Installation · Performance Testing 101

How to Install Apache JMeter

A step-by-step guide to installing JMeter on macOS and Windows — covering prerequisites, Homebrew, manual installation, and environment setup.

🍎 macOS 🪟 Windows

🍎

macOS Installation

2 Methods

☕ Pre-Requisite: Java (JDK 8+)

Before installing JMeter, ensure Java (JDK 8 or higher) is installed. Check your version:

java -version

If Java is not installed, use Homebrew:

brew install openjdk

Then add it to your PATH:

echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zprofile
source ~/.zprofile

Recommended

Method 1: Using Homebrew

🍺

Install JMeter

brew install jmeter

Verify Installation

jmeter --version

Set JMETER_HOME (Optional)

Find the install path, then add to your shell profile:

brew --prefix jmeter
# → /opt/homebrew/Cellar/jmeter/5.6.3

# Add to ~/.zprofile or ~/.zshrc:
export JMETER_HOME="/opt/homebrew/Cellar/jmeter/5.6.3/libexec"
export PATH="$JMETER_HOME/bin:$PATH"

Apply Changes

source ~/.zprofile

💡

Homebrew handles PATH automatically — JMETER_HOME is only needed if other tools or scripts depend on it.

Alternative

Method 2: Manual Installation

📦

Download JMeter

Go to jmeter.apache.org/download_jmeter.cgi → download apache-jmeter-5.6.3.zip from Binaries section.

Extract & Move

Double-click the .zip to extract, then move to Applications:

sudo mv ~/Downloads/apache-jmeter-5.6.3 /Applications/

Set JMETER_HOME & PATH

Add to ~/.zprofile or ~/.zshrc:

export JMETER_HOME="/Applications/apache-jmeter-5.6.3"
export PATH="$JMETER_HOME/bin:$PATH"

Apply Changes

source ~/.zprofile

Launch

apache-jmeter-5.6.3/bin
jmeter

🪟

Windows Installation

4 Steps

Step 1

Install Java (JDK 11+)

☕

Download JDK

Get JDK from Oracle, Adoptium, or Amazon Corretto. Recommended: JDK 17 (LTS) or JDK 21.

Run Installer & Verify

Execute the .exe installer, accept defaults, then verify in Command Prompt:

java -version
# → openjdk version "21.0.1"

Step 2

Set JAVA_HOME Environment Variable

⚙️

Find Java Path

Navigate to where Java was installed, e.g.:

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-21.0.1

Open Environment Variables

Search "Edit the system environment variables" → click "Environment Variables..."

Create JAVA_HOME

Variable name	JAVA_HOME
Variable value	C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-21.0.1

Update Path

Edit system Path variable → add new entry:

%JAVA_HOME%\bin

Step 3

Download JMeter & Set JMETER_HOME

📦

Download & Extract

Download apache-jmeter-5.6.3.zip from the official site → extract → move to a convenient location:

C:\Apache\apache-jmeter-5.6.3

Set JMETER_HOME

Variable name	JMETER_HOME
Variable value	C:\Apache\apache-jmeter-5.6.3

Update Path

Edit system Path → add new entry:

%JMETER_HOME%\bin

Step 4

Launch JMeter

🚀

✓

Open a New Command Prompt

Type the command and press Enter:

jmeter

🎉

JMeter GUI will launch — you're ready to start building test plans!

You're All Set!

$ jmeter

Works on both macOS and Windows after setup — launches the JMeter GUI from any terminal.