Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

GitHub Desktop VS OpenGrok

Compare GitHub Desktop VS OpenGrok and see what are their differences

GitHub Desktop logo GitHub Desktop

GitHub Desktop is a seamless way to contribute to projects on GitHub and GitHub Enterprise.

OpenGrok logo OpenGrok

OpenGrok is a fast and usable source code search and cross reference engine.
  • GitHub Desktop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-02
  • OpenGrok Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-20

GitHub Desktop features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    GitHub Desktop offers a clean, intuitive GUI that simplifies the Git process, making it accessible for beginners and less technical users.
  • Seamless GitHub Integration
    The application is tightly integrated with GitHub, allowing users to easily clone repositories, create branches, and submit pull requests directly through the desktop interface.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    GitHub Desktop is available on both Windows and macOS, offering a consistent experience across these major operating systems.
  • Simplifies Workflow
    Features like drag-and-drop to add files, visual diff tools, and easy branching help streamline the workflow for users.
  • Collaborative Features
    The app provides useful collaborative tools such as reviewing changes, creating requests, and viewing history, enhancing team productivity.

Possible disadvantages of GitHub Desktop

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While GitHub Desktop is great for basic tasks, it lacks advanced features found in other Git clients like GitKraken or the command line.
  • Dependency on GitHub
    The app is deeply integrated with GitHub, which can be limiting for users who want to interact with repositories hosted on other platforms like GitLab or Bitbucket.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users report performance issues when dealing with large repositories or a significant number of files, which can hinder productivity.
  • Customization Limitations
    GitHub Desktop offers limited customization options compared to other Git clients or the command line, which may be a drawback for power users.
  • Offline Limitations
    Certain features of GitHub Desktop require an internet connection to interact with GitHub, limiting its usability in offline scenarios.

OpenGrok features and specs

  • Efficient Code Search
    OpenGrok provides powerful full-text code search capabilities, which allow developers to quickly find relevant code fragments, classes, and functions across potentially large codebases.
  • Source Code Navigation
    It facilitates easy navigation through source code, enabling users to explore code structure, variable definitions, and references, enhancing understanding and productivity.
  • Supports Multiple Version Control Systems
    OpenGrok is compatible with various version control systems such as Git, Mercurial, and Subversion, making it versatile and adaptable to different development environments.
  • Web Interface
    The tool provides a user-friendly web interface, allowing remote access to code repositories and making it easier for teams to collaborate and share code insights.
  • Cross-Referencing
    OpenGrok includes cross-referencing capabilities that enable developers to identify and analyze code dependencies and connections, improving code comprehension and maintenance.

Possible disadvantages of OpenGrok

  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Setting up OpenGrok can be challenging, requiring considerable configuration and resources, particularly for large and complex codebases.
  • Resource Intensive
    The tool can be resource-intensive, requiring substantial CPU and memory, especially when indexing large repositories, which may impact performance.
  • Limited Language Support
    OpenGrok may not support all programming languages natively for indexing and searching, potentially limiting its applicability in heterogeneous environments.
  • Maintenance Overhead
    Ensuring that OpenGrok remains efficient and up-to-date can entail ongoing maintenance, including regular updates and re-indexing of repositories.
  • Scalability Challenges
    While OpenGrok is powerful, scaling it for very large enterprise environments or numerous users can present challenges, requiring infrastructure considerations and optimizations.

GitHub Desktop videos

GitHub Desktop 2.0 -- Easy Mode Version Control

More videos:

  • Review - GitHub Desktop Quick Intro For Windows
  • Tutorial - Git and GitHub for Beginners: GitHub basics, and how to use GitHub Desktop

OpenGrok videos

How to setup Opengrok on Linux (In less than 2 minutes)

More videos:

  • Review - Writing and Rewriting Web Apps in nginx.conf โ€” URL shortening, OpenGrok05 by Constantine Murenin

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GitHub Desktop and OpenGrok)
Git
90 90%
10% 10
Code Collaboration
89 89%
11% 11
Git Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Software Development
68 68%
32% 32

User comments

Share your experience with using GitHub Desktop and OpenGrok. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GitHub Desktop and OpenGrok

GitHub Desktop Reviews

Best Git GUI Clients of 2022: All Platforms Included
Creating branches and switching to existing ones isnโ€™t a hassle, so is merging code with the master branch. Furthermore, you can track your changes with GitHub Desktop. Check out our detailed guide on how to use GitHub for more detailed information.
Boost Development Productivity With These 14 Git Clients for Windows and Mac
GitHub Desktop is the global standard for working with Git-related tasks in a graphical user interface (GUI). It is an open-source tool and hence completely free to use for all sorts of projects. It is available for both Windows and macOS desktops and laptops.
Source: geekflare.com
Best Git GUI Clients for Windows
GitHub Desktop is, perhaps, the most famous solution for working with Git in a visual interface. It is familiar to all developers keeping their repositories on GitHub (Git repository hosting service used for version-controlling IT projects). This free Git GUI is open-source, transparent, and functional. When you consider the Git graphical interface for Windows, GitHub...
Source: blog.devart.com

OpenGrok Reviews

We have no reviews of OpenGrok yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GitHub Desktop seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 135 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GitHub Desktop mentions (135)

  • How to Fix the Issue of Not Being Able to View Your GitHub Account on Other Devices
    Download the latest version from the GitHub Desktop website. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • 12 Steps to Organize and Maintain Your Python Codebase for Beginners
    Iโ€™m not going to dive into Git commands here โ€” you can find plenty of tutorials online. If youโ€™re not a fan of using the plain terminal CLI, you can also manage repositories with tools like GitHub Desktop or SourceTree, which provide a more visual, intuitive interface. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • File Governance and Versioning in Corticon BRMS
    Using terminal commands isnโ€™t necessary for basic adoption of Git with Corticon Studio files, though. There are various tools that will allow us to bypass the command line when defining rules, including the built-in Eclipse plugin for Git version control. If youโ€™ll be storing your assets on GitHub, though, an even easier solution is GitHub Desktop, a free desktop software that GitHub offers. It can be used in... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • An Introduction to Nix for Ruby Developers
    Nix currently is akin to git's "porcelain": powerful but esoteric. However, much like git evolved into exoteric, user-friendly tools such as git-flow, GitHub Desktop, and Tower to become user-friendly, many developers are building abstractions, wrappers, and utilities to simplify Nix usage. Let's briefly look at a few of these tools now. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Make your first contribution on github easily
    1.Download the github desktop. 2.Open the first contribution repository. 3.Open the github app and clone the repository. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

OpenGrok mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of OpenGrok yet. Tracking of OpenGrok recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GitHub Desktop and OpenGrok, you can also consider the following products

GitKraken - The intuitive, fast, and beautiful cross-platform Git client.

Sourcegraph - Sourcegraph is a free, self-hosted code search and intelligence server that helps developers find, review, understand, and debug code. Use it with any Git code host for teams from 1 to 10,000+.

SourceTree - Mac and Windows client for Mercurial and Git.

Atlassian Fisheye - With FishEye you can search code, visualize and report on activity and find for commits, files, revisions, or teammates across SVN, Git, Mercurial, CVS and Perforce.

SmartGit - SmartGit is a front-end for the distributed version control system Git and runs on Windows, Mac OS...

Text Sherlock - Provides a fast, easy to install and use search engine for text but, mostly for source code.