Best linux distro on Reddit

862 reviews from r/linuxquestions, r/linux4noobs, r/DistroHopping and 30 more subreddits

862 reviews from

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By Brand

By Product

Linux Mint

4.5

(228)

"Linux Mint XFCE edition or Bodhi Linux 7.0 HWE."

"Go for Linux mint awesome for newbie."

"I'd go with Linux mint, is fast and easy to setup."

"Try Linux Mint XFCE Edition"

"Recommended Distros: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop OS, Zorin OS or MX Linux."

"Linux Mint is always the answer."

"Linux Mint is commonly recommended for new Linux users because Mint is well-designed, relatively easy to install, learn and use."

"Mint Cinnamon"

"Use Linux Mint - mainstream, proven. and without issues."

"Try linux mint xfce."

Debian

4.2

(70)

"Debian would be my distro pick for a server."

"Debian with XFCE. Simply because it's rock solid."

"Debian 12, it's the only answer for me. Xfce4 or Lxqt, very easy to use, not bloated."

"Debian with xfce"

"Debian!"

"Debian! It's the get-out-of-your-way-so-you-can-get-shit-done distro."

"Debian Stable."

"Debian"

"Im running debian 12 as a firewall, homeassistant, dhcp server, vlan router, NAT, openvpn."

"Debian is nice, Ubuntu offers long term stability."

Ubuntu

4.3

(66)

"Highly recommend you stick to the well known distros, well documented, and easy to maintain. Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Debian come to mind."

"Ubuntu will be the easiest to use as most guides are made for it."

"Ubuntu over debian always."

"Ubuntu and pterodactyl or pelican."

"Recommended Distros: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop OS, Zorin OS."

"Defnetly Ubuntu, I don't understand how people here are saying 'it depends'."

"Remarkably stable and easy to learn."

"Short answer: Ubuntu LTS with original kernel."

"Some popular choices (no particular order) are: Ubuntu."

"Ubuntu + Gnome. Easiest. Add Dash to Panel addon/extension & Arc Menu."

Fedora

4.3

(67)

"Great out of the box."

"I'm using fedora over last 10 years and is rock solid."

"After distro hopping for a long time I fell in love with fedora. It's on my gaming PC and on my laptop which I use for school. Can def. recommend it."

"I recommend Fedora. Arch and Opensuse Tumbleweed is other options but for a beginner I suggest you take a look at Fedora with a DE (Desktop Environment) that you like."

"It's awesome and such a better experience over Windows 11."

"Fedora has multiple versions of GHC (8.10 to 9.10 currently) built for all arch's."

"You might consider either Fedora Silverblue or Chrome OS Flex. Both are very stable, and Silverblue offers an easy rollback feature."

"I'd recommend Fedora. Or silverblue/kinoite."

"Fedora is still a top tier distro. Steam works great."

"Love Fedora because it has the latest features with good stability."

Lubuntu

4.2

(28)

"I mostly run Lubuntu on my old hardware. It's very lightweight."

"Lubuntu. It is for low end pcs , it has all they need preinstalled and it's easy to use."

"Lubuntu or Xubuntu."

"Lubuntu."

"I suggest you try a UBUNTU-based distro. Since your specs are relatively poor I would suggest Lubuntu/Xubuntu."

"Lubuntu is super lightweight, Linux Mint is great with Cinnamon or XFCE."

"Ddl3 means you are good to go with a 64bit distro like lubuntu."

"Lubuntu, Debian + XFCE or LXQT, Linux Lite; and turn off all system animations."

"Lubuntu if your 2GB machine supports 64bit."

"Lightweight, simpler more energy efficient than standard Ubuntu."

AntiX

4.3

(25)

"Try antix"

"AntiX Linux: DA BEST IN THE WEST"

"I would install antiX"

"AntiX is the best choice for ease of use."

"AntiX linux"

"AntiX - problem solved."

"Antix linux would be good (there is some political ideology in the marketing, but the distro itself is very solid)"

"AntiX is made to be lightweight for old computers."

