FreeCAD 1.0 Released After 22 Years in Development
Good things come to those who wait, and for 3D modelling professionals with a preference for open-source software, the wait for the FreeCAD 1.0 release has been a long one – over 22 years!
At long last, this free, open-source alternative to expensive engineering software like Autodesk Fusion 360, AutoCAD, SOLIDWORKS etc., has emerged from developmental gestation to issues its first, formal stable release.
A major milestone all told.
Not that a lack of 1.0 release had put people off using it prior to now, of course.
FreeCAD in already widely used by professionals, engineering students, 3D printers, both on Linux and other operating systems. I recall mentioning it a few times myself when I first started blogging about Linux —before OMG! Ubuntu— way back in 2008.
So if FreeCAD was already usable, why’d it take 2 decades to get to a 1.0 release?
The developers say that had been tempted to rubber-stamp a 1.0 release sooner, but that:
The FreeCAD community had a clear view of what 1.0 represented for us. What we wanted in it. FreeCAD matured over the years, and that list narrowed down to just two major remaining pieces: fixing the toponaming problem, and having a built-in assembly module.
FreeCAD
With the final few blockers resolved, the makers are confident is can live up to its potential, and help put the software on a better footing in terms of feature parity with well-funded proprietary software such as Fusion.
As I’m not versed in computer-aided design (I struggle to model anything abstract in Blender, let alone create something precise through CAD) I can only go on what I hear people who’ve used the app say about it – and it’s broadly positive.
To coincide with the 1.0 release FreeCAD has a new logo, created by its community, and delivers some significant changes to its user interface, including rotational centre indicators, on-model task panel and combo view modes, new dark and light themes, and more.
A slick release trailer highlights the capabilities FreeCAD 1.0 offers:
But like all software, 1.0 is mile-marker on a longer journey – i.e., development doesn’t stop here.
“This version 1.0 is not a finished product, simply because FreeCAD is not a product. It’s our project, our baby, our passion, our tool. Version 1.0 is our achievement. All of us who worked on it, from the ones who helped raise the project [to] people who just came to help finishing translations”.
Exciting times.
Download FreeCAD 1.0
FreeCAD is free, open-source software available for Windows, macOS (including Apple Silicon), and Linux. Source code is available on
You can download FreeCAD from the official website, where the Linux version comes as a standalone AppImage file. Remember that to use AppImages in Ubuntu you now need to install a package.
There’s also an official FreeCAD snap (sudo snap install freecad), or if you prefer Flatpak you can find FreeCAD on Flathub. The FreeCAD Stable PPA is unmaintained so don’t add it or you’ll get an old version.
To install an older version of FreeCAD without PPAs or snaps or anything else, just run sudo apt install freecad.
To learn more about what it can you can check out the FreeCAD manual, swot up on FreeCAD tutorials and pore over the official FreeCAD 1.0 release notes.
Thanks David 🙂