Homebrew
A package management system that installs software across multiple platforms including macOS, Linux, and Windows systems
- Also known as
- homebrew
Available worldwide
What is Homebrew?
Homebrew is a free, community-driven package manager that automates the installation and management of software packages, libraries, and applications. It supports multiple platforms and package formats, allowing users to install tools from official repositories or maintain custom packages.
Homebrew pricing
We don't have Homebrew's full plan breakdown yet (its pricing page resisted automated reading). Here's what we could confirm. Always check live pricing for exact numbers.
What Homebrew does
The capabilities that matter for package registries, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Role
- Public registry
- Ecosystem / language
- OS-level
- Deployment
- CLI-local
- Package formats supported
- Many formats
- Private / scoped packages
- ✓
- Upstream proxy / caching
- -
- Lockfile / deterministic installs
- -
- Workspaces / monorepo
- -
- Content-addressable store
- ✓
- Supply-chain integrity
- ✓
- Vulnerability / licence scanning
- ✓
- Openness
- Open-source
- Pricing model
- Free / OSS
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- CLI
- macOS
- Linux
- Windows
- Self-hosted
Integrations (8)
Independently observed- Mac App Store•
- WinGet•
- VSCode•
- Go•
- Cargo•
- uv•
- Flatpak•
- kubectl•
Security & compliance
Known vulnerabilities: 0 (0 in the last 12 months) sourcea count reflects scale & disclosure, not quality
Homebrew FAQ
Common questions about Homebrew, answered from independent, dated evidence.
What is Homebrew?
Homebrew is a package manager that installs command-line tools, libraries, and applications from upstream source code. It organizes each package in an isolated directory and uses symlinks to integrate them into your system. It is indexed under Package Registries.
Source: https://brew.sh
Is Homebrew free?
Homebrew offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.
Source: https://brew.sh
What platforms does Homebrew support?
Homebrew supports macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.
Source: https://brew.sh
Can Homebrew be self-hosted?
Yes. Homebrew can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.
Source: https://brew.sh
Is Homebrew open source?
Yes. Homebrew is published under the BSD-2-Clause licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.
Source: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
Homebrew alternatives
Other package registries we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- BunJavaScript runtime that consolidates package management, testing, and bundling into a single command-line toolmedium · 56%
- pnpmA package manager built for speed and minimal disk usagemedium · 65%
- VerdaccioA self-hosted registry for managing private and public Node.js packageshigh · 77%
- RubyGemsA package management tool and public repository for discovering, installing, and publishing Ruby libraries and packageslow · 31%
- uvA fast Python dependency and project managermedium · 63%
- YarnA JavaScript package manager built for reproducible and stable development environmentshigh · 75%
Compare Homebrew
Side by side against other package registries, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.
The vioscaleAI score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for Homebrew, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development activity | 63 | 0.11 | 6.8 | ✓ |
| Release cadence | 98 | 0.07 | 6.7 | ✓ |
| Capabilities | 67 | 0.09 | 5.9 | ✓ |
| Security score | 59 | 0.08 | 4.8 | ✓ |
| Stars | 89 | 0.03 | 2.4 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 27 | 0.05 | 1.5 | ✓ |
| Dependent projects | 0 | 0.07 | 0.0 | ✓ |
| Security posture | 5 | 0.18 | 0.0 | - |
| Package downloads | 0 | 0.15 | 0.0 | - |
| Developer Q&A activity | 0 | 0.05 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Activity
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Commits last 30d | 100 | mediumsource · 2026-10-15 · 65% |
Adoption
Content
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Faq | 5 items | mediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 67% |
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Role: public_registry · Ecosystem: os · Deployment: cli_local · Open source: oss · Pricing model: free · Package formats: multi | mediumsource · 2026-10-15 · 60% |
Integrations
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 8 | mediumsource · 2026-10-15 · 60% |
Language
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Ruby | highsource · 2026-10-15 · 90% |
License
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Spdx | BSD-2-Clause | highsource · 2026-10-15 · 95% |
Market
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | PrimaryMarkets: … · AvailabilityScope: global · AvailableCountries: … · NotAvailableCountries: … | highsource · 2026-10-15 · 75% |
Pricing
Release
Reliability
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Status page | Yes | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60% |
Security
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Disclosure policy | Yes | mediumsource · 2026-10-15 · 60% |
| Scorecard | 5.9 | highsource · 2026-10-15 · 90% |
| Vulnerabilities | Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FHomebrew%2Fbrew&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 | highsource · 2026-10-15 · 90% |
| Trust center | https://brew.sh/2021/04/21/security-incident-disclosure/ | mediumsource · 2026-10-15 · 60% |
Is Homebrew the right choice for you?
Tell us the job, the constraints and what you weigh most, and we will rank Homebrew against the rest of the package registries we index, using the same dated evidence weighted your way.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Is this your product?
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