# The most popular Mac apps, by real installs

> Not a list of favorites. These are the 50 Mac apps people actually installed the most in the last 30 days, counted from Homebrew. Updated November 8, 2026. Page: https://macpip.com/rankings/most-popular-mac-apps

Most "best Mac apps" lists are somebody's taste. That's fine, but it's not the question "what do people really use?". So here is a list with no opinions in the order: the Mac apps installed most often through Homebrew, the free package manager a lot of Mac people use to set up a new Mac.

It leans toward people who are comfortable with a terminal, so developer tools rank higher than they would in the Mac App Store. Apps that only ship through the App Store, like Final Cut Pro or Things, can't appear at all. Keep that in mind and it's a surprisingly honest picture.

## How this ranking works

- Source: Homebrew's public install analytics (formulae.brew.sh), which count installs by people who leave Homebrew's anonymous analytics on.
- Read on: November 8, 2026. Updated every week.
- Included: Casks that install a Mac app (an .app bundle). Command line tools, fonts and drivers are left out, and so are deprecated and disabled casks.

## The list

| # | App | Installs, 30 days | Installs, 365 days | Maker | On MacPip | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LibreOffice: Free cross-platform office suite, fresh version | 56,542 | 409,736 | The Document Foundation | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/libreoffice |
| 2 | Docker Desktop: App to build and share containerised applications and microservices | 36,171 | 528,164 | Docker | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/docker-desktop |
| 3 | Microsoft Visual Studio Code: Open-source code editor | 34,295 | 479,148 | Microsoft | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/visual-studio-code |
| 4 | Blender: 3D creation suite | 33,810 | 108,699 | Blender Foundation | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/blender |
| 5 | Ghostty: Terminal emulator that uses platform-native UI and GPU acceleration | 29,800 | 385,677 | Ghostty | No | https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty |
| 6 | Google Chrome: Web browser | 23,362 | 433,006 | Google | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/google-chrome |
| 7 | OrbStack: Replacement for Docker Desktop | 20,496 | 196,746 | OrbStack | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/orbstack |
| 8 | Obsidian: Knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files | 20,102 | 207,750 | Obsidian.md | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/obsidian |
| 9 | Claude: Anthropic's official Claude AI desktop app | 19,281 | 225,732 | Anthropic | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/claude |
| 10 | iTerm2: Terminal emulator as alternative to Apple's Terminal app | 17,749 | 302,938 | George Nachman | No | https://github.com/gnachman/iTerm2 |
| 11 | Android Studio: Tools for building Android applications | 14,140 | 128,127 | Google | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/android-studio |
| 12 | ChatGPT: OpenAI's official ChatGPT desktop app | 12,814 | 94,001 | OpenAI | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/chatgpt |
| 13 | Mozilla Firefox: Web browser | 12,734 | 182,564 | Mozilla | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/firefox |
| 14 | OpenCode: AI coding agent desktop client | 12,009 | 95,183 | Anomaly | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/opencode-desktop |
| 15 | Stats: System monitor for the menu bar | 11,921 | 146,443 | Serhiy Mytrovtsiy | No | https://github.com/exelban/stats |
| 16 | Vorssaint: Menu bar toolkit with keep-awake, system monitor and volume mixer | 11,269 | 42,510 | vorssaint | No | https://github.com/vorssaint/vorssaint-utils |
| 17 | VLC media player: Multimedia player | 10,794 | 123,104 | VideoLAN | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/vlc |
| 18 | BetterDisplay: Display management tool | 9,852 | 94,811 | waydabber | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/betterdisplay |
| 19 | Godot Engine: 2D and 3D game engine | 9,530 | 45,065 | Godot Engine | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/godot |
| 20 | UTM: Virtual machines UI using QEMU | 9,413 | 70,187 | UTM | No | https://github.com/utmapp/UTM |
| 21 | DBeaver Community Edition: Universal database tool and SQL client | 9,371 | 128,870 | DBeaver | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/dbeaver-community |
| 22 | Ollama: Get up and running with large language models locally | 8,979 | 91,726 | Ollama | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/ollama-app |
| 23 | Rectangle: Move and resize windows using keyboard shortcuts or snap areas | 8,932 | 116,454 | Ryan Hanson | No | https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle |
