If you check the Oracle Database Free FAQ, you’ll see that patches and upgrades are not supported. The recommended approach is to move to a newer version by performing an export and import.
But I might have something you can try — at your own risk.
This week, I received a question about moving a 19c PDB to the 26ai Free edition, and the user was hitting an error. While investigating, I realized there is no 19c Free edition (I had completely forgotten about that). They were actually trying to move a PDB from 19c EE to 26ai Free, which is not supported.
I then decided to test a different scenario — moving a PDB from 21c XE to 26ai Free — and it worked perfectly.
When you try to open a 19c PDB EE on a 26ai FREE, you will get: ORA-39712 – An attempt was made to open a Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition database with an Oracle Database Free server.
I tested the migration/upgrade from a 21c XE to a 26ai FREE today, and it worked fine (free to free):
I used Refreshable PDB Clones, which keep the source database intact and allow me to easily duplicate it to another server. However, you can also use the unplug/plug approach and perform the upgrade on the same server or on a different one.
My source – 21c XE:
My AutoUpgrade config file:
AutoUpgrade result:
I alto tried to use the Replay Upgrade, and it doesn’t work. The replay upgrade didn’t start on the Free edition:
How about moving from Oracle Database Free 23ai to Oracle AI Database Free 26ai?
Let’s unplug the PDB from the 23ai:
Let’s plug the PDB on the 26ai:
Let’s run the datapatch:
As you can see, it didn’t work, the dapatach didn’t apply the RU.
If you are on 18c XE, you can check this doc.
In summary, you can upgrade from 21c XE to 26ai FREE using AutoUpgrade.
You cannot apply a RU moving from 23ai free to 26ai free.
Happy testing!