MobaXterm on a Mac? SSHive is the all-in-one alternative
MobaXterm is a popular Windows toolbox that bundles SSH, SFTP, RDP, X11 forwarding and tunnels in one app. SSHive takes the same all-in-one approach on the Mac: a Mac App Store app built for Apple silicon, with passwords protected by a key kept in the macOS Keychain and a built-in MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor and Claude Desktop.
By Lucas Russo, developer of SSHive · Updated
MobaXterm has been the gold standard all-in-one terminal on Windows for years. With X11 forwarding, embedded SFTP, and RDP support, it set the bar for what a remote management tool should be. SSHive brings this same philosophy to macOS, with macOS Keychain security and AI capabilities that MobaXterm does not offer. If you have been searching for a MobaXterm equivalent on Mac, SSHive is built specifically for you. Unlike MobaXterm, which only runs on Windows (or via Wine, with limited success), SSHive is a Mac App Store app built for Apple Silicon.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | SSHive | MobaXterm |
|---|---|---|
| SSH Terminal | Yes | Yes |
| SFTP File Manager | Yes | Yes |
| RDP Client | Yes | Yes |
| VNC Client | Yes | Yes |
| Serial console (USB adapter) | Yes | Yes |
| Telnet client | Yes | Yes |
| SSH Tunnels | Yes | Yes |
| Broadcast Mode | Yes | Yes |
| MCP / AI Integration | Yes | No |
| macOS app | Yes | No |
| Keychain Integration | Yes | No |
| Mac App Store | Yes | No |
| Price | Free / Pro (one-time) | Free / paid Pro |
Competitor prices checked on September 22, 2026.
The verdict
If you arrive on the Mac from MobaXterm on Windows, SSHive is built for the same habit of doing everything from one window: SSH, SFTP, RDP, VNC, tunnels and broadcast side by side, with MCP so Claude Code or Cursor can work in your sessions. The SSH, SFTP, RDP and VNC sessions in your MobaXterm.ini come with you, and Pro costs $12.99, once.
Where MobaXterm does better
MobaXterm still does things SSHive does not. Its embedded X server displays remote graphical applications over SSH, and SSHive has no X11 forwarding at all. Its local console carries the usual Unix commands (ls, grep, awk, sed, rsync) onto Windows, and the whole toolbox ships as one portable executable. It opens session types SSHive does not, such as XDMCP and Rlogin, and its MultiExec mode types the same keystrokes into every terminal at once. The free Home edition is capped at 12 sessions and 2 SSH tunnels; SSHive's free tier allows 5 saved profiles, 2 SSH sessions at a time and 1 local tunnel.
Who should keep MobaXterm
Stay with MobaXterm if you are staying on Windows, or if graphical Linux tools reached through X11 are part of your day: SSHive cannot display them, and it has no Windows version. If you are moving to a Mac, it covers the rest of the toolbox, from SSH and SFTP to RDP sessions on your Windows servers.
What each costs over time
On a Mac the comparison is short, because MobaXterm does not run there at any price. On Windows, its Home edition is free and its Professional edition is a paid license, per user, that removes the Home limits and comes with a lifetime right to use. SSHive's free tier costs nothing; Pro is a single $12.99 purchase that also unlocks Pro on iPhone and iPad and can be shared with Family Sharing.
Moving from MobaXterm to SSHive
Find MobaXterm.ini on the Windows PC: next to the program in the portable edition, in the MobaXterm folder of your Documents in the installed one (some versions use %AppData%\MobaXterm). Copy it to the Mac, then in SSHive open Settings > Import / Export > Import from another tool and choose the file; the importer reads a MobaXterm.ini stored in plain text. It brings over SSH, SFTP, RDP and VNC sessions with their folders. Telnet and serial sessions are skipped, and the confirmation message says how many. A Telnet session takes seconds to recreate as a profile; SSHive does not save serial consoles as profiles, it opens them from the connection dialog, which remembers your last line settings. Both are free on the Mac. The free tier stops an import at 5 profiles. Hosts you also keep in ~/.ssh/config come in with one click from the sidebar, as the SSH config import guide shows.