# GitButler vs Sapling

| Attribute | GitButler | Sapling |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 46.9 (2% (low)) | 47.8 (61% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 7 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 7,032 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A version control layer that sits on top of Git, designed to accelerate AI agents and automated workflows. Provides stacked branches, parallel workflows, unlimited undo/redo, and automation-friendly commands. It is indexed under Version Control.","source":"https://gitbutler.com/","question":"What is GitButler?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"GitButler is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://gitbutler.com/","question":"Is GitButler free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"GitButler supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://gitbutler.com/","question":"What platforms does GitButler support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for GitButler, including GitHub, GitLab, Claude and Cursor. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://gitbutler.com/","question":"What does GitButler integrate with?","confidence":0.6}]` | `[{"answer":"An open-source version control system from Meta designed to work with Git repositories, offering both command-line and web-based interfaces for managing code and code review workflows. It is indexed under Version Control.","source":"https://sapling-scm.com/","question":"What is Sapling?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Sapling is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the GPL-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://sapling-scm.com/","question":"Is Sapling free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Sapling supports the web, Windows, macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://sapling-scm.com/","question":"What platforms does Sapling support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Sapling can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://sapling-scm.com/","question":"Can Sapling be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Sapling is published under the GPL-2.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling","question":"Is Sapling open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | - | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A Git-compatible version control tool built specifically for AI agents, offering advanced features like stacked branches, unlimited undo, and agent-friendly commands. Runs 60% faster than vanilla Git for typical agent operations. | An open-source version control system built for Git compatibility and developer productivity that scales to millions of files. It provides an intuitive work-stacking model for code review and iteration, plus a virtual filesystem for performance optimization in large codebases. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","vcs_model":"distributed","api_surface":"JSON/CLI","code_review":"stacked_prs","license_model":"free","underlying_vcs":"Git","open_source_core":"open_source"}` | `{"hosting":"self","vcs_model":"distributed","api_surface":"CLI, webhooks","code_review":"pr_mr","monorepo_scale":true,"underlying_vcs":"Git","open_source_core":"open_source"}` |
| integrations.count | 4 | 5 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"GitLab"},{"name":"Claude"},{"name":"Cursor"}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"VS Code","native":true},{"name":"Git","native":true,"category":"vcs","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Visual Studio","native":true,"direction":"outbound"},{"name":"ReviewStack","category":"code_review","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | - | Rust |
| license.spdx | - | GPL-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://gitbutler.com/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:40:47.782Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://sapling-scm.com/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T13:52:25.166Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 34 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20260929-102736%2B288e0c2d","date":"2026-09-29T17:39:19Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20260929-102736+288e0c2d"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20260811-150444%2B8fb02b32","date":"2026-08-11T22:19:23Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20260811-150444+8fb02b32"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20260522-084851%2B1e764c94","date":"2026-05-22T16:00:15Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20260522-084851+1e764c94"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20260317-201835%2B0234c21f","date":"2026-03-18T04:38:46Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20260317-201835+0234c21f"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20250521-115337%2B25ed6ac4","date":"2025-05-21T19:12:19Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20250521-115337+25ed6ac4"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20241203-120811%2Ba2174689","date":"2024-12-03T20:48:27Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20241203-120811+a2174689"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20240718-145624%2Bf4e9df48","date":"2024-07-18T23:06:23Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20240718-145624+f4e9df48"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20240219-172743%2B3e819974","date":"2024-02-20T02:59:58Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20240219-172743+3e819974"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20240116-133042%2B8acecb66","date":"2024-01-16T21:56:41Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20240116-133042+8acecb66"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20231113-145254%2B995db0d6","date":"2023-11-13T23:13:30Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20231113-145254+995db0d6"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20230523-092610%2Bf12b7eee","date":"2023-05-23T16:50:52Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20230523-092610+f12b7eee"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20230426-145232%2B7ea1f245","date":"2023-04-26T22:39:10Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20230426-145232+7ea1f245"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20230330-193452-h69692651","date":"2023-03-31T18:25:56Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20230330-193452-h69692651"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20230228-144002-h9440b05e","date":"2023-02-28T23:07:03Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20230228-144002-h9440b05e"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20230124-180750-hf8cd450a","date":"2023-01-25T02:34:27Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20230124-180750-hf8cd450a"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20230124-124516-h352feeef","date":"2023-01-24T21:13:27Z","type":"prerelease","version":"0.2.20230124-124516-h352feeef"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.2.20221222-152408-ha6a66d09","date":"2022-12-23T01:47:32Z","type":"stable","version":"0.2.20221222-152408-ha6a66d09"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.1.20221213-150011-h9b0acf12","date":"2022-12-14T01:28:08Z","type":"stable","version":"0.1.20221213-150011-h9b0acf12"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.1.20221212-142634-r7ae28228","date":"2022-12-12T22:49:57Z","type":"stable","version":"0.1.20221212-142634-r7ae28228"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/sapling/releases/tag/0.1.20221208-212056-r520df27a","date":"2022-12-09T06:20:22Z","type":"stable","version":"0.1.20221208-212056-r520df27a"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.scorecard | - | 5.6 |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=cargo&package_name=esl01-minibytes&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Version Control)

| Capability | GitButler | Sapling |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Model** |  |  |
| VCS model | Distributed | Distributed |
| Underlying VCS supported (Git / Mercurial / SVN / Perforce / multiple) | Git | Git |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Self-hosted only |
| **Review** |  |  |
| Code review | Stacked PRs | PR / MR |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Large-file / binary handling | - | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Monorepo scale (partial clone / sparse / VFS) | - | ✓ |
| **DevOps** |  |  |
| Built-in CI | - | - |
| **Access** |  |  |
| Access control granularity | - | - |
| **Federation** |  |  |
| Federation / decentralisation (ActivityPub / email) | - | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source core | Open-source | Open-source |
| Self-managed license model | Free | - |
| **Integration** |  |  |
| API surface (REST / GraphQL / webhooks) | JSON/CLI | CLI, webhooks |
| **Enterprise** |  |  |
| SSO / SAML / SCIM | - | - |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Signed commits / supply-chain (GPG / SSH / sigstore) | - | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:12:36.973Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*