Mercurial
Distributed version control system written mainly in Python, an alternative to Git.
HN commenters like Mercurial for its simpler UX and clearer mental model than Git123, and for the TortoiseHg GUI.45 The most common caveat is that Git's dominance pushed projects and hosts like Bitbucket away from it678, leaving it more of a past favorite for some.910
Why people recommend it
Simpler UX · 3
Commenters find its workflows and mental model simpler and clearer than Git's.
“I loved it, much simpler and more clear than the typical workflows I have to deal with in git.”
“Mercurial just had such a better UX and mental model to me.”
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“We support Mercurial project financially and we use it everyday.”
Team satisfaction · 3
Teams that used it report being happy with it and preferring it to Git.
“We use mercurial and are happy with it. I hope we never move to git”
“We actually preferred it”
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“We support Mercurial project financially and we use it everyday.”
TortoiseHg · 2
The TortoiseHg GUI, especially on Windows, is a valued part of the tooling.
“I love(d) Mercurial”
“We support Mercurial project financially and we use it everyday.”
Branching model · 1
Its branches are stored in commit metadata, which one commenter says Git cannot do.
“unlike mercurial, git is incapable of storing this in its commit metadata”
Storage and large files · 1
Its storage model speeds up bisecting and long-distance jumps, and the largefiles extension predates git-lfs.
“give hg a shot”
Caveats and dissent
Git dominance · 2
Teams switched to Git to attract contributors and follow what everyone else used.
“We actually preferred it”
“Mercurial just had such a better UX and mental model to me.”
Hosting support · 1
Bitbucket dropped Mercurial support.
“I love(d) Mercurial”
Slower commits · 1
Its storage model trades slower commit creation for faster history navigation.
“give hg a shot”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Mercurial, 20 years and counting: how are we still alive and kicking? [video] 3 mentions
- Version control second coming 1 mention
- Cursor launches Origin, GitHub alternative 1 mention
- Zed DeltaDB 1 mention
- Perforce charges $500 for training training videos.. and it's AI narrated 1 mention
- Git Is Not Fine 1 mention
Data: mercurial.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 13
“If I had the option I would still be using either Mercurial or SVN.”
“Mercurial was pretty nice back in the day”
“So I decided to install mercurial and made a hook which made a dummy commit every time I saved a file.”
“We used SVN and later git/mercurial for code.”
“We support Mercurial project financially and we use it everyday.”
“We actually preferred it”
“I loved it, much simpler and more clear than the typical workflows I have to deal with in git.”
“Based on Mercurial… the VCS I enjoyed using.”
“I love(d) Mercurial”
“unlike mercurial, git is incapable of storing this in its commit metadata”
“give hg a shot”
“Mercurial just had such a better UX and mental model to me.”
“We use mercurial and are happy with it. I hope we never move to git”