Mercurial vs Perforce P4 (Helix Core)
Mercurial
mercurial-scm.org
Perforce P4 (Helix Core)
perforce.comSide by side
| Figure | Mercurial | Perforce P4 (Helix Core) |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $39/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · Version Control Software | 7.7 (#35) | 8.9 (#2) |
| Spec score · Source Code Management | 7.7 (#20) | 8.8 (#4) |
| Spec score · Game Version Control Software | 7.7 (#23) | 8.9 (#4) |
Plans
Perforce P4 (Helix Core)
- FreeFree
- Cloud$39 a month
- ScalePriced on request
- PlatformPriced on request
- P4 FreeFree
- P4 Cloud$39 a month
- 12-Month SubscriptionPrice not published
- Perpetual UsePrice not published
In their own words
Mercurial
Mercurial is a free, distributed source control system for managing development history. Each developer keeps a full local copy of that history, so work can continue without a network connection or central server. It is designed for projects of any size and supports diffs, commits, branching, and merging. The software runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux; binary releases are also listed for Solaris 11 Express and other platforms. Installation options include system packages, Windows winget, Homebrew, PyPI tools, and source builds. Python extensions can add or change commands and access core functionality. Official extensions cover tasks such as Git command mapping, email notifications, and external diff tools. Mercurial supports sparse checkout and nested repositories; large-file handling is available through an extension. It is licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 or later. One security caveat: carefully constructed Git subrepositories can pose a clone-time code-execution risk, so they are disabled by default.
Perforce P4 (Helix Core)
Perforce P4 (Helix Core) has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.