What is Homebrew on Mac? A beginner's guide

Lots of users are suddenly asking what is Homebrew on Mac? And that’s probably because it seems to be mentioned everywhere at the moment, on Mac tip blogs and developer tutorials. It’s actually a really powerful free package manager. I’ll help you figure out what it can do and if you really need it.

What is Homebrew for Mac?

Since 2009, it’s known as an open-source package manager for macOS and Linux. Basically, an App Store for Terminal. You install, update, and also remove tools with commands instead of manual downloads.

It calls itself “The Missing Package Manager for macOS,” which works because Apple never shipped one. As of May 2026, the current version is 5.1.6. Apple silicon support arrived in 3.0.0.

When you start using it, you’ll quickly notice it comes complete with its own entire beer-themed glossary of terms, like:

• Formula for Ruby script or CLI tools

• Cask for package definition for GUI apps

• Tap for third-party repository

• Cellar for Install directory

• Keg for specific package version folder 

• Bottle for pre-compiled binary for faster installs. 

Takes some time getting used to.

What can you do with Homebrew?

• Install command-line tools

From packages and Java scripts, you can install things like wget, git, node.js, Python, or ffmpeg with a single command.

• Install GUI desktop apps via Homebrew Cask

You can also install desktop apps like Firefox, VS Code, Slack, VLC, and Notion without dragging .dmg files around.

• Keep software up to date

Brew update and Brew upgrade help you keep your software updates.

• Remove software cleanly

Via Brew uninstall, you can remove a package and its dependencies.

For developers, it helps manage different versions of Python, Ruby, or Node, and then for everyday users, it’s useful for tools like ffmpeg for video conversion, tree for browsing folders, or htop for system monitoring.

Do you need Homebrew on your Mac?

I see this question a lot, Homebrew for Mac, although great, is not a necessity. If you’re a developer or even a power user, it’s worth considering, as most development environment setup guides assume you have it installed. But for the everyday, casual Mac user, you really don’t need it.

Terminal isn’t the only way to manage apps and software. There are plenty of tools out there that can do this in a much more visual (no command-line) way. I use CleanMyMac, for example. It’s notarized by Apple, and it’s just in my opinion a lot easier to uninstall apps completely, including their leftover files, thanks to its Applications feature. You can test it for 7 days — get your free trial here. It also pairs really nicely alongside Homebrew, if you want an even bigger breadth of maintenance options for your machine.

How to install Homebrew on Mac

Ok, first up, you need to make sure you’re running macOS Sonoma 14 or higher, with Xcode Command Line Tools available.

1. Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities.

2. Paste in this official installation command (this is correct as of May 2026, but you should always verify it before running:
   
   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
   

3. Follow all the prompts, and you’ll need to enter your password when asked.

4. If you’re on Apple silicon, there are a few more steps. First, run this command:

• echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile

Then:

• eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

Finally, check it worked by running this command:

• brew --version

If you see brew: command not found, your PATH was not configured correctly. Re-run the brew shellenv command. The .pkg installer on Homebrew’s GitHub releases is another option.

Homebrew commands everyone should know