Windows SSH Clients

Working mostly with Unix but not having the luxury of sitting in front of a Unix workstation with all the familiar tools a terminal or file transfer agent is essential. This is a list with free tools that work under Windows.

SSH

These days an SSH client is required to get a remote shell on Unix servers. The below clients should do the trick.

Graphical

Using graphical in this context might look like a misnomer but some of the configuration options and the integration with Windows is a lot better the the ones listed under Command line.

PuTTY

Probably the most popular client for SSH on Windows. PuTTY comes with a lot of features also found on the Unix original such as tunneling and proxy support. Since a couple of versions it can also be used for serial connections over COM ports. Personally I like the fact that putty is a single .exe file and does not come with a boatload of DLLs that need to be installed.

• http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

There is a plethora of software that is using PuTTY as a base to implement more advanced features such as tabbing and better session management. Personally I have not tested them myself.

• KiTTY a Windows only fork of PuTTY 0.62
• PuTTY Manager adds tabs and other advances session features
• putty-nd adds tabbing to PuTTY
• superputty Adds tabbing to PuTTY
• MTPuTTY Multi-Tabbed PuTTY
• Transparent PuTTY adds transparency to PuTTY

TeraTerm

A popular choice especially for displaying Japanese characters. It has been doing serial connections since I can remember and is generally a good all round terminal.

• http://ttssh2.sourceforge.jp/

Poderosa

Comes with an array of features such as tabs not found in PuTTY and TeraTerm. It can also act as shell for Cygwin.

• http://poderosa.sourceforge.net/

Command line

plink

Part of the PuTTY suite of client utilities. Can be used to script on windows similar to the Unix equivalent ssh.

• http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

cygwin ssh

Is a lot more than just an ssh client it comes with a whole Unix emulation layer for windows. Installs the ssh client suite and the ssh server if requested.

• http://cygwin.com/

SCP

Graphical

WinSCP

Has a Norton Commander like two pane interface but also integrates into the windows explorer. Can be used for scripting via its own command language.

• http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

Command line

pscp

Part of the PuTTY suite of client utilities. Can be used to script on windows similar to the Unix equivalent.

• http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

cygwin scp

The scp command is included in the ssh package under Cygwin.

• http://cygwin.com/

SFTP

Graphical

WinSCP

• Unlike the name suggests WinSCP has learned how to deal with SFTP.
• http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

FileZilla

A cross platform FTP and SFTP client with the classical two pane interface popularized by Norton Commander.

• http://filezilla-project.org/

Command line

psftp

Part of the PuTTY suite of client utilities. Can be used to script on windows similar to the Unix equivalent.

• http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

cygwin sftp

Is a Unix emulation layer for windows. Installs the ssh client suite and the ssh server if requested.

• http://cygwin.com/