Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is an optimization algorithm based on the intelligent foraging behavior of honeybee swarm. Optimal reactive power flow (ORPF) based on ABC algorithm to minimize active power loss in power systems is studied in this paper. The advantage of ABC algorithm is that it does not require these parameters, because it is very difficult to determine external parameters such as cross over rate and mutation rate as in case of genetic algorithm and differential evolution. The other advantage is that global search ability of the algorithm is implemented by introducing a neighborhood source production mechanism which is similar to mutation process. Because of these features, ABC algorithm attracts much attention in recent years and has been used successfully in many areas. ORPF problem is one of these areas. In this paper, proposed algorithm is tested on both standard IEEE 30-bus test system and IEEE 118-bus test system. To show the effectiveness of proposed algorithms, the obtained results are compared with different approaches as available in the literature