git-extras vs hub
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A collection of extra shell commands that add helpful utilities on top of Git.
Open source · MIT
A git wrapper that adds GitHub commands like cloning by repo name and managing pull requests.
The short answer
Choose git-extras if you need…
- Developers who already use Git daily and want shortcuts for common repository tasks
- Maintainers who want quick statistics about who has contributed to a project
- People who write release notes and want help generating changelog entries
- Users comfortable with a terminal who want small, scriptable helpers
Choose hub if you need…
- Developers who use git and GitHub daily from the terminal
- People who want git commands to stay familiar while gaining GitHub shortcuts
- Developers writing shell scripts that call the GitHub API
- Teams using GitHub Actions workflows that need to list pull requests
Side-by-side
| git-extras | hub | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | CLI | CLI |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 18.1k | 23k |
| Setup difficulty | Beginner | Beginner |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Shell | Go |
| Last code update | 29 days ago | 3 years ago |
What each one is
git-extras
git-extras is a set of shell scripts that add extra commands to Git, such as ones for summarizing a repository, changing into a REPL-style session, populating a changelog, and calculating author commit percentages. It is meant to be installed alongside Git so these commands appear as regular git subcommands. The README provided here is truncated, so the full list of commands is not confirmed in this analysis.
hub
hub is a command-line tool that wraps git and adds extra commands for working with GitHub, such as cloning a repository by its owner/name or handling pull requests from the terminal. It can also be aliased as git so normal git commands still work with the added features. The README notes that GitHub's official CLI, gh, is an alternative.
Best for
git-extras
- Developers who already use Git daily and want shortcuts for common repository tasks
- Maintainers who want quick statistics about who has contributed to a project
- People who write release notes and want help generating changelog entries
- Users comfortable with a terminal who want small, scriptable helpers
hub
- Developers who use git and GitHub daily from the terminal
- People who want git commands to stay familiar while gaining GitHub shortcuts
- Developers writing shell scripts that call the GitHub API
- Teams using GitHub Actions workflows that need to list pull requests
Strengths
git-extras
- Widely starred and long-running project with an MIT license
- Adds several helpful commands without changing how Git itself works
- Written in Shell, so it runs in ordinary terminal environments
hub
- Keeps familiar git commands while adding GitHub features
- Installs through many package managers and as a standalone binary
- Has no dependencies beyond git 1.7.3 or newer, per the README
Not ideal for
git-extras
- People who prefer a graphical Git client, since this is a command-line tool
- Users who need a feature not covered by the listed utilities, since the README excerpt is incomplete
- Teams that cannot add extra tools to their shell environment
hub
- People who want the official, actively positioned GitHub CLI: the README points to cli.github.com as the more user-friendly option
- Users who need help with GitHub.com itself: the README says the repo's issue tracker is not for web interface problems
- Anyone who dislikes tools that alias or wrap git, since aliasing changes how the git command behaves in the shell
Trade-offs
git-extras
- The README excerpt provided is truncated, so full documentation could not be verified here
- Command coverage and exact behavior should be checked in the project's own docs
- Only the terminal is supported as a way to use it; no graphical interface is mentioned
hub
- The README recommends the official gh CLI as a more user-friendly option, so this tool may be less actively promoted
- Some community-maintained packages may lag behind the latest release, as the README warns
- The GitHub Actions example needs a token, and the default token only covers the workflow's own repository
Getting started
git-extras
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/tj/git-extrashub
Install with Homebrew (macOS, Linux)
brew install hubInstall with Scoop (Windows)
scoop install hubFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between git-extras and hub?
git-extras: A collection of extra shell commands that add helpful utilities on top of Git. hub: A git wrapper that adds GitHub commands like cloning by repo name and managing pull requests. git-extras suits developers who already use git daily and want shortcuts for common repository tasks, while hub suits developers who use git and github daily from the terminal.
Are git-extras and hub free?
git-extras: Free and open source. hub: Free and open source.
Is git-extras or hub more popular?
hub has more GitHub stars (23k) than git-extras (18.1k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to git-extras and hub?
Other options people compare them with include lazygit, mas.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.