Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

GitKraken VS Ably

Compare GitKraken VS Ably and see what are their differences

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GitKraken logo GitKraken

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

Ably logo Ably

The realtime platform that just works. We power more WebSocket connections than any other pub/sub platform, serving over 2 billion devices monthly.
  • GitKraken Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-21
  • Ably Ably homepage
    Ably homepage //
    2024-08-05

We help teams deliver resilient AI UX and high-performance live experiences that stay fast and in sync worldwide. We provide the global realtime layer for AI agents, chat, notifications, live dashboards, and collaboration - engineered to handle peak demand without self-managed infrastructure.

Teams like HubSpot and Intercom use Ably to avoid the cost and complexity of building and operating realtime systems, while still getting predictable performance at serious scale, handling 2T+ API operations per month. Ablyโ€™s Pub/Sub, Chat, and AI Transport products are unified by design, with developer-friendly APIs and SDKs that integrate across your stack.

Ably

Website
ably.com
$ Details
freemium
Release Date
2016 January
Startup details
Country
United Kingdom
Founder(s)
Matthew O'Riordan, Dr. Paddy Byers
Employees
50 - 99

GitKraken features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    GitKraken provides an intuitive and visually appealing interface which makes it easy for users to navigate and manage repositories.
  • Robust Git Integration
    GitKraken offers seamless integration with Git, supporting various Git commands and workflows with ease.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    GitKraken is available on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing consistency for users working in different environments.
  • Built-in Merge Conflict Resolution
    The tool includes advanced features for resolving merge conflicts, simplifying a commonly complex part of version control.
  • Integration with Issue Trackers
    GitKraken works well with popular issue trackers like Jira, GitHub Issues, and GitLab Issues, enhancing project management capabilities.

Possible disadvantages of GitKraken

  • Cost
    While GitKraken offers a free version, its premium features, which might be essential for advanced users, come with a subscription fee.
  • Resource Intensive
    GitKraken can be heavy on system resources, which might lead to slower performance on less powerful hardware.
  • Limited Customization
    Compared to some other Git clients, GitKraken offers fewer options for customization and configuration, which might be limiting for power users.
  • Learning Curve
    New users, especially those not familiar with Git concepts, might find the initial learning curve steep despite its user-friendly interface.
  • Periodic Updates
    Updates and new releases, while beneficial, can sometimes introduce bugs or change the interface in ways that disrupt user workflow.

Ably features and specs

  • Scalability
    Ably is designed to handle a massive number of concurrent connections and messages, making it scalable for both small and large applications.
  • Real-time Messaging
    Ably provides robust real-time messaging capabilities with low latency, supporting use-cases like live chat, gaming, and real-time data streaming.
  • Global Presence
    Ably has a globally distributed network, ensuring low latency and high availability for users around the world.
  • Advanced Features
    It offers advanced features such as message history, presence, and push notifications, which can enhance the functionality of real-time applications.
  • Security
    Ably includes built-in security features such as TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels to ensure secure communication.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The service provides extensive and well-organized documentation, making it easier for developers to integrate and utilize its features.
  • SDKs and Libraries
    Ably offers a wide range of SDKs and libraries for different programming languages and platforms, easing the development process.
  • Reliable Delivery
    It ensures reliable message delivery with features like message queuing and message de-duplication.

Possible disadvantages of Ably

  • Complexity
    Due to its wide range of advanced features, the initial learning curve can be steep for new users.
  • Cost
    For large-scale applications or extensive use of advanced features, the costs can add up, making it potentially expensive.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Relying heavily on Ablyโ€™s platform-specific features may result in vendor lock-in, making it challenging to switch to other services in the future.
  • Dependence on Internet Connection
    As a cloud-based service, Ablyโ€™s performance is highly dependent on the quality and reliability of the internet connection.
  • Third-party Integration
    While Ably offers various integration options, integrating certain third-party services may require additional custom development or may not be as seamless.

Analysis of Ably

Overall verdict

  • Ably is a reliable and efficient real-time messaging platform, well-suited for applications requiring high performance and scalability. It is generally well-regarded within the developer community for its ease of use and robust feature set.

Why this product is good

  • Features
    Ably provides a comprehensive suite of features such as pub/sub messaging, presence, and history.
  • Security
    It implements robust security practices including TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels.
  • Integration
    Supports numerous protocols and provides SDKs for various programming languages, making it easy to integrate with different systems.
  • Reliability
    Ably offers high availability and low latency, ensuring messages are delivered in real-time.
  • Scalability
    The platform can handle millions of active connections and is designed for horizontal scaling.

