Guides · GitKraken alternatives

GitKraken alternatives in 2026, compared.

By Quentin Hermiteau, who makes Nori. Published .

I make Nori, one of the clients below, so read this as a guide from an interested party. Every fact about another app comes from that app’s own website, documentation or pricing page, linked at the end, with the date it was checked. Where another client fits a need better than Nori, the guide says so.

GitKraken Desktop is a capable, cross-platform Git client. People look elsewhere for a few recurring reasons, which GitKraken’s own pages state: its free Community plan covers only local repositories and public remotes, so private repositories on GitHub or GitLab need a paid plan; paid plans are billed by the year; it asks you to sign in at first launch; and it is built on Electron. If none of those bothers you, GitKraken may well be the right client to keep.

The alternatives at a glance

GitKraken alternatives, prices as published on the date checked
ClientPlatformsPricePrivate repositories free
NoriMac (Apple silicon, macOS 26 or later), Windows 10 and 11, x86-64 LinuxFree. Pro, for pull request reviews and issues: US$20 onceYes
TowerMac, WindowsBasic $69, Pro $129 per user per year; 30-day trialNo free plan
ForkMac, Windows$59.99 once, up to 3 machines; free evaluationFree evaluation, then paid
Sublime MergeMac, Windows, Linux$99 once for personal use, with 3 years of updatesEvaluation without an enforced time limit
SourcetreeMac, WindowsFreeYes
GitHub DesktopMac, WindowsFree and open source (MIT)Yes
SmartGitWindows, macOS, LinuxFrom $5 per user per month, or perpetualOnly for non-commercial use
git-colaLinux, macOS, WindowsFree and open source (GPL-2.0)Yes
lazygitTerminal on Windows, macOS, LinuxFree and open source (MIT)Yes

Tower, Fork, GitKraken, Sourcetree, GitHub Desktop and Sublime Merge were checked on 7 October 2026; SmartGit, git-cola and lazygit on 28 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars, before tax.

If you want private repositories without a subscription

Private repositories are where GitKraken’s free plan stops. Several clients let you work on private repositories without paying anything: Nori, Sourcetree and GitHub Desktop, and the open source git-cola, gitg and lazygit. Two more are paid once rather than every year: Fork and Sublime Merge.

  • Nori is free on every repository, with no account. What you pay for, once, is Pro: reviewing GitHub pull requests and GitLab merge requests and working on issues inside the app. Nori and GitKraken, feature by feature.
  • Sourcetree is Atlassian’s free client for Mac and Windows, with pull request creation aimed at Bitbucket and Azure DevOps. Nori vs Sourcetree.
  • GitHub Desktop is free and open source, and the simplest of the lot. It works with GitHub and GitHub Enterprise. Nori vs GitHub Desktop.
  • Fork costs $59.99 once for up to three machines, on Mac and Windows with the same key, and covers submodules, Git LFS and bisect. Nori vs Fork.

If you want a lighter app than Electron

GitKraken’s release notes record its Electron version: each Electron app ships its own copy of the Chromium browser engine. Tower, Fork, Sourcetree and Nori are native on the Mac; Sublime Merge uses its own interface toolkit; GitHub Desktop is built on Electron too.

On our test Mac, with a large repository open, GitKraken held 900 to 932 MB at rest and Nori 72 to 97 MB (Apple M4 Pro, 28 October 2026). The same run measured Fork, Sublime Merge, Sourcetree and GitHub Desktop; the method and every figure are on the comparison page. Tower was not measured.

If you need Linux

Linux narrows the list. Tower, Fork, Sourcetree and GitHub Desktop do not publish a Linux build. What remains:

  • Nori, as .deb, .rpm and AppImage for x86-64. See Nori for Linux.
  • Sublime Merge, with official apt, pacman, yum, dnf and zypper repositories, on x64 and ARM64.
  • SmartGit, as a tarball or on Flathub; free only for non-commercial use.
  • git-cola and gitg, free and open source, from distribution packages or Flathub.

The Linux guide covers each in more detail.

If you rely on Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, submodules or Git LFS

GitKraken integrates GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps. If your team is on the last two, look at Tower, which integrates all four plus Gitea and Forgejo, and manages submodules, Git LFS and Git-flow, or Sourcetree for Bitbucket. Nori vs Tower lays out the difference in price.

Nori is not the right choice here: it works with GitHub, GitHub Enterprise and GitLab, and has no submodule or Git LFS interface yet.

If you would rather stay in the terminal

lazygit is a free, open source terminal interface written in Go. It stages single lines, runs interactive rebases, manages worktrees and has an undo. It is a good fit if the reason you used GitKraken was its graph and you spend your day in a terminal anyway.

If you work with coding agents

GitKraken runs agent sessions from the app. Two alternatives take another angle on the same work.

Nori does not run agents. It lists the worktrees that Claude Code, Codex and T3 Code work in, names the agent and the task behind each, shows what each changed since its base, and opens the pull request. It uses the agent CLI you already have for commit messages and conflict suggestions, with no API key. See Nori beside your agents.

GitButler is built around parallel and stacked branches, with an undo timeline and hooks for agents. Its licence is source-available (Fair Source), becoming MIT after two years.

Nori’s window: under Worktrees, the one Claude Code works in, with its lines changed and its distance from its base.

When to keep GitKraken

  • You need an Intel Mac or a macOS older than 26 alongside Windows and Linux: few clients cover all of them.
  • Your team uses GitKraken’s cloud workspaces, or Bitbucket and Azure DevOps through one app.
  • You use GitKraken AI with its hosted models, or its agent sessions, and they work for you.

Switching is low risk

A Git client does not own your repositories. Every app above opens the folders already on your computer, with your own Git configuration, hooks and SSH keys. You can install one next to GitKraken, open the same repository in both for a week, and keep whichever you reach for.

Sources

GitKraken and the other names are trademarks of their owners. Nori is not affiliated with any of them. Something out of date or unfair? Write to [email protected] and I will correct it.

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