shellxShellX vs Tailscale + SSH for a terminal on your phone
Tailscale and ShellX both get you past NAT without port forwarding, but they solve different problems. Tailscale builds a private network between your devices. ShellX gives you terminal sessions: the ones running on your Mac or PC, on your phone. If what you want is “my terminal on my phone”, the difference matters.
The short answer
- Pick Tailscale if you want your devices on one private network: SSH, file shares, databases, web dashboards, every port. For a terminal on the phone you add an SSH server on the computer and an SSH client on the phone.
- Pick ShellX if you want the terminal sessions already running on your computer on your phone, with push notifications, and nothing else to set up: no VPN client, no SSH server on your computer, no SSH client on the phone.
- They work well together: Tailscale for network access, ShellX to follow your terminals.
How each one works
Tailscale is a mesh VPN built on WireGuard. Each device runs the Tailscale client and joins your private network (a “tailnet”); devices find each other through NAT and fall back to Tailscale’s relays when a direct path is not possible. Traffic between devices is end-to-end encrypted by WireGuard. Tailscale also offers Tailscale SSH, which lets the tailnet handle SSH authentication. It has free and paid plans; check its site for details.
To get a terminal on your phone with Tailscale you typically: install Tailscale on the computer and the phone, enable an SSH server on the computer (Remote Login on macOS, OpenSSH Server on Windows) or use Tailscale SSH where supported, then connect with a mobile SSH client. You get a new shell; to see what was already running, it has to live in tmux or screen.
ShellX is a terminal app for your Mac or PC plus a phone app. Both dial out to the ShellX relay; the phone opens the same tabs and panes you have on the computer, SSH workspaces and tmux sessions included. Content is end-to-end encrypted with the Noise protocol, so the relay only forwards ciphertext.
Side by side
| ShellX | Tailscale + SSH client | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Your computer’s terminal sessions on the phone | Network access to your devices |
| Apps to install | ShellX on computer + phone | Tailscale on both, plus an SSH client on the phone |
| SSH server on your computer | Not needed | Needed (or Tailscale SSH) |
| Works behind NAT / CGNAT | Yes | Yes |
| Exact window an agent is already running in | Yes | Only through tmux/screen |
| Push notification when a command finishes or a program asks | Yes | Not built in |
| Other ports and services (files, web, databases) | No, terminals only | Yes |
| End-to-end encryption | Noise protocol | WireGuard |
| Price | Currently free | Free and paid plans |
When ShellX is the better fit
- You want to check on a build, a script or an AI coding agent from your phone and answer it, without planning ahead with tmux. See Claude Code from your phone.
- You cannot or do not want to install a VPN or an SSH server on a work computer.
- You want a push when the job is done, instead of checking.
When Tailscale is the better fit
- You need more than terminals: reach a NAS, a home dashboard, a database or any port on your machines.
- You run Linux machines and servers that you want on one private network.
Using both
Many developers already run Tailscale. ShellX does not replace it: keep Tailscale for network access, and use ShellX for what a VPN does not do, which is to put the terminal sessions on your computer on your phone, with notifications. SSH workspaces in ShellX use your system ssh, so hosts on your tailnet work there as usual.
Tailscale and WireGuard are trademarks of their owners. This comparison is based on publicly available information as of the date above; check each product’s website for current features.