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GitDesktop vs Sourcetree
GitDesktop is a free, open-source Sourcetree alternative that runs on Linux as well as Windows and macOS, needs no vendor account, and keeps the pull-request loop (create, review, merge, CI) in the app instead of the browser, across GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, with issues in-app too (via a linked Jira project on Bitbucket). AI is optional: your own models, or hidden entirely.
Verified against Sourcetree for Windows 3.4.31 and Sourcetree for Mac 4.2.19 (two separate apps on separate release lines) on August 11, 2026. Something stale? Open an issue.
Where Sourcetree still wins
- Nothing else to install. Sourcetree
bundles its own Git (system Git optional). GitDesktop needs system
Git, plus
ghorglabfor GitHub and GitLab features (Bitbucket needs only an API token). Sign-in is guided from inside the app, but it's still a real first-run step. - Mercurial. Sourcetree is the rare mainstream client still shipping Mercurial support, on both platforms, with Hg-flow to match. GitDesktop is Git-only; if your repos are hg, Sourcetree remains the tool.
- Git-flow, one menu item. Initialize a repo and the whole branch ceremony (feature, release, hotfix) is driven from the UI. GitDesktop has no git-flow support.
- Scripts bound into the UI. Custom actions put your scripts on the toolbar and context menus. GitDesktop's Tasks tab runs saved and inline scripts in a terminal, without menu binding.
- Git LFS and submodule tooling.
Initialize and track LFS from the menu; add and manage submodules
from the sidebar. GitDesktop relies on system
git-lfswith no dedicated UI, and its submodule support stops at status and update. - More than a decade of ubiquity. It's been a default answer to "which free Git GUI" for a long time. Teams have muscle memory and years of community answers built around it, and it's free for commercial use.
Feature by feature
Both clients cover the fundamentals: clone, stage by file, hunk, or line, commit, branch, stash, sync, and resolve conflicts. The table keeps to where they diverge. Where Sourcetree's two apps differ from each other, the row says so.
| Capability | Sourcetree | GitDesktop |
|---|---|---|
| Where you can use it | ||
| Linux | No — Windows & macOS only | Yes — Windows, macOS & Linux |
| Works without a vendor account | No — an Atlassian account is required to use the app | Yes — sign in only to the forges you use |
| Forges with full PR / CI / issue support | No — accounts add sign-in and clone lists | Yes — GitHub, GitLab & Bitbucket — Bitbucket issues via linked Jira |
| Jira | Partial — issue-key links in commit messages open the browser | Yes — linked Jira Cloud project per repo |
| Mercurial | Yes — still shipping, both platforms | No — Git only |
| Pull requests | ||
| Create a PR | Partial — opens the forge's form in your browser | Yes — in-app: reviewers, labels, linked issues, drafts |
| Read & review a PR in-app | No | Yes — conversation, files, checks, approve / request changes |
| Merge a PR in-app | No | Yes — merge & squash on all three; rebase (GitHub), fast-forward (Bitbucket) |
| Resolve a PR's conflicts in-app | No | Yes — in a hidden worktree; your checkout untouched |
| Local PRs with no remote at all | No | Yes — review & merge offline, promote to GitHub or GitLab later |
| CI & issues | ||
| CI status in-app | Partial — Bitbucket Pipelines per-commit status — macOS only | Yes — all three forges; GitHub & GitLab failed-step logs in-app |
| Issues | No — commit-message links open the browser | Yes — GitHub & GitLab in-app; local issues too |
| Daily Git work | ||
| Stage by file, hunk, or line | Yes | Yes — plus drag-to-stage line selection |
| Interactive rebase | Yes — squash, reword, edit, reorder, delete | Yes — pick / reword / squash / fixup / edit / drop |
| Git-flow | Yes — built in | No |
| Run your own scripts | Yes — custom actions on the toolbar & context menu | Yes — a Tasks tab: saved or inline scripts, run in an interactive terminal |
| Linked worktrees | No — no worktree UI — open one as a separate repo | Yes — create, switch, rename, lock, promote & remove |
| Submodules | Yes — add from the menu, manage from the sidebar | Partial — status & update |
| Git LFS | Yes — initialize & track from the menu | No — system git-lfs works; no dedicated UI |
| Predict a merge before running it | No — conflicts surface after the merge runs | Yes — fast-forward / clean / conflicts, previewed in memory |
| Recover dropped stashes | No — the community answer is git fsck in a terminal | Yes — a git fsck scan finds and restores them |
| AI — take it or leave it | ||
| AI assistance | No — none shipped; requests open since 2023 | Yes — commit messages, PR descriptions, review, delegated tasks — your own models |
| Works with AI fully out of the way | Yes — there is none | Yes — one setting hides every AI surface |
| Cost & code | ||
| Price | Yes — free, commercial use included | Yes — free |
| Open source | No — proprietary EULA | Yes — Apache-2.0 |
Every Sourcetree cell traces to a primary Atlassian source (release notes, support documentation, or its public issue tracker), checked on the date above. Rows where both clients are simply fine were left out on purpose. Also compared: GitDesktop vs GitHub Desktop.
The part Sourcetree hands to the browser
Sourcetree's "Create Pull Request" opens a browser tab, and reading, reviewing, or merging one was never added. Atlassian's own answer has stood since 2018: "we don't currently support listing or viewing PRs in Sourcetree." In GitDesktop the whole loop lives next to your staging and history.
Common questions
Is GitDesktop a good Sourcetree alternative?
For Git work, yes. GitDesktop covers the fundamentals Sourcetree is loved for (staging by file, hunk, or line, interactive rebase, stashes, submodule status) and adds what Sourcetree hands to the browser: creating, reviewing, and merging pull requests, CI runs (with GitHub and GitLab step logs in-app), and issues, across GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. On Bitbucket, issues go through a linked Jira project. It's free, open source (Apache-2.0), and needs no vendor account. If you rely on Mercurial or git-flow, Sourcetree keeps those. The table above is honest about it.
Is there a Sourcetree for Linux?
No. Atlassian ships Sourcetree for Windows and macOS only, and community answers as recent as April 2026 say Linux isn't on the roadmap. GitDesktop ships Windows, macOS, and Linux builds, including an AppImage and a Homebrew cask.
Do you need an Atlassian account to use Sourcetree?
Yes. Atlassian's own install documentation says an Atlassian account is required to use Sourcetree, regardless of which forge your code lives on. GitDesktop has no vendor account at all: you sign in only to the forges you actually use (GitHub via gh, GitLab via glab, Bitbucket with an API token), and none of it is needed for local-only work.
Is Sourcetree still maintained?
Yes, in a steady-patch sense: both apps shipped point releases through mid-2026 (Windows 3.4.31 in June, Mac 4.2.19 in July). But the two platforms run on separate codebases with a long-standing feature gap between them, community threads note it's absent from Atlassian's public product roadmap, and the big asks (worktree support requested since 2015, in-app pull requests since 2017) remain open. It's stable, not evolving.
Try the whole loop.
Free, open source, and no account to create. Keep Sourcetree right where it is. Open one repo in GitDesktop and see which window you keep.