Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

BusyBox VS Blink Shell

Compare BusyBox VS Blink Shell and see what are their differences

BusyBox logo BusyBox

BusyBox is a single binary that provides several stripped-down Unix tools in a single executable.

Blink Shell logo Blink Shell

Super-fast and highly configurable, professional-grade terminal for iOS.
  • BusyBox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-04-14
  • Blink Shell Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-13

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.

Blink Shell features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Blink Shell is available on multiple platforms, including iOS and macOS, making it accessible for users across different devices.
  • Mosh Support
    Blink Shell supports Mosh (mobile shell), providing a more robust SSH experience with better performance over wireless and unstable connections.
  • Customization
    Users can customize Blink Shell extensively, including themes, fonts, and layouts, allowing for a personalized experience.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The app offers an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it approachable for both novice and experienced users.
  • Local Terminal Access
    Besides SSH access, Blink Shell also offers a local terminal, allowing users to perform tasks directly on their device.

Possible disadvantages of Blink Shell

  • Paid Application
    Blink Shell is a paid app, which might not be suitable for users looking for a free alternative.
  • Limited to Apple Ecosystem
    While it is cross-platform within Apple's ecosystem, it lacks availability on other platforms like Android or Windows.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly design, users unfamiliar with terminal applications may still face a learning curve.
  • Dependence on iOS/macOS Features
    Some functionalities might be tied to the specific features of iOS and macOS, potentially limiting customization or performance based on the device.
  • Security Concerns
    As with any application that interfaces with remote servers, users must ensure their security protocols are robust to avoid compromising sensitive data.

BusyBox videos

What is BusyBox | Busybox demo

More videos:

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

Blink Shell videos

Blink Shell: Mosh and SSH Review

More videos:

  • Review - iPadOS Terminal App Overview: Termius vs Blink Shell - Generating SSH keys
  • Tutorial - HOW TO USE BLINK SHELL ON IOS TO ACCESS GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM TO PROGRAM ON AN IPAD

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to BusyBox and Blink Shell)
Terminal Tools
38 38%
62% 62
SSH
41 41%
59% 59
Server Management
49 49%
51% 51
Emulators
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

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...

Blink Shell Reviews

10 Termux Alternatives
Blink Shell is a platform that creates and builds blink to support the Linux shell environment and UNIX terminal with the best SSH and mosh services included. Developers of this software didn’t add unnecessary features and had all the desired programs and commands to navigate their files quickly and comfortably. This is the best platform to access and perform your work from...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Blink Shell should be more popular than BusyBox. It has been mentiond 40 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.

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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Blink Shell mentions (40)

  • Maker of RStudio launches new R and Python IDE
    Hosted vs code server is what I used to use: https://github.com/coder/code-server. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device
    $20 a year https://blink.sh/#choose-package. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • Apple must open iPadOS to sideloading within 6 months, EU says
    You can work on it https://blink.sh/ see also https://docs.blink.sh/advanced/code. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Apple debuts iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
    You can already do that with an iPad (sans fat OS). If you're using Blink Shell (https://blink.sh) the external display is independent of what's on the iPad too, which works really neatly. This is the exact setup I used as my main dev machine in a previous role. Would be very nice to see if this works on the new iPhones. A thin client with decent security in your pocket with keyboard/mouse/display at both home and... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
    I use blink[0] with a 40% keyboard to develop linux program on a vps. If you want to do programming without wireless interenet, another option is to connect a raspberry pi zero 2w (with usb gadget mode enabled) to the usb c port using a single usb cable. Then the rpi zero will share a ethernet network with iOS device. Then you can use blink (again) to mosh to raspberrypi.local to do the development on the pi. The... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing BusyBox and Blink Shell, you can also consider the following products

Termux - Terminal emulator and Linux environment for Android

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

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

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

iSH - The Linux shell on iOS.

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