Quick Start

Alpha Software: Freenet is under active development and may be unstable. New versions are released frequently (sometimes multiple times per day), and older versions will stop working as the network evolves.

During alpha testing:

  • Telemetry: Your peer will report diagnostic data to our servers for debugging purposes, including peer activity and general system info (e.g., your OS).
  • Auto-updates: Your peer will automatically update when new versions become available.

Get started with Freenet in minutes. Install the software and join River, the world’s first truly decentralized group chat.

Step 1: Install Freenet

Download for Windows

Run the installer. The setup wizard guides you through installation, then starts Freenet as a background service with a system tray icon.

Download for macOS

Open the DMG and drag Freenet into Applications. Launch it from Launchpad or Spotlight. A rabbit icon appears in the menu bar, and Freenet starts automatically at login from then on.

Already installed Freenet via install.sh? Uninstall the old version first so it doesn't conflict with the new app. See the legacy macOS uninstall steps.

Run this command in your terminal:

curl -fsSL https://freenet.org/install.sh | sh

This downloads and installs Freenet, then starts it as a background service.

Step 2: Chat with other Freenet users on River

River is our decentralized group chat, built on Freenet. Click below to get an invite to the Freenet Official room (up to 5 invites per day).

Get your invite to Freenet Official

Clicking the link opens River in your browser and automatically joins you to the room using the invite code.

Prefer the terminal? River has a full-featured CLI, riverctl. See the riverctl README for install and usage.

Troubleshooting

If you run into problems, join our Matrix chat for help.

Invite didn’t work? If River opened but you’re not in the room, try restarting Freenet (freenet service restart), then come back to this page and click the invite button again for a fresh invite code. If you see the room but can’t send messages, click the “i” icon next to the room name, click “Leave Room”, then get a new invite.

Containers & headless servers: If service installation fails (common in LXC/Docker), use the system-wide service instead: sudo freenet service install --system

Network requirements: Freenet uses UDP hole punching for peer-to-peer connections. Most home routers support this without configuration. Strict corporate firewalls may block connections.

Need to remove Freenet? See the uninstall guide.

What’s Next?