blue/orange shading = KDE/GNOME app or fork;
blue/orange font = uses Qt/GTK
by Alphonse Eylenburg
eylenburg.github.io
The below table shows a comparison of the main 15 desktop environments available for Linux and Unix.
There are the Big 2 - KDE and GNOME - as well as some smaller ones and lots of forks and variants of the big ones.
Especially since the controversial initial release of GNOME 3, there have been lots of variants and forks: Unity, Mate, Cinnamon, as well as Solus's Budgie, and elementaryOS's Pantheon (the latter two are not forks strictly speaking, however they use some core parts of the Gnome stack, e.g. Mutter as window manager or Gnome apps). Unity has been dropped by Canonical and is now developed by the UBports community, renamed to Lorimi, although the last stable version of Unity, Unity 7, is still available, e.g. in the Ubuntu Unity distribution.
KDE only had one notable fork, Trinity, which is based on KDE 3.
Other notable desktop environments include LXQt (a merger of LXDE and Razor-qt), Deepin Desktop, Lumina, and Enlightenment and its fork Moksha.
Source: eylenburg.github.io
Last updated: October 2021
| The Two Main Competitors | Popular Alternatives | Niche Desktop Environments | Very Niche Desktop Environments | ||||||||||||
| KDE Plasma | GNOME | Xfce | MATE | Cinnamon | LXQt | Pantheon | Deepin (DDE) | Budgie | UKUI | Common (CDE) | Enlightenment | Trinity (TDE) | Unity 7 | Lumina | |
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| History | |||||||||||||||
| First release | 1998 | 1999 | 1997 | 2011 | 2011 | 2013 | 2011 | 2013 | 2013 | 2016 | 1993 | 1996 | 2010 | 2010 | 2012 |
| Forked from | - | - | - | GNOME 2 | GNOME 3 | LXDE & Razor-qt | - | - | - | MATE | 1993 | 1996 | KDE 3.5 | GNOME 3 | - |
| Raison d'être | Creation of a free and non-commercial desktop environment for Linux | Started as a GTK-based KDE alternative due to Qt's non-free license (until 1999) | Originally started as a Linux clone of CDE | Continuation of GNOME 2 when GNOME 3 was released | Desktop environment created for the Linux Mint distribution | Lightweight desktop environment, de facto successor of LXDE | Desktop environment created for the elementary OS distribution | Desktop environment created for the Deepin distribution | Desktop environment created for the Solus distribution | Desktop environment created for the Ubuntu Kylin distribution | Former joint venture of HP, IBM, Sun and USL to create a standard UNIX desktop | Sophisticated window manager that slowly turned into a desktop environment | Continuation of KDE 3 when KDE Plasma 4 was released | Desktop environment created for the Ubuntu distribution (until 2017) | Desktop environment created for PC-BSD → TrueOS → Project Trident distribution |
| Application suite (readme)May include inactive, experimental or 3rd party apps. blue/orange shading = KDE/GNOME app or fork; blue/orange font = uses Qt/GTK | |||||||||||||||
| GUI toolkit | Qt | GTK | GTK | GTK | GTK | Qt | GTK | DTKfork of Qt | GTKMigration to EFL announced | Qt | Motif | EFL | TQtfork of Qt 3 | Nux | Qt |
| Window manager | KWin | Mutter | Xfwm4fork of Fvwm | Marcofork of Metacity | Muffinfork of Mutter | Openboxfork of Blackbox | Galafork of Mutter | dde-kwinfork of KWin | budgie-wmfork of Mutter | ukui-kwinfork of KWin | dtwm | Enlightenmentfork of Fvwm | TWinfork of KWin | Compiz | Fluxboxfork of Blackbox |
| Preferred display manager | SDDM | GDM | LightDM | LightDM | LightDM | SDDM | LightDM | LightDM | LightDM | LightDM | dtlogin | Entrance | TDMfork of KDM | LightDM | SDDM |
| Embedded HTML engine | QtWebViewBlink, fork of WebKit, fork of KHTML | WebKitGTKWebKit, fork of KHTML | - | - | WebKitGTKWebKit, fork of KHTML | - | WebKitGTKWebKit, fork of KHTML | QtWebViewBlink, fork of WebKit, fork of KHTML | WebKitGTKWebKit, fork of KHTML | - | - | - | KHTML | WebKitGTKWebKit, fork of KHTML | - |
| File manager | Dolphin | GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Thunar | Cajafork of Nautilus | Muffinfork of Nautilus | PCManFM-Qt | Pantheon Files | Deepin File Manager | Nautilus or Nemofork of Nautilus | Peony | dtfile | Enlightenment File Manager | Konqueror | Nautilus or Nemofork of Nautilus | Insight |
| Archive manager | Ark | File Roller | Xarchiver | Engrampafork of File Roller | File Roller | - | File Roller | Deepin Compressor | File Roller | Engrampafork of File Roller | Epack | Ark | File Roller | Lumina Archiver | |
