Each release of FreeBSD is the end result of periodic special attention – release engineering – to a releng branch of the code for the OS.

With the five-year support model that was established in 2015, two or more major versions may be supported at any one time.

Major versions 13 and 14 are supported.

13 has:

• a long lifespan – the stable/13 branch
• one supported release – 13.3-RELEASE on the releng/13.3 branch.

14 has:

• a longer lifespan – the stable/14 branch
• two supported releases – 14.0-RELEASE and 14.1-RELEASE on the releng/14.0 and releng/14.1 branches.

FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE is recommended for new installations.

Adapted from the timelines at https://codeberg.org/FreeBSD/freebsd-src/src/commit/96c567f972e05c47cd239b6c9226354e808f039b/share/misc/bsd-family-tree#L417-L462:

   |   |
   |   12.2 (dead)
   |   |
   |    `------.
   |           |
   *-- 13.0    |
   |  (dead)   |
   |   |       |
   |   |     12.3 (dead)
   |   |       |
   |   13.1    |
   |  (dead)   |
   |   |       |
   |   |    12.4 (dead)
   |   |
   |   13.2-RELEASE (dead)
   |   |
   |    `------.
   |           |
   *-- 14.0-   |
   |  RELEASE  |
   |   |       |
   |   |     13.3-RELEASE
   |   |       |
   |   14.1-   |
   |  RELEASE  |
   |   |       |
   |
15.0-CURRENT (main branch)

• FreeBSD 12.⋯ releases are end of life (no longer supported)
• FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE, 13.1-RELEASE, and 13.2-RELEASE are similarly dead
• FreeBSD 13.3-RELEASE is alive
• FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE will die on 30th September 2024
• FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE is alive
• FreeBSD 15.0-CURRENT is latest.

freebsd-update(8):

• simplifies updates and upgrades with prerelease (ALPHA, BETA, RC (release candidate)) and with RELEASE
• can not be used with STABLE or CURRENT
• pkgbase is an alternative to freebsd-update (see below).

Errata notices and security advisories:

• cover releases and associated stable branches
• do not cover CURRENT.

• stable/13
• releng/13.3
• stable/14
• releng/14.1
• main – FreeBSD-CURRENT

• pkgbase – the FreeBSD base operating system (OS), packaged
• FreeBSD Update in the FreeBSD Handbook
• FreeBSD Snapshot Releases
• Charter for the Release Engineering Team