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Best Git GUI Clients For Developers๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

Hey there.!!๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™‚๏ธ Are you looking for the top git GUI client to make it easy to manage your project? Then you are in right place..!!

First of all, Git is a popular version control system that helps developers, writers, or anyone that requires keeping versions of their files to manage them and track changes. It is mostly used on the terminal by many programmers or command prompt.

Now, what is Git GUI Client?

Well, Git Graphical User Interface (GUI) clients are tools that provide alternative visualization for Git.

As we know, Git is necessary when it comes to managing collaborative development projects. Although, it also has a high learning curve. Thus, to make it easier for newcomers, developers have created Git Graphical User Interface clients for various platforms.

Here we have prepared a list of Top GIT GUI clients for developers. The following GUI clients are based on the Cross-platform compatibility i.e. Mac, Windows, and Linux. The cost involved i.e. if they are free, paid or subscription model as well as the features like different third-party remote repositories allowance, UI features to manage cloning repo, push-pull commands, merging conflicts, etc.

So, have a look..!!๐Ÿ‘‡

1. Sourcetree: A Free GIT Client For Windows And Mac

Sourcetree

Sourcetree is a free Git desktop client. It simplifies interaction with your Git repositories so you can focus on coding. Besides, you can manage and visualize your repositories through Sourcetreeโ€™s simple Git GUI. Furthermore, its simple yet beautiful interface makes it easy to work through. Apart from this, it is powered by Jira and Bitbucket. It also has great support from the repositories that are hosted by Bitbucket and GitHub.

This enterprise-grade tool can be used as part of a larger team.

Features:

  • Review your outgoing and incoming changesets, cherry-pick between branches, patch handling, rebase, stash, shelve, and much more.
  • Use Git-flow and Hg-flow with ease. Keep your repositories cleaner and your development more efficient.
  • Create, clone, commit, push, pull, merge, and more are all just a click away.
  • Full-powered DVCS

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Windows & Mac

License: Proprietary

Download

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2. GitHub Desktop: Simple collaboration from your desktop

Github desktop best git gui client

GitHub Desktop is an open-source Electron-based GitHub app. It is written in TypeScript and uses React. It also allows developers to synchronize branches, clone repositories, and more. Besides, pull requests, merge button, fork queue, issues, pages, wiki: all awesome features that make sharing easier. But those things are only great after youโ€™ve pushed your code to GitHub.

Features:

  • Community-supported
  • Extensive editor & shell integrations
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Expanded image diff support

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free (MIT License)

OS Support: Windows & Mac

License: MIT

3. Aurees: Easy-Fast-Free

Aurees

Aurees is a free (only for non-commercial use) Git client. It provides a visual representation of changes and commits so that you can have an instant idea of who made which commit. Besides, the client shows commit changes in side by side windows, where you can approve the changes and get back in a click.

Features:

  • Clear user experience
  • Insightful Highlighting
  • Powerful editable diff
  • Merge with preview

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Windows, Mac & Linux

License: Proprietary

Download

4. Git-Cola: Powerful Graphical User Interface For GIT

git-cola git gui client

Git Cola is a sleek and powerful graphical user interface for Git. It is free software and written in Python (v2 + v3). Besides, this is considered one of the best and fast version control tools that are easily available for software developers. Furthermore, it comes with a wide range of features, such as merge, pull, push, clone, and various other features.

This open-source Git GUI client is easily customizable for Git clients.

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Windows, Mac, Ubuntu & Linux

License: GNU GPL

Download


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5. Tortoise Git: The Power of Git in a Windows Shell

Git-cola

TortoiseGit is a Git revision control client, implemented as a Windows shell extension, and based on TortoiseSVN. It is free software released under the GNU General Public License.

TortoiseGit supports you by regular tasks, such as committing, showing logs, diffing two versions, creating branches and tags, creating patches, and so on.

Features:

  • Shell integration
  • Strong support for non-linear development
  • Icon overlays
  • Efficient branching and tagging
  • Distributed version control
  • Easy access to Git commands
  • Efficient handling of large projects
  • Shell integration
  • Cryptographic authentication of history

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Windows

Download

6. Fork: A Fast & Friendly GIT Client For Mac And Windows

Fork git gui client

Fork is a fast and simple git client for Mac and Windows. It has a tab-based interface that allows you to quickly navigate repositories and organize the workflow efficiently.

Besides, Fork offers a comprehensive list of origins, commits, tags, branches, and stashes. Furthermore, the website or application related to the repository can be open directly from Fork. It also provides a detailed file tree structure of the repo and an advanced difference viewer.

Features:

  • Interactive Rebase
  • Merge Conflicts
  • Repository Manager
  • Blame
  • Fetch, pull, push
  • Image Diffs
  • Create and delete remote repos
  • Create and delete branches and tags
  • Checkout branch or revision
  • Cherry-pick
  • Revert
  • Merge
  • Stashes
  • Submodules
  • Git-flow
  • Git LFS

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Basic Free/Premium Paid

OS Support: Windows & Mac

License: Proprietary

Download

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7. Gitkraken: Legendary GIT GUI Client For Windows, Mac & Linux

Gitkraken

GitKraken is another one of the best GUI Git clients. It is considered to be one of the most attractive among Git clients. Besides, it comes with great UI, features, and themes. Also, it looks exciting and comes with a lot of features when compared with any other GUI Git client. Furthermore, it has an intuitive UI/UX. It also has a merge Conflict Editor.

