For the last 5(?) years or so I have been using GitKraken as my daily git driver for a while. I use it at my job mostly and love the functionality. I still use git via command line but jumping into git bash is nice no matter what os I am currently using.
I mainly use it:
- To see what branches have been modified (same as git tree but updates itself).
- Hooks into other git hosting like codeberg/gitea/forgeo without any real work. Login is also super easy and built in. Oauth is built in.
- Git amend is a one click interface.
There is other niceties like issue tracking, easy auto-creation of branches, etc… that I personally don’t use all that much, but I can see the appeal.
The only real issue is the price. It used to be 30$ a year but now it’s over 100+. I would happily pay 30 a year or pay one time for a license…but over 100 is too much in my opinion. I may go back to using all command line if the price keeps going up.
Is there any open source tools that do something similar it’s the same look/feel?
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Probably not very similar, but Git Butler is very interesting. It adds its own layer of management so that you can have multiple branches “applied” to your working tree simultaneously. It’s helpful when you have multiple changes that should go into different branches, and some that shouldn’t be committed - it has a system of lanes that help keep track of all that. Or you can test how changes from two branches interact.
Last time I used it, maybe 6 months ago, it was rough around the edges so I didn’t stick with it. But they’ve done lots of work since then so I’m thinking of giving it another go. It is (last I checked) an all-in tool. When you’re using Butler on a project you probably won’t be able to use other git tools.
I’m still waiting for better Windows Git Auth integration in GitButler. I don’t want to enter my key password for each remote action (fetch or push).
May not be the most popular choice, but I absolutely love Sublime Merge. Only issue I have is that it doesn’t support workspaces. But I love how it doesn’t abstract git away. Most actions in the UI are just called like the underlying git command, there are no non-git things like a “sync”. Plus you can always click on the top to see which commands exactly were executed and with what output. And it’s Sublime-typical wicked fast.
It’s an unlimited free trial with the dark mode disabled. License costs $100 and lasts for 3 years of updates.
The open alternatives don’t have particularly good UIs which was a massive perk of GitKraken.
These days I rely heavily on the Git UI within jetbrains various IDEs. If you’re working on open source projects then you can get a free license. Or they do educational discounts. If you’re using it commercially then it’s going to be roughly the same price as for Kraken but you get a best in class IDE included…
Jetbrains products also have a fallback license after a year, so you retain perpetual acces to an old version* and I don’t think there is much change in the space of git UIs.
* iirc the version that you had one year before your payment lapsed, it applies to discounted versions as well
Wait gitkraken is getting a price hike? I haven’t received anything on email about this I think. Shit, I’ll look into it because if it is such a surge I might not be able to justify its price with my currency even if it is one of the few licensed apps I use. Dang, thanks for the heads up OP.
I just had to go and check because I got my 2 year subscription for ~$0.75 a month ($1 CAD) back in April. When I check their pricing page while not logged in, it shows me that I can save 50% on my first year and pay $6 monthly.
Git Fork is absolutely amazing. It has a good (unlimited) free trial but it is well worth the one time purchase too.
+1 for this. Been using it for the past 4 years
Thirded. Fork is great.
I think I found a good alternative https://github.com/sourcegit-scm/sourcegit
Playing around with it now.
Ooo I’ve not seen this before. Looks interesting.
SourceTree by Atlassian is great, I’ve used it for years and love it. It’s also free. They kind of push you into signing up for a BitBucket account, but it’s skippable. I think it checks all the boxes for the requirements you listed.
Really? I hated SourceTree. It was the reason why I switched to GitKraken in the first place. Haven’t needed to use git in a few years now but especially when dealing with conflicts, GitKraken was just infinitely superior and sourcetree annoyingly barebones.
It’s sooo sloooow though.
open source
I miss when Gitkraken used to be free. They nickel and dimed every feature they possibly could have
They still have the same free plan as 4 years ago. This comment makes me doubt if you’re using it.
The entire Gitkraken suite used to be free before 2016. The free tier you get now is a severely crippled version of what it used to be.
Not everything is a conspiracy, just so you understand
Yet this “severely crippled” version is already more than enough. It’s not like the Gitkraken suite existed back then; it was just the one app.
Plus, 2016 was a year in closed beta. It seems to me that the free tier’s been like this since release.
Looks like Source Git
I’ve recently switched from Windows to Linux and generally I’m using Lazygit on the terminal or SourceGit on the desktop. SourceGit is by and large a very similar UI to Sourcetree but faster (and open source / cross platfrom)
The only Git GUIs that I’ve ever liked:
- GitX, and its many forks. Mac only though.
- Git Extensions. Terrible name, but this is actually a standalone Git GUI and is surprisingly decent. I think it started Windows only but maybe there’s a Linux port now.
- VSCode’s “Git Graph” extension. It’s not quite as fully featured but it integrates well into VSCode and is pretty nicely designed.
I’ve tried almost all the others (SmartGit, Sublime Merge, GitKraken, etc.), and didn’t really like how they worked.
If you like Emacs, Magit is the best thing since sliced butter. Even if you don’t use Emacs, I would claim that Magit is a good enough reason to start doing so.
Seconding magit, emacs is an awesome ecosystem well worth learning, and magit is fantastic. I recommend doom emacs - the greatness of vim keybinds for editing with the greatness of the emacs ecosystem
Lazygit
I use the Git Graph extension with VSCodium’s built in git functions for my git gui needs. Works really wel
I use smartgit it serves me well: https://www.syntevo.com/smartgit/
And it has all 3 of your criteria as far as I can see.
