The elimination of the Engineering hull required many changes in order to move the warp core and fuel supply into the saucer section, but Starfleet has accomplished this transition successfully with several other classes and few problems were encountered with the Freedom. There is a reduction in the volume available to other applications within the Freedom, and several accomodations sections and science and diplomatic facilities have been removed. This has led to a reduction in the crew compared to the Niagara.

The Freedom initially proved reasonably successful in service, but their low speed was more of a limiting factor than had been predicted. The planned run of over 200 was cut down to 100, then to 70, before production was finally terminated at 61 ships completed. The Freedom fell a little behind the state of the art in the late 2350's and early 2360's, and by 2365 it was decided to refit the class with Galaxy-class nacelles. This project went remarkably smoothly, and all ships were so modified by was completed by 2370. The change increased the ships speed, and they have played a more prominent role since this time.

The Freedom class USS Firebrand was lost to the Borg at Wolf 359; other ships have participated heavily in the Dominion war, where they have suffered heavily.