Guides · September 2026
The best SSH client for Windows
Eight honest options, one table, and who each is for — starting with the one you already have.
Start with what Windows already ships.
Windows has had a real OpenSSH client since Windows 10 build 1809, as a feature on demand. Open PowerShell and type ssh -V; if it answers, you are done installing. If not, add it from Settings → Optional features, or from an administrator PowerShell with the first line below. It is the same ssh, scp, sftp, ssh-keygen, and ssh-agent you would use on a Mac, and Windows Terminal — the default terminal on Windows 11 since 22H2, a Store install on Windows 10 — gives it tabs, split panes, and profiles that pick up WSL distributions automatically.
That combination is the right answer for most people, and it is free. The one thing to know is the agent: Windows ships ssh-agent as a service that is disabled by default. Enable it once, ssh-add your key, and every terminal you open can use it without a passphrase prompt. Microsoft’s key management page has the rest; ssh-keygen defaults to Ed25519.
Side by side.
Facts from each vendor’s own site as of September 2026. mosh has no native Windows build, so that column is about who bundles a client.
| Client | Price | SFTP | Key agent | Tabs | Mosh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenSSH + Windows Terminal | Free, built in | sftp and scp on the command line | ssh-agent as a Windows service | Yes — tabs and split panes | No |
| PuTTY | Free, MIT | PSFTP and PSCP, command line | Pageant | No — one window per session; several in one window is a long-standing wishlist item | No |
| KiTTY | Free; a fork of PuTTY 0.76 | pscp.exe and WinSCP integration | As PuTTY | As PuTTY, plus a session launcher and a sessions filter | No |
| Termius | Starter free; Pro $10/month billed annually; Team $20/seat | Yes | Own keychain; TPM-backed biometric keys | Yes | Yes — Mosh 1.3.0 and newer |
| MobaXterm | Home free, capped at 12 sessions and 2 tunnels; Professional $69/user/year | Graphical browser in the sidebar; edited files save back | Not documented on the vendor site | Yes — multitab, up to four terminals per view | Yes — a Mosh session type |
| Tabby | Free, MIT | Yes | Forwards Pageant or the Windows OpenSSH agent | Yes — tabs on any side, nested split panes | No |
| Bitvise SSH Client | Free for any use; support licences from $39.95 | Graphical, with resume and recursive transfers | Pageant; cannot use the Windows OpenSSH agent | Not documented | No |
| WSL (Ubuntu) | Free; wsl --install | Linux sftp, rsync, everything | Linux ssh-agent | Via Windows Terminal | Yes — apt-get install mosh |
Who each one is for.
OpenSSH + Windows Terminal — almost everyone
If your needs are ssh, scp, keys, and a config file, this is the answer, and it is already installed. Learn ~/.ssh/config and you will not miss a GUI.
PuTTY and KiTTY — the serial port and the locked-down desktop
A single .exe with no installer, serial and Telnet alongside SSH, and Pageant. PuTTY is still maintained under an MIT licence. KiTTY adds session filtering, automatic logon, and a launcher to a PuTTY 0.76 base. Neither has tabs; both run anywhere.
Termius — one client on every device
Hosts, keys, and snippets synced across Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android; mosh; TPM-backed keys. The free tier is genuinely usable; sync is what the $10 buys.
MobaXterm — the sysadmin’s toolbox
SSH with an SFTP sidebar, an X server, RDP, VNC, serial, and mosh in one window. Home Edition is free with limits a home user rarely hits; Professional is $69 a year.
Tabby — the modern, hackable terminal
Open source, MIT, split panes and tabs, an SSH manager with jump hosts and agent forwarding to either Pageant or the Windows agent. Heavier than the rest, by its own README’s admission.
Bitvise — files first
A strong graphical SFTP client, free for any use, with a terminal and SOCKS tunnelling beside it. Choose it for file transfer; choose something else for a daily terminal.
WSL — the honest power route
One command installs Ubuntu; from there it is Linux: OpenSSH, mosh, tmux, rsync, and every tool you would use on a server. Windows Terminal picks it up as a profile. If you are going to spend your day in ssh, spend it here.
When the answer is a browser.
There is a case none of these serve: a Windows machine you cannot change. The corporate laptop where installing software needs a ticket, the locked-down desktop where the firewall says no, the borrowed PC. What you want from it is not an SSH client at all — it is your own machines at home or in the office: the Linux box running a build, the Mac running an agent, the workstation with the checkout. Every client above needs those machines to be reachable, which means a port forward, a VPN, or a tailnet the locked-down box will not let you install.
spawnd inverts it. One daemon on each macOS or Linux host you own; the daemon dials out, so nothing on the host listens — no open port, no VPN. Any browser is the console, so the Windows machine contributes a browser tab and nothing else: no client to install, no key on the device, one approval against a short code, and a one-click revocation every host honors when the laptop goes back. Sessions live on the host with a worker process owning each PTY, so they outlive the closed tab and the dropped connection, scrollback intact, in a workspace per project with a grid of sessions across hosts. Your browser talks to each daemon peer-to-peer, end-to-end encrypted; the server that introduces them never sees session content. It is open source, MIT/Apache-2.0. To be exact about the boundary: the daemon runs on macOS and Linux, and the Windows machine is the browser side.
Start
One line on the hosts you own; Windows brings the browser.
curl -fsSL https://spawnd.dev/install.sh | shQuestions
- What is the best free SSH client for Windows?
- The one Windows ships: OpenSSH with Windows Terminal. It is the same OpenSSH as on Linux and macOS, with tabs and panes. If you want a GUI for hosts and keys, Termius’ free tier and Tabby (open source) are the strongest free options.
- Is PuTTY still worth using in 2026?
- Yes, for what it is: a small, free, portable client with serial and Telnet support and Pageant, still maintained. For a daily terminal you will miss tabs and a modern config; for a jump box or a serial console it remains ideal.
- Can I use mosh from Windows?
- Not with a native Windows build; mosh.org points Windows users to Cygwin or a Chrome app. In practice the answers are MobaXterm’s Mosh session type, Termius, or WSL with apt-get install mosh.