Is Putty a full replacement of the command line (openssh) client ?

I wonder wether the well known Putty software is a full replacement for the Openssh client
(=command line ssh.exe)?

In other words can I setup port redirections/tunneling for other software (e.g. MailClient)
with the help of Putty as well or is Putty only a telnet client for an SSH server?

If it works as a full SSH client: Is there somewhere a good tutorial on how to set it up
for a port redirection?

Peter