When comparing Git BASH vs MobaXterm, the Slant community recommends MobaXterm for most people. In the question“What are the best collections of Unix libraries for Windows?” MobaXterm is ranked 6th while Git BASH is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose MobaXterm is:
MobaXterm can connect to practically anything.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Gives a better overview of how git functions
By using the git from the command line, it's possible to learn how it functions and how best to acquire the desired result.
Pro One of the most powerful ways to use git
Using CLI gives access to every single git function available, thus providing complete flexibility in managing git.
Pro Great community support
Since most devs invoke git via CLI, there's a higher chance of getting an answer to a CLI-based git problem than that which is GUI-based.
Pro Provides a Bash on Windows
complete with less, vim, etc.
Pro Comes with a very useable but partially incomplete git bash.
e.g. find xargs grep ls sort awk sed, du, df etc. are all well implemented
Pro Supports multiple platforms
Git CLI works exactly the same as it does on Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X: the user will always have the option to run the Git via command-line with the same arguments.
Pro Visual representation of commit-history is possible
Even a visual representation of various branches and how they're merged is possible.
To visualize history:
git log --graph
Pro Cross platform GUI tools
- git citool
- gitk
- git gui blame
Pro Flexible
MobaXterm can connect to practically anything.
Pro X server support
In case you need X11 forwarding, MobaXterm has an integrated X server.
Pro Full linux subsystem with package manager
And you can install conda for additional package management.
Pro Tabbed or split mode
Multiple terminals can either be in tabs or split horizontally or vertically.
Pro Integral remote file editor
Edit remote files via ssh and sftp
Pro SSH tunnel controls and forwarding UI controls makes it easy
Pro Automatic SFTP
With MobaXterm, there's no fiddling with multiple apps: simply connect and everything is available.
Pro Connection manager
Pro ENV can use Windows PATH
Pro Password vault
Pro Server tools (HTTPD, SSHD, SFTPD, TTFT)
Pro Build in sftp file manager
Manipulate and edit remote files in the file browser.
Pro Integrates with WSL
Integrates perfectly with the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Out of the box it offers a shell to that system.
Pro Supports macro controls (multi commands in single screen)
Cons
Con Steeper learning curve as compared to a GUI solution
As the user must learn the CLI commands, this makes it a slightly harder than using a GUI tool.
Con Difficult to overview complex project histories
While the you can run git log --graph --all
to display all the version history of the project with the same details as a GUI client would, it can still be a bit hard to make out. Since the GUI can use true shapes like lines and dots, the command line has to use pipes and slashes.
Con Recalling is more difficult than recognizing
Although there's autocompletion for commands, it still requires recalling at least the beginning of a command, whereas all that's required when using a GUI is recognizing the desired outcome.
Con Not completely freeware
If you use MobaXterm at work, they hope you will pay for it. This isn't horrifying, but it's not providing any new features in Linux to warrant the outlay. Its integration with Putty in Windows as an X client may make it worth the funds.
Con Split screen prevents tabbed mode
If you split a screen within a tab, you have to go back to single screen before you can switch to another tab.
Con Can have some performance issues
MobaXterm can have some occasional performance issues. These happen rarely but it's worth mentioning that they exist, especially since this is a paid tool.