blue/orange shading = KDE/GNOME app or fork;
blue/orange font = uses Qt/GTK
The below table shows a comparison of the main desktop environments available for Linux and Unix, as well as the macOS and Microsoft Windows for the sake of comparability.
For Linux (and some Unix operation systems), there are the "Big Two" desktops, KDE and GNOME, as well as many smaller ones and the option of running a stand-alone window manager.
The desktop environment "landscape" has fragmented since the controversial initial release of GNOME 3 in 2011, which spawned a number of soft and hard forks as well as newly created desktops that are nevertheless based on some of GNOME technology; these include MATE (a continuation of GNOME 2), Linux Mint's Cinnamon, Solus's Budgie, elementaryOS's Pantheon, pop_OS!'s COSMIC, Ubuntu Unity's UnityX, Ubuntu Kylin's UKUI.
KDE only had one notable fork, Trinity, which is a continuation of KDE 3.
Other notable desktop environments not derived from either GNOME or KDE include Xfce, LXQt, Deepin Desktop, CDE, Lumina, as well as Enlightenment and its fork Moksha.
Click here to see an older version of this comparison which includes additional desktop environments (Budgie, Pantheon, Deepin, UKUI, CDE, Enlightenment, Trinity, UnityX, and Lumina). This extended comparison was up to date as of beginning 2022 but will not be updated anymore.
Source: eylenburg.github.io
Last updated: September 2022
| KDE Plasma | GNOME | Xfce | MATE | Cinnamon | LXQt | Aqua (macOS) | Windows Shell | |
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| General | ||||||||
| License | GPL | GPL | GPL, LGPL, BSD | GPL, LGPLv2 | GPL | GPL, LGPL | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| First release | 1998 | 1999 | 1997 | 2011 | 2011 | 2013 | 2000 | 1995Windows 95 |
| Forked from | - | - | - | GNOME 2 | GNOME 3 | LXDE & Razor-qt | - | - |
| Corporate and government backing | Blue Systems, Canonical, Google, Qt Group, SUSE | IBM (Red Hat), Canonical, Google, SUSE, System76 | - | - | - | - | Apple | Microsoft |
| 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 | Cocoa | WinUI |
| Window manager | KWin | Mutter | Xfwm4fork of Fvwm | Marcofork of Metacity | Muffinfork of Mutter | Openboxfork of Blackbox | Quartz Compositor | Desktop Window Manager |
| Preferred display manager | SDDM | GDM | LightDM | LightDM | LightDM | SDDM | macOS login screen | Windows login screen |
| Embedded HTML engine | QtWebViewBlink, fork of WebKit, fork of KHTML | WebKitGTKWebKit, fork of KHTML | - | - | WebKitGTKWebKit, fork of KHTML | - | WKWebKitWebKit, fork of KHTML | Edge WebView2Blink, fork of WebKit, fork of KHTML |
| File manager | Dolphin | GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Thunar | Cajafork of Nautilus | Nemofork of Nautilus | PCManFM-Qt | Finder | File Explorer |
| Archive manager | Ark | File Roller | Xarchiver | Engrampafork of File Roller | File Roller | - | Archive Utility | (ZIP support in Explorer) |
| Document/PDF viewer | Okular | Evince | - | Atrilfork of Evince | xreaderfork of Atril | qpdfview | Preview | Edge |
| 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 | Preview, macOS Photos | Windows Photos |
| Image editing | Krita, ShowFoto | GIMP | - | - | - | - | macOS Photos | Paint |
| Text editor | Kate, KWrite | GNOME Text Editor, gedit | Mousepad | Plumafork of gedit | xedfork of Pluma | Featherpad | TextEdit | Notepad, WordPad |
| Terminal | Konsole | GNOME Console, Terminal | Xfce Terminal | MATE Terminalfork of GNOME Terminal | GNOME Terminal | QTerminal | macOS Terminal | Windows Terminal |
| Calculator | KCalc | GNOME Calculator | - | MATE Calculatorfork of GNOME Calculator | GNOME Calculator | - | macOS Calculator | Windows Calculator |
| Media player | Dragon, Kaffeine, KMPlayer | GNOME Videos (Totem) | Parole | - | xplayerfork of Totem | - | Quicktime Player | Windows Media Player |
| Music library | Elisa, JuK, Strawberry | Music, Lollypop, Rhythmbox | Xfmpc | - | - | - | Apple Music | Windows Media Player |
| Web browser | Falkon | GNOME Web (Epiphany) | Midori | - | - | - | Safari | Edge |
| Email client | KMail, Trojita | Geary, Evolution | - | - | - | - | macOS Mail | Windows Mail |
| Calendar | KOrganizer | GNOME Calendar, Evolution | Orage | - | - | - | macOS Calendar | Windows Calendar |
| System monitor | Plasma System Monitor | GNOME System Monitor | Xfce Taskmanager | MATE System Monitorfork of GNOME System Monitor | GNOME System Monitor | qps | Activity Monitor | Windows Task Manager |
| General features | ||||||||
| Display server support | X11 + Wayland | X11 + Wayland | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | X11 only | Quartz Compositor | Desktop Window Manager |
| HiDPI support | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (2x scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) | No (only font size) | Yes (fractional scaling) | Yes (fractional scaling) |
| Preferred style of window decorations (SSD/CSD) | Server-side decorations | Client-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Server-side decorations | Mixed | Mixed |
| Theme support, including 3rd-party themes | Yes | Not out of the boxneed to install gnome-tweaks and gnome-shell-extensions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Scheduled theme switch (e.g. dark theme at night) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Night light (reduces blue light) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Integration with online accounts | Google, Owncloud | Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google, Microsoft, Nextcloud | - | - | Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google, Microsoft, Nextcloud | - | Apple, AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo | Microsoft |
| 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/(n.a.)no automatic categorization but can create custom app folders | Yes/(n.a.)no automatic categorization but can create custom app folders |
