GitHub Desktop alternatives
OctoPunk is the only full-featured GitHub client for the desktop.
Every other "GitHub client" covers a slice — pull requests in your editor,
notifications in your menubar, or a friendlier wrapper around git push.
OctoPunk covers the whole platform: notifications, PR review, issues, projects,
discussions, and actions, in one window.
| Tool | Mac · Win · Linux | Free for open source | Notifications inbox | Inline PR review | Commit-wise PR review | Issues triage | Projects (v2) | Discussions | Actions / CI | Cross-repo search |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Desktop | ◐ | ✓ | – | – | – | – | – | – | ◐ | – |
| VS Code "GitHub Pull Requests" | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ✓ | – | ◐ | – | – | – | ◐ |
| JetBrains GitHub integration | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | – | – | – | – |
| GitKraken Desktop | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | – | ◐ | – | – | – | ◐ |
| OctoPunk | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ yes ◐ partial – no
The rows, explained
GitHub Desktop
FreeGitHub's official desktop app. Friendly local git GUI; hands off to github.com for anything beyond pushing code.
The docs say it outright: "to leave a review, you will need to navigate to the pull request on GitHub." In-app PR review is a long-standing open feature request that hasn't shipped.
VS Code "GitHub Pull Requests"
FreeOfficial GitHub extension for VS Code. Deep PR review at your cursor — stops at the PR boundary.
Inline review is excellent, but commit-wise review (one commit at a time within a PR) isn't supported. An experimental PR-notifications view exists behind a setting flag — PR-scoped only, not the full GitHub inbox — and there's no surface for Projects, Discussions, or Actions.
JetBrains GitHub integration
Free in the IDEBundled with every IntelliJ-family IDE. Solid in-IDE PR review surface; nothing beyond it.
Inline PR review with Approve / Request changes / Comment works well. "Actions" support is only YAML editing for workflow files — no run dashboard, no logs, no re-run.
GitKraken Desktop
Free public repos · paid for private + Launchpad snoozeGit GUI with a multi-provider PR/issue feed and integrated AI agents.
Launchpad is a slick cross-provider feed — but it's not the GitHub Notifications inbox. Full PR review still redirects to GitKraken's separate web product. Actions support is now only YAML editing — no run dashboard.
OctoPunk
Free for public repos · paid for privateA real GitHub client for the desktop.
Notifications you can actually triage. PR review you can actually finish. Projects, Discussions, Actions — all in one window, all keyboard-driven.
Try OctoPunk
Free for public repositories. Mac, Linux, and Windows.
Get OctoPunk