diff --git a/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-PLUMED.cmake b/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-PLUMED.cmake
index a9c5a59338..0b3d13cd70 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-PLUMED.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-PLUMED.cmake
@@ -1,15 +1,25 @@
 if(PKG_USER-PLUMED)
-  find_package(GSL REQUIRED)
-  set(PLUMED_MODE "static" CACHE STRING "Linkage mode for Plumed2 library")
+  if(APPLE)
+    set(PLUMED_MODE "shared" CACHE STRING "Linkage mode for Plumed2 library")
+  else()
+    set(PLUMED_MODE "static" CACHE STRING "Linkage mode for Plumed2 library")
+  endif()
   set(PLUMED_MODE_VALUES static shared runtime)
   set_property(CACHE PLUMED_MODE PROPERTY STRINGS ${PLUMED_MODE_VALUES})
   validate_option(PLUMED_MODE PLUMED_MODE_VALUES)
   string(TOUPPER ${PLUMED_MODE} PLUMED_MODE)
 
-  if((PLUMED_MODE STREQUAL "STATIC") AND NOT LAPACK_LIBRARIES)
+  set(PLUMED_LINK_LIBS "")
+  if(PLUMED_MODE STREQUAL "STATIC")
     find_package(LAPACK REQUIRED)
     find_package(BLAS REQUIRED)
+    find_package(GSL REQUIRED)
     list(APPEND LAPACK_LIBRARIES ${BLAS_LIBRARIES})
+    list(APPEND PLUMED_LINK_LIBS ${LAPACK_LIBRARIES} ${GSL_LIBRARIES})
+    find_package(ZLIB QUIET)
+    if(ZLIB_FOUND)
+      list(APPEND PLUMED_LINK_LIBS ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES})
+    endif()
   endif()
 
   find_package(PkgConfig QUIET)
@@ -59,7 +69,7 @@ if(PKG_USER-PLUMED)
     list(APPEND LAMMPS_DEPS plumed_build)
     if(PLUMED_MODE STREQUAL "STATIC")
       add_definitions(-D__PLUMED_WRAPPER_CXX=1)
-      list(APPEND LAMMPS_LINK_LIBS ${PLUMED_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/libplumed.a ${GSL_LIBRARIES} ${LAPACK_LIBRARIES} ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
+      list(APPEND LAMMPS_LINK_LIBS ${PLUMED_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/libplumed.a ${PLUMED_LINK_LIBS} ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
     elseif(PLUMED_MODE STREQUAL "SHARED")
       list(APPEND LAMMPS_LINK_LIBS ${PLUMED_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/libplumed${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX} ${PLUMED_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/libplumedKernel${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX} ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
     elseif(PLUMED_MODE STREQUAL "RUNTIME")