Comparison
Of everything on the Mac, Terminalus is the closest thing to Noden: both are native, both put an SSH terminal, an SFTP file manager and a Windows remote desktop in one window. This page is about the places they actually differ.
Disclosure: we make Noden. That is a conflict of interest and you should read this page knowing it. Every Terminalus claim below links to their own site so you can check it, and the last section is about when Terminalus is the better pick.
| Noden | Terminalus | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon & Intel) | macOS and iPadOS |
| Native | Yes — SwiftUI and AppKit, not Electron | Yes — built with Apple frameworks |
| SSH terminal | Yes | Yes |
| SFTP file manager | Yes — dual-pane | Yes |
| RDP | Yes — included in the free tier | Yes |
| Serial console | Yes — USB-to-serial, vendor baud presets, free tier | Not listed |
| AI command assistant | Yes — proposes, waits for approval | Not listed |
| VNC | No | Not listed |
| Credential storage | macOS Keychain, device-only; Touch ID with a grace window | Stored locally on your devices; credentials not sent to third-party servers |
| iPad | No — macOS only, deliberately | Yes |
| Price | Free tier (5 saved connections of any type). Pro USD 5.99 first year, then USD 10.99/year | Subscription — see their site for current figures |
Terminalus details read from terminalus.dev and its App Store listing on 18 September 2026. “Not listed” means the feature is not described in their public materials — not that it is absent. We could not load their pricing page on that date, so no figure is quoted here; check it yourself before deciding.
The core claim is the same claim. Both apps exist because managing a mixed fleet from a Mac with a terminal emulator, a separate transfer app and Microsoft's remote desktop client is three windows too many. Both are native, so both feel like Mac apps rather than a web page in a frame, and both put the three protocols behind one connection list.
If that is the whole of your requirement, the two are close enough that the deciding factor will be price, the iPad, or one of the two features below.
The console port. Noden reaches a switch over a USB-to-serial cable, with baud presets taken from Cisco, FortiGate, Sophos, MikroTik, Aruba and Ubiquiti documentation, and it reaches old network gear over SSH that modern clients refuse — SSH-1.99 banners, legacy key exchange, keyboard-interactive prompts. If your work involves hardware rather than only servers, that is the difference that matters; see serial console on a Mac and why a Mac SSH client refuses your switch.
An AI assistant that waits. You describe a task in plain English, Noden proposes the shell command, and nothing runs until you approve it. Potentially dangerous operations are flagged first. It is optional and it is a Pro feature.
RDP and serial in the free tier. Noden's free version allows five saved connections of any type, so remote desktop and console access are not behind the paywall.
It runs on iPad. Noden is macOS-only and that is deliberate, not a roadmap item. If you want the same connection list on an iPad, Noden will not give it to you and Terminalus will.
Pick Terminalus if you work from an iPad as well as a Mac — that is a real capability gap on our side and no amount of desktop polish closes it. Pick it also if you prefer its interface after trying both; these two apps are close enough that taste is a legitimate tie-breaker, and both have a way to try before paying.
Pick Noden if your week includes a console cable or a switch that a modern SSH client will not talk to, if you want RDP without a subscription, or if a command assistant that proposes rather than executes sounds useful. And if you need VNC, an iPhone app, or Kubernetes, neither of these is your answer — see SSHive and Tempest.
For those three protocols alone they are very close — both are native and both show all three in one window. Noden adds a serial console, legacy-hardware SSH and an AI command assistant, and includes RDP in its free tier; Terminalus runs on iPad, which Noden does not.
Its own site lists macOS and iPadOS. For an iPhone client, SSHive and Tempest both run there.
No. Noden is macOS-only by design, which is what lets it use AppKit and Metal directly rather than a shared cross-platform layer.
Noden Pro is USD 5.99 for the first year and USD 10.99 a year after that, and the free tier includes RDP and serial. Terminalus is a subscription; we could not load their pricing page on 18 September 2026, so check their site for the current figure rather than trusting a number from us.
Free for up to five saved connections of any type — SSH, RDP or serial. macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel.
See also: SSH, SFTP and RDP in one Mac app · Noden vs SSHive · Noden vs Tempest · Best SSH client for Mac