SSHive vs Royal TSX: two ways to manage RDP, VNC and SSH connections on a Mac
Royal TSX is a remote management tool for macOS that handles many protocols through plugins. SSHive sticks to the everyday set: SSH, SFTP, RDP and VNC. It adds an MCP server for AI clients, protects passwords with a key kept in the macOS Keychain, and costs less.
By Lucas Russo, developer of SSHive · Updated
Royal TSX is a well-established remote management tool for macOS. It supports SSH, RDP, VNC, and SFTP through a plugin architecture. However, Royal TSX costs €49 excl. VAT for an individual licence and does not include AI integration. SSHive covers the everyday protocols (SSH, SFTP, RDP, VNC) in one app that costs a fraction of the price and includes modern features like MCP-based AI integration for Claude Code and Cursor.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | SSHive | Royal TSX |
|---|---|---|
| SSH Terminal | Yes | Yes |
| SFTP File Manager | Yes | Yes |
| RDP Client | Yes | Yes |
| VNC Client | Yes | Yes |
| SSH Tunnels | Yes | Yes |
| Broadcast Mode | Yes | Yes |
| MCP / AI Integration | Yes | No |
| macOS app | Yes | Yes |
| Keychain Integration | Yes | Partial |
| Mac App Store | Yes | No |
| Price | Free / Pro (one-time) | €49 excl. VAT |
Competitor prices checked on September 22, 2026.
The verdict
Royal TSX is a solid choice for managing a large set of connections, especially in a team. SSHive matches its everyday protocols, adds AI integration through MCP, and costs $12.99, once.
Where Royal TSX does better
Royal TSX reaches well beyond SSH, RDP and VNC: its plugins cover web interfaces, Apple Remote Desktop, TeamViewer, VMware and Hyper-V. Teams share connection documents over a network share or cloud storage, with no database server, while each person's credentials stay private. It works with 1Password, LastPass and KeePass, pulls data from external sources through Dynamic Folders, and key sequence tasks type repetitive input into sessions for you. SSHive has none of that team plumbing. The Keychain is where the table says Partial: Royal TSX can keep a document's encryption password there, while the connection credentials stay encrypted inside the document.
Who should keep Royal TSX
Stay with Royal TSX if your team keeps its connections in shared documents, if you rely on its password manager integrations, or if you manage hypervisors and TeamViewer machines from the same place. For one person reaching servers and desktops from a Mac, iPhone and iPad, SSHive is simpler: RDP profiles with NLA and Active Directory, VNC next to SSH, and an MCP server through which Claude Code or Cursor can run commands on your servers.
What each costs over time
Royal Apps lists a Royal TSX individual license at €49, excluding VAT, with one year of software maintenance. Without a license, Royal TSX runs in a free mode limited to 10 connections, 10 credentials and 1 document. SSHive Pro is $12.99, paid once on the App Store, with updates included while the app is maintained; its free tier allows 5 profiles and 2 SSH sessions at a time, and RDP and VNC need Pro. The pricing page has the full split.
Moving from Royal TSX to SSHive
Recent versions of Royal TSX save documents as .rtsz by default, which SSHive does not read, but they can still save a document as .rtsx. Save a copy in that format, then open it in SSHive from Settings > Import / Export > Import from another tool. SSH terminal, RDP and VNC connections come across; web pages, TeamViewer and the other plugin types stay in Royal TSX. On the free tier the import stops at 5 profiles, and any RDP or VNC connection you bring over needs Pro to open.