Here is one with a false gradient, converted to Lab spot-colors and -zonk!

I ran into the same issue. I realized that I was working with a compound path and had to release the compound path in order for free form gradient option to become available.

I suggest you look at the shape working with and make sure it’s not a compound path.

I hope you've been able to solve this problem already, but if you (or anyone else) haven't, I advise you to check if you have the "fill" option selected instead of "line".

I had the same problem earlier today and found this solution on a Reddit post that worked! hope this helps:)

same problem!! freeform is greyed out and only linear and radial are available.

I have the same problem where freeform is greyed out and only linear and radial are available.

not working for me either!

this is happening to me too! i'm so frustrated! i want to finish this project and it's all i need!!

I found out the answer. Make sure that the gradient isn't selected as stroke, if you click on fill in the gradient panel then the freeform gradient tool will be working

I'm having the same issue. I can't believe the simply things that used to work fine are now huge issues for those of us designing on a tight deadline. Sometimes I am not able to select a color within the gradient; its completely inaccessible. Other times I can drag the gradient between colors at the top, but the colors along the bottom cannot be moved along the gradient. Other times the gradient doesn't even show and the input fields are white and not accessible.

Seems to be a generic issue now that multiple people have experienced it.

@LM, this exact this is happing to me. Did you figure out a fix?

The same is happening for me.

I have an object selected, I then go to 'Window>Gradient' and on the 'Gradient' tool panel I can see the three 'type' icons for 'linear,' 'radial,' and then 'freeform.' But the 'freeform' one is completely greyed out and I cannot click on it.

Also interesting/weird, when using the gradient tool panel, in the gradient slider area when I either click to add a color, or click and drag a color away- the 'freeform icon' that is greyed out above flashes for a split second to it's 'not greyed out' icon view. It's only for a flash of a second, and it doesn't do anything, it just looks glitchy.

* upon further testing, it also does the weird "glitch flash" when I click between the 'linear' and 'radial' options, and when I click between the three stroke options.
* also, when clicking between the three stroke options, the 'angle' field that allows you to change the angle of the gradient does the same "glitch flash" when clicking "Apply gradient along stroke" and "Apply gradient across stroke"