YKYH Picks
☰ Menu
Home›Terminal & Shell›bash
CLI Open source 30,417 installs/mo

bash for Mac

Bourne-Again SHell, a UNIX command interpreter

Quick answer: bash is a terminal emulator for macOS. Install it with brew install bash. It is distributed under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence. It has 30,417 Homebrew installs in the last 30 days.

What bash is

bash is a terminal emulator for macOS: bourne-Again SHell, a UNIX command interpreter.

It is distributed as a Homebrew formula, which builds or pours a binary and puts it on your PATH. It is distributed under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence.

How to install bash

  1. Open Terminal (press ⌘ + Space and type “Terminal”).
  2. If Homebrew is not installed yet, run the installer below once.
  3. Run brew install bash.

Homebrew installer, if you need it:

Prefer a graphical installer? Download it from the official site. MacPicks never hosts or mirrors binaries — the Homebrew command always pulls from the vendor's own release.

Similar apps in Terminal & Shell

Closest apps in the same category, ordered by description similarity and install base. These are related tools, not confirmed substitutes; the comparison pages cover hand-picked head-to-head matchups.

zshUNIX shell (command interpreter)CLIOpen source25,864/mostarshipCross-shell prompt for astronautsCLIOpen source30,443/mopowershellCommand-line shell and scripting languageCLIOpen source18,366/mocoreutilsGNU File, Shell, and Text utilitiesCLIOpen source53,234/moatuinImproved shell history for zsh, bash, fish and nushellCLIOpen source17,204/mozoxideShell extension to navigate your filesystem fasterCLIOpen source15,810/mo

Frequently asked questions

How do I install bash on Mac?

Run brew install bash in Terminal. This requires Homebrew; if you do not have it, install it first with the command below.

Is bash open source?

Yes — Homebrew distributes it under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence.

Does bash run on Apple silicon?

Homebrew publishes this formula for macOS. If upstream does not ship an Apple silicon build, Rosetta 2 handles the Intel binary.

How popular is bash?

It was installed 30,417 times in the last 30 days according to Homebrew analytics, ranking #62 in this catalogue.

What version of bash is current?

The latest packaged version is 5.3.20.