| Document/PDF viewer | Okular | Evince | - | Atrilfork of Evince | xreaderfork of Atril | qpdfview | Evince | Deepin Reader | Evince | - | - | - | KPDF | Evince | Lumina PDF Viewer |
| Image viewer & management | Gwenview, digiKam | eogEye of GNOME, Photos, Shotwell, gThumb | Ristretto | Eye of MATEfork of eog (Eye of GNOME) | xviewerfork of eog (Eye of GNOME), pixfork of gThumb | LXImage | Pantheon Photos | Deepin Image Viewer | eog (Eye of GNOME) | - | dtimage | Ephoto | Gwenview, digiKam, Kuickshow | eog (Eye of GNOME) | Lumina Image Viewer |
| Text editor | Kate, KWrite | gedit | Mousepad | Plumafork of gedit | xedfork of Pluma | Featherpad | Pantheon Code | Deepin Editor | gedit | Plumafork of gedit | dtpad | Ecrire | Kate, KWrite, KEdit | gedit | Lumina Text Editor |
| Terminal | Konsole | GNOME Terminal | Xfce Terminal | MATE Terminalfork of GNOME Terminal | GNOME Terminal | QTerminal | Pantheon Terminal | Deepin Terminal | GNOME Terminal | MATE Terminalfork of GNOME Terminal | dtterm | Terminology | Konsole | GNOME Terminal | - |
| Calculator | KCalc | GNOME Calculator | - | MATE Calculatorfork of GNOME Calculator | GNOME Calculator | - | Pantheon Calculator | Deepin Calculator | GNOME Calculator | MATE Calculatorfork of GNOME Calculator | dtcalc | Equate | KCalc | GNOME Calculator | Lumina Calculator |
| Media player | Dragon, Kaffeine, KMPlayer | GNOME Videos (Totem) | Parole | - | xplayerfork of Totem | - | Pantheon Videos | Deepin Movie | - | Kylin Video | - | Rage | Kaffeine, KMPlayer | GNOME Videos (Totem) | Lumina Media Player |
| Music library | Elisa, JuK, Strawberry | Music, Lollypop, Rhythmbox | Xfmpc | - | - | - | Pantheon Music | Deepin Music | - | - | - | Enjoy | Amarok, JuK | Rhythmbox | - |
| Email client | KMail, Trojita | Geary, Evolution | - | - | - | - | Pantheon Mail | - | - | - | dtmail | EmailExperimental | KMail | - | - |
| Calendar | KOrganizer | GNOME Calendar, Evolution | Orage | - | - | - | Pantheon Calendar | Deepin Calendar | - | - | dtcm | - | KOrganizer | - | - |
| System monitor | Plasma System Monitor | GNOME System Monitor | Xfce Taskmanager | MATE System Monitorfork of GNOME System Monitor | GNOME System Monitor | qps | - | Deepin System Monitor | - | UKUI System Monitor | - | Exterminator | KSysGuard | GNOME System Monitor | - |
| Other notable programs | Falkon (browser), Words (word processor), Sheets (spreadsheets), Stage (presentations), Krita (image editing/drawing), ShowFoto (image editing), KolourPaint (drawing), Flow (diagrams), Karbon (vector graphics), Kdenlive (video editor), Plan (project management), Kexi (databases), KTorrent, Konversation (IRC), Kopete (Instant Messenger), Akregator (RSS), KWave (sound editor), KMyMoney (personal finances), K3b (CD burner), KDevelop (IDE), KDE Connect | Epiphany/GNOME Web (browser), AbiWord (word processor), Gnumeric (spreadsheets), GIMP (image editing), GNU Paint (drawing), Dia (diagrams), Inkscape (vector graphics), Pitivi (video editor), Planner (project management), Polari (IRC), Empathy (Instant Messenger), Boxes (Virtual Machines), Brasero (CD burner), Builder (IDE) | Midori (browser), Xfburn (CD burner) | - | - | - | Epiphany (browser) | - | - | - | - | EDI (IDE) | Konqueror (browser), KWord (word processor), KSpread (spreadsheets), KPresenter (presentations), ShowFoto (image editing), KolourPaint (drawing), KChart & Kivio (diagrams), Karbon (vector graphics), Kdenlive (video editor), KPlato (project management), Kexi (databases), KTorrent, Konversation (IRC), Kopete (Instant Messenger), Akregator (RSS), KWave (sound editor), KMyMoney (personal finances), K3b (CD burner), KDevelop (IDE) | - | - |
| Resource use | |||||||||||||||
| Minimum/Average RAM useTest system: Ubuntu 20.04, virtual machine with 2 GB RAM, three different runs, RAM use in excess of base system (i.e. terminal only) | 347/572 MB | 408/737 MB | 394/532 MB | 376/487 MB | 348/569 MB | 243/462 MB | 302/473 MB | 490/640 MB | 336/576 MB | 438/632 MB | 419/573 MBusing SparkyLinux binary; these numbers seem off given the fact that CDE was the standard Unix desktop in the 1990s | 70/299 MB | 185/380 MB | 335/651 MB | 93/242 MB |
| General features | |||||||||||||||
| Display server support | X11 + Wayland | X11 + Wayland | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 + Wayland | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only |
