head to head · open source
GitButler vs crit
GitButler has 21,917 GitHub stars, 1,043 forks, 439 open issues and last shipped today. crit has 1,268 stars, 106 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. GitButler leads on adoption by 1,628% (21,917 vs 1,268 stars). GitButler is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; crit is written in Go under MIT. GitButler has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, crit 8%. GitButler was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| GitButler | crit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 106 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick GitButler if
- You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick crit if
- You want the crit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and crit fits your workflow better
About GitButler
GitButler Git, but better . GitButler is a modern Git based version control interface with both a GUI and CLI built from the ground up for AI powered workflows. Website • Blog • Docs • Downloads Our beautiful GUI Our amazing but CLI [![TWEET][s1]][l1] [ ![BLUESKY][s8]][l8] [![DISCORD][s2]][l2] [![CI][s0]][l0] [![INSTA][s3]][l3] [![YOUTUBE][s5]][l5] [![DEEPWIKI][s7]][l7] [s0]: [l0]: [s1]: [l1]: [s2]: [l2]: [s3]: [l3]: [s5]: [l5]: [s7]: [l7]: [s8]: [l8]: GitButler is a powerful new Git based version control system, designed from scratch to be simple, powerful and flexible. It is designed for ease of use and modern…
read the full GitButler overview →
About crit
Crit Review and comment on plans, code diffs, frontend elements and send feedback directly to your agent. Adaptive UI for each type of output For agents, plans and code are all the same it's just text, but for us, humans, reviewing generated plans and reviewing web application are two very different activities. Crit adds a proper interface for each type of output and lets you point at the exact thing that is wrong and leave a comment for the agent to fix: crit plan.md renders a markdown file with proper formatting and review UI crit auto detects git changes and shows syntax highlighted diffs for local review…
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Frequently asked questions
Is GitButler or crit more popular?
GitButler has 21,917 GitHub stars and crit has 1,268. GitButler has the larger community by that measure.
Are GitButler and crit free?
Both are open source. GitButler has no licence declared in this registry, and crit is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between GitButler and crit?
GitButler is written in Rust and crit in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, GitButler or crit?
Choose GitButler if you want the larger community (21,917 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose crit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.