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LinuxUbuntuLinux DistroLinux distribution

What are the best Ubuntu based distros?

23

Options
Considered

500

User
Recs.

26 mins

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Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 20 OptionsWhy?

Best Ubuntu based distros	Price	Based On	Default Desktop Environment
91 feren OS	free	Debian>Ubuntu>Linux Mint	KDE
84 Linux Mint	Free	Debian>Ubuntu LTS	Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce
-- Trisquel GNU/Linux	Free	Debian>Ubuntu	GNOME, LXDE, MATE, Openbox
76 KDE Neon	-	Debian>Ubuntu LTS	KDE
-- Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition	0	Ubuntu	Cinnamon

feren OS

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Top Pro

Stable and reliable

Top Con

If you don't like KDE

PoisedAmeNoUzume's Experience

kde apps is like windows 95. See just setting Not easy See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu>Linux Mint

Default Desktop Environment:KDE

Init-System:systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Top Pro

Excellent selection of software

For one example: It ditches Discover for Mint's software and update manager. See More

Kprv's Experience

Best KDE Ubuntu-based experience that I had. It is basically KDE Neon with some Mint tools, and excellent default looks. You can install newer kernels like Liquorix/Zen, of course, and you will have a perfect, stable gaming machine, that will work every time you turn your PC on. See More

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

PhilosophicalTamanuitera's Experience

its a great os i have ever used See More

Top Pro

You can have a stable LTS base with the latest zen/liquorix kernel

CommunicativeAnhur's Experience

Based On Ubuntu , Excellent look and stability Recommended for new Linux users See More

CromulentUnut's Experience

Best out of the box experience and visually stunning distro See More

19 Other Options Considered

Linux Mint

Top Pro

Complete and stable

It's based upon Ubuntu LTS or Debian. It depends on which one you select - Linux Mint or Linux Mint Debian Edition. The Debian Edition is even more stable. See More

Top Con

Looks ugly

The default theme and wallpaper looks outdated and bland. Luckily that is easy to change in the settings. See More

DebonairLadon's Experience

good OS ngl See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu LTS

Default Desktop Environment:Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Top Pro

Mint 20 will actively avoid the Snap landmine planted by Canonical in Ubuntu 20.04

Top Con

Limits to the support of propriatary hardware drivers

Mint has limited support for older graphics cards beyond the generic nouveau driver, and some software (like Stremio) only works with official Nvidia drivers (for example). See More

RealisticPortunes's Experience

I use it full time on my secondary laptop and have found it very stable and easy to use. Does everythign I need it to do. See More

Top Pro

Compatibility with Debian and Ubuntu software builds and repositories

Mint gains a very strong package ecosystem and software manager of Debian, including more than 30,000 packages available from the Debian repositories. See More

Top Con

AMD GPU support

Mint does not provide support for integrated AMD GPU support. See More

Top Pro

Provides LTS (long term support) versions

Long Term Support versions are versions of software that are continuously updated for an extended period of time, even after newer versions are launched. LTS versions will typically get feature additions and enhancements for an extended period of time, then security updates up until its End of Life. An LTS release should typically be considered good for at least 5 years. See More

Top Con

Upgrade process between versions can be painful

The Linux Mint team offers a method to upgrade the OS between versions but they tend to recommend clean installs, which isn't always suitable for everyone. However, following the upgrade process currently is less than straightforward and is easily capable of leaving your system in a confused state. See More

Top Pro

Easy installation and configuration

Linux Mint uses the same installer as Ubuntu. It is very easy to use for beginners, and also allows more advanced users to choose their own partitions. Linux Mint's Cinnamon desktop is highly customizable and can be made to look however preferred. See More

Top Pro

Already functional out-of-the-box

Mint comes bundled with software for browsing the web, editing pictures, browsing files, watching videos and even a full office suite (LibreOffice). An average user can use Mint right away after a fresh install, using all the software that comes with the distribution to complete most of their daily tasks. See More

