Form 497K Aberdeen Funds

Aberdeen Funds: Summary Prospectus

Aberdeen Tax-Free Income Fund

February 28, 2018

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund's Prospectus, Statement of Additional Information, shareholder reports and other information about the Fund online at www.aberdeen-asset.us/usretail/literature/fixed-income. You can also get this information at no cost by e-mailing a request to [email protected], calling 866-667-9231 or asking your financial advisor. The Fund's Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated February 28, 2018, and the independent registered public accounting firm's report and financial statements in the Fund's annual report, dated October 31, 2017, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus.

Fund Tickers

Class A: NTFAX Class C: GTICX Class R: ABERX Class T: ATFTX Institutional Class: ABEIX Institutional Service Class: ABESX

Objective

The Aberdeen Tax-Free Income Fund (the "Tax-Free Income Fund" or the "Fund") seeks a high level of current income that is exempt from federal income taxes.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy and hold shares of the Tax-Free Income Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in Aberdeen Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in the "Reduction and Waiver of Class A Sales Charges," "Reduction and Waiver of Class T Sales Charges" and "Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies" sections on pages 171, 174 and 228 of the Fund's prospectus, respectively, and in the "Additional Information on Purchases and Sales — Waiver of Class A Sales Charges," "Reduction of Sales Charges" and "Class T Shares" sections on pages 155, 156 and 159 of the Fund's Statement of Additional Information, respectively. This table does not include the brokerage commissions that you may pay when purchasing or selling Institutional Class shares or Institutional Service Class shares of the Fund.

¹  Unless you are otherwise eligible to purchase Class A shares without a sales charge, a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC) of up to 0.75% will be charged on Class A shares redeemed within 18 months of purchase if you paid no sales charge on the original purchase and a finder's fee was paid.

²  If you redeem your Class C shares within the first year after you purchase them you must pay a CDSC of 1%; however, the CDSC shall not apply to the purchases of Class C shares where the selling broker-dealer was not paid a commission at the time of purchase.

³  Accounts with balances below $1,000 are generally subject to a $5 quarterly fee (with an annual maximum of $20 per account). Shares from such accounts are redeemed each quarter to cover the fee, which is returned to the Fund to offset small account expenses. Under some circumstances, the

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Fund may waive the quarterly fee. See the Statement of Additional Information for information about the circumstances under which this fee will not be assessed.

⁴  Other Expenses for Class T shares are estimated for the current fiscal year because Class T has not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus.

⁵  Aberdeen Funds (the "Trust") and Aberdeen Asset Management Inc. (the "Adviser") have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses to 0.50% for all classes of the Fund. This contractual limitation may not be terminated before February 28, 2019 without the approval of the Independent Trustees. This limit excludes certain expenses, including any taxes, interest, brokerage fees, short-sale dividend expenses, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, Rule 12b-1 fees, administrative services fees, transfer agent out-of-pocket expenses for Class A Shares, Class R Shares, Class T Shares and Institutional Service Class Shares and extraordinary expenses. The Trust is authorized to reimburse the Adviser for management fees previously limited and/or for expenses previously paid by the Adviser, provided, however, that any reimbursements must be paid at a date not more than three years after the date when the Adviser limited the fees or reimbursed the expenses and the reimbursements do not cause a Class to exceed the lesser of the applicable expense limitation in the contract at the time the fees were limited or expenses are paid or the applicable expense limitation in effect at the time the expenses are being recouped by the Adviser.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Tax-Free Income Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:

Portfolio Turnover

The Tax-Free Income Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 16.25% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Strategies

