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Add to SafariWhen comparing PuTTY vs ZOC Terminal, the Slant community recommends ZOC Terminal for most people. In the question“What are the best SSH clients for Windows?” ZOC Terminal is ranked 3rd while PuTTY is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose ZOC Terminal is:
ZOC has a modern design.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Modern look
ZOC has a modern design.
Pro An actual "Terminal Emulator"
It's an actual terminal emulator (in the sense that it emulates a terminal) and not just a local console window app.
Pro Scriptable
Zoc provides complete automation of the client using its macro scripting.
Pro Flexibility in platform support
Originally developed for OS/2 (as Zap-O-Comm), Zoc is currently available for Windows and Macintosh.
Pro Can view and send to all sessions at once
Offers a thumbnail view of all session in thumbnails and type commands to all sessions at the same time.
Pro Supports serial and dial-up connections
In addition to telnet, ssh, and rlogin, ZOC supports direct serial connections, modem dialing, and named pipes.
Pro Tabbed sessions allows for easy navigation
Tabbed sessions mean that multiple items can be contained within a single window and can be easily navigated by the user.
Pro Hideable UI
Zoc allows for every UI component except the title bar to be hidden. All features are accessible through the context menu.
Pro Auto-Highlight feature
Feature to search for text bits in the data stream and highlight them with color/background.
Cons
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
Con Hard to configure
It does not detect the installed shells (PowerShell, CMD, etc) automatically.
Con Options creep
It has so many options that it's hard to find the one you need.
Con Not free
Zoc requires a commercial license in order to use it, implying that it's not free.
