Yes — real 30-day macOS app install popularity figures from Homebrew's own public API.

No. This is a fully key-less public API.

How often does it update?

The pipeline re-reads the dataset periodically, on whatever schedule it changes.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Does the ranking show how many people use each app?

No. It counts anonymous install events from Homebrew users who have analytics enabled, so it says nothing about people who install apps another way or about how often an app is used.

Is a cask the same as a formula?

No. Both are Homebrew package types, but a cask is defined by artifacts such as an app, pkg or binary to install, while a formula is built from source or installed as a prebuilt binary into Homebrew's Cellar.

Homebrew Cask Popularity Screensaver

The Homebrew Cask Popularity screensaver ranks real 30-day macOS app install popularity. It is free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.

How the Homebrew Cask Popularity screensaver works

The saver reads real 30-day macOS app install popularity data from Homebrew's own key-less public API.

Rows are ranked by their real latest reported install count.

The pipeline refreshes periodically as the underlying dataset changes.

No key is required for this key-less public endpoint.

What Homebrew Cask counts

Homebrew is a popular package manager for macOS. Its formulae are installed from source or prebuilt binaries into its own prefix, while casks are Ruby definitions that declare how to obtain and install software, most often a native Mac application. This board ranks casks by how many install events were recorded over the last 30 days.

The numbers come from Homebrew's analytics, which it describes as aggregate and anonymous: the payload has no user identifier or IP address field. Users can switch them off with brew analytics off or by setting HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1, and events are sent in a background process whose failures are silent. Every figure is therefore a count of events that arrived, not of all installs, and it only covers people who use Homebrew at all.

A high count is not a measure of how many people use an app daily. An install event records one install of a cask, not an active user, and Homebrew flags continuous-integration runs separately in its event data. Apps installed through the Mac App Store, or by dragging a download into Applications, never produce a cask event.

A worked example

A real entry's most recent reported install count is ranked against the real others, with bars easing into place as the board loads.

Settings & tips

Counts are real 30-day install totals from Homebrew's own analytics.
Accent recolours the bars and header text.
Homebrew Cask installs macOS GUI apps via the command line.

Frequently asked questions

Is this real data?: Yes — real 30-day macOS app install popularity figures from Homebrew's own public API.
Is a key needed?: No. This is a fully key-less public API.
How often does it update?: The pipeline re-reads the dataset periodically, on whatever schedule it changes.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
Does the ranking show how many people use each app?: No. It counts anonymous install events from Homebrew users who have analytics enabled, so it says nothing about people who install apps another way or about how often an app is used.
Is a cask the same as a formula?: No. Both are Homebrew package types, but a cask is defined by artifacts such as an app, pkg or binary to install, while a formula is built from source or installed as a prebuilt binary into Homebrew's Cellar.

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