As a fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in investment grade fixed income securities that qualify as tax-exempt municipal obligations. These obligations are issued by states, U.S. territories and their political subdivisions, such as counties, cities and towns. For purposes of the Fund's 80% policy, the Fund may, but is not required to, sell a security whose rating falls below investment grade. The Fund may invest in specific types of municipal obligations, including tax-exempt zero-coupon securities, auction rate securities and floating- and variable-rate bonds. Up to 20% of the Fund's net assets may be invested in municipal securities whose interest income is treated as a preference item for purposes of the federal alternative minimum tax. Additionally, up to 20% of the Fund's net assets may be invested in fixed income securities that qualify as tax-exempt municipal obligations that are considered below investment grade (sometimes referred to as "junk bonds" or high yield securities). A bond is considered below investment grade if rated below investment grade by Moody's Investors Services, Inc. ("Moody's") (below Baa3), Standard & Poor's Rating Services ("S&P") (below BBB-), or Fitch, Inc. ("Fitch") (below BBB-) or, if unrated, determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality. In the event that a security receives different ratings from different nationally recognized statistical rating organizations ("NRSROs"), the Adviser will treat the security as being rated in the lowest rating category received from an NRSRO. In selecting securities for the Fund, the Adviser employs an opportunistic approach that takes advantage of changing market conditions. The Adviser's process focuses on credit market, sector, security and yield curve analysis. The Fund may invest in securities of any maturity.

A security may be sold to take advantage of more favorable opportunities.

The Fund may invest in derivative instruments. Derivative instruments may be used for hedging purposes and for gaining risk exposures to securities that are permitted investments for the Fund. Derivative instruments may also be used to adjust the interest rate, yield curve, credit and spread risk exposure of the Fund. The Fund invests in, but is not limited to, the following derivative instruments: municipal credit default swaps ("MCDS") (both single name MCDS and municipal credit default index swaps) and interest rate swaps and futures. MCDS may be used to adjust the Fund's exposure to the industry sector and/or sell/buy protection on the credit risk of individual issuers or a basket of individual issuers. MCDS may also be used as a substitute for purchasing or selling securities or for non-hedging purposes to seek to enhance potential gains. Interest rate swaps are primarily used to manage the Fund's interest rate exposure.

In complying with the minimum and maximum investment limitations set forth above, the Fund may include investments in derivatives with an underlying asset with economic characteristics similar to the investments included in such limitation.

Principal Risks

The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.

2  Aberdeen Tax-Free Income Fund: Summary Prospectus as of February 28, 2018

As with any fund, the value of the Fund's investments — and therefore, the value of Fund shares — may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:

Call and Redemption Risk — Some bonds allow the issuer to call a bond for redemption before it matures. If this happens, the Tax-Free Income Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields.

Credit Risk — A debt instrument's price depends, in part, on the credit quality of the issuer, borrower, counterparty, or underlying collateral and can decline in response to changes in the financial condition of the issuer, borrower, counterparty, or underlying collateral, or changes in specific or general market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, or other conditions. High yield bonds ("junk bonds") may be subject to an increased risk of default, a more limited secondary market than investment grade bonds, and greater price volatility.

Derivatives Risk (including Options, Futures and Swaps) — Derivatives are speculative and may hurt the Fund's performance. Derivatives present the risk of disproportionately increased losses and/or reduced opportunities for gains when the financial asset or measure to which the derivative is linked changes in unexpected ways. The potential benefits to be derived from the Fund's options, futures and derivatives strategy are dependent upon the portfolio managers' ability to discern pricing inefficiencies and predict trends in these markets, which decisions could prove to be inaccurate. This requires different skills and techniques than predicting changes in the price of individual debt securities, and there can be no assurance that the use of this strategy will be successful.

Speculative Exposure Risk — To the extent that a derivative or practice is not used as a hedge, the Fund is directly exposed to its risks. Gains or losses from speculative positions in a derivative may be much greater than the derivative's original cost. For example, potential losses from writing uncovered call options and from speculative short sales are unlimited.

Hedged Exposure Risk — Losses generated by a derivative or practice used by the Fund for hedging purposes should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment. However, while hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains.

Correlation Risk — The Fund is exposed to the risk that changes in the value of a hedging instrument will not match those of the investment being hedged.