Top Pro

Familiar user interface

Mint is highly recommended for both users coming from Windows, as well as users coming from Ubuntu, but unhappy with Ubuntu's recent, rather dramatic interface changes. Mint provides an updated interface with a look and feel similar to Gnome 2, with an application menu reminiscent of the Windows 7 Start Menu, with categorization and search. See More

Top Pro

Supports proprietary software

Linux Mint does maintain a free software environment, however, it does offer full support to proprietary software (Chrome, Skype, Teamviewer). See More

Top Pro

Good community support

There are several different ways to get support for this distribution, including the forums, their IRC channel, or their github repositories if you think their software isn't behaving as it should. See More

Top Pro

Not from a big company

Linux Mint is not Canonical, while based upon Ubuntu. See More

Top Pro

Dedicated upgrade process

The Linux Mint team is very dedicated to upgrading and improving Mint, to the point where the releases are fairly predictable. They are also dedicated to their users, meaning that they are responsive to critiques, suggestions, etc. See More

Top Pro

There is a "system restore" tool to restore the OS if something breaks

This tool backs up the core OS files to an external drive with an option for full encryption. See More

Top Pro

The OS is great for both beginners and advanced users

The OS has different update settings for different users and has easy manual within the OS. See More

Top Pro

Pretty desktop

Linux Mint has a quite pretty default desktop. Cinnamon is adopted by other distros also. See More

Top Pro

The easiest option ever

The distro is the easiest operating system to run ever. See More

Top Pro

Can run plasma for additional options

Experimented with different OSs and found Mint the easiest and least troublesome install. Looks good from the start but added KDE plasma for extra options which still allows me to use either desktop at startup. See More

Top Pro

Has more desktop options

You can choose between Cinnamon, MATE and XFCE. See More

Top Pro

Low learning curve to go from installation to advanced configuration

Mint is extremely easy to install, and with community support, easy to move onto adjusting the OS to meet your specific needs. The vast majority of instructions for undertaking configuration work and are easy to understand. See More

Top Pro

2016 hack was very quickly dealt with and is a non-issue over 4 years later

Top Pro

Popular

Linux Mint is currently the most hit page on DistroWatch. Because of its popularity, long-term support is pretty guaranteed. See More

KDE Neon

Top Pro

Configurability

KDE Neon uses KDE as its desktop environment, which is highly configurable, but also has great defaults. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve for beginners

It's a really sparse, bare-bones system, no automatic driver install for example. It can be quite hard for someone not used to Linux. See More

OpinionatedMnevis's Experience

It acts like windows which i like. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu LTS

Default Desktop Environment:KDE

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Top Pro

Works out of the box

Since it's built on the strong Ubuntu base, KDE Neon works seamlessly with a huge variety of hardware. See More

Top Con

Gives you the latest Plasma

KDE neon give you the latest and the greatest of Plasma Desktop with the stability of Ubuntu LTS. See More

Top Pro

Works well on low-end computers

Top Pro

The best looking Linux OS

It really is a great and stunning looking OS. See More

Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition

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Top Pro

Great user experience convenient for Windows users

Top Con

For slow CPU's, it is better to choose Linux Mint XFce Edition

It consumes pretty nothing of CPU resources for Desktop Environment. But looks good enough too. See More

Sadie Aldis's Experience

Decentralized wallet from Libonomy is 100% freedom, no 3rd party exchanges needed anymore. Check Out: https://tinyurl.com/yhsrus2d See More

Specs

Based On:Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Cinnamon

Release Schedule:Release Every 6 months.

