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I really need to know if the latest version of Ubuntu is free ?

heemayl
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steviehammond12
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  • It is free. I have it installed on four machines and have never paid anyone anything. – chili555 May 10 '15 at 21:44
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    Do you mean free as in cost or free as in freedom (or both) ? – NGRhodes May 10 '15 at 22:42
  • If 'free as in freedom' then may be duplicate of Does Ubntu contain Non-free kernel blobs and other non-free system components? – Pandya May 12 '15 at 13:45
  • Reviewers: I don't think this should be considered unclear or a duplicate, because wondering about the differing ways "free" is used in connection with Ubuntu and what Ubuntu's status is with respect to them is an extremely common state of mind for people who are new to Ubuntu and other FOSS communities. My answer started out as unsubmitted text in a comment box asking the OP to clarify what meaning of "free" they were using. As I typed I realized that even clearly requesting that clarification would entail posting a complete answer addressing both meanings. – Eliah Kagan May 12 '15 at 14:35

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There are a few different things you might be asking. While you've asked about the latest version, the answers do not really depend on release, architecture, or flavor. If what you want to know is where to download the latest version of Ubuntu, scroll down to the bottom of this post. You don't have to pay anyone anything to obtain Ubuntu, but that is neither the only nor the primary meaning of "free" in the context of Ubuntu.

Does a default installation of Ubuntu contain any non-free software?

In the free and open source software community, often when we say "free" we are talking about freedom rather than price. I don't know which meaning of "free" you had in mind as you asked your question.

The great majority of software included in Ubuntu is free software.

The kernel contains some non-free (i.e., proprietary) loadable firmware blobs as part of some device drivers, and when you install you're given the option to include some commonly wanted non-free components.

Does Ubuntu officially facilitate installing any non-free software?

Yes. Besides the mechanisms listed above, the restricted and multiverse repository components provide non-free software, and both proprietary "freeware" and proprietary payware are available for purchase through the Ubuntu Software Center. (Also, Landscape is proprietary.)

While proprietary software is made available for your use through those means, you need not choose to install it. Unless you happen to rely on hardware for which there are no working free drivers, it is not generally necessary to install proprietary software to use Ubuntu, except for the firmware blobs in the kernel. (You can use linux-libre to avoid them, but it's not one of Ubuntu's officially provided kernels.)

An operating system, or distribution, is a collection of many different software components. Many users who prefer to run only free open-source software are happy with Ubuntu. However, for more information on these issues, you may wish to read the Free Software Foundation's explanation of why they don't endorse most of the popular GNU/Linux distributions (including Ubuntu).

Is payment is required to obtain Ubuntu?

No, you do not have to pay for Ubuntu. There are several ways to obtain it at no charge online, and they are the generally recommended ways to get Ubuntu.

Both the latest release and the latest LTS release are available from the download page. You're probably looking for the desktop version of Ubuntu, which is here.

  • The latest LTS release is shown first.
  • When there is a more recent release that is not LTS, that appears below.

The website might be redesigned at some point in the future, but it should still offer you easy access to both.

If you prefer to download the network installer (a small ISO image that downloads most of the system during installation), or want to download with bittorrent, or want to select your download mirror manually, you can use the Alternative downloads page.

You can also manually browse the releases server, the cdimage server (hosting some less commonly downloaded files), and the old-releases server (which you'll probably never need).

As of the time of this writing, the latest release of Ubuntu is 15.04. Here are the release notes, which also contain information on ways to download Ubuntu 15.04, as well as other information.

Welcome to Ubuntu!

Community
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Eliah Kagan
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Yes, all versions of Ubuntu are free in that they do not cost money.

Ubuntu repositories do provide "non-free" software though, so it is not necessarily 100% free in that sense.

theferrit32
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It's free. The Linux kernel is under GPL license, which means it can be copied and distributed free of charge and is open source. When you go to Ubuntu download page, it will ask you to donate some money, but you do not need to do so to get Ubuntu: just unmark all donation options and download it!

Download Ubuntu and join our community!

Eduardo Cola
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  • What do you mean by "tax free"? (Besides that confusing wording, this answer is clear and good. I hadn't considered the OP may have been confused by the donation options.) – Eliah Kagan May 10 '15 at 22:46
  • With "tax" I mean "fee", "payment". – Eduardo Cola May 10 '15 at 23:03
  • I've reworded to express this more clearly and precisely. I hope my wording is okay, but please definitely feel free to change it if you like. By the way, most of the software in Ubuntu is not the kernel. It's possible to have a mostly non-free system running on a free kernel (I mean free as in freedom in both cases, of course). Ubuntu, however, like most GNU/Linux distributions, consists mostly of free software outside the kernel as well. – Eliah Kagan May 10 '15 at 23:09
  • That's OK, I'm Brazilian and my native language is Portuguese, sorry for these grammar errors. – Eduardo Cola May 10 '15 at 23:11
  • -1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux-based distribution that is not free. There are a few others. – Sparhawk May 10 '15 at 23:11
  • I can't see why you downvoted my answer. I was talking about THE LINUX KERNEL, not the ENTIRE OS. Paid softwares that come with some distros are exceptions. – Eduardo Cola May 10 '15 at 23:12
  • I think Sparhawk has a good point. You might want to expand this answer to clarify the distinction between free-of-charge and free in the sense of freedom, since the first part of your answer is about one and the second part is about the other. (The asker of this question is asking about the OS, not specifically the kernel, and your opening sentence--"Every Linux-based OS is free."--certainly seems to be saying something about the entire OS. Still, I don't plan to remove my upvote, because this answer has the key insight that the OP may have been confused by the donation page.) – Eliah Kagan May 10 '15 at 23:15
  • Never mind, Eliah's answer was good enough, I'm gonna delete this one. – Eduardo Cola May 10 '15 at 23:16
  • @EduardoCola I might edit my answer to include information about the donation page, or (even better) make a new, community-wiki answer (so it can more easily be improved by anyone and I don't earn any unnecessary reputation off it) showing screenshots of the download and donation pages to clarify the possible confusion. If I do one of those things, I'll make sure to credit you for this insight. However, even if I do that, this answer may still be considered valuable. If you want to delete it that's no problem, but you might just want to rework/expand it a bit. – Eliah Kagan May 10 '15 at 23:20
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    OK, I edited my answer. I think it's more clarifying now. It's very important to ensure people know Ubuntu is free. I noticed that many people who want to download elementaryOS ISO think it's paid because its donation page is confusing. That could happen to new Ubuntu users, too. – Eduardo Cola May 10 '15 at 23:25
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Yes, Ubuntu is open source, that does not only mean it's free but that you can view it's source code and modyfy it.

Jorge Szabo
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