MacPorts
Hacker ApprovedRanked 8 of 35 package managers by recommenders
People recommend MacPorts as a macOS package manager with a large package collection, installs kept out of the way in /opt, and support for very old Macs. Critics say it compiles from source, can break system setups, and is slower than Homebrew.
People recommend MacPorts as a macOS package manager with a large package collection, installs kept out of the way in /opt, and support for very old Macs. Critics say it compiles from source, can break system setups, and is slower than Homebrew.
64 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 55
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 10 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 55 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Large package collection
“features an actual .pkg installer, as well as doing pretty much everything else better, and having more packages, and existing first”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search” “which currently supports all the way back to Leopard, has far more packages than Homebrew, has a better design”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search” “It has a ton of packages, and the maintainers are very responsive to requests and bug reports”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Zerobrew: A faster alternative to Homebrew” Supports very old macOS versions
“MacPorts generally doesn't care what version of macOS you run, so here I am. I'll probably never go back to Homebrew. MP is great!”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “Homebrew 7.0.0” “It was the original package manager, still going strong, and it supports Macs going all the way back to the Leopard era.”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Homebrew 7.0.0” “which currently supports all the way back to Leopard, has far more packages than Homebrew, has a better design”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search” - Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search”
- Comment from 11 Jun 2026 in “Homebrew 6.0.0”
- Comment from 12 Jun 2026 in “Homebrew 6.0.0”
- Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Homebrew 7.0.0”
Installs cleanly away from system
“it's tidy, installs into /opt/macports, works with Apple's frameworks and language configuration”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Terminal UI for AWS” “Installs itself properly out of the way in /opt. Works with the Apple frameworks (eg Python)”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “MacBook Neo Review: No Other Budget Laptop Can Compete” “macports installs the packages into a separate prefix, and you just add that to the path”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “Homebrew 7.0.0” Better design than Homebrew
“features an actual .pkg installer, as well as doing pretty much everything else better, and having more packages, and existing first”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search” “which currently supports all the way back to Leopard, has far more packages than Homebrew, has a better design”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search” “I use MacPorts because of older versions of Homebrew having a weird and insecure design.”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search” - Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “More Mac malware from Google search”
- Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Homebrew no longer allows bypassing Gatekeeper for unsigned/unnotarized software”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Compiles software, slow installs
“Apart from the issue of having to compile the downloaded software leading to spinning fans, I'm not too concerned.”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “Homebrew 7.0.0” “I always found it much slower when compared to brew”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Homebrew 7.0.0”
Other package managers people recommend
The four most recommended other package managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 35 package managers, rankedWhat people said
40 of the 88 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“ports systems like homebrew, macports, pkgsrc, etc. are a decent option”
“its approach these days is closer to the way MacPorts has always done things”
“It has a ton of packages, and the maintainers are very responsive to requests and bug reports”
“I always found it much slower when compared to brew”
“It was the original package manager, still going strong, and it supports Macs going all the way back to the Leopard era.”
“MacPorts manages to support all the way back to Leopard!”
“macports installs the packages into a separate prefix, and you just add that to the path”
“MacPorts is broadly useful so it's useful for the same things as Pkgsrc”
“MacPorts generally doesn't care what version of macOS you run, so here I am. I'll probably never go back to Homebrew. MP is great!”
“Apart from the issue of having to compile the downloaded software leading to spinning fans, I'm not too concerned.”
“I recommend MacPorts, the migration is easy, you copy the package names you installed with brew”
“Macports is at least maintained by current/former apple employees and signs their packages”
“is a perfectly viable package manager, I prefer it over homebrew”
“The secret (as you probably know) for installing a lot of FOSS software is MacPorts not Homebrew.”
“MacPorts supports everything all the way back to 10.5/powerpc.”
“With NetBSD and Macports, when I need to find a file I can predict where it is almost every time.”
“far more consistent and doesn't surprise me with new major versions of Python at random”
“If you want Intel support, MacPorts still runs back to Leopard.”
“so I don't get any more surprise breakage and forced obsolescence”
“They can use Nix or MacPorts instead which may be a better fit for them”
“I myself used Macports and never encountered any additional friction”
“It's refreshing to see people coming back to MacPorts after the last decade.”
“Moving from MacPorts to Homebrew felt like downgrading from an actual package manager”
“anything that isn't in the most recent ~3-4 releases is likely to be cut off from any number of packages at useful versions”
“Installs itself properly out of the way in /opt. Works with the Apple frameworks (eg Python)”
“look into Homebrew (or Macports) for access to the larger world”
“Personally I'm hapy with my old macOS in no small part thanks to”
“MacPorts vs Homebrew is actually my biggest gripe with Mac for dev stuff”
“which only recently dropped support for Tiger and supports Leopard”
“features an actual .pkg installer, as well as doing pretty much everything else better, and having more packages, and existing first”
“It ought to be everyone's first choice for package management on macOS.”
“which currently supports all the way back to Leopard, has far more packages than Homebrew, has a better design”
“because it has first-party support but also because it’s apparently better designed”
“I use MacPorts because of older versions of Homebrew having a weird and insecure design.”
“it's tidy, installs into /opt/macports, works with Apple's frameworks and language configuration”
“This has worked fine for literally decades, starting back when bandwidth and CPU power was far more limited.”
“MacPorts is much faster and has the variants system for package customisation.”
“after having this gnawing feeling that I should have never switched after installing Macports on a PowerBook G4”
“Nix, Pkgsrc, MacPorts, and (and now Spack) all have better fundamental designs”
“MacPorts works ok, and it seems to be downloading precompiled binaries”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.