Open source alternatives to Homebrew

One project on starwire does the same job. Ranked by how much of what Homebrew does each one covers, read from its README and website. Ties go to the most active.

What Homebrew does

Install command-line toolscore
Keep packages updatedcore
Install Mac apps with casks
Uninstall and cleanup
Third-party taps
Brewfile for setups
Dependency management

Each dot in the table is one job, in this order. Square dots are core jobs and count double. Full means yes, half means partly. "See the evidence" under a project shows the line behind each one. Coverage is what a project documents, not how well it works or how hard it is to move to. How we score this

Project	Covers	Stars	Commits, 12 weeks	Last release	Closed vs opened	Setup	License
zerobrewAlternative Homebrew client written in Rust that aims to be much faster	Replaces it72%	8.3k+6	168	24 days ago	100%	Uses the terminal	Apache-2.0
Covers all 2 core jobs. Partly: Dependency management. Not shown: Install Mac apps with casks; Third-party taps.See the evidence Install command-line toolscoreYeszb install jq Keep packages updatedcoreYesupgrade all outdated packages Install Mac apps with casksNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it. Uninstall and cleanupYesuninstall one package Third-party tapsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it. Brewfile for setupsYesinstall from Brewfile Dependency managementPartlythe package and all of its dependencies

Vital signs from GitHub, checked weekly. How we read these · How setup is read

All repos

Sort

Form Platform Works with Theme License Setup Language

New repos every two days, stars refreshed daily. Visits are counted without cookies, and the numbers are public. How it works Data RSS Newsletter