FreeBSD yog qhov pub dawb thiab qhib qhov chaw Unix zoo li kev ua haujlwm tau nqis los ntawm Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), uas yog raws li Kev Tshawb Fawb Unix. Thawj version ntawm FreeBSD tau tso tawm xyoo 1993. Hauv 2005, FreeBSD yog qhov nrov tshaj plaws qhib qhov chaw BSD kev ua haujlwm, suav txog ntau tshaj peb-plaub ntawm tag nrho cov teeb tsa thiab tso cai BSD cov tshuab. FreeBSD muaj qhov zoo sib xws nrog Linux, nrog rau ob qhov sib txawv loj hauv cov peev txheej thiab daim ntawv tso cai: FreeBSD tswj hwm qhov ua tiav, piv txwv li qhov project xa cov ntsiav, cov tsav tsheb, cov neeg siv khoom siv hluav taws xob, thiab cov ntaub ntawv, tsis yog Linux tsuas yog xa cov ntsiav thiab cov tsav tsheb, thiab tso siab rau cov neeg thib peb rau cov software; FreeBSD qhov chaws feem ntau yog tso tawm raws li kev tso cai BSD daim ntawv tso cai, tsis yog qhov copyleft GPL siv los ntawm Linux. Txoj haujlwm FreeBSD suav nrog pab pawg kev nyab xeeb saib xyuas txhua yam software xa tawm hauv lub hauv paus faib. Ntau yam ntawm cov ntawv thov thib peb ntxiv tuaj yeem raug teeb tsa los ntawm cov pob binary siv pkg pob tswj qhov system lossis los ntawm qhov chaw ntawm FreeBSD Ports, [6] lossis los ntawm manually compiling qhov chaws. Ntau ntawm FreeBSD's codebase tau dhau los ua ib feem tseem ceeb ntawm lwm cov kev khiav hauj lwm xws li Darwin (lub hauv paus rau macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, thiab tvOS), TrueNAS (ib qho qhib NAS / SAN operating system), thiab cov software system rau PlayStation 3 thiab PlayStation 4 game consoles.