It was proposed to design an impedance analyzer based on the virtual instrument technique and an impedance analyzer was developed utilizing the automatic balance bridge impedance measurement method. A signal generating card and data acquisition card were selected to provide the exciting voltage signal and acquire the two voltage signals simultaneously with a high sampling rate, respectively. A measuring and controlling software was developed with LabVIEW to control the instruments, measure the impedance and analyze the data. It has been demonstrated through the tests that: the measurement error of impedance is below 5% with the frequency ranging from 20 Hz to 500 kHz and the impedance ranging from 1 Ω to 500 kΩ; the frequency scanning points, displaying and saving of the measurement results can be configured flexibly and conveniently through the software. The impedance analyzer developed based on the virtual instrument technique can be used in more general applications and has a wider measurement range. It can be operated more conveniently and the function can be extended and reconfigured more easily. Furthermore, the performance can be upgraded or degraded through an appropriate selection of the signal generating and data acquisition cards and parameters of the measurement circuit according to the real requirements. The development cost is controllable and the required time is short. Therefore, the design approach for an impedance analyzer is well applicable to the development of instruments in the scientific research and teaching laboratories.