| 24 | Zed: Multiplayer code editor | 8,847 | 112,475 | Zed Industries | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/zed |
| 25 | Postman: Collaboration platform for API development | 8,205 | 134,096 | Postman | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/postman |
| 26 | Maccy: Clipboard manager | 8,164 | 110,868 | Alex Rodionov | No | https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy |
| 27 | Raycast: Control your tools with a few keystrokes | 7,519 | 115,989 | Raycast | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/raycast |
| 28 | OBS: Open-source software for live streaming and screen recording | 7,463 | 52,367 | OBS Project | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/obs |
| 29 | Hammerspoon: Desktop automation application | 7,416 | 57,272 | Hammerspoon Team | No | https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon |
| 30 | Spotify: Music streaming service | 7,347 | 94,391 | Spotify | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/spotify |
| 31 | Brave: Web browser focusing on privacy | 7,286 | 91,235 | Brave Software | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/brave-browser |
| 32 | Cursor: Write, edit, and chat about your code with AI | 7,146 | 114,813 | Anysphere | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/cursor |
| 33 | LocalSend: Open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop | 7,057 | 68,642 | LocalSend | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/localsend |
| 34 | IINA: Free and open-source media player | 6,902 | 72,359 | IINA | No | https://github.com/iina/iina |
| 35 | Discord: Voice and text chat software | 6,848 | 93,749 | Discord | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/discord |
| 36 | Slack: Team communication and collaboration software | 6,842 | 83,918 | SLACK TECHNOLOGIES L.L.C. | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/slack |
| 37 | draw.io Desktop: Online diagram software | 6,661 | 52,417 | draw.io | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/drawio |
| 38 | 1Password: Password manager that keeps all passwords secure behind one password | 6,542 | 61,620 | 1Password | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/1password |
| 39 | LM Studio: Discover, download, and run local LLMs | 6,162 | 58,513 | Element Labs | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/lm-studio |
| 40 | T3 Code: Minimal GUI for AI code agents | 5,959 | 18,061 | Ping.gg | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/t3-code |
| 41 | Zoom: Video communication and virtual meeting platform | 5,816 | 64,931 | Zoom | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/zoom |
| 42 | OpenMTP: Android file transfer | 5,669 | 29,039 | Ganesh Rathinavel Medayil | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/openmtp |
| 43 | Homebrew: Homebrew's official GUI | 5,379 | 12,464 | Homebrew | No | https://github.com/Homebrew/BrewUI |
| 44 | Warp: Rust-based terminal | 5,364 | 132,749 | Warp | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/warp |
| 45 | CC Switch: Configuration manager for AI coding agents | 5,356 | 117,282 | Jason Young | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/cc-switch |
| 46 | SwiftBar: Menu bar customization tool | 4,922 | 32,038 | SwiftBar | No | https://github.com/swiftbar/SwiftBar |
| 47 | Bitwarden: Desktop password and login vault | 4,913 | 57,112 | Bitwarden | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/bitwarden |
| 48 | Bruno: Open source IDE for exploring and testing APIs | 4,880 | 71,879 | Bruno Software Inc | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/bruno |
| 49 | Microsoft Edge: Multi-platform web browser | 4,877 | 53,286 | Microsoft | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/microsoft-edge |
| 50 | Unity Hub: Management tool for Unity | 4,829 | 25,917 | Unity Technologies | No | https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/unity-hub |

## Questions

### What is the most popular Mac app right now?
By installs through Homebrew in the 30 days to November 8, 2026, it is LibreOffice, with 56,542 installs. Then Docker Desktop and Microsoft Visual Studio Code.

### Where do these numbers come from?
From Homebrew's public analytics. Homebrew counts each install by people who leave its anonymous analytics switched on, and publishes the totals for 30, 90 and 365 days. 2,527,744 cask installs were counted in the last 30 days.

### Why is my favorite app missing?
Apps sold only in the Mac App Store are not in Homebrew, so they cannot show up here. Apps installed by downloading them from the maker's site are not counted either. This is one honest slice of Mac use, not all of it.

### How often is this list updated?
Every week. MacPip reads Homebrew's numbers again when the copy it has is 7 days old, and the date at the top of the page is the day the numbers were read.