Software Alternatives & Reviews

NixOS VS Homebrew Cask

Compare NixOS VS Homebrew Cask and see what are their differences

NixOS logo NixOS

25 Jun 2014 . All software components in NixOS are installed using the Nix package manager. Packages in Nix are defined using the nix language to create nix expressions.

Homebrew Cask logo Homebrew Cask

Install with ease. Your software is just one command away from being ready and raring to go. Forget all about babysitting the install process step by step, from website to cleanup. ls /usr/local/Caskroom google-chrome .
  • NixOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12
  • Homebrew Cask Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20

NixOS videos

First Impression of the NixOS Installation Procedure

More videos:

  • Review - Introduction to NixOS - Brownbag by Geoffrey Huntley
  • Review - NixOS 18.03 - A Configuration-focused GNU+Linux Distro

Homebrew Cask videos

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

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NixOS and Homebrew Cask)
Front End Package Manager
Package Manager
80 80%
20% 20
Developer Tools
91 91%
9% 9
Windows Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

NixOS Reviews

The 10 Best Immutable Linux Distributions in 2024
Why it’s on the list: NixOS uses the Nix package manager, which treats packages as isolated from each other. This unique approach to package management virtually eliminates “dependency hell”.

Homebrew Cask Reviews

We have no reviews of Homebrew Cask yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NixOS seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 246 times since March 2021. 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.

NixOS mentions (246)

  • I use NixOS for my home-server, and you should too!
    As we covered in my last post, NixOS is a amazing Linux distribution for creating stable and declared environments. Now while this is amazing for a desktop setup, it is also perfect for a home-server or home-lab. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • Colima k8s nix setup
    Nix is a cross-platform package manager. It uses the nix programming language. Nix and NixOs are often used in the same context, but while the first is a package manager, the latter is a linux distribution based on nix. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • NixOs - Your portable dev enviroment
    Today I want to talk to you about Nixos. What is it? Nixos is a declarative and reproducible OS, partly taking the words used on their own page. What does that mean? - Source: dev.to / 17 days ago
  • Nix – A One Pager
    Software developers often want to customize: 1. Their home environments: for packages (some reach for brew on MacOS) and configurations (dotfiles, and some reach for stow). 2. Their development shells: for build dependencies (compilers, SDKs, libraries), tools (LSP, linters, formatters, debuggers), and services (runtime, database). Some reach for devcontainers here. 3. Or even their operating systems: for... - Source: Hacker News / 17 days ago
  • Tools for Linux Distro Hoppers
    Hopping from one distro to another with a different package manager might require some time to adapt. Using a package manager that can be installed on most distro is one way to help you get to work faster. Flatpak is one of them; other alternative are Snap, Nix or Homebrew. Flatpak is a good starter, and if you have a bunch of free time, I suggest trying Nix. - Source: dev.to / 28 days ago
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Homebrew Cask mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Homebrew Cask yet. Tracking of Homebrew Cask recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

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

GNU Guix - Like Nix but GNU.

Homebrew - The missing package manager for macOS

MacPorts - The MacPorts Project is an open-source community initiative to design an easy-to-use system for compiling, installing, and upgrading either command-line, X11 or Aqua based open-source software on the Mac OS X operating system.

Chocolatey - The sane way to manage software on Windows.

Flatpak - Flatpak is the new framework for desktop applications on Linux

asdf-vm - An extendable version manager