Barrel App Alternatives

Barrel App is described as 'Your macOS development environment, perfectly preserved. Never lose your setup again' and is an app in the development category. There are eight alternatives to Barrel App for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, Windows, BSD and Rust apps. The best Barrel App alternative is chezmoi, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Barrel App are Anvil for macOS, Dotter, yadm and GNU Stow.

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Barrel App alternatives page was last updated Jan 25, 2026

chezmoi
9 likes
Dotfiles manager through a version control system.
13 chezmoi alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Platforms
Windows
Linux
BSD
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
Mac
Is chezmoi a good alternative to Barrel App?
Anvil for macOS
1 like
End manual app setup on macOS. Batch install development tools, sync configurations via GitHub, and troubleshoot issues —no virtualization, just smart automation.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (Apache-2.0)
Origin
Canada
Platforms
Mac
Is Anvil for macOS a good alternative to Barrel App?
D
D
Dotter
1 like
A dotfile manager and templater written in Rust.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (Unlicense)
Platforms
Rust
Mac
Homebrew
Linux
Windows
BSD
D
Is Dotter a good alternative to Barrel App?
yadm
4 likes
When you live in a command line, configurations are a deeply personal thing. They are often crafted over years of experience, battles lost, lessons learned, advice followed, and ingenuity rewarded. When you are away from your own configurations, you are an orphaned refugee in...
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Origin
United Kingdom
Platforms
Mac
Linux
Git
Is yadm a good alternative to Barrel App?
G
G
GNU Stow
4 likes
GNU Stow is a symlink farm manager which takes distinct packages of software and/or data located in separate directories on the filesystem, and makes them appear to be installed in the same place. This is particularly useful for keeping track of system-wide and per-user...
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
G
Is GNU Stow a good alternative to Barrel App?
Dotfiles Installer
Like
Take control of your dotfiles configurations with Dotfiles Installer, designed to make dotfile management seamless. You can install dotfiles easily, quickly, and securely with an intuitive installation wizard that guides you through every step.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Origin
Germany
EU
Platforms
Linux
Flathub
Flatpak
Is Dotfiles Installer a good alternative to Barrel App?
lnk
Like
Lnk makes managing your dotfiles straightforward, no tedious setups, no complex configurations. Just tell Lnk what files you want tracked, and it’ll automatically move them into a tidy Git repository under ~/.config/lnk.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Origin
Latvia
EU
Platforms
Mac
Linux
Is lnk a good alternative to Barrel App?
MacFlow
Like
MacFlow is a native macOS application designed for developers who want to maintain a "dialed-in" setup without the manual overhead of managing complex scripts. It monitors your local environment for configuration drift—the silent changes that happen to your dotfiles...
Cost / License
Paid
Proprietary
Application type
System Cleaner
Origin
Australia
Platforms
Mac
+2
Is MacFlow a good alternative to Barrel App?