Latest Stable Version

This is the most recent stable release, and the recommended version for all installations.

For a list a previous versions see the releases category on our blog. For upgrade information, see the Upgrade Guide.

Daily Snaphots Available

Daily snapshot builds of our upcoming release are available for testing and evaluation. Join us on on our forum to discuss.

Download Guide

You can determine the files needed for your install by reading the rest of this page for guidance.

Pick Your Architecture

There are versions for both i386 (32-bit) and amd64 (64-bit) architectures, this architecture is noted in each of the filenames for download. The amd64 architecture (which works even on Intel 64-bit CPUs) can address more memory and may have other performance advantages, but requires a compatible CPU. If you have a 64-bit capable CPU, use the amd64 version.

Pick Your Platform

Live CD or USB Memstick with Installer

The Live CD platform allows you to run directly from the CD without installing to a hard drive or Compact Flash card. The configuration can be saved on a USB flash drive. Some features are not compatible with the Live CD platform. In most circumstances, this should only be used as an evaluation of the software with your particular hardware. The Live CD is also available in a USB memstick version that works identically to the Live CD.

The Live CD includes an installer option to install pfSense software to the hard drive on your system. This is the preferred means of running pfSense software. The entire hard drive must be overwritten, dual booting with another OS is not supported.

The Live CD files are named pfSense-2.2.1-RELEASE-arch.iso.gz where arch is i386 or amd64, depending on if you want to run the 32-bit or 64-bit version.

The USB memstick file is named pfSense-memstick-2.2.1-RELEASE-arch.img.gz.

Embedded (NanoBSD)

The embedded version is specifically tailored for use with any hardware using flash memory (mostly Compact Flash) rather than a hard drive. Flash memory can only handle a limited number of writes, so the embedded version runs read only from flash, with read/write file systems as RAM disks. The NanoBSD platform has two OS slices and a config slice. One OS slice is used to boot from, the other is used for upgrades, and the config slice is where the configuration resides is held separately.

There are two variations of the NanoBSD platform: The default version which uses a serial console, and another that supports using a VGA console. Each of those variations also comes sized for different sizes of storage media.

The filename for NanoBSD downloads is laid out as follows: pfSense-2.2.1-RELEASE-size-arch-nanobsd.img.gz. In that filename, size can be one of 1g, 2g, or 4g. The arch, as above is for i386 or amd64. The nanobsd part can is either nanobsd for serial console, or nanobsd_vga for the VGA-enabled version.

Filename Guide