SourceTree vs TortoiseGit

Overview

SourceTree

Stacks10.6K

Followers8.1K

Votes727

TortoiseGit

Stacks50

Followers90

Votes5

SourceTree vs TortoiseGit: What are the differences?

SourceTree and TortoiseGit are two popular Git clients. Let's discuss the key differences between them.

User Interface: SourceTree offers a more modern and visually appealing user interface with a clean and intuitive design. It provides a comprehensive set of features and options, presented in an organized manner. On the other hand, TortoiseGit has a simpler and more minimalistic user interface, which may appeal to users who prefer a lightweight and less cluttered interface.
Integration with Other Tools: SourceTree integrates well with other Atlassian products, such as Bitbucket and JIRA, providing seamless integration and enhanced collaboration capabilities. It allows for easy navigation between SourceTree and these tools, facilitating a streamlined workflow. TortoiseGit, on the other hand, focuses primarily on Git functionality and does not have built-in integration with other tools. However, it can still be used alongside other development tools.
Platform Compatibility: SourceTree is available for both Windows and macOS operating systems, making it suitable for developers working on different platforms. It offers a consistent user experience across different platforms, enabling teams with diverse operating system preferences to collaborate effectively. In contrast, TortoiseGit is primarily designed for Windows and does not have official support for macOS. It is optimized for Windows shell integration and may not provide the same level of compatibility on other platforms.
Workflow Support: SourceTree provides extensive support for different Git workflows, such as feature branching, pull requests, and merging, through its intuitive user interface. It offers visual representations of Git branches, history, and conflicts, making it easier for developers to understand and manage their codebase. TortoiseGit, while offering similar functionality, may require a deeper understanding of Git commands and concepts, as it relies more on shell integration and context menus.
Ease of Setup and Configuration: SourceTree simplifies the setup and configuration process by providing a guided installation and initial repository setup wizard. It offers intuitive options for configuring global and repository-specific settings, making it easier for novice users to get started with Git. TortoiseGit, on the other hand, requires manual installation and configuration, which may be slightly more time-consuming for new users.
Community and Support: SourceTree has a larger and more active community of users, providing a wealth of resources and support. The Atlassian Community and official documentation offer comprehensive guides, tutorials, and troubleshooting tips. TortoiseGit also has an active community, but its user base may be relatively smaller. However, TortoiseGit benefits from the extensive documentation and resources provided by the Git community as a whole.

In summary, SourceTree offers a modern interface, extensive integration capabilities, cross-platform support, and a guided setup process. TortoiseGit focuses on simplicity, Windows shell integration, and manual configuration.

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Advice on SourceTree, TortoiseGit

Stefan

Jan 19, 2020

Decided

I explored many Git Desktop tools for the Mac and my final decision was to use Fork. What I love about for that it contains three features, I like about a Git Client tool.

It allows

to handle day to day git operations (least important for me as I am cli junkie)
it helps to investigate the history
most important of all, it has a repo manager which many other tools are missing.

198k views198k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

SourceTree	TortoiseGit
Use the full capability of Git and Mercurial in the SourceTree desktop app. Manage all your repositories, hosted or local, through SourceTree's simple interface.	It is a Git revision control client, implemented as a Windows shell extension and based on TortoiseSVN. It is free software released under the GNU General Public License.
Full-powered DVCS;Create, clone, commit, push, pull, merge, and more are all just a click away.;Review your outgoing and incoming changesets, cherry-pick between branches, patch handling, rebase, stash, shelve, and much more.;Use Git-flow and Hg-flow with ease. Keep your repositories cleaner and your development more efficient with SourceTree's intuitive interface to Git and Hg's 'branchy' development model.	ShellExtension
Statistics
Stacks 10.6K	Stacks 50
Followers 8.1K	Followers 90
Votes 727	Votes 5
Pros & Cons
Pros 205 Visual history and branch view 164 Beautiful UI 134 Easy repository browsing 87 Gitflow support 75 Interactive stage or discard by hunks or lines Cons 12 Crashes often 8 So many bugs 7 Fetching is slow sometimes 5 No dark theme (Windows) 5 Very unstable	Pros 4 Turns Explorer into a git client 1 Free
Integrations
GitHub Git Bitbucket Windows macOS Mercurial	Windows Git

What are some alternatives to SourceTree, TortoiseGit?

