FreeCORE 15.0-U1 is the latest stable release of the independent TrueNAS CORE fork, offering users who want to stay on FreeBSD a maintained path instead of moving to TrueNAS’ Linux-based platform. And that distinction is exactly why FreeCORE exists.
In March 2024, iXsystems moved the FreeBSD-based TrueNAS CORE into a sustaining engineering phase. From then on, CORE mainly received stability and security fixes, while new features and improvements shifted to the Linux-based TrueNAS SCALE branch. TrueNAS CORE 13.3-U1.2, released in April 2025, was declared the final release of the 13.3 train.
The direction became clearer in 2025 when TrueNAS SCALE was renamed TrueNAS Community Edition. iXsystems explained that maintaining separate FreeBSD and Linux editions split engineering resources, so the project would consolidate development around a single platform.
For users happy to migrate to Linux, TrueNAS Community Edition is the official way forward. But for those who specifically want the traditional FreeBSD-based TrueNAS CORE architecture, there was no equivalent actively developed successor. FreeCORE is trying to fill exactly that gap.
The project describes itself simply as “TrueNAS CORE — continued.” It is an independent fork of TrueNAS CORE 13.3 that keeps the system on FreeBSD and OpenZFS while bringing its underlying components forward again.
The current stable version is FreeCORE 15.0-U1. More important than the release number, the FreeCORE 15 branch represents a substantial modernization of the old CORE base, rebasing the operating system from FreeBSD 13 to FreeBSD 15.
Existing TrueNAS CORE 13.3 installations can move directly to FreeCORE without rebuilding their NAS. According to the project, CORE 13.3 systems can upgrade in place to FreeCORE 15.0 and continue receiving updates from the FreeCORE release train.
Alongside the FreeBSD 15 rebase, the 15.0 release updates core components throughout the system and keeps technologies closely associated with the traditional CORE environment, including FreeBSD jails and bhyve virtualization.
The release also introduces WebAuthn hardware-key support as a second authentication factor for the web interface, one-time-password authentication for local and serial console access, GPU sharing with jails through DRM drivers, and rar2fs support for exposing RAR archives as read-only filesystems.
There are some removals as part of the transition. OpenVPN support is gone in favor of WireGuard, so existing OpenVPN configurations are not automatically carried over.
FreeCORE has also removed a number of iXsystems-specific pieces inherited from TrueNAS CORE, including telemetry and enterprise-oriented functionality such as TrueCommand integration, failover, KMIP, Fibre Channel management, enclosure management, and proactive support features.
The project is explicit that it is independent and is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by iXsystems or the FreeBSD Foundation. Its code is developed publicly, with Codeberg serving as the primary repository and GitHub providing a mirror.
For additional details, visit the project’s website.
