How do I install pip on macOS or OS X?

Answer 1

Installing a separate copy of Python is a popular option, even though Python already comes with MacOS. You take on the responsibility to make sure you're using the copy of Python you intend. But, the benefits are having the latest Python release and some protection from hosing your system if things go badly wrong.

To install Python using HomeBrew:

brew update
brew install python # or brew install python3

Now confirm that we're working with our newly installed Python:

ls -lh `which python`

...should show a symbolic link to a path with "Cellar" in it like:

lrwxr-xr-x  1 chris  admin    35B Dec  2 13:40 /usr/local/bin/python -> ../Cellar/python/2.7.8_2/bin/python

Pip should be installed along with Python. You might want to upgrade it by typing:

pip install --upgrade pip

Now you're ready to install any of the 50,000+ packages on PyPI.

Other Notes

Formerly, I've used get-pip.py to install pip. But, the docs warn that get-pip.py does not coordinate with package managers and may leave your system in an inconsistent state. Anyway, there's no need, given that pip is now included with Python as of 2.7.9.

Note that pip isn't the only package manager for Python. There's also easy_install. It's no good to mix the two, so don't do it.

Finally, if you have both Python 2 and 3 installed, pip will point to whichever Python you installed last. Get in the habit of explicitly using either pip2 or pip3, so you're sure which Python is getting the new library.

Happy hacking!

Answer 2

You can install it through Homebrew on OS X. Why would you install Python with Homebrew?

The version of Python that ships with OS X is great for learning but it’s not good for development. The version shipped with OS X may be out of date from the official current Python release, which is considered the stable production version. (source)

Homebrew is something of a package manager for OS X. Find more details on the Homebrew page. Once Homebrew is installed, run the following to install the latest Python, Pip & Setuptools:

brew install python

Answer 3

pip is available on OS X via easy_install.
Open a terminal and type:

sudo easy_install pip

When prompted for a password enter your normal login password.
After the installation has completed you should be able to use pip as expected.

note: this works for other python packages too

Answer 4

To install or upgrade pip, download get-pip.py from http://www.pip-installer.org/en/latest/installing.html

Then run the following: sudo python get-pip.py

For example:

sudo python Desktop/get-pip.py 
Password:
  Downloading/unpacking pip
  Downloading pip-1.5.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl (1.2MB): 1.2MB downloaded
Installing collected packages: pip
Successfully installed pip
Cleaning up...

sudo pip install pymongo
Password:
Downloading/unpacking pymongo
  Downloading pymongo-2.6.3.tar.gz (324kB): 324kB downloaded
  Running setup.py (path:/private/var/folders/0c/jb79t3bx7cz6h7p71ydhwb_m0000gn/T/pip_build_goker/pymongo/setup.py) egg_info for package pymongo

Installing collected packages: pymongo
...

Answer 5

Install without the need for sudo

If you want to install pip without the need for sudo, which is always frustrating when trying to install packages globally, install pip in your local folder /usr/local like this:

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py > get-pip.py
python get-pip.py --prefix=/usr/local/

and then:

pip install <package-of-choice> without sudo

Answer 6

UPDATE (Jan 2019):

easy_install has been deprecated. Please use get-pip.py instead:

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py

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Old answer:

easy_install pip

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If you need admin privileges to run this, try:

sudo easy_install pip