BrewStore
BrewStore / Cakebrew alternative
Cakebrew alternative for Mac
Cakebrew is discontinued. Developers still search for a Homebrew GUI —
a graphical frontend for brew that can install casks and
formulae, show brew outdated, and run
brew upgrade. BrewStore is a free, MIT-licensed option.
It is not an official Homebrew app, not Cork, and not a beer shop.
Homebrew GUI options in 2026
Homebrew itself is the CLI. A GUI just runs brew with a
catalog. Pick based on price, casks vs formulae, and whether you want
the source on GitHub.
| App | What it is | Casks | Formulae | Price / license |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BrewStore | Electron Homebrew GUI for Mac by Manish Vagh | Yes | Yes | Free, MIT, unsigned DMG |
| Cakebrew | The original Homebrew GUI many people still Google | Yes | Yes | Discontinued |
| Cork | Native SwiftUI Homebrew GUI | Yes | Yes | Paid prebuilt; source-available |
| Applite | Friendly Homebrew cask “app store” | Yes | No | Free, MIT |
| WailBrew | Wails + React Homebrew manager | Yes | Yes | Free, MIT |
| BrewMate | Electron cask-focused GUI | Yes | Limited | Free |
| BrewUI | Homebrew’s own GUI project | — | — | Early development |
When BrewStore is the right Homebrew GUI
- You want casks and formulae, not a cask-only store like Applite.
- You want
brew outdated,brew upgrade,brew services, taps, pin, zap, doctor, cleanup, and Brewfile in one app. - You want a free MIT GitHub repo you can star, clone, and audit — no paid prebuilt.
- You already have Homebrew and live in Terminal, but you are tired of memorizing tokens.
Cork is a strong native Homebrew GUI if you want SwiftUI and will pay for a signed build. Applite is better if you only care about GUI apps and want Homebrew installed for you. BrewStore is the open-source full-catalog Homebrew frontend.
Not MacPorts, Nix, or Fink
Searches like “Mac package manager GUI”, “MacPorts GUI”, and “nix-darwin GUI” are adjacent. BrewStore wraps Homebrew only. It does not manage MacPorts ports, nix-darwin, Fink, pkgsrc, or Conda. If that is your stack, use those tools.
Also searched as
Homebrew GUI, Homebrew GUI for Mac, brew GUI, Homebrew desktop app, Homebrew frontend, Homebrew cask GUI, Homebrew formula GUI, visual Homebrew, Homebrew manager, Cakebrew replacement, Cakebrew GitHub, Cork alternative free, Applite vs Cork, brew outdated GUI, Brewfile GUI, brew services GUI, unofficial Mac app store Homebrew.