SecureCRT alternative: SSH without the $119 licence
SecureCRT costs $119 a seat and has no AI. A fair comparison with Gatesys SSH on price, jump hosts, SFTP, scripting and serial, and who should keep SecureCRT.
On this page
SecureCRT at a glanceSecureCRT vs Gatesys SSHWhere Gatesys SSH is differentWhere SecureCRT is the better choiceSwitching from SecureCRTFAQSourcesSecureCRT has been the terminal of choice in network operations for decades. It is fast, scriptable, and it talks to anything with a console port. It also costs $119 a seat before the file-transfer companion, and it has changed slowly while the servers around it filled up with containers, bastions and config that changes daily. That is when people start searching for a SecureCRT alternative.
We make Gatesys SSH. What follows about SecureCRT comes from VanDyke Software’s own pages, read on 12 October 2026.
SecureCRT at a glance
SecureCRT 9.7 is a terminal emulator for Windows, macOS and Linux from VanDyke Software. Its product page lists SSH2 and SSH1, Telnet, Telnet over TLS and serial, with RDP on Windows. Sessions sit in tab groups that split to show two side by side. It runs scripts in Python, VBScript, JScript and PerlScript, keeps saved credentials in a credentials manager, and moves files with SFTP, Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem or Kermit. A graphical file browser is a second product, SecureFX.
VanDyke’s price list for one licence:
| Product | With 1 year of updates | With 3 years of updates |
|---|---|---|
| SecureCRT | $119 | $190 |
| SecureFX | $59.95 | $96 |
| SecureCRT and SecureFX bundle | $129 | $206 |
A licence registers the client on Windows, macOS or Linux, on one machine at a time. There is a 30-day evaluation.
SecureCRT vs Gatesys SSH
| SecureCRT | Gatesys SSH | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Windows, macOS, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Price | $119 a licence; $129 with SecureFX | Free plan with no account; Pro is $20 a year after 3 free months |
| Try it | 30-day evaluation | The free plan has no time limit |
| SSH and jump hosts | Yes | Yes, chains of any depth |
| File browser | SecureFX, a separate product | Dual-pane SFTP, built in and free |
| Serial, Telnet, SSH1 | Yes | No |
| Scripting | Python, VBScript, JScript, PerlScript | No scripting; snippets and hooks |
| Diagnosis of a failed connect | An error message | Which hop broke and at which step, with a fix |
| Server health and forecasts | No | Yes, agentless, on the free plan |
| AI assistant | None listed | Farabi, on Pro, with your own model |
Where Gatesys SSH is different
The SSH client costs nothing
Everything SecureCRT and SecureFX do over SSH and SFTP is in Gatesys SSH’s free plan: sessions to any number of hosts, a dual-pane SFTP browser with remote editing, local, remote and SOCKS5 tunnels, jump chains, a keychain and an audit log. No account, no evaluation clock. For a team, that is $129 a seat for the bundle against nothing. The paid plan, at $20 a year, adds the assistant and more terminals per session. See Plans.
It is built for servers, not only for consoles
SecureCRT treats every endpoint as a terminal. Gatesys SSH reads a fixed list of read-only facts each time you connect to a Linux host and tells you what changed since you were last there: a package upgraded, a unit that failed, a new listening port, a file under /etc that someone edited. Nothing is installed on the server and no model is involved.
Health, without a monitoring agent
The terminal header carries live CPU, memory, disk and load. Health turns them into signals: a process pinning a core, a disk that will be full in about three hours, a memory leak with its growth per hour, an out-of-memory kill. Every signal is worked out on your computer by fixed rules.
Config changes with a way back
Saving sshd_config, an nginx file or a sudoers file opens one review sheet: the diff, the server’s own syntax check, a backup, and an optional safety net that restores the old file on the server unless you confirm a fresh login works. See Safe Change.
An assistant, if you want one
SecureCRT lists no AI features. With Gatesys Pro, Farabi sits beside the terminal and answers from the facts the app measured, on a model you pick: a local one through Ollama, or your own Claude, OpenAI or Gemini key. Every command it suggests is rated by rules before it can run. With the assistant switched off, everything else on this page still works.
Where SecureCRT is the better choice
- Serial consoles and Telnet. Routers, switches and firewalls over a console cable are SecureCRT’s home ground. Gatesys SSH speaks SSH only.
- Scripting against devices. If you push configuration to network gear with Python or VBScript in the terminal, nothing in Gatesys SSH replaces that.
- Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem and Kermit. Firmware over a serial line needs them.
- Legacy equipment. SSH1 and old ciphers on hardware that will never be upgraded.
- A supplier your procurement team already knows. VanDyke has sold licences with support contracts for decades.
A network engineer who lives on console ports should keep SecureCRT. A sysadmin or SRE whose day is Linux hosts behind bastions is the person this comparison is for.
Switching from SecureCRT
- Download Gatesys SSH. It runs beside SecureCRT without touching its sessions.
- Import
~/.ssh/configwith File › Import from ~/.ssh/config… if you keep one.ProxyJumpentries become jump chains. - For hosts that exist only as SecureCRT sessions, paste an
sshline for each into the Hosts search box, for examplessh -J edge-bastion deploy@10.0.3.4. - Keys in OpenSSH format, and keys in your SSH agent, work as they are. A key in VanDyke’s own format needs converting to OpenSSH format first.
FAQ
Is there a free alternative to SecureCRT?
For SSH and SFTP, yes. Gatesys SSH’s free plan has no time limit and needs no account. PuTTY is free and covers serial and Telnet. Tabby is free and open source. The roundup compares them side by side.
Does Gatesys SSH support serial or Telnet?
No. It is an SSH, SFTP and jump-host client. Keep SecureCRT or PuTTY for console ports.
How much does SecureCRT cost in 2026?
VanDyke lists SecureCRT at $119 with one year of updates and $190 with three, and the bundle with SecureFX at $129 and $206, before tax. Volume prices are lower.
Can Gatesys SSH run scripts like SecureCRT?
Not in the same sense. It has snippets that run a saved command in a click, watches that tell you when something happens in a terminal, and hooks that send events to your own webhook or command. It has no scripting language that drives a session.
Sources
- VanDyke Software: SecureCRT and pricing, read on 12 October 2026.
- Gatesys SSH: plans, host facts and Safe Change.
