A small air-conditioner or chiller for a constant temperature bath normally uses a constant speed compressor. The constant speed compressor is relatively inexpensive, but it uses on/off control for capacity modulation. The on/off control has several disadvantages, specifically energy loss and large temperature fluctuation. Continuous operation with a bypass system can be an alternative to on/off control, for capacity modulation. In this study, a heat pump system having a hot-gas bypass and a liquid bypass was adopted. The performance of the bypass-type heat pump was measured, by varying the bypass valve opening. The differences of the COP between the hot-gas bypass and the liquid bypass, in the cooling and heating operations, were within 2% and 1%, respectively. The liquid bypass showed a wider range of capacity control in the cooling operation but the hot-gas bypass showed a wider range of capacity control in the heating operation.