# BitKeeper

5 Hacker News commenters recommended BitKeeper and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Commercial version control tool people call better designed than predecessors; critics cite its license pulled from Linux kernel developers.

## Why people recommend it

- Design seen as better than predecessors (2 comments): "It just really highlights how much better BitKeeper and then Git's design was compared to what came before." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46045878)) "in some ways was arguably better" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49136175))

## What people warn about

- Commercial license pulled from Linux kernel (4 comments): "BitKeeper, a commercial tool, pulled their permission for kernel developers to use their tool" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47713351)) "the commercial license of BitKeeper became unworkable for the Linux kernel community" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47726422)) "concerns about using a proprietary product to manage the Linux codebase" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47532688))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Git](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git.md): 814 recommend
- [Jujutsu (jj)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jujutsu.md): 335 recommend
- [Mercurial](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mercurial.md): 121 recommend
- [jj (Jujutsu)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jj.md): 115 recommend
- [Fossil](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fossil.md): 106 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.bitkeeper.org/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "BitKeeper", https://hackerapproved.com/p/bitkeeper/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).