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lazygit VS GitHub Desktop

Compare lazygit VS GitHub Desktop and see what are their differences

lazygit logo lazygit

Simple terminal UI for git commands.

GitHub Desktop logo GitHub Desktop

GitHub Desktop is a seamless way to contribute to projects on GitHub and GitHub Enterprise.
  • lazygit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17
  • GitHub Desktop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-02

lazygit features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Lazygit provides an intuitive terminal user interface (TUI) for managing git repositories. It simplifies complex git tasks and makes them more accessible for users who are not comfortable with the command line.
  • Speed and Efficiency
    With keybindings and an efficient layout, lazygit can significantly speed up git workflows. Common tasks like staging, committing, and switching branches can be performed more quickly.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Lazygit is available for multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, making it versatile for users across different platforms.
  • Interactive UI
    The interactive UI of lazygit allows users to visualize changes, diffs, and logs in a more comprehensible way compared to traditional command-line interfaces.
  • Ease of Installation
    Lazygit is straightforward to install, often requiring just a few commands, making it accessible even for those with limited technical knowledge.

Possible disadvantages of lazygit

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly design, lazygit introduces a new set of keybindings and interfaces that users must learn, which could be a barrier for some.
  • Limited Customization
    Lazygit may lack the deep customization options available in other git clients or command-line tools, potentially limiting power users who need highly specific configurations.
  • Dependent on Terminal
    Since lazygit operates within a terminal, it might not fully integrate with other graphical development tools some users prefer, reducing its appeal for those who favor all-in-one solutions.
  • Feature Parity
    Lazygit might not support all the advanced features found in more comprehensive GUI-based git clients, potentially requiring users to fall back to command-line git for specific tasks.
  • Resource Consumption
    As a terminal-based tool, lazygit might consume more system resources compared to purely CLI-based git operations, which could be a concern for users on less powerful machines.

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.

lazygit videos

15 Lazygit Features In Under 15 Minutes

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to lazygit and GitHub Desktop)
Git
29 29%
71% 71
Code Collaboration
24 24%
76% 76
Git Tools
30 30%
70% 70
Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

lazygit Reviews

We have no reviews of lazygit yet.
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GitHub Desktop Reviews

Best Git GUI Clients of 2022: All Platforms Included
Creating branches and switching to existing ones isn’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

Social recommendations and mentions

GitHub Desktop might be a bit more popular than lazygit. We know about 135 links to it since March 2021 and only 100 links to lazygit. 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.

lazygit mentions (100)

  • LazyJournal: A Terminal User Interface for Logs
    LazyJournal is a terminal user interface (TUI) written in Go, designed for easy analysis of system and application logs. It is inspired by tools like lazydocker and lazygit, providing interactive access to search, view, and filter logs from various sources in the local system. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Switching Fully to Neovim
    Additionally, I integrate several CLI tools into my work flow, such as lazygit for streamlined Git operations, yazi as a terminal file manager, tmux for session management, and lazydocker for handling Docker containers efficiently. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • TIL: Ghostty — a new and quite promising terminal emulator
    While design is an important part to some degree, there is something more that I've become observing and, therefore, liking lately: the reasonable default configs of the apps, which mean that the majority of the users will never need to mess with configs at all. Here is a great post by Arne about this trend which lists such tools like Fish (mentioned above), Helix, Lazygit, Zellij, k9s, etc. And that a very... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Tig: Text-Mode Interface for Git
    There're multiple solutions like this and I've used some of them over the past years. - There's obviously the fantastic Magit (https://github.com/magit/magit) I did use this for a long time but recently switched over to LazyGit for the better Vim bindings and having more features - LazyGit (https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit). One thing that I added that (as far as I know) none of the others have and I... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Lazy Docker: The lazier way to manage everything Docker
    If you like lazydocker also check out lazygit by the same author: https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
View more

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 / 5 months ago
  • 12 Steps to Organize and Maintain Your Python Codebase for Beginners
    I’m not going to dive into Git commands here — you can find plenty of tutorials online. If you’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 / 6 months ago
  • File Governance and Versioning in Corticon BRMS
    Using terminal commands isn’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 you’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 / 7 months 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 / 9 months 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 / 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

CodeHub - CodeHub is the most complete, unofficial, client for GitHub on the iOS platform.

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

Fork - Fast and Friendly Git Client for Mac

SourceTree - Mac and Windows client for Mercurial and Git.

fugitive (via vim) - Free - VIM license

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