Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to SafariWhen comparing OpenSSH vs PuTTY, the Slant community recommends OpenSSH for most people. In the question“What are the best SSH clients for Windows?” OpenSSH is ranked 2nd while PuTTY is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose OpenSSH is:
If you find samples or tutorials about SSH, they almost always refer to OpenSSH. It bascially defines what SSH is.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro The Reference SSH Client
If you find samples or tutorials about SSH, they almost always refer to OpenSSH. It bascially defines what SSH is.
Pro One of the most trustworthy development teams on the web
The development team of OpenSSH is part of the OpenBSD ecosystem. Their implementation is basically today's technical reference for any SSH client.
Pro Available on virtually any platform
MacOS. Windows. Core component on any Linux flavor.
Pro Standard implementation that documentation for all other tools assumes you have installed already
A lot of other tools (e.g. git) are based on this for file transfer.
Pro Free
![[deleted]](https://avatars.slant.co/identicons/50/1de53be3-5e6c-4ebc-9311-7caa818b54bd)
Pro De facto standard client for SSH, Telnet and Rlogin on Windows
PuTTY is one of the oldest and most popular clients. It has earned the trust of a great number of users over a long period by being reliable, offering useful features and helpful support. It got into the 15 Essential Open Source Tools for Windows Admins list by InfoWorld.
Pro Can be used on any Windows computer, even without admin rights
Pro Source code available
Full source available. Compile and modify it yourself.
Pro Lightweight and portable
Doesn't require much resources (memory and hard-disk). Can even be run on a system by just downloading without install.
Cons
Con No host list
Has no functions to manage huge numbers of hosts.
Con No way to organize SSH connections
No way to organize SSH connections.
Con Command line tool
It can be difficult to use from a command line interface.
Con Only one session per window
Cannot open a second session in the same window (you need multiple windows).
Con Can not save passwords
Anyway, you can use "PuTTYgen" to generate a key pair, then use "Pageant" to do a password-less SSH remote login.
Con Lacks features
It is JUST an SSH client. There are many other options with built in X-servers, Multitabbing, etc.
Con Ugly design, too simple
Looks very dated. Does the basic functions very well, but not much more.
Con No global settings
If you want to change a setting for all your connections, you'd have to do it individually.
Con Organizing sessions
Does not have features for organizing session connections (like folders). If you have 5-10 connections that's fine. But if there are 30-50 connections - that becomes a nightmare.
Con Tedious logging/tracing
Its tedious to set up logging and tracing (e.g. for serial connections).
Con No login scripting
