Introducing
The Slant team built an AI & it’s awesome
Find the best product instantly
Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari
Try it now
4.7 star rating
0
Linux
Desktop Environment
Unix
Unix-like
What are the best UNIX-like desktop environments for ease-of-use?
4
Options
Considered
15
User
Recs.
Jan 15, 2024
Last
Updated
Related Questions
Activity
Have feedback or ideas?
Join our community
on Discord
Ad
4
Options
Considered
Best UNIX-like desktop environments for ease-of-use
Price
License
Programming Language
--
Xfce
Free
GPL, LGPL, BSD
mostly C
--
Deepin DE
-
Mostly GPL
Mostly C++
--
GNOME
Free
GPL
mostly C
--
Pantheon
-
GPL
C
See Full List
--
Xfce
My Rec
ommendation
for
Xfce
My Recommendation for
Xfce
All
4
Pros
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
A true UNIX desktop environment
Xfce adheres to the UNIX philosophy, which means it strives for being modular, minimal and expandable. This makes it very much customizable. You can make it as minimal as you want and as heavyweight as you want depending on the features and modules/plugins you use.
See More
Specs
License:
GPL, LGPL, BSD
Programming Language:
mostly C
Widget Toolkit:
GTK+
Available on:
*nix
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Best for newcomers
Any one new to Linux feels comfortable using it.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Designed for productivity
It loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources.
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
4
--
Deepin DE
My Rec
ommendation
for
Deepin DE
My Recommendation for
Deepin DE
All
10
Pros
9
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use
Deepin DE is very simple.
See More
Specs
License:
Mostly GPL
Programming Language:
Mostly C++
Widget Toolkit:
Qt, Deepin Tool Kit
Top
Pro
•••
Option to turn off mouse acceleration in the settings
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Touchscreen friendly
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Includes quality programs
It has some of it's own programs which are quite beautiful.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Available for a lot of distros
Deepin DE is currently supported on Deepin OS, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Arch Linux, Gentoo, Fedora, Sparky Linux, Puppy Linux, Pardus, Antergos and Manjaro.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Has a Windows-like and Mac-like interface
Easily switchable between the two, as well!
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Stable
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Quite lightweight
Deepin 15.7 has been optimized and now uses less than half the system resources of prior editions.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Very beautiful
Deepin DE has some blur designs which make it very beautiful.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
5
--
GNOME
My Rec
ommendation
for
GNOME
My Recommendation for
GNOME
All
5
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Standardized
The desktop layout is not as modifiable as some other options, and certain settings require additional software (such as Gnome Tweak Tool) to reasonably modify.
See More
Specs
License:
GPL
Programming Language:
mostly C
Widget Toolkit:
GTK+
Available on:
*nix
See All Specs
Top
Con
•••
No tray support by default
An extension has to be installed to get tray support.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Designed for tablets before desktops
Said a million times already by the other cons but the design is for tablets, even though the primary usecase is on laptops.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Hides many settings
GNOME sometimes reduces the whole interface to the absolute minimum, a few examples: GNOME hides many advanced options/settings in its interfaces Toolbars can't be edited without external tools Menubars have been removed in favor of a hamburger menu Newer GTK versions remove icons inside popupmenus and menu mnemonics
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
1
1
--
Pantheon
My Rec
ommendation
for
Pantheon
My Recommendation for
Pantheon
All
16
Experiences
1
Pros
5
Cons
9
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Simple, clean aesthetic
Nonintrusive and easy to overview workspace.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Few configuration options
It is pretty bare-bones on a stock install, but further configuration options can be added through various official tweak tools.
See More
nicwow's Experience
Very Easy to Use
See More
Specs
License:
GPL
Programming Language:
C
Widget Toolkit:
GTK
Languages:
Vala
Top
Pro
•••
Ubuntu Support
See More
Top
Con
•••
Too simple
Good for people who want a plug and play simple Desktop Environment. But for a multitasking / entertainment / cutting edge or Gaming Rig this is not the answer.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Great for minimalists
Although you cannot put icons on desktop, it comes with very low number of pre-installed softwares.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Not available for major Linux distributions
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Looks amazing
Looks absolutely amazing. Very nice to use. Amazing UX.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No icons on desktop
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Unofficial Debian Port
Unofficial Debian Port: https://gitlab.com/pantheon-debian/pantheon-debian
See More
Top
Con
•••
Slow maintenance
Any significant updates come with new release, which usually takes 2-3 years. Hence gets obsolete with current software.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Looks and feels like a Mac
Which may turn quite a few people off with the aesthetics, of course for some people, this is a pro.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Uses GTK
Nowadays, GTK is designed with GNOME, and only GNOME, in mind. Non-GNOME applications which attempt to utilize it suffer as a result. Pantheon is no exception.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Not ideal for enterprise environments
As it has no set release date, and no set support and/or EOL dates, that makes it a not so good choice for enterprises managing a number of machines where such dates are important to know before hand.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Buggy
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
2
2
Don't see your favorite option? Add it.
Built By the Slant team
Find the best product instantly.
4.7 star rating
Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari
Try it now - it's free
One sec!
Are you sure that you want to abandon your hard work?
Delete Work
Continue working
{}
undefined
url next
price drop