While SAS does not produce a version of its software that runs natively on the Apple Macintosh, many SAS users successfully access SAS features from the Mac. This article provides a list of the supported methods.
Use free cloud-based SAS in your web browser
This is the best option for SAS learners: use free cloud-hosted SAS software that you access via your web browser. There is no additional software to install.
SAS offers two environments: SAS OnDemand for Academics or SAS Viya for Learners.
- SAS OnDemand for Academics (see this page for support details) provides access to SAS via SAS Studio. (The SAS version is SAS 9.4 and SAS Studio v3.8.) This environment is used by hundreds of thousands of learners around the world. You can upload your own data (up to 5GB), and use it alongside most SAS programming and statistics courses (whether those courses are provided by SAS or by an academic institution.) You do not need be affiliated with a university to use this environment -- it's open to any learner for noncommercial use. You can also use this environment from open source languages such as Python.
- SAS Viya for Learners (see this page for details) provides access to the latest SAS products for data preparation, machine learning and model development, visualization, and more. This environment is for academic, noncommercial use only.
Either of these offerings can be accessed from a Mac using a supported browser. We recommend Chrome or Firefox.
Note: SAS OnDemand for Academics can also be used with specialized tools such as SAS Enterprise Miner, SAS Enterprise Guide, and SAS Forecast Studio. (These are used in registered courses only with guidance from a professor.) These tools are not supported in a native Mac environment, but may be used from a virtualized Windows environment running on a Mac.
SAS for Windows...but on a Mac
You can use SAS for Windows on an Apple Macintosh, but only via a Windows OS that you have running using Parallels or another virtual machine technology that hosts the supported Windows operating system for the version of SAS you have. While this is not an officially tested configuration for SAS, many SAS customers report success with this method.
Refer to this support guidance about using SAS in virtualization environments. Parallels, VMWare, and Boot Camp are all examples of virtualization software that can host a Windows environment where you install SAS. Once you've installed a supported Windows system in your virtualization tool, you can install and use SAS just as you would under native Windows. Note that SAS Technical Support cannot help with questions that are specific to configuring SAS to run on a Mac.
Note that SAS 9.4 and most of its client applications (including SAS Enterprise Miner) are not installable/usable on a Mac equipped with an ARM chip (currently M1 and M2). The Windows-based applications are built for the Intel x64 architecture.
SAS Analytics Pro on SAS Viya
SAS Analytics Pro is a product bundle that includes Base SAS, SAS/STAT, SAS/GRAPH, and optionally more modules. The SAS Viya version of this offering is container-based, deployed using Docker. Mac users can use Docker on the MacOS to deploy and run SAS Analytics Pro, and access its capabilities using SAS Studio in a local browser. See the deployment guide for SAS Analytics Pro to learn more about MacOS support. This article features a demonstration of how to set up SAS Analytics Pro for SAS Viya on your MacBook.
Use JMP software from SAS
If you need interactive statistical software that installs and runs natively on a Mac, consider JMP software from SAS. JMP is available for Windows and Mac operating systems. See the JMP product page for more information and a link to a free trial version.
