MacPorts was slower (bringing in its own dependencies for everything meant longer build steps) and required sudo more. There were some annoying fiddly parts tha

MacPorts was slower (bringing in its own dependencies for everything meant longer build steps) and required sudo more. There were some annoying fiddly parts that made it seem like the homebrew users around you were having more fun exploring packages. It was also exciting how many packages and casks were in homebrew and it was easy to make your own. Also, back then there were lots of people experiencing package managers for the first time and they took to homebrew easily. Then so many projects started to publish brew install links as a way to get started; homebrew felt like a default. Now, with our faster computers, more space, and more packages installed, and macports shipping more binaries and using its own normal user, macports' duplication of dependencies looks more like an advantage than a disadvantage. And because homebrew taught so many people how to use package managers, macports is not their first so easier to start using.