MAMP is a free application used for installing server environment in a local macOS based Mac or Windows based PC. It is owned by a company called MAMP GmbH (earlier it was called Appsolute GmbH). Initially MAMP stands for “Macintosh Apache MySQL and PHP”. But recently MAMP version was also released for Windows users with the same name with different abbreviation as “My Apache MySQL and PHP”. MAMP is distributed freely under GNU General Public License.
System Requirements
You should have the following system requirements in order to run MAMP:
For macOS:
- Version 10 or later for Intel based chips
- Version 11 or later for Apple M1/M2 chips
For Windows:
- Windows version 10 or 11
Installation
MAMP can be downloaded from the website and installed on your PC or Mac like any other application. The installer contains both MAMP and trail version of MAMP Pro which you can optionally chose or ignore during installation.
It is mandatory to have MAMP folder inside “Applications” directory of OS X for the local site to work. So, you can’t move it outside “Applications” folder. In Windows, MAMP will be installed under “C:/MAMP”.
Note: Installation of MAMP on a PC or Mac needs a user account with administrator access.
Configuration
MAMP contains three main components:
- Apache server
- MySQL server and
- PHP
The initial MAMP screen will look like below and the “Preferences…” option is used to setup the basic configuration like Server, Port, PHP version and Start/Stop options. Refer our separate article on how to configure MAMP and install WordPress on local mac.
Once the configuration is done you can create a database using “phpMyAdmin” tool available in “WebStart Page”.
The last step is to install the required CMS like WordPress and connect the database. After the installation of CMS and database connection is completed, you can launch MAMP and open admin dashboard of your localhost site. The content of localhost then can be transferred to live environment using FTP.
Accessing Localhost
Once everything is setup, you localhost can be accessed through the URL “http://localhost” or “http://localhost:8080” depending upon the configuration setup. When you use “Apache Port” value as 80, every time you need to provide administrator password to start / stop the local server.
The local database can be accessed using the URL “http://localhost:phpmyadmin”.
MAMP Pro
MAMP Pro is the paid version of free MAMP with the following premium features:
- Configure unlimited number of virtual hosts.
- One click installation of WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and webEdition.
- Use Dyn-DNS or dynamic DNS to provide access to your local work over internet.
- Test your scripts with the mail server using default email clients on Mac and PC.
Users can upgrade from MAMP version 4.0 or 5.0 to 6.0 for $59 and the fresh 6.0 pack costs $99.
MAMP and MAMP Pro are downloaded as a single installation file from their site. The free version is the mandatory requirement for pro version and the pro version will just get updated on the free version.
