free5GC 4.2.3 (5G Core) on Ubuntu 24.04

Overview

free5GC is an open source implementation of the 3GPP Release 15 and beyond 5G Core (5GC), maintained by the free5GC project. It provides the full service based architecture of control plane network functions, the NRF, AMF, SMF, AUSF, UDM, UDR, PCF and NSSF, together with the UPF user plane function that carries subscriber data traffic. A built in web console lets you manage subscribers, provision SIM identities and inspect the network functions. Paired with a radio access network, whether real hardware or a software simulator such as UERANSIM, it authenticates a user equipment, establishes a PDU session and routes that session out through the user plane, giving you a complete, standards aligned 5G core for research, education, lab testing and private 5G prototyping.

Common uses

• Stand up a standards aligned 5G core network for research, teaching and lab testing
• Prototype private 5G and network slicing with a real service based core
• Validate RAN and user equipment against a full control plane and user plane

See it running

Real screenshots taken while testing this image against its deployment guide.