| HiDPI support | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (2x scaling) | Yes (2x scaling) | No (only font size) | Yes (2x scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (2x scaling) | No (only font size) | Yes (fractional scaling) | No (only font size) | Yes (fractional scaling) | No (only font size) |
| Preferred style of window decorations (SSD/CSD) | Server-side decorations | Client-side decorations | Mixed (mostly SSD) | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Client-side decorations | Client-side decorations | Client-side decorations | Client-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations |
| Theme support, including 3rd-party themes | Yes | Not OOTBneed to install gnome-tweaks and gnome-shell-extensions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Colour and font only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduled theme switch (e.g. dark theme at night) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Night light (reduces blue light) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Integration with online accounts | Google, Owncloud | Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google, Microsoft, Nextcloud | - | - | Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google, Microsoft, Nextcloud | - | Fastmail, Last.fm | - | Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google, Microsoft, Nextcloud | - | - | - | - | Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google, Microsoft, Nextcloud | - |
| Panel elements w/o extensions or hidden settings/tweaks | |||||||||||||||
| App launcher: show all apps / sort apps by XDG category | Yeswith alternative launcher/Yes | Yes/Nobut can create custom app folders | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | No/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | No/Yes | No/Yes | No/Yes | Yes/Yescan filter by category | Yes/Yes |
| App launcher: search apps and settings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Only apps | Yes | Only apps | Yes | Yes | Yes(separate searches) | Yes | Yes |
| App launcher: quickly uninstall apps (e.g. right-click) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Favourited/pinned apps | in app launcher and panel | in "Activities" dash | in app launcher and panel | in app launcher and panel | in app launcher and panel | in panel | in panel | in panel | in panel | in panel | in panel | in panel | in panel | in panel | in app launcher and panel |
| Panel location changeable (e.g. bottom, top) | Yes (all four sides) | No | Yes (all four sides) | Yes (all four sides) | Yes (all four sides) | Yes (all four sides) | No | Yes (all four sides) | Yes (all four sides) | Yes (all four sides) | Yes (moves like window) | Yes (all four sides) | Yes (all four sides) | No | Yes (all four sides) |
| Panel auto-hide function | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Nobut panel can be minimized like a normal window | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Clock/volume/battery status in panel | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | No/No/No | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes |
| Network manager in panel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Keyboard layout switcher in panel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Notification list (e.g. new e-mail, updates available) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Icons for background apps (e.g. cloud sync, messenger) | Yes | LimitedGNOME does not support tray icons, but applications can use sticky notifications, similar to those on Android. However, this is not supported by all applications who would have otherwise shown tray icons. More info here: https://wiki.gnome.org/Initiatives/StatusIconMigration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Option to have a global menubar (like macOS) | Yes (not default) | No | No | Yes (not default) | No | No | No | No | Yes (not default) | No | No | No | Yes (not default) | Yes (default but optional) | No |
| Window management | |||||||||||||||
| Taskbar/dock: toggle between showing windows or apps | Yes | No (see note)dash (in "Activities" screen) shows running apps, panel shows only the one currently focused app | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (dock shows apps) | No (taskbar shows apps) | Yes | No (taskbar shows apps) | No (only pinned apps shown) | No (taskbar shows windows) | Yes | No (dock shows apps) | Yes |