Counterparty Risk — Derivative transactions depend on the creditworthiness of the counterparty and the counterparty's ability to fulfill its contractual obligations.

Extension Risk — Principal repayments may not occur as quickly as anticipated, causing the expected maturity of a security to increase. Rapidly rising interest rates may cause prepayments to occur more slowly than expected, thereby lengthening the maturity of the securities held by the Fund and making their prices more sensitive to rate changes and more volatile.

High-Yield Bonds and Other Lower-Rated Securities Risk — The Fund's investments in high-yield bonds (commonly referred to as "junk bonds") and other lower-rated securities will subject the Fund to substantial risk of loss. Investments in high-yield bonds are speculative and

issuers of these securities are generally considered to be less financially secure and less able to repay interest and principal than issuers of investment-grade securities. Prices of high-yield bonds tend to be very volatile. These securities are less liquid than investment-grade debt securities and may be difficult to price or sell, particularly in times of negative sentiment toward high-yield securities.

Illiquid Securities Risk — Illiquid securities are assets which may not be sold or disposed of in the ordinary course of business within seven days at approximately the price at which the Fund has valued the investment on its books and may include such securities as those not registered under U.S. securities laws or securities that cannot be sold in public transactions. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect the Fund's value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Illiquid securities and relatively less liquid securities may also be difficult to value. Over recent years, the capacity of dealers to make markets in fixed income securities has been outpaced by the growth in the size of the fixed income markets. Liquidity risk may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or when investor redemptions from fixed income funds may be higher than normal, due to the increased supply in the market that would result from selling activity.

The Fund employs proprietary procedures and tests using third-party and internal data inputs that seek to assess and manage the liquidity of its portfolio holdings. The Fund's procedures and tests take into account relevant market, trading and other factors, and monitor whether liquidity assessments should be adjusted based on changed market conditions. These procedures and tests are designed to assist the Fund in determining its ability to meet redemption requests in various market conditions. In light of the dynamic nature of markets, there can be no assurance that these procedures and tests will enable the Fund to ensure that it has sufficient liquidity to meet redemption requests.

Impact of Large Redemptions and Purchases of Fund Shares — Occasionally, shareholders may make large redemptions or purchases of Fund shares, which may cause the Fund to have to sell securities or invest additional cash. These transactions may adversely affect the Fund's performance and increase transaction costs. In addition, large redemption requests may exceed the cash balance of the Fund and result in credit line borrowing fees and/or overdraft charges to the Fund until the sales of portfolio securities necessary to cover the redemption request settle.

Interest Rate Risk — The Fund's fixed income investments are subject to interest rate risk, which generally causes the value of a fixed income portfolio to decrease when interest rates rise resulting in a decrease in the Fund's net assets. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the recent period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Interest rate fluctuations tend to have a greater impact on fixed income-securities with a greater time to maturity and/or lower coupon. A fund with a longer average portfolio duration will be more sensitive to changes in interest rates than a fund with a shorter average portfolio duration. In periods of market volatility, the market values of fixed income securities may be more sensitive to changes in interest rates.

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Issuer Risk — The value of a security may decline for reasons directly related to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer's goods or service.

Management Risk — The Fund is subject to the risk that the Adviser may make poor security selections. The Adviser and its portfolio managers apply their own investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund and there can be no guarantee that these decisions will achieve the desired results for the Fund. In addition, the Adviser may select securities that underperform the relevant market or other funds with similar investment objectives and strategies.

Market Risk — Deteriorating market conditions might cause a general weakness in the market that reduces the prices of securities in those markets in which the Fund invests.

Municipal Bond Tax Risk — A municipal bond that is issued as tax-exempt may later be declared to be taxable. In addition, if the federal income tax rate is reduced, the value of the tax exemption may be less valuable, causing the value of a municipal bond to decline.

