OpenFOAM is mature, open source software for CFD, which is trusted by many thousands of engineers and scientists in industry and academia worldwide. It provides an alternative to proprietary CFD software where licensing can start at $25k for a single user running in serial per year, increasing to group/parallel licences of $100k-200k+ and corporate licences of $1M+. OpenFOAM needs €500k in 2026 for maintenance so welcomes new organisations to fund it from one of 3 levels of support: Platinum (€100k per year), Gold (€25k) and Silver (€5k). Silver is for organisations with individual CFD users, Gold is for organisations with a dedicated CFD group and Platinum is suited to organisations that depend on OpenFOAM at a strategic level.
For Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, 25.04, 25.10 and Windows and macOS
The OpenFOAM Foundation is pleased to announce the release of version 13 of the OpenFOAM open source CFD toolbox. Version 13 includes: a rewrite of mesh zones which can dynamically update and are easier to use and more robust (replacing the lousy topoSet): field-based Lagrangian, a 65% complete, more flexible, extensible and efficient replacement to the existing code; improvements to MULES to guarantee boundedness and accelerate solutions, e.g. in multiphase flows; a rewrite of mass transfer modelling; better visualisation with ParaView working on decomposed cases, foamVTKSeries for animations and improved foamMonitor; several improvements and additions for multi-region simulations, case configuration, meshing, function objects, multiphase flows and combustion.
OpenFOAM 13 includes the following highlights.
- Modular Solvers: include deactivating
flow, thermophysics and models switches. - MULES: guarantees boundedness irrespective of iterator convergence.
- Multiphase: significantly accelerated simulations with the multiphaseEuler solver.
- Transport/Thermo: rewritten mass transfer modelling for the multiphaseEuler solver.
- Combustion: improved ignition and flame model for simulation of engines.
- Particles: 65% complete field-based Lagrangian is more flexible, extensible, efficient, …
- Meshes: upgraded mesh generation and coupling of multiple mesh regions.
- Mesh Zones: robust, usable, flexible, and more functional replacement.
- Multi-region Simulation: improved NCC and mesh stitching and mapping.
- Function Objects: improved scalarTransport, add power, reaction rate, cutLayerAverage.
- Models: added propellerDisk models and improved fvFieldSource.
- Boundary Conditions: improved pressure, temperature and mass diffusion conditions.
- Case Configuration: new foamMergeCase tool .
- Visualisation: ParaView can read decomposed cases, foamVTKSeries for animations.
- Cases: new examples for single phase, multiphase, incompressible and compressible flows.
- Other: The foamNewApp script can create starter code for a non-CFD application.
For Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, 25.04
OpenFOAM 13 for Linux distributions other than Ubuntu, e.g. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) , Fedora, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), openSuSE, and Debian.
OpenFOAM 13 for macOS . Uses Canonical Multipass hosting Ubuntu Linux to use the standard OpenFOAM packages on Ubuntu.
For Compilation on GNU/Linux
For Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS and 25.10
OpenFOAM packs for Ubuntu 25.04
Our campaign to fund OpenFOAM in 2025 was unsuccessful with a further decrease of 2% from the previous year despite further improvements to the software with the release of version 13. OpenFOAM is funded through commitments from supporting organisations to fund maintenance. We need support from organisations who are commercially dependent on OpenFOAM and who are making significant savings in proprietary licence fees.
