Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Homebrew VS Vcpkg

Compare Homebrew VS Vcpkg and see what are their differences

Homebrew logo Homebrew

The missing package manager for macOS

Vcpkg logo Vcpkg

C++ Library Manager for Windows, Linux, and macOS
  • Homebrew Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-29
  • Vcpkg Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-23

Homebrew features and specs

  • User-Friendly
    Homebrew provides an easy-to-use command-line interface that simplifies the installation and management of software packages.
  • Wide Range of Packages
    Homebrew offers a vast repository of software, covering a broad spectrum of utilities, languages, and applications.
  • Dependency Management
    Homebrew automatically handles dependencies, ensuring that all required packages are installed and up to date.
  • Community Support
    Homebrew has a strong community backing and regular contributions, which ensures frequent updates and a robust support system.
  • Cross-Platform
    Homebrew is available on macOS and Linux, allowing for consistent package management across different operating systems.
  • Customizability
    Users can create their own formulae to install software that isn’t available in the core repositories.

Possible disadvantages of Homebrew

  • Resource Intensive
    Some users find that Homebrew can be resource-intensive, particularly during installation of large packages or those with numerous dependencies.
  • Security Risks
    Because Homebrew allows for the installation of third-party software, there is a potential risk of downloading insecure or malicious packages.
  • Complexity for Beginners
    While user-friendly for most, beginners with no command-line experience might find the initial learning curve steep.
  • Duplication
    Users might accidentally install software that is already managed by other package managers or system libraries, leading to duplication.
  • Limited GUI Support
    Homebrew is primarily a command-line tool and lacks a graphical user interface, which could be a drawback for users who prefer GUI-based package management.

Vcpkg features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Support
    Vcpkg supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This ensures developers can maintain consistency across different environments.
  • Wide Range of Packages
    Vcpkg has a large collection of libraries and tools that can be easily integrated into projects, saving developers time in managing and building dependencies.
  • Ease of Use
    The tool is designed to be straightforward, simplifying the process of installing and managing libraries with simple commands.
  • Integration with CMake
    Vcpkg integrates well with CMake, one of the most popular build systems, which helps streamline the development process.
  • Continuous Updates
    Being backed by Microsoft, Vcpkg receives regular updates and improvements, ensuring it stays current with the latest library versions.

Possible disadvantages of Vcpkg

  • Windows-Centric Origins
    Although it has been extended to support other platforms, Vcpkg was initially designed for Windows, which might lead to some complications when used on other operating systems.
  • Overhead in Setup
    Initial setup and understanding of Vcpkg can be a bit cumbersome, especially for those unfamiliar with command-line tools.
  • Limited Non-C++ Support
    Vcpkg is primarily focused on C++ libraries, which limits its use for projects that rely heavily on non-C++ dependencies.
  • Dependency Conflicts
    Managing multiple packages and dependencies can occasionally lead to conflicts, especially if different projects require different versions of the same library.
  • Lack of Native IDE Integration
    While Vcpkg can be integrated into various development environments, it lacks deep, native integration with popular IDEs, which might require additional configuration.

Homebrew videos

Homebrew Review: Coopers Lager - Taste Test

More videos:

  • Review - Homebrew Review | Alchemist Class by Mage Hand Press (featuring Designer Mike Holik)
  • Review - Northern Brewer Cream Ale Homebrew Review Tasting

Vcpkg videos

No Vcpkg videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Homebrew and Vcpkg)
Front End Package Manager
Package Manager
88 88%
12% 12
Windows Tools
95 95%
5% 5
Developer Tools
93 93%
7% 7

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Homebrew and Vcpkg

Homebrew Reviews

Top Homebrew Alternative: ServBay Becomes the Go-To for Developers
Homebrew is a highly popular package manager on macOS and Linux systems, enabling users to easily install, update, and uninstall command-line tools and applications. Its design philosophy focuses on simplifying the software installation process on macOS, eliminating the need for manual downloads and compilations of software packages.
Source: medium.com

Vcpkg Reviews

We have no reviews of Vcpkg yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Homebrew seems to be a lot more popular than Vcpkg. While we know about 906 links to Homebrew, we've tracked only 24 mentions of Vcpkg. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Homebrew mentions (906)

  • Setting Up a Mac for Development: A Comprehensive Guide 🧑🏻‍💻 ‍
    Homebrew is a must-have package manager for macOS, simplifying the installation of software. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Getting familiar with Git/GitHub
    It is advised that you install Git using https://brew.sh/ instead, and that you utilize Homebrew tools to maintain Git's updates. Installing and controlling open source development tools on a Mac via the command line is made easy with Homebrew. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How to Create Custom Plans with “plan.md” in Goose
    Step2: Install Homebrew — Visit brew.sh and follow the installation steps, or run:. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Installing Rust on macOS with Homebrew
    While Rust’s official installation tool, rustup, is excellent and versatile, I prefer using Homebrew whenever possible. It is simple, familiar, and keeps everything neatly managed in one place. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Testing the startup time for your Fire OS app
    If you’re on a Mac, use Homebrew to install it by running brew install maven in the terminal. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
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Vcpkg mentions (24)

  • Xmake: A modern C/C++ build tool
    Re: C/C++ development: anybody using conda/pixi for dependency management? Here's an example of compiling a C++ SDL program using pixi and the SDL dependency from conda-forge [1]. Seems viable as a replacement for things like vckpg [2] which only builds from source. I'm still researching this but it seems like rattler [3] is the tool to use to build/publish packages. The supported repos are: prefix.dev's own... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Ideas for project in C++ language use object-oriented programming
    Plenty of raw information should be available here, the actual vcpkg repo: https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Why isn't there a Central C/C++ repository for distributions?
    Actually, there is: C++ Library Manager for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Cleanup my dependency management with vcpkg
    The installation is described in the readme of vcpkg on github and is straightforward: clone the project, execute the installation script and you are ready to go! - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Transitioning from Java to C++
    You didn't ask about this, but I think its worth mentioning Conan and vcpkg. Of the two I have found vcpkg easier to work with, but both can be good solutions. Combining one of these package managers with CMake presets can make getting a project setup on a new machine almost trivial (great for CI or onboarding new devs). Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Homebrew and Vcpkg, you can also consider the following products

Chocolatey - The sane way to manage software on Windows.

Conan - Conan is an Action-Adventure, Hack and Slash and Single-player video game developed by Nihilistic Software and published by THQ.

iTerm2 - A terminal emulator for macOS that does amazing things.

pacman (package manager) - The pacman package manager is one of the major distinguishing features of ...

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Conda - Binary package manager with support for environments.