If you're a sysadmin or developer on Windows tired of juggling PuTTY, WinSCP, and an X server as three separate programs, this download solves that in one install. MobaXterm's free Home edition bundles SSH, SFTP, X11 forwarding, and a portable set of Unix commands into a single tabbed terminal. The free tier does cap you at 12 saved sessions and a handful of simultaneous SSH tunnels per launch, which is the main thing that pushes power users toward the paid Professional license. Download the Windows installer below to try it as-is.
The Session Limits That Define the Free Tier
MobaXterm Home is free for personal, non-commercial use and includes SSH, X11 forwarding, and an embedded Cygwin-based toolbox, but restarts the client every 12 sessions or so opened and limits simultaneous tunnels.
The paid Professional edition removes those session caps, adds custom branding, and is required for any commercial or corporate deployment under Mobatek's licensing terms.
Who ends up using MobaXterm
MobaXterm suits sysadmins and developers on Windows who are tired of juggling separate SSH, SFTP, and X server programs.
- Sysadmins managing multiple remote Linux servers over SSH from one tabbed window
- Developers needing X11 forwarding to run remote GUI applications locally
- Windows users wanting Unix commands like grep and ssh without installing WSL
Before you install
A couple of things worth knowing about MobaXterm before you request the link: it only ships for Windows, so double-check that's the machine you're installing it on before you request the link. And on pricing, MobaXterm has a free tier plus a paid upgrade; the free build below is the full, genuine app, not a time-limited trial. It's developed and maintained by Mobatek.
System requirements
- WindowsWindows 10 or 11 (64-bit); older 7/8.1 builds usually still run but no longer get official support
Heavier workloads (large files, high-res media, big projects) will naturally want more RAM and a faster CPU/GPU than the bare minimum.
Quick steps
- Download the free Windows installer below (Home edition).
- Install and open a new SSH session from the toolbar.
- Use the built-in Unix commands from the embedded terminal as needed.
MobaXterm: the honest trade-offs
- Bundles SSH, SFTP, X11 forwarding, and Unix tools into a single application
- Embedded portable Unix toolbox works without installing WSL or Cygwin separately
- Tabbed multi-session interface keeps many remote connections organized at once
- Free Home edition periodically restarts the app after a set number of sessions
- Commercial or corporate use requires purchasing the paid Professional license
This is Mobatek's unmodified Home edition installer, matching the checksums published on the official MobaXterm site.
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Keeping MobaXterm up to date
MobaXterm typically checks for updates from inside the app, or you can just re-download the current installer from the official source periodically — reinstalling over the top keeps your settings. Sticking to the developer's own distribution channel — which is what this page links to — means you're never stuck on an old build with unpatched bugs just because a mirror site stopped updating its copy.
Features, install steps, alternatives and more detail live on the main MobaXterm page.
Frequently asked questions
What happens when I hit the free session limit?
MobaXterm periodically prompts you to restart the app after a set number of sessions in a single run, but your saved session profiles and settings are preserved, it's just a restart, not a lockout.
Do I need Cygwin or WSL installed separately for Unix commands?
No, MobaXterm bundles its own portable Unix environment, so commands like ls, grep, and ssh work out of the box without installing WSL or Cygwin yourself.
