Git Tower alternative for Mac, Windows and Linux
Tower is a polished Git client sold as a yearly subscription for Mac and Windows. BranchBay runs on Linux too, from one codebase with the same shortcuts and themes on every platform, and is paid for once rather than every year.
No account. No card. No renewal. macOS, Windows and Linux.
Git Tower bills you again next year. BranchBay never does.
A subscription stops working the day you stop paying. BranchBay is $20 once for 2 computers, with updates delivered inside the app and nothing to renew.
$20 once for 2 computers, updates forever
Subscription, billed yearly per user; stops working when it lapses
BranchBay and Git Tower compared
What each client is built with, what it costs and what it does in the app. Facts about the other client come from its own website and may change.
| Feature | BranchBay | Git Tower |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Better: Pay once: $20 for 2 computers, no renewal | Worse: Subscription, billed yearly per user; stops working when it lapses |
| Platforms | Better: macOS, Windows, Linux | Worse: macOS, Windows |
| Built with | Rust, drawn on the GPU | Separate native Mac and Windows apps |
| Account to use it | None | Licence key |
| Private repositories | Included | Included |
| All repositories in one view | Better: Launchpad with groups | Worse: Repository list |
| Work and personal profiles | Better: Yes, with their own accounts | Worse: No |
| Integrated terminal | Better: Yes, docked per repository | Worse: No |
| Interactive rebase | Yes, visual | Yes |
| Merge conflict resolver | Three-way, with automatic solving | Conflict Wizard |
| Pull requests | Created and listed in the app | Yes |
| Self-hosted GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket | Yes, plus Azure DevOps | Yes |
The better side The worse side No colour: the same on both
Why developers pick BranchBay over Git Tower
Linux included
Tower ships for Mac and Windows. BranchBay adds Linux with apt, AUR, Gentoo, Nix, Homebrew and AppImage builds, and one licence covers any mix of the three.
Pay once, not yearly
$20 for 2 computers with no renewal, instead of a subscription that stops working when it lapses.
Built for many repositories
The Launchpad, groups, profiles and the tray keep dozens of repositories organized instead of one window per project.
A terminal where you are
Open your own shell docked below the graph, already in the repository you are looking at.
What Git Tower does that BranchBay does not
- Undo for almost any action
- Stacked branches, Git-flow and the Git LFS tooling
- The Tower Services sidebar for cloning and Branches Review
- A Windows app with years of polish behind it
If one of these is part of your day, keep Git Tower. The rest of the time, BranchBay is lighter on your machine and on your wallet.
Does BranchBay run on Linux, unlike Tower?
Can BranchBay stage single lines like Tower?
Does BranchBay have an interactive rebase?
Can I try BranchBay before leaving Git Tower?
What does BranchBay cost?
Try it next to Git Tower.
Open the repositories you already have checked out. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to renew and nothing to uninstall until you are sure.