| Taskbar/dock: show window thumbnails | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Maximize window (without hiding panel/dock/taskbar) | Yes | Yes (right-click) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (panel will be covered) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fullscreen (hides panel and other element) | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes (right-click only) | keyboard shortcut only | keyboard shortcut only | keyboard shortcut only | keyboard shortcut only | No | keyboard shortcut only | No | Yes | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | keyboard shortcut only | keyboard shortcut only |
| Minimize | Yes | Yes (right-click) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (right-click) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (minimizes to desktop) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Show desktop (minimize all windows) | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | keyboard shortcut only | Yes | Yes | No | keyboard shortcut only | Yes (right-click) | keyboard shortcut only | Yes |
| Keep window on top | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | No | Yes (right-click) | No | No | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) |
| Move to other workspace/show on all workspacesworkspace = virtual desktop | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | keyboard shortcut only/No | Yes (right-click) | drag & drop in taskview/No | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) |
| Tile windows by moving them to the screen edge | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | Yes (½ screen) | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | No | Yes (½ screen) | No | Yes (½ screen) | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | No | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | No | Yes (½ screen) | No |
| Move/resize windows using Alt + Left/Right Click | Yes/Yes | Yes/YesSuper key instead of Alt key | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | No/No | Yes/No | No/No | No/No | Yes/No | Yes/YesAlt + Middle Click | Yes /Yes | Yes/No | Yes/Yes | Show overview of all windows (exposé) | Yes | Yes (current workspace) | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (current workspace) | No | No | No | keyboard shortcut only | No | Show overview of all workspaces (virtual desktop grid) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Virtual desktop cube | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| File manager | Dolphin | GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Thunar | Caja | Nemo | PCManFM-Qt | Pantheon Files | Deepin File Manager | Peony | dtfile | Enlightenment File Manager | Konqueror | Insight | Icon/column/tree view | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/No | Yes/Yes/in side panel | Yes/Yes/in side panel | Yes/Yes/in side panel | Yes/Yes/in side panel | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/No | Budgie does not have a standard file manager, it is up to the distribution to decide which file manager to ship. For example, Solus (the flagship distribution for Budgie) uses GNOME's Nautilus, while Ubuntu Budgie uses Cinnamon's Nemo. | Yes/Yes/in side panel | Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/No | Yes/Yes/Yes | Unity does not have a standard file manager, it is up to the distribution to decide which file manager to ship. For example, Ubuntu Unity uses Cinnamon's Nemo, but installing Unity on standard Ubuntu will default to GNOME's Nautilus. | Yes/Yes/in side panel | Tabs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Split/dual-pane view | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Toggle to show/hide hidden files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sort by: name/type/size/date | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes | Thumbnail support in file manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Thumbnail support in file picker (open/save dialogue) | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Type-ahead find | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Filter files in active folder | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Recursive search | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Drag & drop to desktop/between folders | Yes/Yeswill ask if file should be moved, copied, or linked | No desktopGNOME does not support desktop icons or displaying files on the