Recommended for

  • developers building real-time applications like chat apps, dashboards, or multiplayer games
  • businesses in need of a scalable solution for live updates and notifications
  • teams looking for a platform with strong security and compliance credentials
  • organizations requiring integration with existing development workflows and tools

GitKraken videos

GitKraken Git Client Tutorial For Beginners

More videos:

  • Review - 10 ways GitKraken Glo Boards outshines Trello for developers
  • Review - GitKraken Glo Boards - Intro to Kanban-style Issue Tracking for Devs

Ably videos

How to build a collaborative environment around your product

More videos:

  • Demo - How to build an avatar stack with Ably Spaces
  • Demo - Ably 101: Serverless WebSockets at scale

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GitKraken and Ably)
Git
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Code Collaboration
100 100%
0% 0
Realtime Backend / API
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GitKraken and Ably

GitKraken Reviews

Top 7 GitHub Alternatives You Should Know (2024)
GitKraken is a popular Git client and collaboration platform for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Source: snappify.com
Best Git GUI Clients of 2022: All Platforms Included
The tool has a built-in code editor where you can start a new project and edit the files directly in GitKraken. Plus it lets you track your tasks as it can sync with GitHub in real time, organize tasks in the calendar view, and mention team members to notify them about updates.
Boost Development Productivity With These 14 Git Clients for Windows and Mac
GitKraken is another top-of-the-line tool among git clients due to its efficiency, reliability, and stylish user interface (UI). The tool is equally popular among expert and novice developers.
Source: geekflare.com
Best Git GUI Clients for Windows
GitKraken is one of the best-known Git GUI tools for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Specialists favor this software for its reliability and efficiency, and its stylish interface also helped this solution become so popular. It simplifies all the basic tasks, making it possible to perform the necessary actions and fix errors with one click.
Source: blog.devart.com

Ably Reviews

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Ably should be more popular than GitKraken. It has been mentiond 26 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.

GitKraken mentions (4)

  • Native Git Support in Zed
    I'll have to try this out. I'm currently a huge GitKraken[1] fan. [1] https://gitkraken.com. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • The Terrible UX of Git (2021)
    The Git CLI is terrifying and awful. It's far too easy to clobber your own work -- and that of others -- when the whole point of it was to prevent that. While you still need to really deeply understand several git concepts to use it, GitKraken[0] is the best GUI tool I've used in daily practice. It integrates well with git hosts and has an attractive and mostly comprehensible interface. Accordingly, it isn't free... - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • Beautiful and crazy ways to see git-log?
    I like GitKraken partially because it was originally loosely based on the look/feel of Guitar Hero. Source: over 4 years ago
  • How I became a Software Developer - 5 Years Later
    This experience was also invaluable because I had a walking fountain of knowledge sitting next to me and was really cool about answering my questions and pointing out all code style errors in countless PR reviews. I cannot count the amount of times he had to explain me the whole rebase workflow. What really helped me improve my Git knowledge was GitKraken and other similar tools. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago

Ably mentions (26)

  • AWS us-east-1 outage: How Ablyโ€™s multi-region architecture held up
    During this weekโ€™s AWS us-east-1 outage, Ably maintained full service continuity with no customer impact. This was our multi-region architecture working exactly as designed; error rates were negligibly low and unchanged throughout. Any additional round trip latency was limited to 12ms, which is below the typical variance in any client-to-endpoint connection, and well below our 40โ€“50ms global median; this is... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Real-Time Sync Alternatives: Vaultrice vs. localStorage, DIY, Firebase, Pusher
    Services like Pusher and Ably are experts in real-time messaging. They provide robust APIs for pub/sub channels, allowing you to broadcast events to clients reliably. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • CometChat Alternatives โ€“ Comparing the Top 10 Competitors
    Ably is a real-time infrastructure platform that focuses on delivering low-latency, reliable messaging across global distributed systems. It's designed for developers building event-driven applications, including chat, but also supports broader use cases like live dashboards, GPS tracking, and collaborative tools. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Real-Time Authorization in a Chat Application with Permit.io and WebSockets
    For our web socket-based application, weโ€™ll be using Next.js and Ably, a service that allows us to easily integrate and manage real-time capabilities in our apps powered by web socket. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Curiosity: Using Ably.io Realtime Messaging as a Lightweight Database
    Ably offers various solutions for developers, with their most popular being realtime messaging based on the pub/sub model. When you publish a message to a channel, all devices connected to that channel receive it instantly. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing GitKraken and Ably, you can also consider the following products

SourceTree - Mac and Windows client for Mercurial and Git.

Pusher - Pusher is a hosted API for quickly, easily and securely adding scalable realtime functionality via WebSockets to web and mobile apps.

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

Socket.io - Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)

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

PubNub - PubNub is a real-time messaging system for web and mobile apps that can handle API for all platforms and push messages to any device anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second without having to worry about proxies, firewalls or mobile drop-offs.