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.MacUpdater
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Paid • Proprietary
- Software Updater
- Software Installer
- Software Download Service
12 MacUpdater alternatives- Mac
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 MacUpdater can also update those outdated apps to their newest versions with a simple click.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.
MacUpdater Features
Nix Package Manager
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Free • Open Source
- Package Manager
- Software Installer
33 Nix Package Manager alternatives- Mac
- Linux
- BSD
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...
Nix Package Manager Features
Cakebrew
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo9 Cakebrew alternatives- Free • Open Source
- Package Manager
- Mac
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:
Cakebrew Features
DiscontinuedLast update is from March 2021. It's no longer maintained https://github.com/brunophilipe/Cakebrew/issues/255
Setapp
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo5 Setapp alternatives- Paid • Proprietary
- App Store
- Mac
- Online
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.
Setapp Features
Comments about Setapp as a Alternative to Homebrew
Homebrew is for open source packages. Setapp is just a subscription-based app ownership platform for proprietary applications.
0MacPorts
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Free • Open Source
- Package Manager
- Software Installer
- Software Updater
27 MacPorts alternatives- Mac
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.
MacPorts Features
Opinions about MacPorts as a Alternative to Homebrew
Mac App Store
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo29 Mac App Store alternatives- Free • Proprietary
- App Store
- Mac
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.
Mac App Store Features
Comments about Mac App Store as a Alternative to Homebrew
Homebrew packages linux apps. The app store packages mac apps.
-3macapps.link
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo22 macapps.link alternatives- Free • Proprietary
- Software Installer
- Package Manager
- Mac
- Online
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.
macapps.link Features
Spack
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo5 Spack alternatives- Free • Open Source
- Package Manager
- Mac
- Linux
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...
Spack Features
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.
Fink Features
A simple command line interface for the Mac App Store. Designed for scripting and automation.
Mas CLI Features
pkgsrc
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Free • Open Source
- Package Manager
- Software Installer
9 pkgsrc alternatives- Mac
- Linux
- BSD
- Haiku
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!
pkgsrc Features
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.