"AntiX is made to be lightweight for old computers, so should be light on RAM as well."

"Have a look at AntiX"

MX Linux

4.5

(23)

"MX Linux XFCE edition should work really fast on that hardware or maybe Manjaro XFCE if you fancy something ARCH based."

"I put MX Linux on it and I've been really happy with it. Fast and snappy, user friendly and intuitive enough for install-and-go."

"MX Linux"

"Great stability, frequent updates, and large collection of very useful system tools off the bat."

"I have put a MX Linux on something with an Athlon CPU."

"Get a cheap SSD and match your ram to 4gb or 8gb."

"Good options: MX Linux, AntiX, Peppermint OS, Debian."

"MX linux is the thing."

"I am using mxlinux on my 12 year old laptop it works great for me"

"MX Linux XFCE would be my choice."

Pop!_OS

4.3

(22)

"Pop!_OS, it just works."

"Check Pop os. it's designed to work out of the box with nvidia and hybrid graphics."

"Pop! and Draugur are both based on Ubuntu."

"Pop!_OS. They have a financial incentive to make Nvidia work as good as possible."

"Pop!_OS is the way."

"I have been using Pop_OS with no issues."

"Pop!_OS if it's a desktop PC."

"If you have Nvidia graphics, pop_os is a good choice."

"I recently tried Popos and that seem easy enough unless she's into networking :-)"

"PopOs. It is maintained by system76 which is a laptop seller."

Puppy Linux

4.2

(18)

"You could try puppy Linux."

"Puppy Linux is the best distro."

"Extremely lightweight and fast"

"Puppy linux"

"Puppy Linux would run good on it."

"Puppy Linux, give it a try, you might be surprised!"

"Puppy Linux and Alpine."

"Puppy linux ran on an old laptop for me, might work on yours."

"Puppy Linux might be good."

"Puppy linux runs great on old hardware."

#10

openSUSE Tumbleweed

4.2

(15)

"Is my favourite for my x230."

"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE is a solid, stable distro."

"I have a really good gaming experience with openSUSE tumbleweed."

"Opensusse Tumbleweed with Plasma 6 is my go-to."

"My favourites are OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and Void."

"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed was what worked flawlessly."

"I go with open suse tw nowadays."

"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed KDE. It's for both beginners and experts."

"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed KDE and ask Yast to boot into the text mode."

"I prefer openSUSE tumbleweed for my gaming rig."

#11

Zorin OS

4.5

(14)

"I've heard excellent things about Zorin."

"Very stable. Good privacy."

"Try Zorin OS"

"I would go with Zorin OS 17.2 Education or EdUbuntu."

"I would go for Zorin with Veyon class room control."

"Zorin OS would be a great choice for your mother."

"In my opinion it is the best choice, best driver support."

"Would go with ZorinOS."

"My favorite is Zorin OS, comes with a decent selection of apps, and it's ready to use as soon the install finish."

"ZorinOS is my personal recommendation but you will get Mint, PopOS and others recommended depending on who you ask."

#12

Kubuntu

4.1

(14)

"Found it to be good looking, stable and importantly, the customization options allow to make it look and feel closer to Windows."

"Unpopular opinion: Kubuntu, specifically the 24.10 version of Kubuntu. Smooth as silk."

"Kubuntu, Linux Mint are good options."

"I think kubuntu has the right mix of software, user base, and desktop for being productive."

"Kubuntu."

"If you want something slightly different you can try out something with KDE like Kubuntu or Fedora KDE."

"I really enjoy kubuntu + kde plasma its a smooth experience and loading up games so far has been a breeze aside from some minor tinkering."

"Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE), because it's polished, works well and vendors offer prebuilt packages for Ubuntu."

"I'm currently dual booting Kubuntu and Windows 11 on a Microsoft Surface 8 Pro with secure boot enabled with no issues."

"Get kubuntu."

#13

Arch

4.3

(13)

"For complete customizability, go with Arch."

"Uses about 300 MiB for me."

