Comparison of SSH servers
An SSH server is a software program which uses the secure shell protocol to accept connections from remote computers. SFTP/SCP file transfers and remote terminal connections are popular use cases for an SSH server. This article compares a selection of popular servers.
General
Name | Developer | Status | First release date | Last release | Last release date | License |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apache MINA SSHD | Apache Software Foundation | Active | 2009 | 0.13.0 | 2014-10-30[1] | Apache License v2 |
Attachmate Reflection for Secure IT] | Attachmate | Active | 2005 | 8.0 | 2012-11-14 | Proprietary |
Bitvise SSH Server (formerly WinSSHD) | Bitvise, Ltd. | Active | 2001-05 | 6.07 | 2014-05-04[2] | Freeware for non commercial use |
Copssh | Itefix | Active | 2003-08-12 | 5.0.4 | 2015-03-06[3] | Commercial, Free Edition available[4] |
CrushFTP Server | CrushFTP, LLC | Active | 2003-01-01 | 7.0.2 | 2014-02-06 | Commercial, shareware |
Dropbear | Matt Johnston | Active | 2003-04-06[5] | 2014.66 | 2014-10-23[6] | MIT |
freeSSHd SSH Server | WEONLYDO Software | Active | 1.3.0[Note 1] | unknown[Note 2] | Freeware (source available for purchase) | |
GoAnywhere Services | Linoma Software | Active | 2009-09-01 | 3.3.4 | 2013-09-18 | Commercial |
KpyM SSH Server | KpyM Telnet/SSH Server | Active | 2002-10 | 1.19c | 2011-01-29 | Open Source BSD |
lsh | Niels Möller | Active | 1999-05-23[7] | 2.1 | 2013-06-26 | GPL |
Maverick SSHD | SSHTOOLS Limited | Active | 2004 | 1.6.9 | 2015-01-12 | Commercial |
MobaSSH SSH Server | Mobatek | Active | 1.22 | Freeware for non commercial use | ||
OpenSSH | The OpenBSD project | Active | 1999-12-01 | 6.8 | 2015-03-18[8] | BSD |
Pragma Fortress SSH Server | Pragma Systems, Inc. | Active | 2004-05-24 | 5.0 | 2011-04-20[9] | Commercial |
Tectia SSH Server | SSH Communications Security (formerly Tectia) | Active | 1995-07 | 6.4.8 | 2014-10-28 | Commercial |
PowerShell Server | /n software | Active | 6.0.4798 [10] | 2013-02-19 | Commercial, free personal edition | |
SilverSHielD | Extenua, Inc. | Active | 2008-10 | 6.0.25.125 | 2013-12-04[11] | Free for personal use |
Georgia SoftWorks SSH Server | Georgia SoftWorks | Active | 2004-07 | 8.05.0031 | 2014-10-24 | Commercial |
Syncplify.me Server | Syncplify, Inc. | Active | 2014-02 | 3.0.2.32 | 2014-10-05[12] | Free for personal use |
TinySSH | Jan Mojžíš | Active | 2014-02-16 | 20150101 | 2015-01-01 | Public Domain |
Platform
The operating systems or virtual machines the SSH servers are designed to run on without emulation; there are several possibilities:
- No indicates that it does not exist or was never released.
- Partial indicates that while it works, the server lacks important functionality compared to versions for other OSs but may still be under development.
- Beta indicates that while a version is fully functional and has been released, it is still in development (e.g. for stability).
- Yes indicates that it has been officially released in a fully functional, stable version.
- Dropped indicates that while the server works, new versions are no longer being released for the indicated OS; the number in parentheses is the last known stable version which was officially released for that OS.
- Included indicates that the server comes pre-packaged with or has been integrated into the operating system.
The list is not exhaustive, but rather reflects the most common platforms today.
Name | Mac OS X | Mac OS classic | Windows | Cygwin | BSD | Linux | Solaris | Java | OpenVMS | z/OS | AmigaOS | AIX | HPUX | iOS: iPhone,[Note 3] iPod Touch | webOS | Android |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apache MINA SSHD | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Attachmate Reflection for Secure IT | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Bitvise SSH Server | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Copssh | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
CrushFTP Server | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Dropbear | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes[Note 4] | Yes |
freeSSHd | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
KpyM SSH Server | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
GoAnywhere Services | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
lsh | Yes | No | No | No | Partial[Note 5] | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ?? |
Maverick SSHD | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
MobaSSH SSH Server | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
OpenSSH | Included | No | No | Included | Included | Included [Note 6] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[Note 7] | Included | Yes[Note 8] | Yes[Note 4] | Partial |
Pragma Fortress SSH Server | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ?? |
Tectia SSH Server | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ?? |
PowerShell Server | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
SilverSHielD | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Georgia SoftWorks SSH Server | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Syncplify.me Server | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
TinySSH | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Features
Name | SSH1 | SSH2 | Port forwarding | SFTP | SCP | Supports IPv6 | Supports OpenSSH authorized keys | Privilege separation | FIPS 140-2 certified |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apache MINA SSHD | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Attachmate Reflection for Secure IT | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bitvise SSH Server | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Copssh | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[13] | ? |
CrushFTP Server | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Dropbear | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
KpyM SSH Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
GoAnywhere Services | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lsh | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Maverick SSHD | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
MobaSSH SSH Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
OpenSSH | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[13] | ? |
Pragma Fortress SSH Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Tectia SSH Server | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[Note 9] | Partial |
SilverSHielD | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
Georgia SoftWorks SSH Server | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
Syncplify.me Server | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
TinySSH | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Partial[Note 10] | Partial[Note 11] | ? |
See also
- List of SFTP server software
- Comparison of SSH clients
Notes
- ↑ An authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2012-6066) was present in versions 1.2.6 and earlier of FreeSSHd. It is not known if or when this vulnerability was fixed, as no public statement about it from the developers could be found. The security of the current version is therefore unknown.
- ↑ Announcements or release notes showing a date when 1.3.0 was released could not be found, but it was likely in 2014.
- ↑ Unless otherwise noted, iPhone refers to non-jailbroken devices.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 OpenSSH and Dropbear are available as optware packages installed by PreWare (maintained by WebOS Internals)
- ↑ Lsh supports only one BSD platform officially, FreeBSD.
- ↑ Most Linux distributions have OpenSSH as an official package, but a few do not.
- ↑ Openssh 3.4 was the first release included since AIX
- ↑ Only for jailbroken devices.
- ↑ Different exploit protection mechanism in use
- ↑ TinySSH accepts only keys from authorized_keys file, options not supported
- ↑ TinySSH has similar protection mechanism
References
- ↑ http://mina.apache.org/sshd-project/
- ↑ "Bitvise SSH Server Version History". bitvise.com.
- ↑ "Copssh with a custom patch for logout hang problem". itefix.net.
- ↑ https://www.itefix.net/content/copssh-free-edition
- ↑ Changes in Dropbear in official web page
- ↑ "Index of /dropbear". ucc.asn.au.
- ↑ "Listing of /~nisse/archive/". liu.se.
- ↑ "OpenSSH for OpenBSD". openssh.com.
- ↑ "Windows SSH Server with SFTP and SCP". Pragma Systems.
- ↑ "Download - PowerShell Server". powershellserver.com.
- ↑ SilverSHielD Release Notes
- ↑ Syncplify.me Server! Release Notes
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 sshd_config(5) manual page 2008-04-05. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.