# The most installed open source Mac apps

> Stars show who likes an app. Installs show who uses it. This list ranks open source Mac apps by installs, with stars next to them. Updated November 8, 2026. Page: https://macpip.com/rankings/most-installed-open-source-mac-apps

A star costs nothing. An install means somebody wanted the app on their Mac. So we took the hand-picked open source Mac apps and ranked them by how often people installed them through Homebrew in the last 30 days.

Put the two numbers side by side and you get a few surprises: quiet apps with modest stars that lots of people install, and famous repos that fewer people actually run.

## How this ranking works

- Source: GitHub's public repository data (stars, language, last push).
- Read on: November 8, 2026. Updated every week.
- Included: The hand-picked open source Mac apps that install with Homebrew. Apps not in Homebrew can't be counted, so they are left out.

## The list

| # | App | Installs, 30 days | GitHub stars | Installs per 100 stars | Maker | On MacPip | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ghostty: A fast terminal with a real native Mac app. Also on Linux. | 29,800 | 63,889 | 46.6 | Ghostty | No | https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty |
| 2 | iTerm2: The terminal many Mac developers have used for years. | 17,749 | 18,265 | 97.2 | George Nachman | No | https://github.com/gnachman/iTerm2 |
| 3 | Stats: CPU, memory, network and battery in your menu bar. | 11,921 | 43,234 | 27.6 | Serhiy Mytrovtsiy | No | https://github.com/exelban/stats |
| 4 | Vorssaint: A big toolbox of small menu bar helpers in one app. | 11,269 | 33,654 | 33.5 | vorssaint | No | https://github.com/vorssaint/vorssaint-utils |
| 5 | UTM: Run Windows, Linux or another macOS in a window. | 9,413 | 36,784 | 25.6 | UTM | No | https://github.com/utmapp/UTM |
| 6 | Rectangle: Snap windows with shortcuts. Small, free, does one job well. | 8,932 | 30,258 | 29.5 | Ryan Hanson | No | https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle |
| 7 | Maccy: A light clipboard history you open with one shortcut. | 8,164 | 22,245 | 36.7 | Alex Rodionov | No | https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy |
| 8 | Hammerspoon: Automate almost anything on your Mac with small Lua scripts. | 7,416 | 16,393 | 45.2 | Hammerspoon Team | No | https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon |
| 9 | IINA: The video player most Mac people switch to and keep. | 6,902 | 47,058 | 14.7 | IINA | No | https://github.com/iina/iina |
| 10 | Homebrew app: Homebrew's own Mac app. | 5,379 | 2,817 | 190.9 | Homebrew | No | https://github.com/Homebrew/BrewUI |
| 11 | Karabiner-Elements: Remap any key on any keyboard. The classic. | 5,193 | 23,074 | 22.5 | pqrs-org | No | https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements |
| 12 | SwiftBar: Put the output of any script in your menu bar. | 4,922 | 4,761 | 103.4 | SwiftBar | No | https://github.com/swiftbar/SwiftBar |
| 13 | cmux: A Ghostty-based terminal with vertical tabs, made for coding agents. | 4,784 | 28,747 | 16.6 | manaflow-ai | No | https://github.com/manaflow-ai/cmux |
| 14 | AeroSpace: A tiling window manager in the style of i3, set up with one text file. | 4,701 | 23,770 | 19.8 | Nikita Bobko | No | https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace |
| 15 | Keka: Opens and makes zip, 7z, rar and more. | 4,563 | 7,633 | 59.8 | aONe | No | https://github.com/aonez/Keka |
| 16 | LinearMouse: Mouse and trackpad settings Apple left out. | 4,525 | 7,142 | 63.4 | LinearMouse | No | https://github.com/linearmouse/linearmouse |
| 17 | AltTab: Windows-style alt-tab with window previews. | 3,504 | 16,503 | 21.2 | lwouis | No | https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos |
| 18 | CodexBar: Shows your Codex and Claude Code usage in the menu bar. | 3,443 | 23,061 | 14.9 | Peter Steinberger | No | https://github.com/steipete/CodexBar |
| 19 | MonitorControl: Brightness and volume keys for external displays. | 3,311 | 34,670 | 9.6 | MonitorControl | No | https://github.com/MonitorControl/MonitorControl |
| 20 | Thaw: A newer open source menu bar manager. | 3,129 | 12,622 | 24.8 | thaw-app | No | https://github.com/thaw-app/Thaw |
| 21 | QLMarkdown: Quick Look previews for Markdown files. | 3,017 | 3,745 | 80.6 | sbarex | No | https://github.com/sbarex/QLMarkdown |
| 22 | Mos: Smooth scrolling for a regular mouse, and its own scroll direction. | 2,703 | 21,852 | 12.4 | Caldis_Chen | No | https://github.com/Caldis/Mos |
| 23 | Hidden Bar: Tucks menu bar icons away behind one arrow. | 2,663 | 15,360 | 17.3 | Dwarves Foundation | No | https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden |
