In early February 2024, Freenom reclaimed every free domain — yes, all of them. Log into Freenom and check your domain status: everything shows PENDING, and all NS records have been deleted.
The chain of events started with Freenom being sued by Meta (Facebook), followed by Gabon taking back the .ga registry from Freenom and Mali reclaiming the .ml registry when the 10-year agreement expired.
Now Freenom has shut down its free domain service completely: no new registrations, and all previously registered free domains are out of service.
As far as I know, the only free domain option left is EU.org — but the review takes a long time and it’s nowhere near as convenient as Freenom used to be.
Free is the most expensive kind of free. For stability, just pay for a domain.