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 may 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

Linux & macOS

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.

Windows

Install from source with Cargo:

cargo install freenet

Then start Freenet with freenet network.

Step 2: Join Freenet Official

Get an invite to our community chat. You can request up to 5 invites per day.

Get your invite to Freenet Official

Clicking the link will open River in your browser and automatically join you to the room using the invite code.

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.

What’s Next?