Furthermore, it supports VCS, such as Gitlab, GitHub, Bitbucket, and Enterprise. In addition, it has a large number of collaborative features.

Features:

  • Repository Hosting Integrations
  • Issue Tracking Integrations
  • Diff Split View
  • Also, there is a built-In Code Editor with drag and drop functionality
  • A commit graph functionality
  • Syntax Highlighting
  • A commit graph functionality
  • Git LFS
  • Git Hooks Support
  • Gitflow Support
  • Light & Dark Themes

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Basic Free/Premium Paid

OS Support: Windows, Mac & Linux

License: Proprietary

Download

8. SmartGit: Get Your Commit Done

Smartgit

Smart Git is a powerful, multi-platform Git client. It has the same intuitive user interface on Windows, macOS, and Linux:

Features:

  • Command-line Git client (Windows, macOS)
  • SSH-client
  • File Compare
  • Graphical Merge and Commit History
  • Git-Flow
  • File Merge (โ€œConflict Solverโ€)

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Basic Free/Premium Paid

OS Support: Windows, Mac & Linux

License: Proprietary

Download

9. Magit: A Git Porcelain inside Emacs

Magit

Magit is an interface to the version control system Git, implemented as an Emacs package. Magit aspires to be a complete Git porcelain. While it doesn't claim that Magit wraps and improves upon each and every Git command, it is complete enough to allow even experienced Git users to perform almost all of their daily version control tasks directly from within Emacs.

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Linux, Mac, Windows

License:GPL-3.0 License

10. GitTower: The most powerful Git client for Mac and Windows.

Git Tower

Git Tower is a powerful Git client for Mac and Windows users. It is a very easy-to-use intuitive graphical interface. There is no need to worry about making mistakes: undo is supported, new branches can be created via drag & drop, and you can always roll back to previous revisions.

Features:

  • Advanced functionality
  • Single line staging
  • Submodule support
  • File history

Tool Cost /Plan Details: $79/user (Free 30 day trial)

OS Support: Mac, Windows

License: Proprietary

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11. Gitg

Gitg

Gitg is a graphical user interface for git. It aims at being a small, fast, and convenient tool to visualize the history of git repositories. Apart from visualization, it also offers several utilities to manage your repository and commit your work.

Features:

  • Files view
  • Commit staged changes
  • Staging area to compose your commit.
  • App menu (GNOME Shell integration)
  • Overview of recently used repositories.
  • Clone Repository
  • Comprehensive repository history
  • Open Repository

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Linux

License: GNU GPL

Download

12. Qgit

Alt Text

QGit is a Git GUI viewer built on Qt/C++. It has a nice graphical representation of different development branches. Besides, the users have access to detailed revisions history and could view patch content and changed files.

Features:

  • Apply and/or format-patch series from selected commits
  • GUI for the most common StGIT commands
  • View revisions, diffs, files history, files annotation, archive tree.
  • Drag and drop commit between two instances of qgit.
  • Commit changes and visually cherry picking modified files.
  • Associate commands sequences, scripts, and other executable to a custom action.

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Linux

License: GNU GPL

Download

13. Git Force

GitForce

GitForce is a very popular visual frontend for Git command-line tools. It is designed to offer the smooth and most intuitive experience for handling Git processes.

Features:

  • Single executable file with no need for installation
  • Easy scan for local Repos
  • Multiple workspaces (sets of Repos)
  • Create and manage multiple Git Repos and branches
  • Supports multiple remote Repos
  • Intuitive GUI with drag and drop
  • Easily manage SSH keys and remotes
  • Integrated Git command-line interface
  • List revision history, stash, unstash, etc.

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Linux

License: GNU GPL

Download

14. GitUp: Work quickly, safely, and without headaches.

Gitup

GitUp is a Git GUI client specifically for Mac users. Itโ€™s open-source and comes with GitUpKit, a toolkit that lets you build Git apps. It is easy to use and offers you to see your merges and branches clearly.

Features:

  • Live map
  • Quick View
  • Instant Search

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Mac

License: GNU GPL

Download

15. GitBox: Version Control As Easy as Mail

Gitbox

Gitbox GIt GUI client allows you to pull, commit, and push code changes with one click.

With GitBox, you can automatically retrieve new commit from your server, avoiding merge commits and conflicts. Also, you can search for commits in the repository history by author or description.

Features:

  • Fully Automated Sub Modules
  • Powerful commands and keyboard Shortcuts

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free/Paid

OS Support: Mac

License: GNU GPL

16. GitX-dev:

GitX-Dev

GitX-dev is a free Git client for Mac. It is created and designed to be a first-class, easily maintainable tool for active developers. This tool is specially developed for software developers, also itโ€™s full-featured for most Git work-flows.

