GitHub Desktop is a native Git client for Mac OS X and Windows with a graphical user interface.

GitHub Desktop vs TortoiseGit Comments

- GitHub Desktop is Free and Open Source
TortoiseGit is not available for Mac but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on macOS with similar functionality. The best open source Mac alternative is GitHub Desktop. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to TortoiseGit and many of them are open source and available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Mac alternatives to TortoiseGit are Gittyup, RelaGit, Gitnuro and GitAhead.
GitHub Desktop is a native Git client for Mac OS X and Windows with a graphical user interface.





Modern graphical Git client featuring advanced tooling, support for GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, detailed project popout views, dynamic workflow automation, and extensive theme customization for enhanced adaptability and user-driven workflow management.



GitAhead lets you filter results and performs advanced searches. It shows you exactly what you need to see and makes navigating through thousands of commits a piece of cake.




GitButler is a new Source Code Management system designed to manage your branches, record and backup your work, be your Git client, help with your code and much more. Our focus is everything after writing code in your editor and before sharing it on GitHub.

Native macOS menu bar tool streamlining Git management without terminal commands, offering instant repository sync, flexible pulling and rebasing, smart branching, history recovery features, wipe and restart actions, and protective prompts for safe workflows.




Is a tool for creating commits and managing branches. It was inspired by and initially based on gitool. Written in Tcl/Tk. Stable versions are shipped with Core Git since version 1.5.


gitg is a git repository viewer targeting gtk+/GNOME. One of its main objectives is to provide a more unified user experience for git frontends across multiple desktops. It does this not be writing a cross-platform application, but by close collaboration with similar clients for...



Open source, fully featured, simple and intuitive, lightweight.





git-cola is a powerful GUI for git, a distributed revision control system. cola's ingredients include git-python and jsonpickle. cola is released under the GNU GPL v2.


Magit is a complete text-based user interface to Git. It fills the glaring gap between the Git command-line interface and various GUIs, letting you perform trivial as well as elaborate version control tasks with just a couple of mnemonic key presses.

Can not mimic the more advanced functionality that Tortoise or other Git client GUIs