GitUI vs Magit
GitUI
github.comMagit
magit.vcSide by side
| Figure | GitUI | Magit |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Version Control Software | 8.7 (#4) | 8.0 (#23) |
| License | The repository and Cargo metadata identify the software as MIT licensed, permitting use, modification, distribution and sale subject to notice requirements. | The Magit manual is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 or later. |
| Staging | Users can stage, unstage, revert and reset complete files, hunks or individual lines. | Users can stage or unstage files, hunks, or part of a hunk from the status buffer. |
| Support | The README welcomes support and sponsors and invites people to become co-maintainers. | The project directs users to its FAQ, manual, issue tracker search, Emacs Stack Exchange, Reddit, and GitHub Discussions, and asks users not to use GitHub issues for support requests. |
Plans
In their own words
GitUI
GitUI provides a Git GUI-style workflow inside a terminal, controlled with the keyboard and supported by context-based help. Users can inspect changes and commit, amend, stage, unstage, revert, or reset at file, hunk, or line level. It also supports saving, applying, popping, dropping, and inspecting stashes. Branch tools cover creation, renaming, deletion, checkout, and remote branches, alongside pushing and fetching. Users can browse or search the commit log, inspect committed diffs, and work with submodules. Commit workflows support several Git hooks; GPG commit signing is listed with shortcomings. GitUI is free under the MIT License, which includes an as-is warranty disclaimer. Listed platforms are Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows, with desktop platform support listed for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The project README describes GitUI as beta and notes that bugs or missing features may occur, while also describing it as reasonably stable for personal use. It does not fully replace the Git shell, lacks sparse repository support, and requires explicit configuration of an HTTPS credential helper.
Magit
Magit is a free text-based Git interface implemented as an Emacs package for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports routine repository work including logging, cloning, pushing, merging, rebasing, cherry-picking, reverting, and blaming. Status buffers show the current branch, unpulled and unpushed changes, plus staged and unstaged work, and refresh after state-changing commands. Users can stage or unstage whole files, individual hunks, or selected hunk sections, then create or edit commits with amend, squash, and fixup workflows. Magit runs Git commands and can display them. The companion Forge package connects with GitHub and GitLab APIs for issues, pull requests, and other data. Magit is distributed under GNU GPL version 3 or later and installs through MELPA or MELPA Stable. The manual says it does not wrap every Git command, requires basic Emacs and Git experience, and may refresh large repositories slowly.