You can browse your repository history and view a well-arranged diff of any revision. In addition, you will also be able to see a complete tree of the revisions.

Features:

  • See a nicely formatted diff of any revision
  • Look at the complete tree of any revision
  • Support for all parameters git rev-list has
  • Drag and drop files out of the tree view to copy them to your system
  • Search based on author or revision subject
  • Preview any file in the tree in a text view or with QuickLook
  • Good performance on large (200+ MB) repositories
  • History browsing of your repository

Tool Cost /Plan Details: Free

OS Support: Mac

License: GNU GPL


Conclusion:

So, these are some of the best Git Gui Clients that can help you to manage your projects easily.

GUI based Git clients are essential for managing Git-based operations of all complexities. Regardless of the skill level of the user, these clients make sure that there is an easy and quick way of carrying out common Git commands.

The following are some suggestions for Git GUI Clients based on Cost and, Os compatibility.

  1. Best Free: Sourcetree, Git Desktop (For GitHub users)
  • Both are free.
  • Both offer Cross-platform compatibility
  1. Best Free and Premium: Fork, Gitkraken
  • Offers amazing features
  • Cross-platform compatibility
  • Most recommended Git GUI Clients

We have tried to cover all the best Git GUI clients in this article. If we have missed out on your favorite client or you would like to contribute to the discussion, do leave a comment below!


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Top comments (30)

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cadams profile image
Chad Adams

Iโ€™ve been using the built in git from vscode for a while now. If iโ€™m not using vscode then I use Fork. Works really well and $49.99 is a lifetime license unlike Tower, and Git Kraken where you pay yearly for it.

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moxnr profile image
Marc Ochsner (he/him)

You should really consider downloading gitlens. It doesn't replace existing vscode git, but expands upon it for when you want to diff a file or peruse through its history! Just select a file, then go to gitlens and you can see all the commits to it

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cadams profile image
Chad Adams

I use gitlens.

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theme_selection profile image
ThemeSelection

Hi @chad ,

Thanks for sharing your inputs. Yes, fork is also one of the easiest and best GIT GUI clients. The only drawback its not available for Linux.

Stay Safe ๐Ÿ™

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aderchox profile image
aderchox

"Fork" sounds awful, watch this to see a demo of its apparent disaster:
youtube.com/watch?v=zr7MpE_Eb6A

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goodevilgenius profile image
Dan Jones

The only git GUI I've found useful is Magit.

Having to switch to a CLI is quick and easy, but having to switch to a different gui app (when I'm already using an IDE) just slows me down.

Also, having to take my hands off the keyboard and use a mouse slows me down.

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pierrelegall profile image
Pierre Le Gall

Never forget to mention Magit, the today best Git client without contest.

But for Emacs users only. I think you omit this information ;)

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theme_selection profile image
ThemeSelection

Thank you very much for your suggestion.๐Ÿ‘ We'll add it to the list.

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davidpfarrell profile image
David Farrell

No Love for Sublime Merge?

FYI: Sublime Merge is a git gui client made by the creators of Sublime. Not to be confused with SubliMerge which is a 3rd party professional merge tool implemented as a Sublime plugin.

Sublime Merge + CLI + IntelliJ/PyCharm/GoLand integration are my tools of choice.

I don't need a ui bad enough to warrant the cost of GitKraken, but it sure does look slick!

I wasn't aware of all of the ui's listed here, and I'll definitely look into some of them.

Thanks for sharing!

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theme_selection profile image
ThemeSelection

Thank you for your feedback and inputs.๐Ÿ™‚ We'll add it to the list.๐Ÿ‘

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scriptedpixels profile image
๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป Kam Banwait

Iโ€™ve tried a few of these & youโ€™re missing probably one of the best GUI out there for both windows & Mac: GitTower git-tower.com

Hands down the simplest & nicest client Iโ€™ve used out of a bunch of the ones listed above ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿฝ

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theme_selection profile image
ThemeSelection

Yes, we are adding it. Thank You for your feedback.๐Ÿ‘

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mikecheel profile image
Mike Cheel

I like GitExtensions

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dsoverby1986 profile image
Dustin Shane Overby

Git Extensions is where it's at for me.

I've been using this client for many years now and still love it. It's intuitive, clean, robust, and free. A real pleasure to work with.

gitextensions.github.io/

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volkmarr profile image
Volkmar Rigo

I've been using Fork for a while now and like it very much.

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theme_selection profile image
ThemeSelection

Yes, Fork is indeed the best git GUI client.๐Ÿ‘

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jlabs profile image
jlabs

We mostly use SourceTree at work, but trying to look for a replacement as there's not one day without an issue with it.
Tried to use GitKraken as a trial, but you need the paid account to work with private repos (ours are all private).

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Michal Dobrodenka

I would recommend trying SmartGit, 30 days trial period. It doesn't look sexy but can be very helpful. I switched from SourceTree recently.

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Mark Blakeney

For me, the best Git GUI is the one that comes with git! I.e. gitk.