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Nori next to other Git clients, measured.
We opened the same two large repositories in Nori, Fork, Sublime Merge, Sourcetree, GitKraken and GitHub Desktop on the same Mac, and measured what each holds in memory, how long it takes to load, and what it does at rest. Measured on 7 October 2026, with Nori 1.8.0.
Around 100 MB at rest
83 to 99 MB with a large repository open, all of Nori's processes counted. Fork is the only one close, and lighter on git/git; GitHub Desktop holds about three times more, GitKraken nine to eleven times.
Loaded in under two seconds
1.7 s on both repositories, from launch until the app has finished loading. The fastest of the six on each, with Sublime Merge close behind on git/git.
Idle means idle
0.1 % of one core while the window waits, like Fork, Sublime Merge and Sourcetree. GitHub Desktop kept 2 to 3 % busy with nothing happening, GitKraken 6 to 7 %.
31 MB installed
The smallest of the six, and an 11 MB download. Native Swift and AppKit, no bundled browser engine.
git/git
Git's own repository: 82,426 commits and 1,012 tags.
| App | Memory at rest | Time to load | CPU at rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nori 1.8.0 | 99 MB | 1.7 s | 0.1 % |
| Fork 2.66.7 | 85 MB | 3.2 s | 0.1 % |
| Sublime Merge Build 2132 | 126 MB | 1.9 s | 0.0 % |
| Sourcetree 4.2.19 | 143 MB | 4.6 s | 0.2 % |
| GitKraken 12.6.0 | 900 MB | 10.3 s | 5.9 % |
| GitHub Desktop 3.6.6 | 297 MB | 2.5 s | 2.3 % |
microsoft/vscode
Visual Studio Code's repository: about 167,000 commits and 394 tags.
| App | Memory at rest | Time to load | CPU at rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nori 1.8.0 | 83 MB | 1.7 s | 0.1 % |
| Fork 2.66.7 | 97 MB | 3.2 s | 0.1 % |
| Sublime Merge Build 2132 | 168 MB | 4.9 s | 0.0 % |
| Sourcetree 4.2.19 | 146 MB | 3.4 s | 0.3 % |
| GitKraken 12.6.0 | 932 MB | 9.1 s | 7.1 % |
| GitHub Desktop 3.6.6 | 336 MB | 2.5 s | 2.6 % |
Size on disk
| App | Installed |
|---|---|
| Nori | 31 MB |
| Fork | 106 MB |
| Sublime Merge | 115 MB |
| Sourcetree | 168 MB |
| GitKraken | 633 MB |
| GitHub Desktop | 682 MB |
How it was measured
On a Mac with an Apple M4 Pro and 24 GB of memory, on macOS 27. Each app was launched on the repository with nothing clicked or typed, its window left in the background, and measured once loaded: memory is what macOS reports as each process's footprint, summed over the app and every helper process macOS holds it responsible for (Electron renderers, WebKit processes), after 30 seconds at rest.
- Nori renders diffs in the system's WebKit. Its figures are with no diff on screen, like everyone else's; while a diff is open the page adds about 100 to 150 MB, and Nori gives it back three minutes after the last diff closes.
- “Time to load” is from launch until the app and its helpers fall below 3 % of one core for a full second, with the repository's window open. It is when the work is done, not when the first rows appear.
- Each figure is the median of three runs after a warm-up launch, apps launched one after the other in a shuffled order. Other apps were open on the Mac, as on anyone's; memory varied by a few percent between runs, GitKraken's by about 15 %.
- GitHub Desktop was measured later the same day, in a separate session with the same harness. Nori, measured again in that session as a control, used no more memory or time than in the main run. GitHub Desktop opens a repository on its Changes tab, without the history list, so its time to load covers less work than the others'.
- Not measured here: opening a large diff, searching, or switching branches. Fork, Sublime Merge, Sourcetree and GitHub Desktop also run on Windows, and GitKraken and Sublime Merge on Linux; Nori is Mac only, for now.
Fork, Sublime Merge, Sourcetree, GitKraken and GitHub Desktop are trademarks of their respective owners. Nori is not affiliated with them. Something out of date, or measured unfairly? Write to [email protected] and we will measure again.