Prepayment Risk — As interest rates decline, debt issuers may repay or refinance their loans or obligations earlier than anticipated. The issuers of fixed income securities may, therefore, repay principal in advance. This forces the Fund to reinvest the proceeds from the principal prepayments at lower rates, which reduces the Fund's income.

Valuation Risk — The price that the Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by the Fund, and the Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. The Fund's ability to value its investments may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

If the value of the Fund's investments decreases, you may lose money.

For additional information regarding the above identified risks, see "Fund Details: Additional Information about Investments, Investment Techniques and Risks" in the prospectus.

Performance

The bar chart and table below can help you evaluate potential risks of the Tax-Free Income Fund. The bar chart shows how the Fund's annual total returns for Class A have varied from year to year. The returns in the bar chart do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If the applicable sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. Unlike the bar chart, the returns in the table reflect the maximum applicable sales charges.

The table compares the Fund's average annual total returns to the returns of the ICE BofA Merrill Lynch 1-22 Year U.S. Municipal Securities Index, a broad-based securities index. Effective September 14, 2017, the ICE BofA Merrill Lynch 1-22 Year U.S. Municipal Securities Index replaced the

Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index as the Fund's primary benchmark. The Adviser believes that the ICE BofA Merrill Lynch 1-22 Year U.S. Municipal Securities Index is a more meaningful comparison index given the duration of the Fund's holdings. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. For updated performance information, please visit www.aberdeen-asset.us or call 866-667-9231.

The returns presented for the Tax-Free Income Fund for periods prior to June 23, 2008 reflect the performance of a predecessor fund (the "Predecessor Fund"), which was a registered investment company. The Tax-Free Income Fund adopted the performance of the Predecessor Fund as the result of a reorganization on June 23, 2008 in which the Tax-Free Income Fund acquired all of the assets, subject to the liabilities, of the Predecessor Fund. Since June 23, 2008, Aberdeen Asset Management Inc. has served as the Fund's investment adviser. Credit Suisse Asset Management, LLC served as the subadviser for the Tax-Free Income Fund from June 23, 2008 to February 27, 2011. The Tax-Free Income Fund and the Predecessor Fund have substantially similar investment objectives and strategies.

Returns of the Predecessor Fund have not been adjusted to reflect the expenses applicable to the respective classes.

Class T shares have not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus. Class T returns are based on the previous performance of the Fund's Class A shares. Class R, Institutional Class and Institutional Service Class returns prior to the commencement of operations of each class (inception date: February 25, 2013) are based on the previous performance of Class D shares of the Fund, which are no longer offered. Excluding the effect of any fee waivers or reimbursements, this performance is substantially similar to what each individual class would have produced because all classes of the Fund invest in the same portfolio of securities. Returns would only differ to the extent of the differences in expenses between the two classes.

Annual Total Returns — Class A Shares
(Years Ended Dec. 31)

Highest Return: 6.48% – 3rd quarter 2009
Lowest Return: -4.64% – 4th quarter 2010

After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns

4  Aberdeen Tax-Free Income Fund: Summary Prospectus as of February 28, 2018

are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2017

Investment Adviser

Aberdeen Asset Management Inc. (the "Adviser") serves as the Tax-Free Income Fund's investment adviser. In the United States, Aberdeen Standard Investments is the marketing name for the aforementioned entity.

Portfolio Managers

The Fund is managed using a team-based approach, with the following team members being jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund:

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund's minimum investment requirements are as follows:

The Fund reserves the right to apply or waive investment minimums under certain circumstances as described in the prospectus under the "Choosing a Share Class" section.

Fund shares may be redeemed on each day that the New York Stock Exchange is open. Fund shares may be sold by mail or fax, by telephone or on-line.

Tax Information

The Fund intends to distribute dividends exempt from regular federal income tax and capital gains distributions; although, a portion of the Fund's distributions may be subject to federal income tax or alternative minimum tax.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your financial advisor to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information.

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