git-extras vs lazygit
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 simple terminal interface for working with git commands.
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 lazygit if you need…
- Developers who already use git from the command line and want a faster overview of their repository
- People who prefer working inside a terminal rather than a graphical app
- Users who want to stage, commit, and push changes without memorizing every git flag
Side-by-side
| git-extras | lazygit | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | CLI | CLI |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 18.1k | 83.6k |
| 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 | 6 days 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.
lazygit
Lazygit is a terminal user interface (TUI) for git, the version control system used to track changes in code. Instead of typing git commands one by one, you use keyboard-driven panels to view status, stage changes, commit, and push. The README describes it simply as a terminal UI for git commands.
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
lazygit
- Developers who already use git from the command line and want a faster overview of their repository
- People who prefer working inside a terminal rather than a graphical app
- Users who want to stage, commit, and push changes without memorizing every git flag
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
lazygit
- Keyboard-driven panels make common git actions quicker to reach than typing full commands
- Free and open source under the MIT license
- Available as prebuilt binaries for Linux, Windows, and FreeBSD, according to the latest release assets
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
lazygit
- People who are new to git and need to learn its concepts first, since the tool exposes git operations directly
- Users who need a graphical desktop app or work mainly in an IDE, because it runs only in a terminal
- Teams relying on hosting-platform workflows (pull requests, issues) that the README does not describe as supported
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
lazygit
- Requires comfort with a terminal and a basic understanding of git
- The README is truncated here, so detailed feature coverage and limits could not be fully verified
- Its scope is git operations; it does not replace a full code editor or code review platform
Getting started
git-extras
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/tj/git-extraslazygit
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygitFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between git-extras and lazygit?
git-extras: A collection of extra shell commands that add helpful utilities on top of Git. lazygit: A simple terminal interface for working with git commands. git-extras suits developers who already use git daily and want shortcuts for common repository tasks, while lazygit suits developers who already use git from the command line and want a faster overview of their repository.
Are git-extras and lazygit free?
git-extras: Free and open source. lazygit: Free and open source.
Is git-extras or lazygit more popular?
lazygit has more GitHub stars (83.6k) 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 lazygit?
Other options people compare them with include GitUI.
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.