"At this point I'd suggest you try arch, void, or gentoo."

"Arch is the only way. Especially for newcomers!"

"Arch with kde works well with time shift for productivity."

"Arch or arch derivative."

"Thinkpad and arch is the best combo IMO."

"I use arch, btw."

"Arch is great, i recommend manual install... but archinstall works quite good, try it."

"I use arch on my iMac2013, MBA2012 & MBA2019."

#14

CachyOS

4.1

(13)

"CachyOS feels like the best for most general purposes."

"CachyOS in short Arch but with a specialized kernel for optimizations."

"CachyOS."

"My first thought is Cachy OS (arch-based) using KDE."

"I've now been using CachyOS as a daily driver for 5 months."

"I use CachyOS btw."

"CachyOS (Arch based) you can do al that."

"I suggest CachyOS, easy to use, friendly."

"Based on Arch... with no delay on updates."

"I haven't used either of these but they sound more up your alley."

#15

Zorin

4.3

(12)

"I’ve been playing around with Zorin in a VM. It’s intentionally very similar in layout to Windows."

"Check for zorin or mint, both are great distros for windows users."

"ZorinOS."

"ZorinOS. Better than Mint for anyone who just needs their OS to work."

"I run Zorin. Never had a single problem really in the last 4 years."

"After much experimentation I found Zorin works best on my old Surface Pro."

"Zorin is great because it looks like Win out of the box & you can get very affordable support."

"It was ok for browsing."

"Try zorin. There's also dsl... Specifically made for your situation"

"I'd suggest looking at Mint or Zorin OS core."

#16

Arch Linux

4.5

(11)

"Arch with xfce"

"I use Arch btw"

"Try arch Linux or debian with sway window manager or xfce as distro."

"Arch"

"Go with you preferences, go with Arch"

"If Arch is the distro that you prefer, then Arch is the best distro to dual boot on your machine."

"Arch with xfce."

"Arch"

"Why don’t you just use arch Linux?"

"The crucial point is setting up the system such that Youtube uses hardware video acceleration."

#17

Bazzite

4.5

(11)

"Bazzite is a good start!"

"Bazzite, it's the most comfortable console replacement."

"Bazzite -it's based on Immutable Blue."

"Bazzite is specifically set up for that use case."

"I would suggest something like bazzite or nobara."

"I have been happy with my Bazzite system for my Primarily Gaming focused Desktop system."

"Try Bazzite."

"Bazzite is a good start!"

"If it's mainly gaming, give bazzite a try."

"Bazzite, Nobara, Garuda. These are my gotos for out of the box gaming."

#18

openSUSE

4.3

(11)

"I was perfectly sastified with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on my X220i."

"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed KDE."

"A superb vanilla GNOME experience with up to date security updates and software updates delivered at a slow drip pace."

"Opensuse, mint."

"Opensuse or mint. Wide support."

"OpenSUSE Tumbleweed or Leap with KDE although i'm prefered GNOME version."

"OpenSUSE and Mageia are good for beginners."

"I'm using openSUSE for my Threadripper workstation as well as for my work notebook. No issues on that from my side."

"I have 0 problems apart from when I create them myself."

"I use haskell with opensuse tumbleweed"

#19

Ubuntu Server

5.0

(9)

"I always use Ubuntu server with no problems."

"Ubuntu Server has a super simple setup, low system requirements, and great support."

"I had a brief experience with Ubuntu Server + Crafty and everything went well."

"Ubuntu server is awesome."

"Ubuntu server is widely used, I run all my services on it and it works really well."

"I would echo a lot of the other opinions here and run the server in a docker container on Ubuntu Server (CLI, no GUI)."

"Ubuntu server is what I run. M2 drive and it is stupid fast."

"Ubuntu *but* Ubuntu Server, no-GUI one. Or Debian, it'll work great too."

"Im using ubuntu server without graphical ui and it works perfectly and uses around 250-350mb of ram (the system alone) with all the preinstalled tools."

