FreeCAD Download: Free Open-Source CAD for 3D Printing

Download FreeCAD

How this download box works

• It is live. Each visit asks GitHub for the newest stable release of the official FreeCAD/FreeCAD project, so you are never sent to an outdated file. Your browser keeps the answer for ten minutes; the Refresh button asks again straight away.
• It ignores weekly builds. FreeCAD publishes a development build every week on the same GitHub page, and creates release candidates before each major release. Those are marked as pre-releases and the box skips them. FreeCAD’s own downloads page warns that weekly builds are not suitable for production work. When a release candidate exists, the box mentions it so you can try it if you want.
• It hides checksum and source files. Each FreeCAD download has a small checksum file beside it, and the source code is published too. The box lists only the programs you can run.
• Every link goes to GitHub. The script only accepts download addresses on the official project’s release path. If GitHub cannot be reached, the box falls back to links that always point to the newest release.
• The files are big. A FreeCAD download is roughly 400 to 800 MB depending on the platform, so allow some time on a slow connection.

Download Safety and How to Verify the File

CAD programs run with full access to your files, so the source of the installer matters. Download FreeCAD from the official GitHub release page (the box above reads from it) or from the project’s own website, freecad.org. According to the release notes, the Windows and macOS builds are signed by The FreeCAD project association AISBL, and each download has a SHA-256 checksum published beside it.

Check the SHA-256 checksum

A checksum is a fingerprint of the file. If the fingerprint of your download matches the one shown in the box above, the file is exactly what was published. Replace the file name with yours.

Windows (PowerShell)

Get-FileHash .\FreeCAD-installer.exe -Algorithm SHA256

macOS (Terminal)

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/FreeCAD.dmg

Linux (terminal)

sha256sum FreeCAD.AppImage

Compare the printed value character by character with the SHA-256 shown for that file. If they differ, delete the file and download it again.

What Is FreeCAD?

CAD (computer-aided design) software lets you build an exact digital model of a part. FreeCAD is a parametric modeller: the model remembers how it was built, so changing a dimension in a sketch updates every feature that depends on it. That is the habit that makes parametric CAD so useful for engineering and for 3D printing, where you often print a part, measure it, adjust a dimension by half a millimetre and print again.

It is free and open source, released under the LGPL-2.1 licence, and it runs as a normal desktop program on Windows, macOS and Linux. There is no subscription and no account to create. The project is developed by a worldwide community and has a small number of major releases each year; version 1.0 arrived in November 2024, and the current series is described below.

FreeCAD is organised into workbenches: collections of tools for one job, such as sketching, solid modelling, drawings or analysis. You switch workbench from a drop-down list, and the toolbars change to match. It also has a built-in Python console, so repetitive tasks can be automated with scripts and macros.

FreeCAD Versions and the New Numbering

FreeCAD’s numbers recently changed, so it is worth a minute to understand them. The table lists the stable releases, from the project’s GitHub release page.

The switch to calendar versions

In June 2026 the project announced that FreeCAD is moving to calendar versioning. The format is YY.N, where YY is the two-digit year and N is the number of the release in that year, with a third number for patch releases. Three major releases are planned each year: YY.1 is branched on 31 January and focuses on quality, and YY.2 (31 May) and YY.3 (30 September) bring a more typical mix of features and fixes.

The first release under the new scheme is 26.3. Its branch was created on 30 September 2026 and, per the project’s announcement, releases are expected within four to six weeks of branching, after two or three release candidates. So the next stable number you see in the download box may be 26.3 rather than 1.2, which is expected. A number such as 26.3 is higher than 1.1.4 and is the newer program.

What’s New in FreeCAD 1.1

Version 1.1 (March 2026) is the series most people are running at the moment. These are the headline changes from the official release notes:

The Workbenches You Will Actually Use

Parametric dimensions can also be driven from a spreadsheet or from named properties. 1.1 added improvements to the property and expression tools, so you can keep the key sizes of a design (wall thickness, hole diameter, clearance) in one place and change them for a new print without hunting through sketches.

System Requirements

Snap and Flatpak packages exist for Linux, but FreeCAD’s downloads page lists them only as development channels, so the AppImage is the official stable route there.

How to Install FreeCAD

Windows

1. Download the installer from the box above and, if you like, check its SHA-256 checksum.
2. Run the installer and follow the prompts. The release notes say the Windows builds are signed by The FreeCAD project association AISBL, so check the publisher name if Windows asks.
3. Prefer not to install? Download the portable .7z instead, extract it with 7-Zip and run FreeCAD from the extracted folder. Nothing is installed system-wide, which suits a USB stick or a locked-down computer.

macOS

1. Choose the right build. Open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac: a chip named “Apple M…” needs the Apple Silicon build; an “Intel” processor needs the Intel (x86_64) build.
2. Open the .dmg and drag FreeCAD into the Applications folder. The macOS builds are signed by the FreeCAD project association, so the first launch should open normally.

Linux

1. Download the AppImage that matches your processor (x86_64 for most PCs).
2. Make it executable and run it. Some distributions need FUSE support installed for AppImages to start.

   chmod +x FreeCAD*.AppImage
   ./FreeCAD*.AppImage

Your First 3D-Printable Part

This walk-through builds a small mounting plate with a bolt hole, the sort of part you will make again and again. Menu names can differ slightly between versions, but the steps are the same.

1. Start a body. Create a new document, switch to the Part Design workbench and create a Body. A body holds one solid part and its features in order.
2. Draw a sketch. Create a sketch on the XY plane and draw a rectangle. Add dimension constraints: 40 mm by 25 mm. When a sketch is fully constrained, FreeCAD shows its lines in green, which tells you the shape cannot move any more.
3. Pad it into a solid. Close the sketch and use Pad with a length of 8 mm. You now have a plate.
4. Add a hole. Use the Hole tool on the top face. For an M5 bolt, a hole of about 5.5 mm is a normal clearance size. Printed holes tend to come out slightly small, so many people add a tenth or two of a millimetre and test-print once.
5. Round the corners. Select the four vertical edges and apply a Fillet of 3 mm. Rounded corners print more cleanly and are less likely to lift at the bed.
6. Save and test the dimension. Save the file (.FCStd). Then double-click the pad, change its length to 6 mm and see the model update. That is parametric design at work.
7. Export for printing. Select the Body, choose File, Export and pick STL Mesh (or 3MF, or STEP). Keep the units in millimetres.
8. Slice. Open the file in your slicer, orient the plate flat and slice it. Several slicers accept STEP directly as well: Creality’s quick-start guide, for example, lists STL, OBJ, STEP and STP as supported formats in Creality Print.

Design for printing: rules of thumb

These are common FDM (filament) guidelines rather than FreeCAD features. Printers and materials differ, so treat them as a starting point and test.

Once your part exists, you can check how stiff it is before you print. Our Beam Deflection Calculator handles a simple supported or cantilevered shape, using the material data from your filament maker.

FreeCAD vs Fusion, Onshape, SolidWorks for Makers, Tinkercad and OpenSCAD

The right choice depends on what you need to do, what you are allowed to use, and how you like to work.

Two points are worth knowing. First, Onshape’s free plan asks that designs be non-commercial and publicly shared, which suits open-source projects but not private product work. Second, files created with a SOLIDWORKS for Makers account are watermarked and can only be opened with a Makers licence; neutral formats such as STEP and IGES open anywhere. FreeCAD has neither restriction. It also reads and writes STEP, so you can move parts between FreeCAD and other programs.

Pros and Cons

Troubleshooting