Installing Blender¶
Blender is released approximately every three months. You can keep up to date with the latest changes through the release notes.
System Requirements¶
Blender is available for download on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Always check that your graphics drivers are up to date and that OpenGL is properly supported. Blender has a set of minimum and recommended requirements; so make sure these are met before trying to install Blender.
Support for other hardware such as graphic tablets and 3D mice are covered later in Configuring Hardware.
Download Blender¶
Blender offers a variety of different binary packages to choose from depending on their level of stability. Each package has the trade off of newest features versus stability. The package that is right for you depends on your requirements for those two. A studio, for example, might want to have long-term support, while a hobbyist may want newer features, while others may just want to test upcoming features. Each package described below has something just right for everyone.
- Stable Release
A package that contains the latest features and is considered stable without regressions. A new stable version is available roughly every three months.
- Long-term Support
A package designed for long-lasting projects requiring a very stable version of Blender. LTS releases are supported for two years and will not have any new features, API changes or improvements. A new long-term support version is available every year. These LTS releases will occasionally have minor patches (such as 4.2.6) which improve stability or fix critical bugs.
- Daily Builds
A package updated daily to include the newest changes in development. These versions are automatically built on a schedule. They are not as thoroughly tested as the release types above, and might break or crash. Builds marked as Alpha are still undergoing major changes and feature additions, while those marked Beta are feature-complete and are under development for refinement and stability.
Stability can be expected to increase from Alpha to Beta to Release Candidate (RC) to a final release.
- Build from Source
Blender’s source code is available for free to either reference or to build and use. While normal users are not expected to compile Blender, it does have advantages:
Blender is always up to date.
It allows access to any version or branch where a feature is being developed.
It can be freely customized.
Curious users can look through the source code and make small changes to see the effects to better understand how Blender works.
The procedure for installing a binary, either the latest stable release or a daily build, is the same. Follow the steps for your platform listed below.
Note
Blender is designed to not require an internet connection, so it doesn’t have a built-in update system. This means you will need to update Blender yourself by following the platform-specific upgrade steps described in the sections below.