desktop/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, GNOME will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yes/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, Xfce will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yes/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, MATE will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yes/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, Cinnamon will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yes/Yeswill ask if file should be moved, copied, or linked | No desktopPantheon does not support desktop icons or displaying files on the desktop/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, Pantheon will not ask what to do but will create a link to the file | Yes/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, DDE will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yes/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, UKUI will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, CDE will not ask what to do but will create a link to the file/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, CDE will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yes/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, Enlightenment will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Yes/Yeswill ask if file should be moved, copied, or linked | YesLumina shows inconsistent behaviour and may either copy or move files/Yeswithout pressing modifier keys, Lumina will not ask what to do but will move the file(s) | Undo rename or deletion with Ctrl+Z | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Duplicate file options | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old/rename | Keep new/old/rename | Automatically renames | Keep new/old/rename | Automatically renames | Create new empy file | Yes | only from ~/Templates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Compress files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Select multiple files with Ctrl and Shift | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Invert selection | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Open file with... (select application) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Edit, copy or paste folder location/path | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | copy only | No | copy only | Yes | Yes |
| Distribution support | |||||||||||||||
| Reference distribution (closest to upstream) | KDE Neon | Fedora or GNOME OS | - | - | Linux Mint | - | elementary OS | Deepin | Solus | Ubuntu Kylin | - | - | - | Ubuntu Unity | Project Trident |
| Number of supporting active distributions (Distrowatch.com) | 53 | 74 | 94 | 51 | 29 | 27 | 3 | 8 | 12 | n/a (1) | n/a | 19 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Debian | option during installation | pre-selected at installation | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | officially supported | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | via 3rd party repository |
| Ubuntu | default in Kubuntu | default desktop (modifiedUbuntu comes with a heavily modified GNOME desktop by default, which is configured to look and behave similar to the previous default desktop Unity) | default in Xubuntu | default in Ubuntu MATE | officially supported | default in Lubuntu | via elementary OS repository | via 3rd party repository | default in Ubuntu Budgie | default in Ubuntu Kylin | via 3rd party repository | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | officially supported | via 3rd party repository |
| Linux Mint | via Ubuntu repository | via Ubuntu repository | default in Xfce Edition | default in MATE Edition | default in Cinnamon Edition | via Ubuntu repository | via elementary OS repository | via 3rd party repository | via Ubuntu repository | via Ubuntu repository | via 3rd party Ubuntu repository | via Ubuntu repository | via 3rd party repository | via Ubuntu repository | via 3rd party repository |
| Fedora | default in KDE Spin | default desktop | default in Xfce Spin | default in MATE Spin | default in Cinnamon Spin | default in LXQt Spin | officially supported | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | via 3rd party repository | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | officially supported |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux | via EPEL repository | default desktop | via EPEL repository | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | no builds available |
