at things Moshpit does not attempt. This page is the version of that comparison we would want to read before paying for something: capability by capability, with the cases where you should buy a competitor instead stated plainly rather than buried.
The short version
Moshpit is built for one job: your coding agents can reach you. An agent blocks on a permission prompt, your lock screen says so — even with the app closed — and one tap puts you in the pane that asked. Everything else — SSH, Mosh, tmux, herdr — exists so that job works on a real terminal instead of a toy one. If that is not your job, a different app is probably a better buy, and the last section says which.
Capability by capability
Columns are categories rather than named products, because features and prices move and a table that names names goes stale and unfair within a release. The pricing row is the exception — those figures were checked directly, and dated.
| Capability | Moshpit | Subscription terminals | One-time tmux clients | Agent-first apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Know an agent needs you — app closed End-to-end sealed push from your own host; the tap lands in the pane that asked |
Sealed push + quiet rules | — | Connection alerts only | Varies — typically through their own cloud relay |
| Agent status with no host-side setup | Built in on herdr | — | — | Usually needs a hook or agent integration |
| Voice input, transcribed on the device Dictate a prompt, read it, then insert it — the audio never leaves the phone |
On-device only | — | — | Dictation via the system keyboard |
| Mosh Survives Wi-Fi/5G handoff, sleep, packet loss |
Native | Sometimes | Usually absent | Sometimes |
| tmux rendered natively Not a shrunken desktop |
Control mode | Varies | Yes — this is their core | Varies |
| herdr support | Yes | — | — | Rare |
| Start an isolated task from the phone New git worktree, new workspace, agent started in it |
One sheet | — | — | Rare |
| Data collected | None — no account, no telemetry | Account required | Varies | Varies |
| Pricing model | One-time purchase | Recurring, indefinitely | One-time | Mostly subscription |
What the field actually costs
Checked on the App Store and the vendors' own pages on 2026-08-07. Prices change and regional pricing differs — treat this as a snapshot, not a live quote, and check the store before you buy anything.
| App | Model | Price when checked |
|---|---|---|
| Termius | Freemium + subscription | Pro about $10/month; free tier has no cloud sync |
| Blink Shell | Subscription (source is GPL) | Blink+ about $19.99/year; Build add-on about $7.99/month |
| Prompt 3 (Panic) | Subscription | About $9.99/year, with a trial |
| Secure ShellFish | Free + one-time unlock | About $29.99 lifetime |
| Moshi | Subscription + lifetime | About $7.99/month, $69.99/year, or $199 lifetime |
| Attach | One-time, no in-app purchases | About $4.99 |
| Moshpit | One-time, no in-app purchases (source is GPL-3.0) | $6.99 launch → $9.99 standard |
The launch price is a real launch price, not a struck-through discount: Moshpit has never sold at a higher number, so there is nothing honest to cross out. It rises to $9.99 once the first wave of buyers is in. Buying at $6.99 includes every update after it, at no extra cost.
When you should not choose Moshpit
These are real, and they are the reason to read this page rather than the front one. If any of them is your situation, one of the apps above is the better purchase and we would rather you bought it than returned ours.
Better served elsewhere
- You want a mature product with years of reviews. Moshpit is new. There is no track record to check, no long changelog, and no community answering questions at 2am. Termius, Blink, Prompt and Secure ShellFish have all been shipping for years.
- You need file management as a first-class feature. Moshpit is a terminal. If your day is SFTP, editing remote files in a GUI, or mounting a server into the Files app, Secure ShellFish is built precisely for that and Moshpit is not.
- You want the same subscription to cover desktop. Moshpit is iPhone and iPad only, bought once, with no Mac or web client. Termius and Prompt cover several platforms under one account.
- You need Android. There is no Android version and none planned.
- You want an app that syncs hosts and keys across devices for you. Moshpit has no account and no cloud, which is the point — but it also means moving to a new phone means adding your hosts again.
- You do not run agents. If you just want a solid SSH client, everything Moshpit is unusual at is wasted on you, and the one-time tmux clients are cheaper and perfectly good.
Clearly the right one
- You run Claude Code, Codex or similar on your own machines, and you are tired of finding an agent that stopped hours ago waiting for a yes.
- You use herdr, or you would if a phone client supported it.
- You work from trains, cafés and other places where the network moves — Mosh is built in, not an add-on.
- You would rather buy something once than rent it, and you would rather an app collected nothing about you at all.
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