Top Pro

There is very sexy dark theme

DelightfulTatenen's Experience

I found cinnamon 20.2 too be the closest to win10, mint in much easier to use. linux was telling the truth,it did put new life back in my obsolete toshiba,tecra that could not operate on windows anymore!!! See More

Xubuntu

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Top Pro

Great performance

Xubuntu is very fast and makes good use of resources. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Top Pro

Customizable

Official distro of XFCE, one of the most customizable desktop environments. In XFCE you can create as many tasks bars as you need and configure every one of their elements and behaviours. You can also change any icon, font, color... etc. Literally there's nothing you can't change in GUI. See More

Top Pro

Comes with lightweight applications

Xubuntu is designed as a lightweight operating system and Linux distro. It uses XFCE by default and comes packed with XFCE applications which are generally pretty lightweight. See More

Pop!_OS

Top Pro

Optimized for modern hardware

Whereas normally, to use a brand new computer with a Linux OS, you would typically try to use unstable and sometimes buggy drivers - or struggle without hardware support until a stable release comes along. See More

LivelyAmasagnul's Experience

Absolutely UNIX 🙊 experience since the hurricane 🌀🥴 Katrina... See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Cosmic(based on GNOME)

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Top Pro

Nice gnome theme dy default

Has nice gnome theme looks really good. See More

TrustworthyHomonoia's Experience

I bought a System76 computer thinking that I'd install a different Linux OS when I got it, but I've been too impressed with Pop!_OS to do so. Everything just works, including all my usual gnome-related tweaking, and it looks awesome and runs like butter. Impressed! See More

Top Pro

Pop! makes GNOME look really good

If you're a fan of flat desktop interfaces reminiscent of Material design on Android, you'll like the theme that comes as a default in Pop! OS. The desktop and title bars all use a bright turquoise theme that makes the interface feel happy and borderline retro-chic. I found it to be like something you'd find printed on a ringer t-shirt. See More

SociableOyamatsumi's Experience

It was a noice gnome experience. See More

Top Pro

A separate NVIDIA version

Most linux distros seem to hate Nvidia's graphics cards e.g. Fedora and OpenSUSE. System76 have decided to be kind. They have decided to form a good relationship with Nvidia fans and Nvidia itself. By creating a separate installation media that is dedicated for providing support to Nvidia's graphics cards. Even going as far as putting Nvidia's driver updates on Pop!_Shop for users to easily access and install. See More

Top Pro

User-friendly installer

The visually appealing and easy to use installer makes dual booting as easy as it can be. See More

Top Pro

Ready to play games, out of the box

If you still miss how easy it was to just click-install and play games in Windows, Pop! will give you that similar expectation. See More

Top Pro

Made by a hardware seller

System76 is a hardware company. It configures machines to ship with Linux pre-installed. This means its entire business model centers around delivering a quality desktop Linux experience. As a result, the company pours more attention onto the desktop. It can fix visual issues and may be able to provide a smoother overall experience than you would have installing a different version of Linux on your machine yourself. Providing Pop!_OS also empowers System76 to make certain fixes for users directly rather than having to coordinate with Canonical or the broader Ubuntu community. See More

Zorin OS

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Top Pro

Stable

Top Con

Limited desktop styles in Free Version

All free editions only offer Windows XP, 2000, and 7 and Gnome 2. You have to pay $9-10 in order to get Unity (Ubuntu) and Mac OS X themes. See More

PioneeringLongmu's Experience

It is very easy to learn and use for those coming from windows. Its UI is also very smooth and gives an animation like feeling while being lightweight to the computer See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu LTS

Default Desktop Environment:Gnome / Xfce

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Top Pro

Installer can set up dual boot

Top Con

Back door access from Zorin Connect

There’s a potential for attacks through the Zorin connect and layout theme. See More

One Design LLC's Experience

Stable and Reliable as a daily alternative from big Commerce but a little concerned about proprietary software being a back door for attacks See More

Top Pro

Ubuntu-based

Zorin is compatible with Ubuntu's sizable repositories of Free Software. See More

MotivatedNehmetawy's Experience

Use Linux starting in 1985, see them all. Use Zorin every day, very stable and fast used it on a iMac en do all my wedesign with Zorin, never had problems! See More

Top Pro

Good Selection of pre-installed software

New users may be unaware of what software is available for Linux, but Zorin includes a good selection for everyday tasks out of the box. See More

Top Pro

Zorin Connect

Allows syncing notifications with your phone. See More

Top Pro

Newbie Friendly

Don’t know much about Linux you can learn and an update won’t ruin your day. See More

