Best Git Clients for Mac

The short answer. Fork is the strongest fit for most people who want a native Mac client and are happy to pay once — its merge-conflict resolver and visual interactive rebase are the parts that earn the purchase. GitKraken is the one to try if you like a polished commit graph and mostly work with public repositories, since its free tier covers those. SourceTree is free from Atlassian and fine if you are already in that ecosystem. Changes is the open-source option. Whatever you choose, keep the command line: no graphical client fully replaces understanding what it is doing to your history.

This guide covers 5 git clients for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment. Last verified 2026-10-05.

Quick comparison

What actually decides this

• Merge-conflict resolution. This is where a graphical client earns its place, because a conflict is the moment the command line is hardest to reason about. A three-pane resolver with the surrounding history visible beats editing markers by hand.
• How history is shown. A commit graph that stays legible with branches and merges is the difference between understanding your repository and scrolling past it. Try it on a real repo, not a demo one.
• The pricing model, read carefully. These clients are priced in three different ways: a one-time purchase, free, and free-for-public-but-paid-for-private. The last one looks free until you point it at your work repositories.
• What the client hides from you. A GUI that quietly stages, commits or rebases on your behalf can leave you unable to explain your own history. The staging area and the difference between amend and a new commit are the concepts to keep hold of.
• Platform coverage. If you also work on Windows or Linux, a client available on those platforms means one set of habits rather than two. If you are Mac-only, it does not matter.

Our picks

• Fork — It includes a visual interactive rebase, a merge-conflict resolver, image diffs and a repository manager, and it is sold as a one-time licence rather than a subscription. Choose it when you want a native client with a strong conflict resolver and a one-time price.
• GitKraken — It is built around a visual commit graph with a built-in merge tool, and its free tier covers local and public repositories with paid tiers for private ones. Choose it when you want a polished commit graph and mostly work in public repositories.
• SourceTree — It is distributed free of charge and covers the essentials — visual history, interactive rebase, Git LFS, git-flow and submodules. Choose it when you want a free client and are already using Atlassian’s tools.
• Changes — It is an open-source graphical client that aims to replace the command line for everyday work while adding assist features. Choose it when you want an open-source Git client.

The apps

Changes

Changes is a Git client for macOS. GUI Git client. Replace the Git CLI with a clear UI and AI assist. It is released under MIT.

What it does. Search Commits.

Changes is listed with current version 2.4.

Full profile and verified facts for Changes →

Cornerstone

Cornerstone is a Git client for macOS. Powerful version control with a gorgeous interface. Its pricing is not published.

What it does. The Cornerstone Subversion (SVN) client for Mac just got better with shelving, checkpointing, and blazing fast performance. Get a free trial or buy for $79 per year.

Cornerstone is listed with current version 4.2.

Full profile and verified facts for Cornerstone →

Fork

Fork is a Git client for macOS. Native Git client for Mac and Windows with a visual interactive rebase, a merge-conflict resolver, image diffs and a repository manager, sold as a one-time $59.99 licence. It is released under proprietary. It is one-time purchase.

Strengths. According to the developer, visual interactive rebase lets commits be edited, reordered and squashed without dropping to the terminal. Image diffs are unusual and useful when a repository contains design assets. Lost commits can be restored from the reflog through the interface.

Trade-offs. One licence covers only three machines at a time. Closed source and paid, with no free tier beyond the evaluation. The homepage download button still offers 2.66.7 while the CDN publishes 2.70.2. The download button is labelled OS X 10.11, but the shipped 2.70.2 build declares macOS 10.15 Catalina in its Info.plist — four major versions higher, so the published figure understates the real floor. Fork’s public release notes date only minor versions — 2.70 shipped 4 September 2026 — so the patch build 2.70.2 has no published date of its own.

Not for. Anyone who wants a free Git client, where SourceTree and GitKraken’s free tier are the alternatives. People who need more than three machines covered by one licence. Users who want an editor and a Git client in one, which is what VS Code or Zed provide.

What it does. Commit list, working directory changes and side-by-side diff in one window. Visual interactive rebase: edit, reorder and squash commits without the command line. Merge-conflict helper with a built-in merge-conflict resolver. Image diffs, so changes to common image formats can be reviewed like text.