| Mageia | pre-selected at installation | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | no builds available |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise | via SUSE Package Hub | default desktop | via SUSE Package Hub | via SUSE Package Hub | via SUSE Package Hub | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | via SUSE Package Hub | no builds available | no builds available | via SUSE Package Hub | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | no builds available |
| OpenSUSE | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | no builds available | available in OBS | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | available in OBS |
| Slackware | pre-selected at installation | via 3rd party repository | option during installation | via 3rd party repository | via 3rd party repository | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | available as SlackBuild | available as SlackBuild | via 3rd party repository | no builds available | available as SlackBuild |
| Gentoo | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | officially supported | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | officially supported |
| Arch | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | available in AUR | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | available in AUR | officially supported | via 3rd party repository | via 3rd party repository | available in AUR |
| FreeBSD | officially supported | officially supported | officially supporteddefault desktop for MidnightBSD | officially supporteddefault desktop for GhostBSD | officially supported | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | officially supported | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | officially supported |
| NetBSD | only Plasma 4 available | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | no builds available | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available |
| OpenBSD | only Plasma 4 available | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | no builds available | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | officially supported | no builds available | no builds available | officially supported |
| Solaris | no builds available | default desktop | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available |
| Illumos | only Plasma 4 available | only GNOME 2 available | officially supportedavailable in OpenIndiana or Joyent repositories; default desktop for Tribblix | officially supportedavailable in OpenIndiana or Joyent repositories; default desktop for OpenIndiana | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available | officially supportedavailable in OpenIndiana or Joyent repositories | no builds available | no builds available | no builds available |
| Usage share (estimate) | |||||||||||||||
| GamingOnLinux.com User Statistics | 31.2% | 30.9% | 10.6% | 3.6% | 8.6% | 0.7% | 0.6% | n/a | 1.6% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.0% | n/a |
| Arch (no default desktop) - installations | 34.4% | 27.5% | 18.9% | 7.1% | 6.7% | 2.8% | 0.0% | 5.0% | 1.5% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 1.7% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| OpenSUSE (no default desktop) - 2020 EoY survey | 64.6% | 15.8% | 9.7% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 0.1% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 0.4% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Debian (GNOME is pre-selected option) - installations | 9.8% | 23.7% | 14.1% | 6.8% | 5.0% | 1.6% | n/a | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ubuntu (modified GNOME is default desktop) - installations | 9.6% | 48.0% (6.5%)48.0% = Ubuntu-Desktop, a modified version of GNOME; 6.5% = vanilla GNOME | 4.7% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | n/a | 0.5% | 0.0% | 23.8% | 0.0% |
| Non-technical information | |||||||||||||||
| License | GPL | GPL | GPL, LGPL, BSD | GPL, LGPLv2 | GPL | GPL, LGLP | GPL | GPL | GPL, LGPL | GPL | LGPL | BSD | GPL | GPL, LGPL | BSD |
| Corporate and government backing | Blue Systems, Canonical, Google, Qt Group, SUSE | IBM (Red Hat), Canonical, Google, SUSE, System76 | - | - | - | - | Elementary Inc. | Union Tech 统信软件, Chinese government | - | Canonical, Chinese government | - | Samsung | - | - | - |
| Politics and activism | Climate activismEndorsement of "climate strike" | Racism/sexism |
