A command-line file-transfer program with SFTP support, queues and scripting for repeatable transfer jobs.
The Best OpenSSH Alternatives in 2026
Looking for something like OpenSSH? Here are 23 alternatives, ranked by how closely they match it on purpose, features and platforms. Of these, 3 are free or have a free plan and 18 are open source.
The OpenSSH toolkit provides secure remote connections and command-line file transfer, including an SFTP client.
Top picks at a glance
Quick comparison
| # | Alternative | Pricing | Open source | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lftp | Free | Yes | — |
| 2 | GitHub Desktop | Free | Yes | Windows, macOS |
| 3 | Edbrowse | — | Not stated | Linux |
| 4 | Termius | — | Not stated | Android, iOS, Linux |
| 5 | jq | Free | Yes | — |
| 6 | Awesome CLI | — | Yes | — |
| 7 | wayback-machine-downloader | — | Not stated | — |
| 8 | open | — | Yes | Linux, Windows |
| 9 | Lip Gloss | — | Yes | — |
| 10 | tailspin | — | Yes | Windows, Linux |
All OpenSSH alternatives
Free open-source graphical Git client from GitHub for Windows and macOS, with file review, commits, branches and remote synchronization.
Edbrowse
edbrowse.orgEdbrowse combines a text editor, browser, and email client in a command-line application.
Termius
termius.comConnect to remote computers from Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, or Android with the Termius SSH client.
A free command-line JSON processor for filters, transformations and scripted data extraction.
Awesome CLI provides a command-line tool for browsing and exploring Awesome lists.
Download an entire website from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine with this Ruby command-line tool.
Open URLs, files, or executables from command-line tools and scripts with the cross-platform open package.
Style terminal layouts with Lip Gloss, a library of definitions for arranging command-line interfaces.
Log files can be highlighted in a terminal using tailspin, a command-line utility.
Find coding answers from the command line with howdoi, an instant programming help tool.
Sign files and verify digital signatures with Minisign, a small command-line signing tool.
Add colored output to command-line applications with the yoctocolors package.
Schedule and manage shell commands with pueue, a command-line task queue.
SVGO optimizes SVG files through a Node.js library and command-line tool.
Explore command-line utilities and other tools for Go projects in this repository collection.
ArtiVC provides command-line data versioning for managing large files in cloud storage.
Sift
sift-tool.orgSearch large sets of text with sift, a fast command-line alternative to grep that provides regular expression matching.
Record terminal commands and output as shareable videos using VHS, a command-line session recording tool.
IWE turns Markdown files into a queryable knowledge graph with editor, command-line, and agent memory tools.
Find the latest release version of a project with lastversion, a command-line tool documented in this repository.
LRM provides a command line tool and terminal editor for managing .NET resource localization files and translations.
LLM
llm.datasette.ioUse LLM, a command-line utility and Python library, to interact with large language models.
Alternatives to similar tools
What is the best alternative to OpenSSH?
Is there a free alternative to OpenSSH?
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Alternatives are suggested from the purpose and features described in our listings. Different pages for the same product appear once. Read each description to check whether it fits your task. How we choose alternatives · Suggest an alternative


