| 24 | PureMac: A free cleaner with no tracking. | 2,633 | 7,693 | 34.2 | Moamen Basel | No | https://github.com/momenbasel/PureMac |
| 25 | LuLu: A free firewall that asks before apps call out. | 2,418 | 13,528 | 17.9 | Objective-See Foundation | No | https://github.com/objective-see/LuLu |
| 26 | DockDoor: Window previews when you hover the Dock. | 2,363 | 6,537 | 36.1 | ejbills | No | https://github.com/ejbills/DockDoor |
| 27 | MacPacker: An archive manager that previews before you extract. | 2,345 | 1,467 | 159.9 | Stephan Arenswald | No | https://github.com/sarensw/MacPacker |
| 28 | Xcodes: Install and switch between Xcode versions. | 1,963 | 8,641 | 22.7 | XcodesOrg | No | https://github.com/XcodesOrg/XcodesApp |
| 29 | FineTune: Volume per app and multi-output audio from the menu bar. | 1,769 | 10,076 | 17.6 | Ronit Singh | No | https://github.com/ronitsingh10/FineTune |
| 30 | Syncthing: Syncs folders between your devices, no cloud. | 1,745 | 4,010 | 43.5 | The Syncthing Project | No | https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing-macos |
| 31 | Helium: A private, ad-free Chromium browser. | 1,723 | 1,183 | 145.6 | imput | No | https://github.com/imputnet/helium-macos |
| 32 | FluidVoice: Dictation that runs on your Mac, not in the cloud. | 1,715 | 12,909 | 13.3 | ALTIC | No | https://github.com/altic-dev/FluidVoice |
| 33 | Status Trio: Wi-Fi, battery and Bluetooth in one menu bar item. | 1,600 | 1,766 | 90.6 | lingyired | No | https://github.com/lingyired/status-trio |
| 34 | CaskHub: Browse and install Homebrew casks. | 1,562 | 1,419 | 110.1 | Ali Elsokary | No | https://github.com/alielsokary/CaskHub |
| 35 | CotEditor: A plain text editor that opens instantly. | 1,518 | 8,677 | 17.5 | CotEditor Project | No | https://github.com/coteditor/CotEditor |
| 36 | MarkEdit: Like TextEdit, but for Markdown. | 1,474 | 5,954 | 24.8 | MarkEdit.app | No | https://github.com/MarkEdit-app/MarkEdit |
| 37 | Sequel Ace: MySQL and MariaDB, the friendly way. | 1,400 | 7,561 | 18.5 | Sequel-Ace | No | https://github.com/Sequel-Ace/Sequel-Ace |
| 38 | KeyCastr: Shows the keys you press, for screencasts and demos. | 1,369 | 15,200 | 9.0 | KeyCastr | No | https://github.com/keycastr/keycastr |
| 39 | KeepingYouAwake: Keeps your Mac awake with one click. | 1,363 | 7,040 | 19.4 | Marcel Dierkes | No | https://github.com/newmarcel/KeepingYouAwake |
| 40 | Mac Sai: A cleaner and malware scanner. | 1,359 | 2,122 | 64.0 | Iliya Mirzaei | No | https://github.com/iliyami/MacSai |
| 41 | OmniWM: A tiling window manager for Apple silicon Macs. | 1,299 | 3,574 | 36.3 | OmniNull | No | https://github.com/OmniNull/OmniWM |
| 42 | Easydict: Dictionary and translation, with offline text recognition. | 1,217 | 15,248 | 8.0 | tisfeng | No | https://github.com/tisfeng/Easydict |
| 43 | macUSB: Makes bootable USB installers. | 1,187 | 3,410 | 34.8 | Krystian Pierz | No | https://github.com/Kruszoneq/macUSB |
| 44 | Secretive: Keeps your SSH keys in the Secure Enclave. | 1,172 | 9,257 | 12.7 | Max Goedjen | No | https://github.com/maxgoedjen/secretive |
| 45 | macshot: Screenshots and recordings with notes and arrows. | 1,129 | 4,074 | 27.7 | sw33tLie | No | https://github.com/sw33tLie/macshot |
| 46 | Background Music: Volume per app, and it pauses your music when something else plays. | 1,081 | 19,379 | 5.6 | Kyle Neideck | No | https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic |
| 47 | Crisp: Every hidden display setting in one menu bar app. | 1,074 | 2,351 | 45.7 | Didrik Galteland | No | https://github.com/didriksg/Crisp |
| 48 | Finicky: Picks which browser opens each link. | 1,049 | 5,258 | 20.0 | John Sterling | No | https://github.com/johnste/finicky |
| 49 | Purge: Frees up disk space, carefully. | 1,014 | 1,723 | 58.9 | Jithin Sabu | No | https://github.com/jithin-sabu/purge-app |
| 50 | Compositor: A layered image editor that wants to be the Photoshop of open source. | 932 | 18,537 | 5.0 | Robbie | No | https://github.com/robbietilton/Compositor |

## Questions

### What is the most installed open source Mac app?
Ghostty, with 29,800 Homebrew installs in the 30 days to November 8, 2026. Then iTerm2 and Stats.

### Why do stars and installs differ so much?
People star a repo to bookmark it or say thanks, often without installing. Installs also depend on Homebrew: apps people get from the App Store or a website are not counted.

### What does "installs per 100 stars" mean?
It is installs in the last 30 days for every 100 GitHub stars. A high number means people use the app a lot compared with how famous its repo is.