GitKraken

The downright luxurious Git client for Windows, Mac and Linux. Cross-platform, 100% standalone, and free.

Fork

Manage your repositories without leaving the application. Organize the repositores into categories. Fork's Diff Viewer provides a clear view to spot the changes in your source code quickly.

Tower

Use all of Git's powerful feature set - in a GUI that makes you more productive.

Sublime Merge

A snappy UI, three-way merge tool, side-by-side diffs, syntax highlighting, and more. Evaluate for free – no account, tracking, or time limits.

GitUp

GitUp lets you see your entire labyrinth of branches and merges with perfect clarity. Any change you make, large or small, even outside GitUp, is immediately reflected in GitUp's graph. No refreshing, no waiting.

Diff So Fancy

diff-so-fancy builds on the good-lookin' output of git contrib's diff-highlight to upgrade your diffs' appearances.

GitUI

It is a blazing fast terminal-UI for git written in Rust. You can inspect, commit, and amend changes. It has context-based help (no need to memorize tons of hot-keys).

pre-commit by Yelp

If one of your developers doesn’t have node installed but modifies a JavaScript file, pre-commit automatically handles downloading and building node to run jshint without root. Pre-commit is a multi-language package manager for pre-commit hooks. You specify a list of hooks you want and pre-commit manages the installation and execution of any hook written in any language before every commit. pre-commit is specifically designed to not require root access.

SmartGit

SmartGit is a powerful Git GUI client with support for GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab and Azure DevOps. SmartGit runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.

ungit

Clean and intuitive UI that makes it easy to understand git.

Related Comparisons

SourceTree vs TortoiseGit: What are the differences?

SourceTree and TortoiseGit are two popular Git clients. Let's discuss the key differences between them.

User Interface: SourceTree offers a more modern and visually appealing user interface with a clean and intuitive design. It provides a comprehensive set of features and options, presented in an organized manner. On the other hand, TortoiseGit has a simpler and more minimalistic user interface, which may appeal to users who prefer a lightweight and less cluttered interface.
Integration with Other Tools: SourceTree integrates well with other Atlassian products, such as Bitbucket and JIRA, providing seamless integration and enhanced collaboration capabilities. It allows for easy navigation between SourceTree and these tools, facilitating a streamlined workflow. TortoiseGit, on the other hand, focuses primarily on Git functionality and does not have built-in integration with other tools. However, it can still be used alongside other development tools.
Platform Compatibility: SourceTree is available for both Windows and macOS operating systems, making it suitable for developers working on different platforms. It offers a consistent user experience across different platforms, enabling teams with diverse operating system preferences to collaborate effectively. In contrast, TortoiseGit is primarily designed for Windows and does not have official support for macOS. It is optimized for Windows shell integration and may not provide the same level of compatibility on other platforms.
Workflow Support: SourceTree provides extensive support for different Git workflows, such as feature branching, pull requests, and merging, through its intuitive user interface. It offers visual representations of Git branches, history, and conflicts, making it easier for developers to understand and manage their codebase. TortoiseGit, while offering similar functionality, may require a deeper understanding of Git commands and concepts, as it relies more on shell integration and context menus.
Ease of Setup and Configuration: SourceTree simplifies the setup and configuration process by providing a guided installation and initial repository setup wizard. It offers intuitive options for configuring global and repository-specific settings, making it easier for novice users to get started with Git. TortoiseGit, on the other hand, requires manual installation and configuration, which may be slightly more time-consuming for new users.
Community and Support: SourceTree has a larger and more active community of users, providing a wealth of resources and support. The Atlassian Community and official documentation offer comprehensive guides, tutorials, and troubleshooting tips. TortoiseGit also has an active community, but its user base may be relatively smaller. However, TortoiseGit benefits from the extensive documentation and resources provided by the Git community as a whole.

SourceTree vs TortoiseGit

Overview