Feature Comparison of Windows SSH Clients

The following table compares the features of Kermit 95 1.1.21 with other Windows-based SSH clients as of 31 March 2002. The product website links are current as of the same date (but of course the pages they point to and the products they describe might have changed since then). The information comes from each product's website or from inspection of the product itself. Every attempt has been made at accuracy; corrections are welcome. As with the 1995 product comparisons, this is a snapshot in time, and will not necessarily be updated as versions change. Kermit 95 1.1.21 is a 32-bit Console program with a GUI front end; the others are GUI programs, most of them with Console-mode utilities for batch-driven connections, file transfer, and/or key management. Kermit 95 2.0 is a GUI program that has the same feature set as version 1.1.21, but with GUI-related enhancements such as font selection, scrollbars, etc (explained HERE).

   Kermit 95   
1.1.21 		   PuTTY     
0.52 		 TeraTerm    
2.3 		SSHWinClient 
3.1.0 		 SecureCRT   
3.4.3 		SecureNetTerm
5.2
Clear-Text Connection Methods . . .
Serial Port Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
> 4 COM Ports Yes N/A No N/A Yes ?
Modem (1) Yes No No No No Yes
TAPI (1) Yes No No No Yes Yes
Telnet Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Rlogin Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
FTP Client Yes No No No No No
FTP Server No No No No No Yes
HTTP Client Yes No No No No No
Secure Connection Methods (2) . . .
Secure Shell (SSH) v1 Yes Yes Yes (3) Yes Yes Yes
SSH v2 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Secure Telnet Yes No No No No Yes
Secure Rlogin Yes No No No No No
SSL/TLS Yes No Yes (3) No No Yes
Secure FTP Client Yes No No No No No
Secure FTP Server No No No No No No
Secure HTTP Client Yes No No No No No
Secure Kermit Client Yes No No No No No
Secure Kermit Server Yes No No No No No
Security Methods . . .
Public/Private Key Yes Yes Yes (3) Yes Yes Yes
Kerberos 4 Yes No No No No Yes
Kerberos 5 / GSSAPI Yes No No No No Yes
X.509 Certificates Yes No Yes (3) Yes (5) Yes Yes
SRP Yes No No No No Yes
NTLM Yes No No No No Yes
Firewalls, NATs, VPNs . . .
SOCKS4 (6) Yes ?? ?? ?? Yes ??
SOCKS5 No ?? ?? ?? Yes ??
HTTP Proxy (6) Yes No No No No No
NAT Persistence (7) Yes ?? ?? ?? Yes ??
FTP Passive Mode Yes No No No No No
Terminal Emulations . . .
ADM3A Yes No No No No No
AIXTERM (IBM) Yes No No No No No
ANSI-BBS Yes No No No Yes Yes
AT386 Yes No No No No No
Avatar/0+ Yes No No No No No
BeTerm Yes No No No No No
DG200 Yes No No No No Yes
DG210 Yes No No No No Yes
DG215 No No No No No Yes
DG217 Yes No No No No No
Heath/Zenith-19 Yes No No No No No
Hazeltine 1500 Yes No No No No No
HFT (IBM) Yes No No No No Yes
HP 2621A Yes No No No No No
HPTERM Yes No No No No No
IBM 3101 No No No No No Yes
IBM 3151 Yes No No No No Yes
IBM 3161 No No No No No Yes
IBM 3163 No No No No No Yes
IBM 3270 No No No No No No
IBM 5250 No No No No No No
Linux Console Yes No No No Yes No
QNX-2 No No No No No Yes
QNX-4 Yes No No No No No
QANSI Yes No No No No No
SCOANSI Yes No No No Yes Yes
SNI BA80 Yes No No No No Yes
SNI 97801 Yes No No No No No
Tektronix 4010 No No Yes No No No
TTY Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TVI-910+ Yes No No No No No
TVI-925 Yes No No No No Yes
TVI-950 Yes No No No No No
VIP7809 (Honeywell) Partial No No No No No
Volker-Craig 404   Yes No No No No No
VT52 Yes No No No No Yes
VT100/101 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VT102 or Xterm Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VT220 Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
VT220PC Yes No No No No No
VT282/382 No No Yes No No No
VT320 Yes No Yes No No Yes
VT320PC Yes No No No No No
VTNT (Microsoft) Yes No No No No No
Wyse30 Yes No No No No No
Wyse50 Yes No No No No Yes
Wyse60 Yes No No No No Yes
Wyse160 Yes No No No No No
Wyse370 Yes No No No No No
Total Emulations 40 3 7 3 9 25
Integrated File Transfer Protocols . . .
Kermit Yes No Yes No No Yes
Kermit Server Yes No No No No No
XMODEM Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
YMODEM Yes No No No ? No
YMODEM-G Yes No No No No No
ZMODEM Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
CompuServe B+ No No Yes No No Yes
FTP Client Yes No No No No No
FTP Server No No No No No Yes
HTTP Client Yes No No No No No
Other . . .
Scripting Yes No Minimal No ActiveX, VB Yes
Learned Scripts Yes No No No No No
Host Character Sets 90+ 33 3 1 2 17(?)
Unicode (8) Yes Yes No No No Yes
URL Hotspots Yes No No No No Yes
True Fullscreen Mode Yes No No No Yes No
Speech friendly (4) Yes ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
Alphanumeric Paging Yes No No No No No
Pricing (5) . . .
Single copy $64.00 -- -- $99.00 $99.00 $69.95
100 seats $1,000.00 -- -- ?? $5,700.00 $3,895.00
500 seats $3,600.00 -- -- ?? $21,000.00 $13,975.00
1000 seats $6,000.00 -- -- ?? ?? $20,950.00
Academic Site License Yes -- -- Yes No No

Notes:

  1. Modem means the ability to dial modems directly, using built-in knowledge of the modem's command language and responses. TAPI means the ability to use the Microsoft Telephony API to place calls and to use nonstandard Windows-specific communication devices such as Winmodems.
  2. Secure Telnet means the ability to make Telnet connections using any secure authentication method, such as Kerberos, X.509 certificates, or SRP, and then to encrypt the session. Similarly for Secure Rlogin, FTP, HTTP, and Kermit.
  3. Available as a 3rd-party add-on.
  4. Works with screen readers and Braille devices.
  5. Pricing before any discounts (e.g. education, government, reseller), as obtained from each product's website, 31 March 2002. SSHWinClient pricing refers to the commercial version, which includes PKI (X.509 Certificates). There is also a free version that does not include PKI and may not be used for commercial purposes.
  6. In K95 1.1.21, SOCKS 4 and HTTP Proxies apply to all connection types except SSH.
  7. Can defeat NAT / VPN / Firewall dropping of "idle" Telnet and SSH connections.
  8. Supports UTF-8 host character set and/or can display multiple writing systems on the same screen using a combination of ISO 2022 character-set designation and invocation and a Unicode font.

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Windows SSH Client Comparison Chart / The Kermit Project / Columbia Unversity / 25 June 2002