Software Alternatives & Reviews

Magit VS GitHub Desktop

Compare Magit VS GitHub Desktop and see what are their differences

Magit logo Magit

Front-end to the git revision control system for emacs.

GitHub Desktop logo GitHub Desktop

GitHub Desktop is a seamless way to contribute to projects on GitHub and GitHub Enterprise.
  • Magit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-13
  • GitHub Desktop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-02

Magit videos

Magit Introduction and Demonstration

More videos:

  • Review - Emacs Magit - The Git Commit Flow in More Detail - Emacs Doom 19
  • Review - Git in Spacemacs/Emacs with Magit

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 Magit and GitHub Desktop)
Git
12 12%
88% 88
Git Tools
11 11%
89% 89
Code Collaboration
0 0%
100% 100
Git Client
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Magit and GitHub Desktop. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

Magit Reviews

Best Git GUI Clients for Windows
Magit is not a separate Git desktop client – it is a free plugin with an original text-based interface. It is implemented as a GNU Emacs package to use on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The plugin allows the developers to perform the necessary version control tasks directly in the Emacs window.
Source: blog.devart.com

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

Based on our record, GitHub Desktop seems to be a lot more popular than Magit. While we know about 129 links to GitHub Desktop, we've tracked only 5 mentions of Magit. 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.

Magit mentions (5)

  • What is the best possible solution for file history?
    If you use magit, it has magit-wip-mode to automatically commit changes to tracked files in working and index trees into wip refs per branch. Source: over 1 year ago
  • What does your workflow look like on Linux?
    Magit because it's a great git frontend. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Let's share your top 3 packages that you can't live without.
    Without any order magit, lispy and minions. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Link to a git commit from Org mode using Magit | THIS IS EMACS
    Do you believe me if I tell you that with Org mode the data we refer To in a link can be a buffer in magit-revision-mode (from magit Package) showing us a specific commit of some git repository? Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Need help listing all "Emacs super developers."
    Otherwise, every big Emacs project should have some great elisp code, I have in mind LSP-Mode, Magit and such. Source: about 2 years ago

GitHub Desktop mentions (129)

  • Launch HN: Diversion (YC S22) – Cloud-Native Git Alternative
    Congrats on the launch! It's always exciting to see more competition in the version control space. One question I have is whether you guys are better than: https://desktop.github.com/ This seems to do the exact same thing, be free forever, and have a more mature GUI that is also easier to use than regular terminal git. In my firm, even with people who don't know how to code, they can use github desktop (since it... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ask HN: Can we do better than Git for version control?
    - Product designers for open-source hardware. Various design files, SVG etc. I’ve experimented with a “GUI only” git flow - just to see what is possible, so I could introduce the concept to others. I found GitHub desktop app (https://desktop.github.com/)did a great job of visually showing git flows and functions, but for a non-tech/programmming person, the tool would be daunting. Curiosity what your suggested tech... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • The Scariest Thing Happened to Me Today--Now I'm Scared to Use Git Again
    Just use github desktop its an open source tool https://desktop.github.com/. Source: 5 months ago
  • How to Deploy React App on gh-pages: Beginner's Guide
    Download and install GitHub Desktop if you haven't already. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • 🔗 Importance of Source Code Control: A Guide to Git
    3️⃣ GitHub Desktop: A desktop application provided by GitHub that allows you to interact with Git repositories visually. It provides an easy way to clone repositories, commit changes, create branches, and push and pull changes. Website: https://desktop.github.com/. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

tig - TIG Software Updates & Expansions. Download the most up-to-date, innovative software solutions for your TIG welder instantly to a memory card for enhanced performance.

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

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

SourceTree - Mac and Windows client for Mercurial and Git.

TortoiseGit - TortoiseGit is an easy to use client for the Git distributed revision control system.

git-cola - git-cola is a powerful GUI for git, a distributed revision control system.