Homebrew
Package manager for macOS and Linux with formulae and GUI app casks.
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About Homebrew
Homebrew installs command line software from formulae and, through casks, full macOS applications, keeping everything under its own prefix with dependency resolution and prebuilt bottles for speed. It is the de facto default way to install developer tooling on a Mac.
Strengths
- Enormous catalogue covering both command line tools and Mac applications
- Prebuilt bottles make most installs fast rather than compiled
Limitations
- Upgrades can pull in unrelated dependency churn
- Requires the Xcode command line tools on macOS
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source under the BSD licence.
- License
- BSD-2-Clause
- Developer
- The Homebrew maintainers
- Platforms
- macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Best suited for
- Package manager for macOS and Linux with formulae and GUI app casks
- Categories
- System utilities
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus Resource Hub (CLI & Terminal); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 3 sources on file.
Alternatives to Homebrew
Compare allSoftware that can replace Homebrew for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Nix
Functional package manager with reproducible builds and atomic rollbacks.
Nix is a functional package manager for macOS and Linux with reproducible builds and atomic rollbacks, at the cost of a steep learning curve and a store needing garbage collection.
GNU Guix
A transactional package manager and GNU/Linux distribution whose packages and system configurations are written in Guile Scheme.
GNU Guix offers transactional, reproducible package management configured in Guile Scheme, but runs on Linux only and packages only free software.
Applite
Install and update Mac applications through a graphical Homebrew interface.
Applite gives a graphical interface over Homebrew Cask for installing and updating Mac apps, but covers only apps and not command line formulae.
Homebrew as an alternative
Listings that name Homebrew as an alternative.
Flatpak
Sandboxed application packaging for Linux, with shared runtimes and Flathub.
Homebrew is a package manager for macOS and Linux with prebuilt bottles, but it provides no sandboxing and upgrades can bring dependency churn.
Snap
Canonical's universal Linux packages with confinement and automatic updates.
Homebrew installs command line tools and apps on Linux and macOS from prebuilt bottles, without confinement or Snap's automatic background updates.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
Latest
Check supported Mac applications for available updates.
Topgrade
Run updates across the package managers already installed on your system.
UniGetUI
One graphical interface for WinGet, Chocolatey, Scoop, pip, npm and a dozen other package managers, so updates happen in one place.
Scoop
Command-line installer for Windows that installs into your home directory.