Top Pro

Accessibility features

Top Pro

Windows desktop style

The desktop UI was made to resemble Windows 7, but alternative settings are available. See More

Top Pro

Low resources consumption

Top Pro

Bundles tools for changing the look and feel of the distribution

Zorin includes look changer and theme changer. See More

Top Pro

Partial Windows compatibility

Zorin includes WINE and PlayOnLinux to run many Windows applications and games. See More

ubuntuDDE

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Kubuntu

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Top Pro

Full featured desktop environment that is actively developed

Unlike some abandoned, unfinished distros, Kubuntu is up to date and offers a fully functional desktop environment that targets workstation users. See More

FearlessBorvo's Experience

Fresh from install this distro looks great. easy to find al the settings and customization is fast, easy to use for any level end user and plays well with the new Pro Beta See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:KDE

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Top Pro

The most underrrated Linux distro

Kubuntu 20.4 is the most complete Ubuntu ecosystem experience. KDE has a plenty of features that none DE has. It is so light and clean that has no comparison to GNOME experience. The "App Store" Discover is an absolute killer of Ubuntu app store in GNOME version. It is amazing! Should be the first experience to anyone looking for a stable, modern, easy to use, clean, fast, pre configured and hassle free Linux experience. See More

mxgms's Experience

Kubuntu 20.4 is the most complete Ubuntu ecosystem experience. KDE has a plenty of features that none DE has. It is so light and clean that has no comparison to GNOME experience. The "App Store" Discover is an absolute killer of Ubuntu app store in GNOME version. It is amazing! Should be the first experience to anyone looking for a stable, modern, easy to use, clean, fast, pre configured and hassle free Linux experience. See More

Top Pro

Light

Top Pro

Customizable

You can easily adjust the workspace to your needs. See More

Top Pro

Stable as hell

Super stable, never crashes. See More

BEE free OS

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Parrot Security OS

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MXlinux

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Specs

Based On:Debian Stable>antiX

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

Init-System:SysV

Ubuntu MATE

Top Pro

Based on Ubuntu

Top Con

Updates started closed terminal

Terminal installs weird stuff. If you like to manage your own system choose another distribution See More

One Design LLC's Experience

Ubuntu Mate was breath of fresh Air on installation but as soon as I installed it I noticed the first big issue I had with the operating system. First of all OS installs with a guest session and doesn’t even inform the user. No way to disable or no indication or check box to remove. Second you cannot remove this guest session unless you install synaptic and check online post on the mate forum. Thirdly, The system installs ssh by default all these should be optional with every Distro to prevent stalking and creative exploits. Writing a book proved a difficult task. Please beware of themes as well. With Mate a theme made my dock disappear and gave them root access and also corrupted my apple keyboard removing critical words like S,X and shift and caps lock the aim was to make it difficult for me to login to my dual boot very sinister but not surprising to keep shutting down my network I had enough and switched. Fedora more stable but still has the same broadcast ip network manager. It’s my opinion that some of these distributions need a visit from the Feds. Libreoffice installed by default is an issue and I believe how they got into the system and affected the keyboard Microsoft should consider partnering with Linux See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:MATE

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manger

Top Pro

Simplicity of Gnome with the power of Ubuntu

Debian was good to use but has limited documentation and is difficult to pick up. Ubuntu MATE brings the ease of design and logic of the Gnome 2 style desktop so it's easy to get around coupled with the vast documentation, forums and ease of learning/using the Ubuntu system. See More

Top Con

No user management

Fels like someone is managing your system other than you. Unusual for an OS. See More

Top Pro

Perfect for people who like Gnome 2

The goal of MATE is to maintain the look and feel of Gnome 2, while maintaining compatibility with Gnome 3. To that end, it has also forked and renamed many of Gnome's core applications. It benefits from the years of work and polish that have gone into the Gnome project. See More

Top Con

You can’t remove startup items like in other distributions

One you deactivate a start up item the system created you can’t remove it. It will reactivate on restart. See More

