System Requirements: Running COMSOL Applications

COMSOL applications can be run as standalone applications, compiled using COMSOL Compiler™. With this option, other COMSOL^® products are not required for running the applications. Alternatively, you can run COMSOL applications by connecting to COMSOL Server™. You can connect to COMSOL Server™ from a web browser or from the COMSOL Client for Windows^®. The COMSOL Client for Windows^® enables users to run applications that require a LiveLink™ product for CAD. Running applications in a web browser does not require any installation or web browser plug-ins. Running an application in a web browser supports interactive graphics in 3D using WebGL™ technology.

Compiled Applications

The system requirements for COMSOL Compiler™ and compiled applications are nearly identical to those for COMSOL Multiphysics^®.

For Linux^®, the curl software needs to be installed. Make sure you install curl before running the application the first time.

Linux® Distribution	Installation Command
Debian®, Ubuntu®	sudo apt-get install curl
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®, Rocky Linux™, Oracle Linux	sudo yum install curl
SUSE®, OpenSUSE®	sudo zypper install curl

GPU Computing System Requirements

At least one NVIDIA^® GPU with a compute capability of 6.0 or greater is required.

Installations of the NVIDIA CUDA^® Toolkit version 12.9.1 and the NVIDIA CUDA^® direct sparse solver (NVIDIA cuDSS) version 0.7.1 are required.

COMSOL Server™ Using Web Browsers

Recent versions of the most popular web browsers support the WebGL™ standard for 3D graphics and WebSockets. The table below lists the earliest version of each browser that supports WebGL™ and WebSockets, but we recommend always using the latest version of the browser for the best user experience.

Operating System	Browser	Recommended Version
Windows®/Linux®/macOS	Chrome™	31 or later
Windows®	Internet Explorer®	11 or later
Windows®	Microsoft Edge®	21 or later
Windows®/Linux®/macOS	Firefox®	35 or later
macOS	Safari	7.1 or later
iOS®	Safari	8.1 or later
Android™	Android™ Browser	37 or later
Android™	Chrome™	40 or later

COMSOL Server™ Using COMSOL Client for Windows^®

Running COMSOL apps with the COMSOL Client for the Windows^® operating system utilizes Microsoft Windows^® components. This capability gives simulation apps a look and feel similar to apps running in the COMSOL Desktop^® environment. In addition, many of the LiveLink™ products for CAD software can be used with the COMSOL Client.

	Supported Operating System Version
64-Bit Operating Systems	Windows® 11 Windows® 11 Pro for Workstations Windows® 10 Windows® 10 Pro for Workstations Windows Server® 2025 Windows Server® 2022 Windows Server® 2019 Windows Server® 2016

The COMSOL Client also requires that the Internet Explorer® web browser has been updated to version 11 or later.

COMSOL Server™ with Interfacing Products

CAD Import Module and Design Module

Import of files in the AutoCAD^®, Inventor^®, NX™, and SOLIDWORKS^® formats is available only on a supported Windows^® or Linux^® operating system with 64-bit Intel^® processors. The import of files saved with PTC Creo Parametric™ version 12 software is available only on a supported Windows^® or Linux^® operating system with 64-bit Intel^® processors.

Operating System	Supported Version
Windows®	Windows® 10 and 11
macOS	macOS 12 to 26
Linux®	OS-specific system requirements 1,2

¹ Import of files in the ACIS, IGES, PTC Creo Parametric™, PTC Creo^® Elements Pro, STEP, and PTC Pro/ENGINEER^® formats is available only on a supported Linux^® operating system with 64-bit Intel^® processors.

² Import of files in the AutoCAD^®, Inventor^®, and SOLIDWORKS^® formats on a Linux^® operating system requires that the Motif (libXm.so.4 ) package is installed.

For a list of supported file formats for CAD file import and export, see the CAD Specification Chart.

LiveLink™ Products for CAD Software

The bidirectional interface functionality of the product suite detailed in the table below is available only for the Windows^® 10 and Windows^® 11 operating systems when run together with the COMSOL Client or a compiled application. Synchronization in offline mode is available on all supported Windows^®, Linux^®, and macOS operating systems. For other included functionality, such as file import and geometric operations, see the CAD Import Module and Design Module table above.

LiveLink™	Compatible Software
LiveLink™ for AutoCAD®	AutoCAD® 2025 and 2026
LiveLink™ for Inventor®	Inventor® 2025 and 2026 Inventor® Professional 2025 and 2026
LiveLink™ for Revit®	Revit® 2025 and 2026
LiveLink™ for Solid Edge®	Solid Edge® 2024 and 2025
LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS®	SOLIDWORKS® 2022 and 2026

File Import for CATIA^® V5

The File Import for CATIA^® V5 add-on to the CAD Import Module, Design Module, and LiveLink™ products for CAD is only available for a supported Windows^® or Linux^® operating system with 64-bit Intel^® processors. File import on a Linux^® operating system requires that the Motif (libXm.so.4 ) package is installed.

LiveLink™ for Excel^®

LiveLink™ for Excel^® is compatible with Excel^® 2021 and 2024 on the Windows^® operating system.

LiveLink™ for MATLAB^®

LiveLink™ for MATLAB^® is compatible with MATLAB^® R2025a and R2025b on all supported operating systems. For the Linux^® operating system, the xterm and csh programs are required. To interface with MATLAB^® functions, the COMSOL app needs to be run in a web browser, while the MATLAB^® and COMSOL Server™ programs need to be installed on the same physical computer.

Note: This information is provided for your benefit but should not be used as a substitute for your own investigation of the system requirements that may be appropriate for your use of the COMSOL^® software or other software, given your particular circumstances. Systems and hardware change regularly, which may impact any determination of which system requirements are appropriate for you.