diff --git a/monai/inferers/inferer.py b/monai/inferers/inferer.py
index f00a432f38..331637ba94 100644
--- a/monai/inferers/inferer.py
+++ b/monai/inferers/inferer.py
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ class SlidingWindowInferer(Inferer):
             By default the device (and accordingly the memory) of the `inputs` is used. If for example
             set to device=torch.device('cpu') the gpu memory consumption is less and independent of the
             `inputs` and `roi_size`. Output is on the `device`.
+        progress: whether to print a tqdm progress bar.
 
     Note:
         ``sw_batch_size`` denotes the max number of windows per network inference iteration,
@@ -137,6 +138,7 @@ def __init__(
         cval: float = 0.0,
         sw_device: Union[torch.device, str, None] = None,
         device: Union[torch.device, str, None] = None,
+        progress: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         Inferer.__init__(self)
         self.roi_size = roi_size
@@ -148,6 +150,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.cval = cval
         self.sw_device = sw_device
         self.device = device
+        self.progress = progress
 
     def __call__(
         self, inputs: torch.Tensor, network: Callable[..., torch.Tensor], *args: Any, **kwargs: Any
@@ -174,6 +177,7 @@ def __call__(
             self.cval,
             self.sw_device,
             self.device,
+            self.progress,
             *args,
             **kwargs,
         )
diff --git a/monai/inferers/utils.py b/monai/inferers/utils.py
index 65a81378fa..36e4377bd6 100644
--- a/monai/inferers/utils.py
+++ b/monai/inferers/utils.py
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
 import torch.nn.functional as F
 
 from monai.data.utils import compute_importance_map, dense_patch_slices, get_valid_patch_size
-from monai.utils import BlendMode, PytorchPadMode, fall_back_tuple, look_up_option
+from monai.utils import BlendMode, PytorchPadMode, fall_back_tuple, look_up_option, optional_import
+
+tqdm, _ = optional_import("tqdm", name="tqdm")
 
 __all__ = ["sliding_window_inference"]
 
@@ -32,6 +34,7 @@ def sliding_window_inference(
     cval: float = 0.0,
     sw_device: Union[torch.device, str, None] = None,
     device: Union[torch.device, str, None] = None,
+    progress: bool = False,
     *args: Any,
     **kwargs: Any,
 ) -> torch.Tensor:
@@ -74,6 +77,7 @@ def sliding_window_inference(
             By default the device (and accordingly the memory) of the `inputs` is used. If for example
             set to device=torch.device('cpu') the gpu memory consumption is less and independent of the
             `inputs` and `roi_size`. Output is on the `device`.
+        progress: whether to print a `tqdm` progress bar.
         args: optional args to be passed to ``predictor``.
         kwargs: optional keyword args to be passed to ``predictor``.
 
@@ -120,7 +124,7 @@ def sliding_window_inference(
     # Perform predictions
     output_image, count_map = torch.tensor(0.0, device=device), torch.tensor(0.0, device=device)
     _initialized = False
-    for slice_g in range(0, total_slices, sw_batch_size):
+    for slice_g in tqdm(range(0, total_slices, sw_batch_size)) if progress else range(0, total_slices, sw_batch_size):
         slice_range = range(slice_g, min(slice_g + sw_batch_size, total_slices))
         unravel_slice = [
             [slice(int(idx / num_win), int(idx / num_win) + 1), slice(None)] + list(slices[idx % num_win])
diff --git a/tests/test_sliding_window_inference.py b/tests/test_sliding_window_inference.py
index 3d4ad3151b..5b6995c1ea 100644
--- a/tests/test_sliding_window_inference.py
+++ b/tests/test_sliding_window_inference.py
@@ -16,8 +16,11 @@
 from parameterized import parameterized
 
 from monai.inferers import SlidingWindowInferer, sliding_window_inference
+from monai.utils import optional_import
 from tests.utils import skip_if_no_cuda
 
+_, has_tqdm = optional_import("tqdm")
+
 TEST_CASES = [
     [(2, 3, 16), (4,), 3, 0.25, "constant", torch.device("cpu:0")],  # 1D small roi
     [(2, 3, 16, 15, 7, 9), 4, 3, 0.25, "constant", torch.device("cpu:0")],  # 4D small roi
@@ -145,6 +148,7 @@ def compute(self, data):
             cval=-1,
             mode="gaussian",
             sigma_scale=1.0,
+            progress=has_tqdm,
         )
         expected = np.array(
             [
@@ -222,15 +226,16 @@ def compute(data, test1, test2):
             0.0,
             device,
             device,
+            has_tqdm,
             t1,
             test2=t2,
         )
         expected = np.ones((1, 1, 3, 3)) + 2.0
         np.testing.assert_allclose(result.cpu().numpy(), expected, rtol=1e-4)
 
-        result = SlidingWindowInferer(roi_shape, sw_batch_size, overlap=0.5, mode="constant", cval=-1)(
-            inputs, compute, t1, test2=t2
-        )
+        result = SlidingWindowInferer(
+            roi_shape, sw_batch_size, overlap=0.5, mode="constant", cval=-1, progress=has_tqdm
+        )(inputs, compute, t1, test2=t2)
         np.testing.assert_allclose(result.cpu().numpy(), expected, rtol=1e-4)