In this short survey, we describe some recent developments on the modeling of propagation by reaction-differential equations with free boundaries, which involve local as well as nonlocal diffusion. After the pioneering works of Fisher, Kolmogorov–Petrovski–Piskunov (KPP) and Skellam, the use of reaction–diffusion equations to model propagation and spreading speed has been widely accepted, with remarkable progresses achieved in several directions, notably on propagation in heterogeneous media, models for interacting species including epidemic spreading, and propagation in shifting environment caused by climate change, to mention but a few. Such models involving a free boundary to represent the spreading front have been studied only recently, but fast progress has been made. Here, we will concentrate on these free boundary models, starting with those where spatial dispersal is represented by local diffusion. These include the Fisher–KPP model with free boundary and related problems, where both the one space dimension and high space dimension cases will be examined; they also include some two species population models with free boundaries, where we will show how the long-time dynamics of some competition models can be fully determined. We then consider the nonlocal Fisher–KPP model with free boundary, where the diffusion operator Δu is replaced by a nonlocal one involving a kernel function. We will show how a new phenomenon, known as accelerated spreading, can happen to such a model. After that, we will look at some epidemic models with nonlocal diffusion and free boundaries, and show how the long-time dynamics can be rather fully described. Some remarks and comments are made at the end of each section, where related problems and open questions will be briefly discussed.