As of April 15, 2025, we were thrilled to announce the official release of TrueNAS 25.04 “Fangtooth”, and with it, a new era begins for the open storage community.
With this launch, we’ve made a small but important change:
TrueNAS SCALE is now officially known as TrueNAS Community Edition.
Why It Matters
This name change is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but also a major symbolic milestone that represents how far we’ve come and where we’re going next.
Over the past several years, we’ve maintained two open source branches:
- TrueNAS CORE, based on FreeBSD
- TrueNAS SCALE, built on Linux
CORE was the original, but as SCALE began to surpass CORE in capability, performance, and quality, there was no reason to continue to maintain two software that served essentially the same purposes and user needs. Maintaining them in parallel also meant dividing our engineering resources and slowing the overall progress of the software. It also required duplicate documentation and support, forums discussions, and often confused new and existing users with questions like:
“What’s the difference between CORE and SCALE?”
“Which one is free?”
“Which version powers Enterprise?”
“Which one should I choose for my use case?”
With CORE being transitioned to its maintenance phase, and the maturation of SCALE, the 25.04 release presented an opportunity to also eliminate the confusion and redundancy by unifying, clarifying, and simplifying. One software. One name. No guesswork.
TrueNAS Community Edition (CE) represents the culmination of a long process of effort consolidation that will only benefit users going forward as we continue to evolve TrueNAS together.
But What Else Has Changed?
Nothing. Just the name. TrueNAS Community Edition is now the singular, free, open source storage platform for non-enterprise users. The unification of CORE and SCALE is complete. The ambiguity is eliminated. And, the TrueNAS Community now has one clear version to rally behind: a version named after them.
For those who have been paying close attention, we’d already been referring to it as “Community Edition” for over 6 months – the 25.04 release just makes it official. And, if you haven’t checked it out yet, the 25.04 release delivers more than ever .
What About TrueNAS Enterprise?
TrueNAS Enterprise continues to be our supported, licensed solution for critical data environments. It’s built on the same codebase as Community Edition, with additional feature enhancements (High Availability, Security, Performance, Enterprise integrations) and full enterprise level support services necessary for production deployments. It is typically provided as turnkey appliances that simplify deployment and are engineered specifically for TrueNAS performance and ongoing support.
Already Using SCALE or CORE?
Good news: You’re already on the path. Fangtooth (25.04) is the first official release with the new Community Edition naming. If you were using SCALE, you’re essentially already using it. If you’re still on CORE, you’ll find a clear evolutionary path forward, and release notes are available to help guide your transition, especially with VM migrations.
One Name. One Path. One Community.
This new name isn’t just easier to say, it’s easier to understand:
- TrueNAS Community Edition = Open source, free, community-supported
- TrueNAS Enterprise = Licensed, supported, and built for production
Whether you call it TrueNAS Community Edition or TrueNAS CE, it’s clearer, cleaner, and a whole lot easier to explain to the world.
“TrueNAS Community Edition isn’t a reduction, it’s an evolution. Everything users valued in CORE or SCALE is here, and we’re bringing forward even more functionality, security, and innovation in each release cycle.”
— Kris Moore, SVP of Engineering
Join the Movement
The future of open storage is already here. It’s unified. It’s powerful. It’s TrueNAS Community Edition-built for the TrueNAS Community, by the TrueNAS Community, and supported through the TrueNAS Community. And, it grows stronger with every new user and software release.
A resounding “thank you” and “congratulations” to our global community of contributors, testers, users, and champions for making TrueNAS 25.04 a reality. This new name is meant to honor you all, and we can’t wait to see what we build together next.
Ready to jump in? Download TrueNAS Community Edition today!