Homebrew Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to Homebrew for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac alternative is MacUpdater. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Nix Package Manager or Cakebrew. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Homebrew and 15 are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Homebrew are Setapp, MacPorts, Mac App Store and macapps.link.

Homebrew alternatives are mainly Package Managers but may also be Software Installers or Software Updaters. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Homebrew.

Homebrew alternatives page was last updated

Homebrew

146

Free • Open Source
Package Manager

Homebrew is the easiest and most flexible way to install the UNIX tools Apple didn’t include with macOS. Also available for...

More about Homebrew

MacUpdater
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Paid • Proprietary
Software Updater
Software Installer
Software Download Service
Mac
12 MacUpdater alternatives
MacUpdater is an application that can scan your Mac and display which of the apps that you have installed are not up-to-date. MacUpdater can also update those outdated apps to their newest versions with a simple click.
- - MacUpdater is the most popular Mac alternative to Homebrew.
- - MacUpdater is the most popular commercial alternative to Homebrew.
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MacUpdater Features
1. LightweightMacUpdater consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
2. Ad-freeMacUpdater doesn't contain any form of external advertising.
3. Dark ModeMacUpdater supports dark mode for comfortable usage in low light conditions.
Update Notifier
Auto Update
No Subscription
Nix Package Manager
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Package Manager
Software Installer
Mac
Linux
BSD
33 Nix Package Manager alternatives
Nix is a powerful package manager for macOS, Linux and other Unix systems that makes package management reliable and reproducible. It provides atomic upgrades and rollbacks, side-by-side installation of multiple versions of a package, multi-user package management and easy setup...
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Nix Package Manager Features
1. Command line interfaceNix Package Manager either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. PortableNix Package Manager can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
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Cakebrew
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Package Manager
Mac
9 Cakebrew alternatives
Cakebrew is the most convenient way to use Homebrew for your daily tasks! It does for Homebrew what Synaptics does to Linux package managers. From the Cakebrew UI, you can:
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Cakebrew Features
1. Ad-freeCakebrew doesn't contain any form of external advertising.
2. No registration requiredYou can use most of the features in Cakebrew without registration.
Graphical User Interface
Homebrew
Discontinued
Last update is from March 2021. It's no longer maintained https://github.com/brunophilipe/Cakebrew/issues/255
Setapp
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Paid • Proprietary
App Store
Mac
Online
5 Setapp alternatives
Setapp provides a curated collection of commercial apps available through a low-cost subscription. Access to the apps is driven by a straight-forward local app that neatly organizes them in a searchable, filterable and configurable list.
- - Setapp is the most popular Web-based alternative to Homebrew.
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Setapp Features
Auto Update
Subscription based
Comments about Setapp as a Alternative to Homebrew
pros, cons and recent comments
Guest
Homebrew is for open source packages. Setapp is just a subscription-based app ownership platform for proprietary applications.
Negative comment•
0
MacPorts
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Package Manager
Software Installer
Software Updater
Mac
27 MacPorts alternatives
The MacPorts Project is an opensource package management system that simplifies compiling, installing, upgrading, and removal of other open-source software on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and later, running on Intel or Apple Silicon.
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MacPorts Features
1. Command line interfaceMacPorts either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
Opinions about MacPorts as a Alternative to Homebrew
Almost everyone thinks MacPorts is a great Homebrew alternative.
Mac App Store
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Proprietary
App Store
Mac
29 Mac App Store alternatives
The Mac App Store is the best place to find apps for Mac. No more boxes, no more disks, no more time-consuming installation. Just like the App Store for iPhone and iPad, click once to download and install any app on your Mac.
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Mac App Store Features
File Hosting
Comments about Mac App Store as a Alternative to Homebrew
pros, cons and recent comments
Guest
Homebrew packages linux apps. The app store packages mac apps.
Negative comment•
-3
macapps.link
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Proprietary
Software Installer
Package Manager
Mac
Online
22 macapps.link alternatives
The best alternative to Ninite for Mac. Get multiple apps silently. Just choose what apps to install and get apps installed automatically, fast and easy.
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macapps.link Features
Unattended installation
Spack
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Package Manager
Mac
Linux
5 Spack alternatives
Spack is a package manager for supercomputers, Linux, and macOS. It makes installing scientific software easy. Spack isn’t tied to a particular language; you can build a software stack in Python or R, link to libraries written in C, C++, or Fortran, and easily swap compilers or...
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Spack Features
1. Non Destructive EditingSpack can make changes to a file without overwriting the original data, which remains available in case you want to revert to it.
2. File VersioningSpack has a version system that lets you view and go back to older versions of the project/file/document.
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Fink
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
9 Fink alternatives
What is Fink?

Fink is a project that wants to bring the full world of Unix Open Source software to Darwin and Mac OS X. As a result, we have two main goals. First, to modify existing Open Source software so that it will compile and run on Mac OS X. (This process is called portin.
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Fink Features
Distribution
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Mas CLI
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
App Store
Mac
7 Mas CLI alternatives
A simple command line interface for the Mac App Store. Designed for scripting and automation.
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Mas CLI Features
Access the AppStore
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pkgsrc
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Package Manager
Software Installer
Mac
Linux
BSD
Haiku
9 pkgsrc alternatives
pkgsrc is a framework for building over 17,000 open source software packages. It is the native package manager on SmartOS, NetBSD, and Minix, and is portable across 23 different operating systems. Use one package manager across all of your systems!
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pkgsrc Features
1. Command line interfacepkgsrc either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
2. Portablepkgsrc can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
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Rudix
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Package Manager
Mac
4 Rudix alternatives
Rudix is a package-based, user-friendly way to extend the Unix portion of Mac OS X with additional network utilities, computer languages, development libraries, text tools and everything else you missed from command line.
Rudix has no features, suggest some!
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