Version Control Systems
Version control systems are the infrastructure software that made modern development possible. Git won, but only after CVS, SVN, Mercurial, Perforce, and Bazaar fought it out for two decades. Each tool made different bets on branching, merging, and distributed vs centralized workflows.
Sort by release year, by distributed vs centralized model, or by current active users. Community-ranked — because while Git dominates today, the reasons it won are worth understanding if you're building developer tools.
Dataset details
- Table scope
- All 15 rows
- Fields
- 6 columns
- Source
- Community curated
- Data updated
- Apr 9, 2026
Included fields: VCS, Type, Created By, First Released, Notable Users, and 1 more.
The table contains every record in this dataset; the same records are available in each download format.
Preview observations
- First Released span
- 1986 to 2022
- Across 15 preview rows
- Type groups
- 3 distinct values
- Across 15 preview rows
Useful for
- Comparing VCS, Type, and Created By across technology entries
- Building reference tables, charts, or analyses from 15 downloadable records
VCS↕ | Type↕ | Created By↕ | First Released↕ | Notable Users↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Git | Distributed | Linus Torvalds | 2005 | Linux kernel, GitHub, GitLab, almost every open source project | De facto standard, built for Linux kernel after BitKeeper drama, branching and merging model |
Mercurial (hg) | Distributed | Matt Mackall | 2005 | Facebook/Meta (Sapling fork), Mozilla (historical), Python (historical) | Simpler CLI than Git, Python-based, Facebook still runs massive monorepos on it |
Subversion (SVN) | Centralized | CollabNet | 2000 | Apache Foundation (historical), many enterprise shops | Centralized successor to CVS, atomic commits, still common in corporate and game dev |
Perforce (Helix Core) | Centralized | Perforce Software | 1995 | Google (historical), Ubisoft, EA, most AAA game studios, NVIDIA | Handles huge binary assets, go-to for game studios, fast on massive monorepos |
Fossil | Distributed | D. Richard Hipp (SQLite author) | 2007 | SQLite, TCL, many small projects | Single binary with built-in wiki, issue tracker, forum, stores history in SQLite |
Bazaar (bzr) | Distributed | Canonical | 2005 | Ubuntu (historical), Launchpad | Canonical-backed, flexible workflows, largely superseded by Git, project now dormant |
CVS | Centralized | Dick Grune | 1986 | BSD projects (historical), FSF (historical) | Pioneered multi-developer VCS, no atomic commits, replaced by SVN and Git |
Darcs | Distributed (patch-based) | David Roundy | 2003 | GHC (historical), several Haskell projects | Patch theory instead of snapshots, Haskell-based, elegant but niche |
Pijul | Distributed (patch-based) | Pierre-Etienne Meunier | 2015 | Nest community | Modern patch-based VCS in Rust, sound theory of patches, Darcs spiritual successor |
BitKeeper | Distributed | Larry McVoy | 2000 | Linux kernel (until 2005) | First popular distributed VCS, Linux used it, license row birthed Git, open-sourced in 2016 |
Monotone | Distributed | Graydon Hoare | 2003 | Small open source projects | Cryptographic history, influenced Git and Mercurial design, author later created Rust |
Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) | Centralized | Microsoft | 2005 | Microsoft enterprise customers | Centralized VCS built into TFS/Azure DevOps, heavyweight, Microsoft now steers everyone to Git |
ClearCase | Centralized | Rational / IBM | 1992 | Legacy enterprise shops, regulated industries | View-based virtual filesystem, famously slow, still lingering in telecom and defense |
Sapling | Distributed | Meta / Facebook | 2022 | Meta internal monorepo | Meta's Mercurial-derived VCS for giant monorepos, ships Git compatibility, scales to billions of files |
Jujutsu (jj) | Distributed | Martin von Zweigbergk (Google) | 2020 | Google experiments, Rust enthusiasts | Rust-based, Git-backed, rebase-friendly UX, rapidly gaining hobbyist mindshare in 2025 |
Free to explore · No signup needed
Frequently asked questions
How is Version Control Systems organized?
The table starts in the source data's default order. You can sort and filter the loaded rows by the displayed fields.
How much data is available on this page?
This dataset contains 15 entries, and every row is available in the table and in the downloadable files.
Can I download the complete dataset?
Yes. CSV, JSON, and Excel downloads contain all 15 rows. Before republishing the data, review the source and any usage terms listed on this page; dtbse does not replace the original source's licensing terms.
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