For general information about past, present and future releases,seeRelease Information.

Most users of FreeBSD will have hardware foramd64 oraarch64. Thesearchitectures are well-supported.

Most modern PCs, including those with Intel® processors, useamd64.

Embedded devices and single-board computers (SBCs) such as theRaspberry Pi 3 and 4, ESPRESSObin, as well as many Allwinner andRockchip boards, useaarch64.

For all other architectures, please see thetable of supportedplatforms.

For the FreeBSD installer: formats include DVD (disc1, dvd1),and network install (bootonly) sized ISO, plus regular and mini USBmemory sticks.

For virtual machines: virtual disk images have FreeBSDpreinstalled.

For embedded platforms: SD card images are available.

RELEASE versions of FreeBSD are the end result ofrelease engineering and are recommended for mostusers.

FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE

Some FreeBSDRELEASEs are supported but are olderor built from olderSTABLE branches; these areconsidered "legacy" and are probably only of interest to peoplemaintaining existing systems on FreeBSD.

FreeBSD 13.5-RELEASE

Pre-RELEASE versions of FreeBSD, not intended foruse in production environments:

• CURRENT – the main branch, the core ofdevelopment

• STABLE – branched fromCURRENT,long-term preparations for release engineering

• release engineering –ALPHA,BETA,release candidates (RC) – branched fromSTABLE.

Uppercase has special meaning. For example:

• a firstbeta release is not a (production)RELEASE.

The wordCURRENT is sometimes a source ofconfusion:

• if you are looking for thecurrent version of FreeBSD,you most likely want aRELEASE version (see above) –notCURRENT –CURRENThas special meaning in the development process.

SeeFreeBSD Snapshot Releases.

FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT

FreeBSD 15.0-STABLE

FreeBSD 14.3-STABLE

FreeBSD 13.5-STABLE

Options include:

• images

• direct download (anonymous FTP, and HTTPS).

Before downloading an entire distribution, please read theinstallationguide.

If you plan to get FreeBSD via FTP or HTTPS, check the FreeBSDHandbook forsuitablemirrors for your region.

FreeBSD can be acquired on DVD fromFreeBSD Mall, and otherDVDpublishers.

The Ports Collection

FreeBSD is widely used as a building block for other commercialand open-source operating systems. The projects below are ofparticular interest.

• TrueNAS is networkattached storage (NAS) software that shares and protects data frommodern-day threats like ransomware and malware. TrueNAS makes iteasy for users and client devices to access shared data throughvirtually any sharing protocol.

• GhostBSD is derived fromFreeBSD, and uses the GTK environment to provide a beautiful lookand a comfortable experience on a modern BSD platform offering anatural and native UNIX®-like work environment.

• MidnightBSD was forkedfrom FreeBSD 6.1 beta, and continues to use parts of more recentFreeBSD code bases. Developed with desktop users in mind,MidnightBSD includes everything that you would expect for yourdaily tasks: mail, web browsing, word processing, gaming, and muchmore.

• NomadBSD is a persistentlive system for USB flash drives, based on FreeBSD. Together withautomatic hardware detection and setup, it is configured to be usedas a desktop system that works out of the box, but can also be usedfor data recovery, for educational purposes, or to test FreeBSDhardware compatibility.

• pfSense is aFreeBSD-based customized distribution tailored for use as afirewall and router.

Pastreleases of FreeBSD.

The FreeBSD project gratefully acknowledges the support ofFastly, providing CDNacceleration, caching, and bandwidth to bring FreeBSD images andpackages to our globally distributed community.

See also theFreeBSDproject mirrors.