GitKraken Desktop vs Tower
Two of the top three Git clients, compared rule by rule on published facts.
In short
- GitKraken Desktop has 74 points and Tower 71, 3 apart on our git clients rules.
- GitKraken Desktop earns more on git features and systems and upkeep; Tower earns more on price.
- Cheapest way to use it for work: GitKraken Desktop $10/mo, Tower $5.75/mo.
GitKraken Desktop74/100 #1 of 11
Best for: Developers who work across several Git hosts and will pay for private repositories.
Tower71/100 #3 of 11
Best for: Developers who want one undo command and pull requests inside a paid client.
Points by group
| Group | GitKraken Desktop | Tower |
|---|---|---|
| Git features of 29 | 29 | 26 |
| Hosts and review of 26 | 26 | 26 |
| Systems and upkeep of 16 | 16 | 12 |
| Licence of 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Price of 14 | 3 | 7 |
| Total | 74 | 71 |
Rule by rule
What each vendor publishes, and the points it earns. Sources are on each product page.
| Rule (points) | GitKraken Desktop | Tower |
|---|---|---|
| Core Git features (15) | Interactive rebase, Git LFS, Submodules, Visual merge conflict editor, Stage single lines or hunks 15 | Interactive rebase, Git LFS, Submodules, Stage single lines or hunks 12 |
| Undo for Git actions (6) | Yes 6 | Yes 6 |
| Worktrees (4) | Yes 4 | Yes 4 |
| Git-flow built in (4) | Yes 4 | Yes 4 |
| Hosts with built-in sign-in (12) | GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps 12 | GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps 12 |
| Pull requests in the app (8) | Yes 8 | Yes 8 |
| Signed commits (6) | Yes 6 | Yes 6 |
| Other systems (8) | macOS, Linux 8 | macOS 4 |
| Release in the last 12 months (8) | Yes 8 | Yes 8 |
| Open source (7) | No 0 | No 0 |
| Free for commercial work on private repos (8) | No 0 | No 0 |
| Cheapest way to use it for work (14) | $10/mo 3 | $5.75/mo 7 |
GitKraken Desktop
GitKraken Desktop suits developers who use several Git hosts and want undo, worktrees, Gitflow and a merge tool in one app. Pro at $10 a month is the entry price for private work. The catch: the free plan covers only local and public repositories, and the source code is proprietary.
Tower
Tower suits developers who want undo, worktrees, Git-flow, signing and in-app pull requests on Windows or macOS. Basic at $69 a year, billed annually, is the entry price. The catch: there is no free plan for work, and its Conflict Wizard hands combined edits to an external merge tool.
Both products are scored by the same rules: how we score Git clients.