Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Android Terminal Emulator VS BusyBox

Compare Android Terminal Emulator VS BusyBox and see what are their differences

Android Terminal Emulator logo Android Terminal Emulator

Android-Terminal-Emulator - A VT-100 terminal emulator for the Android OS

BusyBox logo BusyBox

BusyBox is a single binary that provides several stripped-down Unix tools in a single executable.
  • Android Terminal Emulator Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17
  • BusyBox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-04-14

Android Terminal Emulator features and specs

  • Open Source
    Android Terminal Emulator is open source, allowing users to view and modify the source code to suit their needs or help improve the software.
  • Command Line Access
    Provides users with direct access to the Android command line, enabling advanced users to execute Linux commands and scripts.
  • No Ads
    The application does not include any advertisements, ensuring a distraction-free experience.
  • Multiple Windows
    Supports multiple windows, which allows users to manage different command line sessions simultaneously.
  • Customization
    Offers customization options such as font size and color schemes, allowing users to tailor the terminal's appearance to their liking.

Possible disadvantages of Android Terminal Emulator

  • Limited to CLI Users
    Primarily suited for users comfortable with command line interfaces, which might not appeal to general users preferring graphical user interfaces.
  • Requires Root for Some Commands
    Certain commands and scripts require root access, which may not be available to all users due to device restrictions or warranty concerns.
  • No Longer Actively Developed
    The app is not actively developed, meaning potential security vulnerabilities might not be patched, and no new features will be added.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Might face compatibility issues on newer Android devices due to the lack of recent updates to support newer APIs.
  • Limited Support
    With the decline in active development, users might find it challenging to get support for issues they encounter.

BusyBox features and specs

  • Lightweight
    BusyBox is designed to be a minimalistic utility that combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small executable, making it ideal for systems with limited resources.
  • All-in-One
    It provides a comprehensive suite of tools and utilities in one package, eliminating the need to install and manage multiple separate utilities.
  • Customizable
    BusyBox can be customized to include only the needed utilities, which allows for a tailored solution that fits the specific requirements of a project or system.
  • Open Source
    It is open source, meaning it is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute, which encourages collaboration and community-driven improvements.
  • Widely Used in Embedded Systems
    BusyBox is popular in embedded systems and other environments where storage and processing power are limited, making it a proven choice for resource-constrained applications.

Possible disadvantages of BusyBox

  • Limited Functionality
    Being a smaller version of each utility, BusyBox may lack some of the advanced features found in full versions of UNIX utilities, which can be a limitation for complex tasks.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Certain scripts or applications that expect specific behaviors from standard Linux utilities might not work correctly with BusyBox due to subtle differences in functionality.
  • Less Frequent Updates
    Compared to mainstream distributions and their utilities, BusyBox might not be updated as frequently, which can be a concern for security or feature updates.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Customization
    Customizing BusyBox to include or exclude specific utilities can require a more in-depth understanding of both the system’s needs and the configuration options available.

Android Terminal Emulator videos

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BusyBox videos

What is BusyBox | Busybox demo

More videos:

  • Review - What Is Busybox and Why do we need it for Android?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Android Terminal Emulator and BusyBox)
Terminal Tools
57 57%
43% 43
SSH
52 52%
48% 48
Server Management
56 56%
44% 44
Emulators
57 57%
43% 43

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Android Terminal Emulator and BusyBox

Android Terminal Emulator Reviews

10 Termux Alternatives
Android Terminal Emulator is an application with featured Linux command lines that enable you to emulate the Linux shell operating system on your android and iPad devices. You have to install this software on your android device, get control over Linux operating system, and start executing it from your device. This platform also enables you to access your saved files and...
Top 10 Best Apps To Use Linux Terminal on Your Android Device
BusyBox is an excellent option for Android users who want to have control in the internal Linux command-line shell. This terminal emulator for Android requires a rooted device to function properly. It is one of the most popular among its competitors. There is a pro version, but the vanilla edition is more than enough for casual users. It will provide you with numerous Unix...
Best Terminal Emulator for Android in 2021
JuiceSSH is an amazing Terminal Emulator for Android with extensive user support for SSH, Telnet, Mosh, Shell. It has a quick access keyboard with unique characters. The emulator can function with many SSH sessions simultaneously, and the SSH transcripts can be sent to other apps. It supports UTF-8 character, and It recognizes the user identity with the single-time...

BusyBox Reviews

Top 10 Best Apps To Use Linux Terminal on Your Android Device
BusyBox is an excellent option for Android users who want to have control in the internal Linux command-line shell. This terminal emulator for Android requires a rooted device to function properly. It is one of the most popular among its competitors. There is a pro version, but the vanilla edition is more than enough for casual users. It will provide you with numerous Unix...
Best Terminal Emulator for Android in 2021
BusyBox is a famous terminal emulator for quick and reliable performance. It needs the device to be rooted for executing the app. The emulator can work well with Linux kernel with GNU Core applications. It offers plenty of standard Unix tools with backup features to retrieve all data. The app provides the user to choose the desired applets for quick installation. It also...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, BusyBox seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 17 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Android Terminal Emulator mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Android Terminal Emulator yet. Tracking of Android Terminal Emulator recommendations started around Mar 2021.

BusyBox mentions (17)

  • Revisit base container image for AWS services
    The busybox container is, as the name suggests, a base image that contains the minimum environment for BusyBox to work. It is also one of the official Docker images. The actual Dockerfile for creating this image is as follows:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Making memcpy(NULL, NULL, 0) well-defined
    Https://busybox.net/~landley/c99-draft.html#7.20.6.1 "The abs, labs, and llabs functions compute the absolute value of an integer j. If the result cannot be represented, the behavior is undefined. (242)" 242 The absolute value of the most negative number cannot be represented in two's complement. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Docker, Linux, Security. Kinda.
    On to our second point, which is the cli utilities' implementation. Debian and Ubuntu use gnu's Coreutils while Alpine uses Busybox(remember, we are talking about the most used application container bases. You can install a desktop version of Alpine with GNU coreutils). Here we have the same situation as before, The GNU coreutils are bigger, do more and have a larger attack surface. Busybox is smaller, does not... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • The Awk Programming Language, Second Edition
    AWK runs everywhere. Perl and Python do not. Busybox has their own independent AWK implementation. https://busybox.net/ https://frippery.org/busybox/ Also see the first edition of the AWK manual online here: https://archive.org/details/pdfy-MgN0H1joIoDVoIC7. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • This would have made my life so much easier in the beginning....
    A majority of routers are already based on the Linux kernel. Many are just BusyBox. The most common Linux firewalls are iptables and nftables. With the latter being the most popular one due to being around longer. They are really fine grained and powerful. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Android Terminal Emulator and BusyBox, you can also consider the following products

Termux - Terminal emulator and Linux environment for Android

Blink Shell - Super-fast and highly configurable, professional-grade terminal for iOS.

GNU Core Utilities - The GNU Core Utilities or coreutils is a package of GNU software containing many of the basic...

MSYS2 - A Cygwin-derived software distro for Windows using Arch Linux's Pacman

Toybox (Linux command line utilities) - Toybox combines common Linux command line utilities together into a single BSD-licensed executable...

MinGW - MinGW ("Minimalistic GNU for Windows") is a port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and...