Fork is listed with current version 2.70.2.

Full profile and verified facts for Fork →

GitKraken

GitKraken is a Git client for macOS. Git GUI for macOS, Windows and Linux built around a visual commit graph, a built-in merge tool and AI-assisted commit composition; free for local and public repositories, paid for private ones. It is released under Proprietary; free to use with local and public repositories under the vendor’s terms, with paid per-seat tiers. It is freemium.

Strengths. Free for local and public cloud-hosted repositories, which covers a lot of real work. According to the developer, the commit graph makes branch and merge history readable in a way a commit list does not. According to the developer, aI auto-resolution proposes conflict fixes with an explanation and a confidence level, so they can be reviewed rather than trusted.

Trade-offs. Working on private repositories requires a paid seat after a 14-day Pro trial. The vendor does not publish its per-seat prices in the page source, so they cannot be verified from the pricing page. Closed source and account-based, unlike the Git installation it sits on top of. Free use covers local and public cloud-hosted repositories; private repositories and premium features require a paid seat once the 14-day Pro trial ends. The pricing table renders its per-seat figures with JavaScript, so the Pro, Advanced and Business prices are not present in the page source and are not recorded here.

Not for. Anyone whose work is on private repositories and who needs a free client, where SourceTree and GitHub Desktop are free outright. Users who want no account and no per-seat billing in their Git tooling. People who prefer a single-machine, offline Git GUI with no AI features.

What it does. Commit graph that draws branches, merges and tags as a navigable map rather than a list of commits. Diff view with file blame and file history, and the ability to edit code directly from the diff. Merge-conflict detection that can warn when a teammate is editing the same area of the codebase. Built-in merge tool with AI auto-resolution that suggests fixes with an explanation and a confidence level.

GitKraken is listed with current version 12.6.0.

Full profile and verified facts for GitKraken →

SourceTree

SourceTree is a Git client for macOS. Free Git and Mercurial client for macOS and Windows from Atlassian, with a visual commit graph, interactive rebase, Git LFS, git-flow and submodules. It is released under Proprietary; distributed free of charge by Atlassian, with no licence text published. It is free.

Strengths. Free outright, with no paid tier, licence key or seat limit. Handles Mercurial as well as Git, which nearly every other current Mac client has dropped. Staging by hunk or by individual line, which is finer control than most GUIs offer.

Trade-offs. Closed source and proprietary, even though it costs nothing. Atlassian states no macOS requirement and nothing about architecture anywhere on the product site. Releases arrive slowly, and the release notes are an unstructured HTML page per version with no machine-readable date. Atlassian publishes no macOS version requirement and no architecture statement for SourceTree, so neither is recorded here. Mercurial support is increasingly a reason to choose it rather than a mainstream feature, since most hosting has moved to Git.

Not for. Users who need the vendor to confirm a native Apple Silicon build — Atlassian publishes no architecture or macOS requirement. Anyone who needs an actively developed client; releases arrive slowly. People who want an open-source Git GUI.

What it does. Handles Git and Mercurial from one interface, which almost no other current Mac client does. Visual commit graph showing branch and merge structure at a click. Stage and discard changes by file, by hunk or by individual line. Interactive rebase for cleaning up a commit series before sharing it.

SourceTree is listed with current version 4.2.19.

Full profile and verified facts for SourceTree →

How to choose

• Free of charge. SourceTree — no payment is required.
• No licence fee, source available. Changes — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
• One-time purchase. Fork — you pay once.
• Freemium. GitKraken — free to use, with paid tiers for additional features.
• Pricing not published in our data. Cornerstone — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.

Open source: Changes (1 of 5).

Common mistakes

• Using a GUI to avoid learning Git. The client cannot explain what a rebase did to your history, and that explanation is the thing you need when it goes wrong.
• Assuming a free client is feature-limited. Check what the paid tier actually gates before paying to remove a limit you never hit.
• Letting the client store credentials carelessly. Where your tokens live and whether they are protected is a security decision the GUI makes quietly.
• Forgetting the staging area exists. A client that stages everything for you will eventually commit something you did not mean to.

How this guide was put together

Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.

A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.

The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.

Verified 2026-10-05.