SheepTerm vs Royal TSX

Royal TSX is a connection manager for the Mac: RDP, VNC, SSH, web and file transfer in one document, with credential management and task automation. SheepTerm is a terminal first: a free app for SSH, serial consoles and a local shell, with output highlighting for network devices.

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Last checked: 2026-10. Royal TSX facts are taken from the vendor pages listed under Sources; confirm current prices and features there before you buy.

SheepTerm and Royal TSX side by side

SheepTerm compared with Royal TSX
	SheepTerm	Royal TSX
Price	Free.	Lite is free (up to 10 connections, 10 credentials, 1 document). The features page lists Single User at 49 EUR with no subscription, but Royal Apps announced on 2026-10-06 that licensing is changing (an annual subscription plus a perpetual licence with long-term maintenance) and had not yet published final prices.
Platforms	macOS 26.4+ (Apple Silicon) and Windows 10/11 x64. Linux planned.	Royal TSX is a native macOS app. Its documents are compatible with Royal TS (Windows), Royal TSi (iOS) and Royal TSD (Android).
Licence	Mac app: MIT, source on GitHub. Windows build: free, source not published.	Commercial.
Connection types	SSH, serial, local shell, device web pages in tabs.	RDP (FreeRDP, with gateway support), SSH and Telnet terminals based on iTerm2, VNC and Apple Remote Desktop, web (WebKit), FTP/SFTP/SCP, TeamViewer, VMware and Hyper-V.
Serial console	Yes. Baud 9600 to 230400, fixed 8N1, no flow control. Send Break.	Not listed on the features page.
Tunnels and jump	SSH jump host, one hop, set per host.	Secure Gateway based on SSH tunnels for RDP, VNC, SSH and Telnet.
Credentials and sharing	One encrypted vault in the Keychain (Mac). Group share links, encrypted and passphrase-locked.	Credential objects reused across connections and folders; a document can be shared without sharing personal credentials.
Automation	Snippets with variables; Broadcast to Tabs.	Command tasks and key-sequence tasks, dynamic folders and credentials, AppleScript.
Sync	Optional, end-to-end encrypted through your own Google Drive.	Documents sync through network shares or cloud storage.
Network-vendor highlighting	Built-in packs for ten device families; colours fixed.	Not a listed feature.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Royal TSX if…

You manage many kinds of target from one place: RDP servers, VNC, web consoles and SSH.
You need credential objects, folders that inherit settings and dynamic folders fed from other sources.
You want connection documents shared with colleagues on Windows, iOS or Android clients of Royal TS.
You automate with command or key-sequence tasks.

Choose SheepTerm if…

Your work is terminals: SSH and console cables to network gear.
You want serial consoles in the same app as your SSH sessions, with Send Break.
You want vendor-aware highlighting and plain-text logs you can search.
You do not want a connection limit and prefer a free app with an open-source Mac version.

What to know about SheepTerm before you switch

It is young and narrow on purpose. SheepTerm does SSH, serial consoles, a local shell and device web pages in tabs. It has no SFTP file browser, Telnet, X11, RDP/VNC, port-forwarding manager or scripting engine.
The Mac app is not notarized. It is signed with a self-signed certificate, so on first launch you right-click the app and choose Open (or clear the quarantine flag once). It needs macOS 26.4 or later on Apple Silicon.
The Windows app is version 0.1. It is an unsigned portable zip, so SmartScreen may warn on first run (More info, then Run anyway). Its serial support has not yet been checked by the author on real COM hardware.
Licence. The Mac app is MIT-licensed and its source is on GitHub. The Windows build is free to use; its source is not published.
Linux is planned but not available yet.

Questions

Is SheepTerm a replacement for Royal TSX?

Only for terminal work. SheepTerm has no RDP, VNC or file transfer. If you use Royal TSX mainly for SSH sessions to switches and routers, SheepTerm covers that for free and adds serial consoles.

Does SheepTerm have a connection limit like Royal TSX Lite?

No. SheepTerm has no limit on hosts, credentials or tabs.

Can SheepTerm use a device's web interface?

Yes. A web tab opens a device's web page next to its console, and a self-signed certificate is trusted once, like an SSH host key. It is a browser tab, not a remote-desktop session.

Try SheepTerm alongside Royal TSX