Rules

MacBid is a directory of Mac apps with the facts attached. There is no algorithm, no voting, no editorial judgement and nothing for sale. These are the rules it runs on.

How the order is decided

• You decide it. The board opens on Homebrew’s published 30-day install counts, and you can reorder it by when each app last shipped, by the clicks it has been sent from here, or alphabetically.
• Every ordering is a figure somebody else published or a count we made. None of them is a score, and there is nothing we weight or tune.
• Position cannot be bought. There is no paid placement, no sponsored row and no affiliate link.
• Install counts cover people installing through Homebrew only. They compare apps on this board to each other; they are not a count of any app’s users.

Where each fact comes from

• From the app bundle: what it is built with, its architectures, whether it is sandboxed and notarised, who signed it, the permissions it declares, and the download size. Each listing links to the exact artifact that was opened.
• From the app’s own pages: its price model, linked to the page that states it, and its release dates, from its update feed or GitHub releases.
• From Apple and Homebrew: App Store price and release dates, minimum macOS, and install counts.
• Every fact is dated. A listing shows when its facts were last read, and bundle readings are dated separately because they are taken less often.

What a blank means

• Blank means we have not established it. It never means no. An app with no runtime listed has not had its bundle opened — that is not evidence it is native.
• Where we know a fact is negative, the listing says so in words: Not sandboxed, Intel only.
• This is why every share on what we found states how many apps it was computed over, rather than dividing by the whole board.
• Apps whose pricing could not be established are left out of no subscription rather than assumed into it, and apps with no known release date are left out of not recently updated rather than counted as abandoned.

What can be listed

• Software that runs on macOS, listed by its own website domain.
• Domains only. Not an App Store page, a repository, or a marketplace listing — those are somebody else’s page about the app, not the app’s own address.
• One domain is one listing, so a single app cannot occupy the board twice.
• The link has to load. A domain that doesn’t serve a page is refused before it is listed.
• Query strings are stripped. Affiliate, referral and tracking URLs will not survive.
• Link shorteners, chat and group-invite links, and adult content are not accepted.
• You do not have to own it. Anyone can add any Mac app, and adding your own gains you nothing — there is nothing on a listing a submitter writes.

Categories

Every category has its own board. We suggest one from the app’s own description, but the submitter chooses it, and it can be corrected later.

Corrections and removals

• Tell us which listing and which fact, and we will re-check it. Because facts are read rather than typed, a wrong one usually means the source moved or we opened the wrong artifact — both worth knowing about.
• If you own an app and would rather it were not listed, say so and it comes off. There is no negotiation, because there is no money involved.

Support

Questions, corrections, or a removal request — write to hey@macbid.app. We answer within three business days.