diff --git a/docs/perf_counters.md b/docs/perf_counters.md
index 74560e9669..527579a4ec 100644
--- a/docs/perf_counters.md
+++ b/docs/perf_counters.md
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-<a name="perf-counters" />
-
 # User-Requested Performance Counters
 
 When running benchmarks, the user may choose to request collection of
@@ -9,15 +7,31 @@ performance improvement matches expectations.
 
 This feature is available if:
 
-* The benchmark is run on an architecture featuring a Performance Monitoring
-  Unit (PMU),
-* The benchmark is compiled with support for collecting counters. Currently,
-  this requires [libpfm](http://perfmon2.sourceforge.net/) be available at build
-  time
+* The benchmark is run on an architecture featuring a Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU),
+* The benchmark is compiled with support for collecting counters. 
+
 
 The feature does not require modifying benchmark code. Counter collection is
 handled at the boundaries where timer collection is also handled. 
 
+The counter values are reported back through the [User Counters](../README.md#custom-counters)
+mechanism, meaning, they are available in all the formats (e.g. JSON) supported
+by User Counters.
+
+## MacOS
+MacOS, on Apple Silicon and Intel, has built in support for per thread instruction 
+and cycle counters. These counters can be queried by the by semi-undocumented API 
+in libpthread `thread_selfcounts`. Benchmark support for these counters is always 
+enabled as it requires no additional dependencies.
+
+To use, pass a comma-separated list of counter names through the 
+`--benchmark_perf_counters` flag. The only available counter names 
+are `CYCLES` and `INSTRUCTIONS`.
+
+## Linux
+Currently, this requires [libpfm](http://perfmon2.sourceforge.net/) be available 
+at build time.
+
 To opt-in:
 
 *  Install `libpfm4-dev`, e.g. `apt-get install libpfm4-dev`.
@@ -29,6 +43,3 @@ they are platform specific, but some (e.g. `CYCLES` or `INSTRUCTIONS`) are
 mapped by libpfm to platform-specifics - see libpfm
 [documentation](http://perfmon2.sourceforge.net/docs.html) for more details.
 
-The counter values are reported back through the [User Counters](../README.md#custom-counters)
-mechanism, meaning, they are available in all the formats (e.g. JSON) supported
-by User Counters.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/perf_counters.cc b/src/perf_counters.cc
index 582475f0ba..af7291e8cc 100644
--- a/src/perf_counters.cc
+++ b/src/perf_counters.cc
@@ -114,6 +114,50 @@ void PerfCounters::CloseCounters() const {
     close(fd);
   }
 }
+#elif defined(BENCHMARK_OS_MACOSX)
+const bool PerfCounters::kSupported = true;
+
+//nothing to initialize (could check if the thread_self syscall is available)
+bool PerfCounters::Initialize() { return true; }
+
+//nothing to close
+void PerfCounters::CloseCounters() const {}
+
+PerfCounters PerfCounters::Create(
+    const std::vector<std::string>& counter_names) {
+
+  if (counter_names.empty()) {
+    return NoCounters();
+  }
+
+  if (counter_names.size() > PerfCounterValues::kMaxCounters) {
+    GetErrorLogInstance()
+        << counter_names.size()
+        << " counters were requested. The minimum is 1, the maximum is "
+        << PerfCounterValues::kMaxCounters 
+        << "\n";
+    return NoCounters();
+  }
+
+  std::vector<int> counter_ids(counter_names.size());
+
+  for (size_t i=0;i<counter_names.size();i++) {
+    if (counter_names[i]=="INSTRUCTIONS") {
+      counter_ids[i]=1; //MT_CORE_INSTR: the index in the syscall result array for the instruction counter
+    }
+    else if (counter_names[i]=="CYCLES") {
+      counter_ids[i]=0; //MT_CORE_CYCLES: the index  in the syscall result array for the cycles counter
+    } else {
+      GetErrorLogInstance()
+          << "Unknown counter "
+          << counter_names[i] << "\n";
+      return NoCounters();     
+    }
+  }
+
+  return PerfCounters(counter_names, std::move(counter_ids));
+}
+
 #else   // defined HAVE_LIBPFM
 const bool PerfCounters::kSupported = false;
 
diff --git a/src/perf_counters.h b/src/perf_counters.h
index 680555d4b0..97730c4e46 100644
--- a/src/perf_counters.h
+++ b/src/perf_counters.h
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@
 #pragma warning(disable : 4251)
 #endif
 
+#ifdef BENCHMARK_OS_MACOSX
+  //this is the OSX syscall wrapper function, implemented in libpthread, that returns
+  //per thread instruction and cycle counters. The counts remain correct over context
+  //switches and core migrations.
+  extern "C"  int thread_selfcounts(int type, void *buf, size_t nbytes);
+#endif
+
 namespace benchmark {
 namespace internal {
 
@@ -55,7 +62,12 @@ class PerfCounterValues {
 
   uint64_t operator[](size_t pos) const { return values_[kPadding + pos]; }
 
+#ifdef BENCHMARK_OS_MACOSX
+  //OSX only supports cycles and instructions
+  static constexpr size_t kMaxCounters = 2;
+#else
   static constexpr size_t kMaxCounters = 3;
+#endif
 
  private:
   friend class PerfCounters;
@@ -66,7 +78,12 @@ class PerfCounterValues {
             sizeof(uint64_t) * (kPadding + nr_counters_)};
   }
 
+#ifdef BENCHMARK_OS_MACOSX
+  //the padding is not needed on OSX
+  static constexpr size_t kPadding = 0;
+#else
   static constexpr size_t kPadding = 1;
+#endif
   std::array<uint64_t, kPadding + kMaxCounters> values_;
   const size_t nr_counters_;
 };
@@ -104,11 +121,25 @@ class BENCHMARK_EXPORT PerfCounters final {
   // names()[i]'s value is (*values)[i]
   BENCHMARK_ALWAYS_INLINE bool Snapshot(PerfCounterValues* values) const {
 #ifndef BENCHMARK_OS_WINDOWS
+#ifdef BENCHMARK_OS_MACOSX
+    //call the undocumented syscall wrapper function to get per thread instructions and cycles
+    //the OS maintains these counters across context switches/cpu migrations.    
+    uint64_t counts[2] = {}; //counts[0]=cycles, counts[1]=instructions
+    int res = thread_selfcounts(1, counts, sizeof(counts));
+
+    //copy the number of counters we have and reindex
+    uint64_t* buffer = (uint64_t*)values->get_data_buffer().first;
+    for (size_t i=0;i<counter_ids_.size();i++)
+      buffer[i]=counts[ counter_ids_[i] ];
+
+    return res==0;
+#else
     assert(values != nullptr);
     assert(IsValid());
     auto buffer = values->get_data_buffer();
     auto read_bytes = ::read(counter_ids_[0], buffer.first, buffer.second);
     return static_cast<size_t>(read_bytes) == buffer.second;
+#endif
 #else
     (void)values;
     return false;