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| Other active or experimental desktop environments for Linux/Unix (examples): | |
| Using EFL: | Mokshafork of Enlightenment, used in Bodhi Linux |
| Using Flutter: | Pangolin Desktop UIused in dahliaOS |
| Using Fyne: | FyneDesk |
| Using GNUstep: | Nextspace |
| Using GTK: | COSMICbased on GNOME, used in Pop!_OS, Endless Shellfork of GNOME, used in Endless OS, GNOME Classic, GNOME Flashback, JADE, Manokwarifork of GNOME, used in BlankOn Linux, Material Shellbased on GNOME, LXDE, Pearl DEemploying Compiz, used in Pearl Linux, PIXEL Desktopfork of LXDE, used in Raspberry Pi OS, Sugar, Regolithemploying i3, used in Regolith Linux, XFast |
| Using Motif: | Maxx Interactive |
| Using Qt: | Cutefish, Draco DEfork of Lumina, hello Desktopused in helloSystem, Jing Desktop Environmentfork of KDE Plasma, used in JingOS, KDE Liquidshell, Liri Shellused in Liri OS, NX Desktopfork of KDE Plasma, used in Nitrux, theShell |
| Other: | Fvwm-Crystalbased on Fvwm window manager, nsCDEbased on Fvwm window manager, PsychDOS |
| Not for X11 or Wayland | Aquaused in macOS, Aura Shellused in Chrome OS, Durdenfor Arcan display server, egmdefor Mir display server |
| Stand-alone window managers for Linux/Unix (examples): | |
| Stacking and compositing window managers: | 2bwm, 9wm, AfterStep, amiwm, berry, Blackbox, Compiz, CTWM, cwm, eggwm, evilwm, Fluxbox, Flwm, Fvwm, Goomwwm, IceWM, jbwm, JWM, Karmen, lwm, Matchbox, MWM, olwm, Openbox, pawm, PekWM, Qvwm, Sawfish, Scwm, sowm, swm, TinyWM, twm, tvtwm, ukwm, UWM, vwm, vtwm, Wind, WindowMaker, WindowLab, Wio, wm2 |
| Tiling and dynamic window managers: | Alopex, awesome, Bspwm, dwm, echinus, EXWM, FrankenWM, Herbstluftwm, i3, Ion, Larswm, NotionWM, Qtile, Ratpoison, spectrwm, StumpWM, subtle, Sway, Velox, Wingo, WMFS2, wmii, xmonad |
| Active smartphone GUIs for Linux/Unix (examples): | |
| Using EFL: | Tizen UIusing Enlightenment window manager |
| Using GTK: | Hildonused in Maemo Leste, Phoshused in PureOS |
| Using Qt: | Glacier UXused in Nemo Mobile, KDE Plasma Mobiledefault UI on PinePhone, Lomirisuccessor of Unity 7, used in Ubuntu Touch, Luna Nextused in Open webOS, Sailfish UIused in Sailfish OS |
| Using Xlib: | Sxmo |
| Not for X11 or Wayland: | Galaused in KaiOS and its predecessor FirefoxOS, Springboardused in iOS/iPadOS, various Android interfaces (incl. for forks such as HarmonyOS or Fire OS)e.g. Stock Android as well as custom UIs by manufacturers such as Amazon (FireOS), Asus, HTC, Huawei, Meizu, OnePlus, OPPO, Samsung, Sony, and Xiaomi |
| Discontinued or dormant desktop environments for Linux/Unix (examples): | |
| Using FLTK: | Equinox (EDE) |
| Using GNUstep / OpenStep: | Etoile, NeXTSTEP Desktop |
| Using GTK: | Consort, GPEfor smartphones, Java Desktop Systemfork of GNOME, used in Solaris, Maynard, Mezzo, ROX Desktop, Vera |
| Using Motif: | IRIX Interactive Desktopused in IRIX, HP VUEused in HP-UX |
| Using OLIT/Xview: | openlookfork of Open Windows, Open Windowsused in Solaris |
| Using Qt: | BE::SHell, Elokab, Hawaii, Innova, Kuartet, MoonlightDE, OPIE, Papyros, Razor-qton of the predecessors of LXQt, Unity 2D |
| Using Xlib/XCB: | Unix DE (UDE) |
| Other: | Bada GUIfor smartphones running Samsung Bada OS, Fvwm-Nightshadebased on Fvwm window manager, Project Looking Glassusing Java 3D |
| Active desktop environments for non-Linux/Unix operating systems (examples): | |
| For AmigaOS-like operating systems: | Workbenchused in AmigaOS, Ambientused in MorphOS, Magellanused in Icaros, Wandererused in AROS |
| For Haiku: | OpenTracker |
| For OpenVMS: | DECWindows |
| For RISC OS: | Pinboard |
| For Unix-like operating system | Orbitalused in Redox OS, rioused in 9legacy, 9front, Harvey OS etc., Screenused in QNX, SerenityOS GUI, skiftOS GUI, wmused in Inferno, XaAESused in FreeMiNT |
| For Windows-like operating systems: | Windows Shellused in Microsoft Windows, ReactOS Explorerused in ReactOS, Workspace Shellused in ArcaOS |
| For other operating systems | Ermineused in Fuchsia, Sculptused in Genode, Yutaniused in ToaruOS; the unnamed GUIs of the following OS: Bluebottle, ChrysaLisp, DawnOS, DexOS, Essence, Ghost, HelenOS, KolibriOS, MenuetOS, Mezzano, MonaOS, PhantomOS, Solar OS, SymbOS, Visopsys |
Below is a graph showing the RAM use in excess of the 261 MB used by the base system (without GDM3 or X.Org running).
This is based on 3 test runs:
Results:
