Best Git Clients for Mac OS

Git is a Version Control System that works to track file changes. Commonly used in team settings and especially among programmers, its basic functions include cloning, fetching, pulling, pushing, merging, and staging.

Although many users are comfortable working with Git from the Command Line, there are several GUI clients which will considerably speed up your workflow especially if you are new to the platform.

There are several GUI Git clients available to users and if you’re searching for the ideal one to manage your repositories on a Mac then you are in luck because here is a list of the best GUI Git clients for Mac OS X.

1. Fork

Fork is a free advanced GUI git client for Mac and Windows with an emphasis on speed, user-friendliness, and efficiency. Its features include a themeable layout with quick action buttons, a built-in merge-conflict helper and resolver, a repository manager, GitHub notifications, etc.

Fork has the most features in a free GUI Git client that I know about including an interactive rebase, Git-flow, GIT LFS, cherry-pick, revert, sub-modules, etc. all in a beautiful UI.

Fork GUI GIT For Mac

2. GitHub Desktop

GitHub Desktop is a completely free and open source customizable Electron-based Git client app developed by GitHub for you to interact with GitHub as well as other Git platforms including Bitbucket and GitLab.

Its features include a beautiful with a minimalist approach to sectioning which makes it easy to check out branches with pull requests, check the differences between images and code blocks, and even use drag and drop to add projects in order to manage them from the app.

GitHub Desktop GUI GIT For Mac

3. Sourcetree

Sourcetree is a free GUI Git client for macOS and Windows that simplifies the version control process in order to allow you to focus on what matters – coding.

It features a beautiful UI for performing Git tasks as well as visualizing and managing your repositories by giving you access to Git-flow right out of the box, submodules, a remote repo manager, local commit search, support for Git Large File, etc.

Sourcetree is developed by Atlassian for Bitbucket but it is not limited to it and can be used with other Git platforms coupled with built-in support for Mercurial repositories.

Sourcetree GUI GIT For Mac

4. Tower

Tower is a paid GUI Git client for macOS and Windows and currently one of the leading client apps among professionals. It lets you learn more about version control by enabling you to perform all the Git actions with a visual representation of all instances including sorting merge conflicts and collaborating on projects.

You can enjoy its free trial for 30 days without restrictions after which you are to make an annual payment of $69/user or $99/user for a Basic or Pro subscription respectively.

Tower GUI GIT For Mac

5. GitKraken

GitKraken is a freemium cross-platform GUI Git client for working with Version Control Systems including GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab, among other platforms. It aims to make you a productive Git user by providing you with an intuitive UI, task tracking, a built-in code editor, merge conflict editor, support for integration with other platforms, etc.

For commercial purposes + other features packed in a Pro version such as a merge conflict editor, multiple profiles, and self-hosted repositories, GitKraken costs $4.08/month and more for enterprise versions. Read our article on GitKraken here.

Gitkraken GUI GIT For Mac

6. Sublime Merge

Sublime Merge is a Git client for Mac, Windows, and Linux created by the same developer behind the much-loved Sublime Text source code editor.

It includes all the qualities Sublime text users happily swear by and more including a speedy performance, an integrated merge tool, a powerful search tool, advanced difference checker, etc. It is free to use but just like with Sublime Text, you’ll need to shell out $99 for an extended use license.

Sublimemerge GUI GIT For Mac

7. SmartGit

SmartGit is a feature-rich Git client for Mac, Linux, and Windows with support for SVN and Pull Requests for GitHub and Bitbucket. Its features include a CLI for Git, graphical merge and commit history, an SSH client, Git-Flow, file merge, conflict solver, etc.

SmartGit is free to use for non-commercial projects and charges for licenses starting at $99/year all the way to a single lifetime fee of $229 with varying costs depending on the duration of the support you choose.

SmartGit GUI GIT For Mac

8. GitUp

GitUp is a free and open source Git client for Mac users with an emphasis on speed, simplicity, efficiency, and ease of use. It bypasses the Git binary tool to interact with the repo database directly which makes it a lot faster than other Git clients e.g. it loads and renders the graph of 40,000 commits of the GitUp repo in under a second.

GitUp features GUI alternatives for all Git functions coupled with a visual realization of commands entered and changes made in real-time.

GitUp GUI GIT For Mac

9. Aurees Git Client

Aurees Git Client is a free app for Git users on Mac, Windows, and Linux that aims to speed up your workflow by providing you with a simple but powerful application for managing all your Git projects using a GUI.

It gives you the convenience of visually operating your Git repos with functions such as outstanding merge with preview, conflict resolution, a built-in editor for diff checking, insightful highlighting, etc.

Aurees GUI GIT For Mac

10. GitBlade

GitBlade is a beautiful Git client for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms that provides users with the everyday features required to operate Git projects including a merge tool, a visual graph for displaying linked branches and commits, combined diff checking for viewing the difference between multiple files at once, a blame/annotate tool for visualizing file history.

GitBlade is free to use with all the basic Git features + 14 days of Pro features for free. A pro version costs $19.99/year /user and it contains a license that can be used on up to 3 machines, repository tabs, blame tool, merge tool, etc.

GitBlade GUI GIT For Mac

While all these applications offer similar features for working with Git projects, they have unique extras that make them stand out in areas others.