Best Git GUI clients in 2026: 10 Git clients compared for macOS, Windows and Linux

The best Git GUI in 2026 depends on what you need most. GitHub Desktop is the gentlest start for beginners, GitKraken Desktop the most complete tool for teams that pay, and Fork and Tower polished paid apps for Mac and Windows only, with no Linux version. For one free Git client on macOS, Windows and Linux, private repositories included, pick GitTree. The best Git client by need:

• Best free Git GUI on all three systems: GitTree (our app; see the note below).
• Best for beginners: GitHub Desktop, free and open source.
• Best all-in-one for teams: GitKraken Desktop.
• Best one-time purchase: Fork, $59.99 (Mac and Windows only, no Linux version).
• Best free client for Atlassian teams: Sourcetree (Mac and Windows only, no Linux version).
• Best premium native app: Tower (Mac and Windows only, no Linux version).
• Best for enterprise licensing: SmartGit.
• Best for speed and customisation: Sublime Merge.
• Best terminal UI: lazygit.
• Best for parallel branches: GitButler.

Who wrote this: GitTree’s maker wrote this guide, and GitTree is one of the ten clients reviewed. Every claim about another product comes from its official website, docs, release notes or repository, checked in October 2026 and listed in the sources. Prices change, so confirm them with the vendor before you buy.

Git client comparison table: price, platforms and key features

The table covers cost, platforms, free use at work, and the three jobs that separate a good Git GUI from a basic one: rewriting history, resolving conflicts and undoing mistakes. ✓ means an official build exists; — means none.

The 10 best Git GUI clients of 2026, reviewed

Each of these top Git GUI clients gets a verdict, strengths, trade-offs, platforms and the price as of October 2026. GitTree comes first because it is ours.

How to choose the best Git client for you

Pick the client that removes the friction you hit every week, not the longest feature list:

1. Platforms. GitTree, GitKraken Desktop, SmartGit, Sublime Merge, lazygit and GitButler run on macOS, Windows and Linux; Sourcetree, GitHub Desktop, Fork and Tower have no Linux build.
2. Work use. GitKraken’s free plan stops at public remotes, SmartGit’s free licences exclude paid work, and Fork, Tower and Sublime Merge need a licence.
3. History editing. For fixup and edit in interactive rebase: GitTree, Fork, Tower, SmartGit, Sublime Merge or lazygit (see our interactive rebase guide).
4. Conflicts. GitTree, SmartGit, Sublime Merge and Fork have built-in conflict editors; Sourcetree, GitHub Desktop and Tower hand line-level merging to another tool (see how to resolve merge conflicts).
5. Undo. GitTree and Tower undo and redo many operations, and GitButler keeps an operations history; GitKraken undoes only the last action. See how to undo a reset, rebase or commit.
6. Hosting. For in-app pull requests on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps: GitTree, GitKraken Desktop, Tower or SmartGit.
7. Account and Git. GitTree and GitKraken require an account, and Sourcetree does on Windows. GitTree, GitButler and lazygit use your installed Git; the others bundle it (Sublime Merge everywhere except Linux).

Best Git GUI for Mac, Windows and Linux: quick picks

Best Git GUI for Mac

All ten run on macOS, so choose by style and price: GitTree is a free universal app for Apple silicon and Intel (macOS 13+, signed and notarized), Fork and Tower are polished paid apps, and GitHub Desktop is the gentlest start. See our best Git client for Mac round-up and GitTree for Mac.

Best Git GUI for Windows

On Windows, Fork, Tower, Sourcetree and GitHub Desktop are all strong; Tower adds native Arm builds, and Tower, Sourcetree and GitHub Desktop offer MSI packages for managed installs. GitTree is a 7.5 MB x64 installer for Windows 10 (22H2) and 11 that needs Git for Windows, and SmartScreen may warn because it is not signed yet. See our best Git GUI for Windows round-up and GitTree for Windows.

Best Git GUI for Linux

Sourcetree, GitHub Desktop, Fork and Tower have no Linux build, leaving GitTree, GitKraken Desktop, SmartGit, Sublime Merge, GitButler and lazygit. GitTree ships a .deb for Ubuntu 22.04+ and Debian 12+ plus an AppImage. See our best Git GUI for Linux round-up, the GitTree for Linux guide, and our answers on Sourcetree for Linux and GitHub Desktop on Linux.

Ubuntu 22.04 and Linux Mint 21 ship Git 2.34, older than GitTree needs, so add the git-core PPA first, as our guide to upgrading Git on Ubuntu explains:

git --version
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:git-core/ppa
sudo apt update && sudo apt install git

Free Git GUI clients: what “free” really means

“Free” means different things in this list. As of October 2026:

• Free, including at work: GitTree (free today, private repositories included), GitHub Desktop, Sourcetree, lazygit and GitButler.
• Free with limits: GitKraken Desktop (local repositories and public remotes only) and SmartGit (non-commercial use only).
• Evaluate, then buy: Fork ($59.99 once) and Sublime Merge ($99 personal, or $75 per user per year for business).
• Trial, then subscription: Tower (free only for students, educators and non-profits).

Only GitHub Desktop and lazygit are open source in the usual sense; GitButler uses a Fair Source licence, and the rest, GitTree included, are closed source. Our guides to free Git GUIs for commercial use and GitKraken vs Sourcetree vs GitHub Desktop go deeper.

The bottom line: which Git GUI should you pick?

New to Git and on GitHub? GitHub Desktop. Company paying for integrations? GitKraken Desktop. A paid native app on macOS or Windows? Fork (once) or Tower (yearly), though neither runs on Linux. Living in the terminal? lazygit. Juggling parallel work? GitButler. One free client with private repositories, a full interactive rebase, a three-way conflict editor and undo? Try GitTree.

Compare each rival side by side: GitTree vs GitKraken, GitTree vs Sourcetree, GitTree vs GitHub Desktop, GitTree vs Fork, GitTree vs Tower, GitTree vs SmartGit and GitTree vs Sublime Merge. Or go straight to the GitTree download page.