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 MacPorts. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Homebrew and 19 are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Homebrew are Brewer X, Applite, Mas CLI and Setapp.

filter to find the best alternatives

Homebrew alternatives are mainly Package Managers, but if you're looking for Software Installers or Software Updaters you can filter on that. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Homebrew.
Homebrew iconHomebrew
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Homebrew is the easiest and most flexible way to install the UNIX tools Apple didn’t include with macOS. Also available for Linux.

More about Homebrew
Homebrew alternatives page was last updated May 3, 2025
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  1. MacUpdater icon
     261 likes
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    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 MacUpdater can also update those outdated apps to their newest versions with a simple click.

    17 MacUpdater alternatives

    License model

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Update Notifier
    2.  Auto Update
    3.  No Subscription
    4.  Software Installer
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  Software Download
    7.  Package Manager
    8.  Dark Mode
    9.  No Tracking
    10.  No registration required

    MacUpdater VS Homebrew

     
    • MacUpdater is the most popular Mac alternative to Homebrew.

    • MacUpdater is the most popular commercial alternative to Homebrew.

    • MacUpdater is Paid and ProprietaryHomebrew is Free and Open Source
    • MacUpdater is Lightweight and Privacy focusedHomebrew is not according to our users
  2. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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...

    44 Nix Package Manager alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • NL flagNetherlands
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Package Manager
    2.  Command line interface
    3.  Portable
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  No registration required

    Nix Package Manager VS Homebrew

     
  3. Brewer X icon
     11 likes
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    Brewer X is a refreshing user interface for Homebrew. Manage your apps, scripts, and fonts with ease and dive into the most comprehensive software library for macOS.

    14 Brewer X alternatives

    License model

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Dark Mode
    2.  Ad-free
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  No registration required
    5.  Works Offline
    6.  Homebrew

    Brewer X VS Homebrew

     
  4. MacPorts icon
     26 likes
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    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.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac

    MacPorts Features

    1.  Command line interface

    MacPorts VS Homebrew

     
  5. Applite icon
     7 likes
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    User-friendly GUI macOS application for Homebrew Casks.

    57 Applite alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Homebrew

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused
    3.  Minimalistic

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  No Tracking
    3.  No registration required
    4.  Dark Mode
    5.  Homebrew

    Applite VS Homebrew

     
  6. Mas CLI icon
     5 likes
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    A simple command line interface for the Mac App Store. Designed for scripting and automation.

    13 Mas CLI alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • RU flagRussia

    Platforms

    • Mac

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Access the AppStore

    Mas CLI VS Homebrew

     
  7. Setapp icon
     26 likes
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    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.

    9 Setapp alternatives

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • UA flagUkraine

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Online

    Setapp Features

    1.  Auto Update
    2.  Subscription based

    Setapp VS Homebrew

     
    Comments about Setapp as an Alternative to Homebrew
    Guest
    Negative Oct 13, 2020
    1

    Homebrew is for open source packages. Setapp is just a subscription-based app ownership platform for proprietary applications.

    Homebrew Icon
    Setapp icon
    • Setapp is Paid and ProprietaryHomebrew is Free and Open Source
  8. Spack icon
     3 likes
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    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...

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux

    Spack Features

    1.  Non Destructive Editing
    2.  File Versioning

    Spack VS Homebrew

     
  9. Cakebrew icon
     18 likes
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    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:

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • BR flagBrazil

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Discontinued

    Last update is from March 2021. It's no longer maintained https://github.com/brunophilipe/Cakebrew/issues/255

    Cakebrew Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Graphical User Interface
    4.  Homebrew

    Cakebrew VS Homebrew

     
  10. Lix Project icon
     1 like
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    A modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager, focused on correctness, usability, and growth — and committed to doing right by its community.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Mac

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  No Tracking

    Lix Project VS Homebrew

     
  11. macapps.link icon
     42 likes
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    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.

    23 macapps.link alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Online

    macapps.link Features

    1.  Unattended installation

    macapps.link VS Homebrew

     
  12.  Like
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    "asdf" is a tool version manager. All tool version definitions are contained within one file (.tool-versions) which you can check in to your project's Git repository to share with your team, ensuring everyone is using the exact same versions of tools.

    22 asdf alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux

    asdf Features

    1.  Command line interface

    asdf VS Homebrew

     
12 of 19 Homebrew alternatives