Top Pro

Install Core 22 to get a stable system

Top Con

Not bleeding edge

Users who want the latest and greatest software would be happier using Arch Linux, Antergos or another rolling release distro. However, because Ubuntu MATE is based on Ubuntu, users still have access to a large repository of recent software. See More

Top Pro

Highly configurable

Comes with an option to configure as Windows-like, Mac-like, Gnome-like, etc. in a single click. Wonderful to get you started without having to learn it all from scratch. See More

Top Con

No very good software center by default

The Software Boutique is not good. You can install Gnome Software from it. See More

Nitrux

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Top Pro

Innovative

Uses not EXT4 and uses Appimages for their software. See More

Top Con

Pkcon is there primary way updating

Sometimes works, Sometimes doesn't. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Default Desktop Environment:NX Desktop (customization layer on top of KDE Plasma 5)

Package Manager:APT (Debian base), AppImage (Preferred,) Flatpak (Supported)

Release Schedule:ISO snapshots every 30 days - Semi-rolling release

Top Con

History of forgotten software

They do the majority of there releases on blog websites. They discuss them there instead of the actual website. They marketed a "V-Metal" for the longest time to keep people hooked but then they said nothing about it and it went away. See More

Elementary OS

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Top Pro

UI design consistency

Excellent uniformity between all the stock application and an overall extremely clean design with simple animations. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support 32-bit hardwares anymore

One can install pantheon DE from new ubuntu's repo but Elementry OS is not making new ISO's nor is it supporting them. It makes confuzzled to new users. See More

CulturedHuehuecoyotl's Experience

Neat looks and very good performance. Works straight out of the box. It's a little bit unconfigurable out of the box but that can be easily fixed with Pantheon Tweaks. Very smooth animation/transitions. Works very well with touchpad (multitouch gestures that track 1:1 with finger movement). Developers prefer to use LTS releases of Ubuntu as the base for the Distro so don't expect the latest software but is very stable. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Pantheon

Init-System:Systemd

Top Pro

Extremely user-friendly

This distribution promises you a very tailored user experience and it does deliver on that promise. The developers provide you with a custom desktop environment and a set of neat programs. And the whole desktop looks simply gorgeous. See More

Top Con

Window control button placement may be unintuitive to some

elementary OS has window controls on the left side of the window. It may be less intuitive to users coming from other operating systems that put window controls on the right. See More

Top Pro

Built on Ubuntu

Built on Ubuntu LTS with all its qualities and support. See More

Top Con

Not very configurable

Top Pro

With new tweak tools customisation is not a problem

Now the OS is amazingly customisable. See More

Top Con

Old base and applications

The slow release schedule makes the applications outdated. It drags behind Ubuntu LTS (on which it's based) which itself drags behind Ubuntu which is often still quite far behind Arch for example. See More

Top Pro

Works very well with touchpad

Multi touch gestures that track 1:1 with finger movement work flawlessly. See More

Top Con

Quite buggy

Top Pro

If you like MacOSX the UI/UX is similar

Top Con

No proprietary driver installer

Elementary OS removed the driver installer of Ubuntu. See More

Top Pro

Consistent development practices

All Elementary apps are written in Vala and hosted on Launchpad, and there are standard APIs such as contractor for applications to interact with one another. This is different from most distros, in which apps are written in a variety of languages. This design decision makes it easy to get started developing for Elementary and to understand how the various pieces fit together. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight & fast

Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks or chromebooks. See More

Top Pro

A dedicated StackExchange site

Elementary OS has a dedicated StackExchange site where users can easily find answers to common questions. See More

Top Pro

Simplicity, limited configurability

Sane defaults with less confusion for new users. See More

Top Pro

Active Google+ community

There is a place where Elementary users can ask their questions and usually get answers pretty quickly. Not only by the other users, but the devs are pretty active themselves, often engaging in the discussions on the hows, whys, and plans of the OS. See More

UwUntu

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Ubuntu Budgie

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Specs

Based On:Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Budgie

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Release Schedule:Point (follows ubuntu releases)

Ubuntu Studio

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Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Init-System:Systemd

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

ExTiX Linux

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