| App launcher: quickly uninstall apps (e.g. right-click) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| 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 dock | in start menu 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, but can move dock | No |
| Panel auto-hide function | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, but can auto-hide dock | Yes |
| Clock/volume/battery/network status/keyboard layout | Yes (all) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) |
| Notification list (e.g. new e-mail, updates available) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Toggle between local (in-window) menus or global menubar | Yes (default: local) | No (always local) | No (always local) | Yes (default: local) | No (always local) | No (always local) | No (always global) | No (always local) |
| Window management | ||||||||
| Taskbar/dock: toggle between showing windows or apps | Yes | No (shows neither)dash (in "Activities" screen) shows running apps, panel shows only the one currently focused app | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (only shows apps) | No (only shows apps) |
| Maximize window (without hiding panel/dock/taskbar) | Yes | Yes (right-click) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes |
| Fullscreen (hides panel and other element) | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes (right-click only) | keyboard shortcut only | keyboard shortcut only | keyboard shortcut only | Yes | No |
| Minimize | Yes | Yes (right-click) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Show desktop (minimize all windows) | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | only with keyboard shortcutor trackpad gesture | Yes |
| Keep window on top | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | Yes (right-click) | No | No |
| 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) | Only using drag & drop | Only using drag & drop |
| Tile windows by moving them to the screen edge ("Snapping") | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | Yes (½ screen only) | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | Yes (½ or ¼ screen) | No | No snappingBut supports ½ screen "Split View", which can only be initiated by hovering over the window's fullscreen button with the cursor and then selecting the option. | Yes (½, ⅓ or ¼ screen) |
| 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 | No/No | Show overview of all windows (exposé) | Yes | Yes (current workspace) | No | No | Yes | No | Yes (current workspace) | Yes (current workspace) | Show overview of all workspaces (virtual desktop grid) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| File manager | Dolphin | GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Thunar | Caja | Nemo | PCManFM-Qt | Finder | File Explorer | 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/No | Yes/Yes/in side panel | Tabs or dual-pane view | Yes/Yes | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/No | Yesexperimental/No | Toggle to show/hide hidden files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | 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 | Thumbnail support in file manager and file pickeropen/save dialogue | Yes/Yes | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Type-ahead find in active folder | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Filter files in active folder | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Recursive file search | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Undo rename or deletion with Ctrl+Z | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | YesCmd + Z | Yes | 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 | Create new empy file | Yes | only files from ~/Templates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Select multiple files with Ctrl/Shift, and invert selection | Yes/Yes | Yes/keyboard shortcut only | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | Yes/keyboard shortcut only | Yes/Yes | Edit, copy or paste folder location/path | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | keyboard shortcut only | Yes |
| Distribution support | ||||||||
| Number of supporting active distributions (Distrowatch.com) | 53 | 74 | 94 | 51 | 29 | 27 | macOS only | Windows only |
| Debian | option during installation | pre-selected at installation | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | ||
| 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 | ||
| Fedora | default in KDE Spin | default desktop | default in Xfce Spin | default in MATE Spin | default in Cinnamon Spin | default in LXQt Spin | ||
| OpenSUSE | option during installation | option during installation | option during installation | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | ||
| Arch | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | ||
| FreeBSD | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | officially supported | ||
| Usage share (estimate) | ||||||||
| GamingOnLinux.com User Statistics (07/2022) | 35.6% | 30.0% | 8.5% | 2.8% | 8.4% | 0.5% | ||
| Hardware for Linux Trends (06/2022) | 25.3% | 43.2% | 6.5% | 2.8% | 8.2% | 1.4% | ||
| Arch (no default desktop) - installations (06/2022) | 35.0% | 21.6% | 14.4% | 2.6% | 3.7% | 2.6% | ||
| OpenSUSE (no default desktop) - 2020 EoY survey | 64.6% | 15.8% | 9.7% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.2% | ||
Legend: major currently used desktop environment, minor desktop, smartphone user interface, discontinued/dead
Again, click here to see an older version of this comparison which includes additional desktop environments (Budgie, Pantheon, Deepin, UKUI, CDE, Enlightenment, Trinity, UnityX, and Lumina). This extended comparison was up to date as of beginning 2022 but will not be updated anymore.
Click here to show my review of 15 Linux desktop environments, with screenshots and comparison of RAM use (from 2021, will not be updated anymore)
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:
