Distro reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 217 Reddit reviews across 12 subreddits and 39 posts to rank the best Distro brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/linuxquestions, r/linux4noobs, r/DistroHopping, r/linux, r/kde. Top-rated brands include Linux Mint (4.5/5), Ubuntu (4.3/5), Debian (4.3/5).

Stats
Reviews217
Subreddits12
Posts39
Brands64
Products2
Top communities
r/linuxquestions75r/linux4noobs55r/DistroHopping28r/linux25r/kde9
217 reviews from
and
By Brand
/
By Product
#1

Linux Mint

4.5
(33)
"Linux Mint. The arch community has the arch wiki, probably one of the best Linux resources for everything"
·
"Mint, Ubuntu, and Fedora. Always kind, always supportive."
·
"For friendly and supportive, Linux Mint is consistently top-tier. They actively cultivate a welcoming space"
·
"I would suggest Mint, Lubuntu or Linux Lite. Never had a problem with any of these."
·
"Mint has never let me down on old hardware."
·
"Just use Mint."
·
"Start with Mint Cinnamon."
·
"I like Mint. It just works."
·
"Great distro."
·
"I'd highly recommend Mint for the 'just works' experience."
·
#2

Ubuntu

4.3
(11)
"Ubuntu is my first choice. It has LTS support and regular updates. I've been using Ubuntu on my HP laptop for years and have never had any problems."
·
"I second u Ubuntu."
·
"Ubuntu. Because it is simple."
·
"Ubuntu and Linux Mint are great distro options if you just want something that works."
·
"Ubuntu"
·
"Recommended Distros: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop OS, Zorin OS or Bazzite(immutable like SteamOS)."
·
"Ppl always recommend ubuntu, debian, mint and pop to starters"
·
"Ubuntu has a good community that helps you fix issues with Ubuntu."
·
"I'd say more documented is a better trait to look out for, and that would be ubuntu (largest user base) or arch (arch wiki)."
·
"If you mean for beginners I'd say Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS. Ubuntu community is good at any experience level."
·
#3

Debian

4.3
(11)
"Install Debian with openbox."
·
"It’s predictable, stable, doesn’t really get in my way."
·
"You won't regret"
·
"Ppl always recommend ubuntu, debian, mint and pop to starters"
·
"Debian Debian Debian, Ubuntu, mint...."
·
"Debian has the most user/admin assist posts followed by Ubuntu."
·
"Debian's community is great"
·
"Install something like minimal Debian without a DE."
·
"Debian stable. Works on my N3050 with 2GB."
·
"Debian"
·
#4

Pop!_OS

4.6
(10)
"As a daily driver I use Pop_OS."
·
"Try Pop OS."
·
"I run pop os and love it."
·
"Mint is probably the most stable distro for newbies."
·
"They're very good; based on Debian maybe MX Linux or LMDE."
·
"I’d suggest PopOS for a Linux newbie."
·
"PopOS/Ubuntu LTS. PopOS my personal pick."
·
"Recommended Distros: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop OS, Zorin OS or Bazzite(immutable like SteamOS)."
·
"Ppl always recommend ubuntu, debian, mint and pop to starters"
·
"I do really like Pop_OS and its mission."
#5

Fedora

4.1
(11)
"My distro of choice is my experience using it for the last year."
·
"It's been great!"
·
"Recently I put Fedora on my laptop, it works with all the hardware which is refreshing."
·
"Love Fedora"
·
"Linux lite/peppermint os, arch, fedora etc"
·
"Now i use fedora and nobara because it is easier than ubuntu."
·
"I've had nice luck with Fedora. There's a Copr for Yabridge, nice and easy to install and get running."
·
"Fedora Kionite. Popular base distro, KDE."
·
"I mostly use fedora’s kde spin."
·
"Fedora"
·
#6

CachyOS

4.8
(8)
"I have been using Cachy for over a year as well."
·
"Cachy os, Nobara, Bazzite. The big 3 for gaming."
·
"Arch and arch based distros, I recommend cachyos."
·
"Would definitely recommend."
·
"Cachyos"
·
"Super easy to install and works really good for gaming."
·
"CachyOS, optimized for your CPU and gaming."
·
"Try Cachy Os, its based on Arch."
#7

Bazzite

4.4
(8)
"Either Bazzite or HoloISO."
·
"Bazzite or ChimeraOS."
·
"It has been fantastic."
·
"Bazzite is a good one to try. As its a completely different way of using a system to Mint, Manjaro and Pop as its based on an Atomic base."
·
"Recommended Distros: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop OS, Zorin OS or Bazzite(immutable like SteamOS)."
·
"Try Bazzite"
·
"Bazzite’s distro is fedora atomic, different than the usual fedora or any mainstream distro"
·
"Bazzite is fine, and if you're used to Ubuntu it's not a hard transition. It's an immutable/atomic distro, which in laymans terms means you can't break it since you can always rollback if an update breaks something."
#8

Lubuntu

4.1
(8)
"Highly recommend it. It's lightweight, fast to boot."
·
"I installed lununtu on old Chrome notebook 2010. It works well even if it is very limited in disk space."
·
"Lubuntu"
·
"Lubuntu."
·
"Lubuntu is good for laptops."
·
"Waked say take a look at Lubuntu."
·
"Lubuntu or antix"
·
"Lubuntu!"
#9

Zorin OS

4.4
(7)
"Zorin is amazing for its simplicity and polish for users coming from Windows, especially those who aren't overly computer savvy to begin with or don't care to be"
·
"I usually suggest Zorin OS first, then Mint-Cinnamon, then POP! OS."
·
"Zorin os will work great"
·
"Recommended Distros: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop OS, Zorin OS or Bazzite(immutable like SteamOS)."
·
"ZorinOS or Mint."
·
"Zorin OS for sure!"
·
"Zorin is probably easiest and most similar to Pop"
#10

Kubuntu

4.1
(7)
"Everything 'just worked'!"
·
"Kubuntu if you like a modern and feature-rich desktop"
·
"Kubuntu has a good team and the kde folks in general are quite helpful"
·
"Has better battery life than windows 11."
·
"Kubuntu or Opensuse."
·
"I've been running Kubuntu for a while, and I can attest it's solid."
·
"I tested POP OS and liked up but eventually settled on Kubuntu."
#11

Arch Linux

4.0
(7)
"Arch is to be recommended to everybody."
·
"Arch"
·
"Linux lite/peppermint os, arch, fedora etc"
·
"I love arch, and you can absolutely find the support you need online for questions or issues"
·
"Arch or Alpine based on my experience of running Linux on a low end Linux chromebook"
·
"I use arch (no manjaro, endeavor, or garuda)"
·
"Probably Arch, but you have to get past the people shouting rtfm."
#12

MX Linux

4.5
(6)
"Imho it is MX Linux KDE after trying lots of different distros."
·
"Personally I prefer MX Linux (XFCE) as it's basically 'Debian made easy'."
·
"Known for its efficiency and responsiveness."
·
"After 20+ years of distro hopping I settled on MX for daily use on my laptop."
·
"Pure debian or mx linux with xfce or fluxbox."
·
"MX Linux XFCE."
#13

EndeavourOS

4.2
(6)
"Endeavor OS always runs perfectly OOTB."
·
"I use Fedora but I would claim Endeavour OS has the best community"
·
"EndeavourOS"
·
"EndeavourOS community is helpfull. It doesn't exclude you if you do not know anything and don't understand Arch wiki :)"
·
"EndeavourOS, Mint, Alma, Fedora, OpenSUSE"
·
"انصحك بتوزيعة EndeavourOS"
#14

antiX

4.6
(5)
"I distro hopped a lot and ended in antix."
·
"AntiX is perfect for this , or Linux Lite"
·
"Antix for sure!"
·
"Fully functional desktop distro with least memory usage is AntiX."
·
"I think AntiX would be a good option"
#15

Manjaro

4.2
(5)
"It's a rock solid experience."
·
"But yeah im happy with Manjaro for now."
·
"On work I am using Ubuntu, privately Manjaro and both are just fine."
·
"Manjaro is close to vanilla kde."
·
"One of the smoothest experiences I've had with linux was Manjaro."
#16

openSUSE

4.5
(4)
"Opensuse the best with KDE"
·
"Try openSUSE tumbleweed."
·
"Opensuse, they’re super passionate about opensuse. Ubuntu seems to be great too"
·
"Opensuse people are very friendly. They love to help out a fellow gecko."
#17

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

4.5
(4)
"Trust me."
·
"It's been very stable for me."
·
"OpenSUSE TW"
·
"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. YaST makes configuring things easier."
#18

Gentoo

4.3
(4)
"Gentoo community is absolutely the best"
·
"Gentoo was the best and fastest experience I've ever had."
·
"Gentoo, but Mint is a close second if you are looking for easier time learning."
·
"Gentoo."
#19

Nobara

4.3
(3)
"I’ll second Nobara."
·
"Nobara, fedora based so very stable... Also works very well and has kernel features for game specific uses"
·
"I recommend going with something that handles a lot of the game optimization stuff for you. Nobara if you want a Fedora based OS."
#20

NixOS

3.0
(4)
"NixOS, Void, and Arch are the three distros i interacted with the most and i had a good experience with all of them"
·
"Nix"
·
"NixOS"
·
"Honestly the NixOS community is just kind of…blunt? like it never gave me any welcoming or friendly kind of feeling"
#21

Xubuntu

4.0
(3)
"I finally settled on Xubuntu on a 15-year-old Dell laptop with similar specs after trying numerous distros."
·
"Xubuntu with mate or xfce, it’s very lightweight und don’t need much support"
·
"Xubuntu. It's rather light weight and well developed."
#22

Damn Small Linux

4.5
(2)
"I run Damn Small Linux on."
·
"DSL or puppy"
#23

Q4OS

4.5
(2)
"I managed to make it work reasonably well with Q4OS."
·
"Q4OS is what I'm running most recently they just released a new version in January this year works well and you can get updates."
#24

Garuda Linux

4.5
(2)
"Works for me."
·
"I'll be the oddball and suggest Garuda Linux."
#25

Arch Linux CachyOS

4.0
(2)
"Arch/CachyOS"
·
"Arch/Cachyos"
#26

Puppy Linux

4.0
(2)
"+1 for puppy"
·
"Puppy Linux maybe?"
#27

KDE Neon

4.0
(2)
"Im suprised no one talks about KDE Neon."
·
"1. KDE Neon 2. Fedora 3. Linux Mint 4. Pop!_OS 5. Manjaro 6. Debian 7. Zorin OS"
#28

Peppermint

3.5
(2)
"IMO peppermintOS over Mint any day."
·
"Maybe peppermint"
#29

Linux Lite

3.5
(2)
"I would give Linux Lite a try"
·
"Linux lite/peppermint os, arch, fedora etc"
#30

Peppermint OS

3.5
(2)
"I would suggest something like PeppermintOS, it is based on Debian and it should have the option of Spanish during the installation process."
·
"Linux lite/peppermint os, arch, fedora etc"
#31

Ubuntu LTS

5.0
(1)
"I use Ubuntu LTS on my workhorse because I value Ubuntu's power, professional design and maintenance, solid documentation and support."
#32

Ubuntu LTS 24.04

5.0
(1)
"I like Ubuntu LTS 24.04, I'd recommend it unless you have a reason not to."
#33

Fedora Silverblue

5.0
(1)
"I happily landed on Fedora Silverblue."
#34

Fedora KDE

5.0
(1)
"Fedora KDE! 1. I like Plasma and I like having the latest stuff."
#35

Ublue Project Bluefin

5.0
(1)
"Has really great support."
#36

Arch

5.0
(1)
"Works flawlessly in the amd 7840u model."
#37

Linux Mint MATE

5.0
(1)
"You can start with Mint MATE."
#38

Aeon (MicroOS)

5.0
(1)
"Yep. Aeon (MicroOS) it’s the way."
#39

BunsenLabs

5.0
(1)
"Highly recommend."
#40

Void Linux

5.0
(1)
"Its great with 'old' hardware."
#41

SystemRescue

4.0
(1)
"[SystemRescue - System Rescue Homepage]"
#42

BigLinux

4.0
(1)
"BigLinux com XFCE"
#43

Bodhi Linux

4.0
(1)
"Bodhi Linux looks awesome"
#44

OpenMandriva

4.0
(1)
"OpenMandriva or Arch."
#45

Solus

4.0
(1)
"I really like Solus, it's a clean, thoughtful distro with no problems that I've found."
#46

Ubuntu MATE

4.0
(1)
"Ubuntu MATE if you want a sleek practical desktop."
#47

Kali Linux

4.0
(1)
"I use Kali linux.. is amazing.."
#48

SpiralLinux KDE

4.0
(1)
"I discovered SpiralLinux KDE recently and i'm loving it, based on Debian"
#49

Manjaro KDE Plasma

4.0
(1)
"I use Manjaro/KDE/Plasma/Wayland for my daily driver and I have had basically no issues"
#50

Linux Mint LMDE 6

4.0
(1)
"I use LMDE 6 on my personal laptop because LMDE's meld of Debian's stability and security with Mint/Cinnamon's simplicity."
#51

openSUSE Tumbleweed KDE

4.0
(1)
"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed KDE."
#52

Bodhi Linux 7.0 HWE

4.0
(1)
"Check out Bodhi Linux 7.0 HWE for a lightweight distro."
#53

Kubuntu 25.04

4.0
(1)
"Kubuntu 25.04"
#54

Linux Mint LMDE

4.0
(1)
"I would try LMDE. I think it will run great"
#55

Loc-OS

4.0
(1)
"Loc-OS es una distribución minimalista basada en Debian, con bajos requerimientos de uso, aproximadamente 350-400MB RAM requeridos para su funcionamiento."
#56

antiX Linux

4.0
(1)
"I use antix linux and it works for me !!"
#57

Tiny Core Linux Plus

4.0
(1)
"The smallest Linux distribution that's still functional with a package manager and a GUI is tiny core Linux plus."
#58

Edubuntu

4.0
(1)
"I'd suggest Edubuntu"
#59

q4os

4.0
(1)
"Q4os trinity is very good, try also Zorin lite."
#60

EndeavorOS

4.0
(1)
"Very light is Endevearous Os with Gnome or KDE."
#61

Tiny Core

3.0
(1)
"Tiny core or haiku or lubuntu."
#62

Mageia

3.0
(1)
"Mageia"
#63

BunsenLabs Linux

3.0
(1)
"Bunsenlabs"
#64

ChromeOS Flex

3.0
(1)
"ChromeOS Flex"

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