#20

Mint

4.4

(10)

"Mint."

"Mint is probably your best bet."

"I think Mint and PopOS might fit your needs a bit better."

"Mint, and Gnu Cash for the personal accounting."

"Mint and Gnucash"

"I'd consider using either: Mint(current, for stability, security, etc.) or Fedora."

"Mint, Ubuntu, Debian."

"If you are a begginer,either mint or openSUSE."

"Mint could be a great choice."

#21

Xubuntu

4.3

(10)

"I have Xubuntu running on a 2014 MacBook Air. It runs flawlessly."

"I'd go for something like Xubuntu."

"Xubuntu works very well on my old 2013 Apple Macbook Air."

"Xubuntu is nice."

"Xubuntu."

"Xubuntu imo, but honestly ubuntu with awesome-wm would be better."

"Xubuntu might be the best best cuz more support tbh."

"Xcfe is pretty light weight - xubuntu is basically Ubuntu with xfce."

"Xubuntu, linux mint or anything with xfce or cinammon are good choi"

"Xubuntu."

#22

Linux Lite

4.1

(9)

"Linux Lite, WattOS"

"Linux lite has 1GB RAM as it's requirement but you'd only know if its suitable by trying it."

"I recommend you to try Linux Lite."

"I've been running two lightweight systems on 4 GB of RAM."

"Burn Linux Lite, MX Linux, and Porteus."

"Linux Lite Xfce 3.8"

"Linux lite all the way!"

"Linux Lite"

"Linux Lite isn't a bad choice but even Linux Mint with the MATE desktop Environment would work really good too."

#23

Alpine Linux

4.1

(7)

"Boots in less than 15 seconds even on slow hardware."

"I use Alpine Linux on my servers."

"I recommend Alpine linux for this."

"I would recommend Alpine Linux, Calculate Linux, OpenBSD, Void."

"Alpine is what you want."

"Alpine / void musl."

"Alpine linux. it's really minimal, you'll like it"

#24

Q4OS

4.1

(7)

"Try Q4OS."

"I plan on giving my mother Q4OS when Firefox gives up on Windows 7 in a couple months."

"Q4OS works fine for me with worse specs."

"Q4os trinity 32bit."

"Q4OS, strait debian with LXQt, or bodhi are all 32bit options that work well."

"But so far the out of the box winner is Q4OS."

"Try Q4OS."

#25

Nobara

4.0

(7)

"You could try nobara (official) or any other kde DE could work."

"The usual recommendations for gaming are Nobara or Zorin."

"Nobara or Bazzite?"

"Nobara is supposed to be pretty good with drivers and out of the box experience."

"Nobara has good implementation for nVidia drivers out of the box."

"Nobara for sure."

"I've been pretty happy with nobara since making the switch... overall I've been super happy with my choice."

#26

NixOS

4.7

(6)

"I use NixOS. It is brilliant for managing development environments and system overall."

"NixOS is BestOS."

"Yess NixOS is such a comfy distro, even if the computer goes bad, my system is just a git repo pull away!"

"Yeah, NixOS is the best"

"It is the most stable distro I have ever tried."

"I run NixOS and Arch, and they both handle Elden Ring pretty well."

#27

EndeavourOS

3.9

(7)

"I'm a simp EndeavourOS."

"Endavour os is a good one."

"I use EndeavourOS and it has been flawless."

"EndeavourOS / Budgie on BTRFS, with subvolumes and automatic snapshots."

"Give endeavouros or fedora a try."

"Consider trying EndeavourOS"

"I loaded EndeavorOS and installed the default Plasma desktop... So it runs Arch/Endeavour/Plasma pretty well."

#28

LMDE

4.2

(6)

"LMDE Cinnamon."

"I find LMDE works well on my older laptops."

"LMDE Mint is always a solution."

"Try LMDE 6. It ran really well on my X230."

"I ran LMDE 6 on my X230 for awhile. It would get about 4-5 hours of battery life."

"LMDE 6 or Ubuntu MATE."

#29

Garuda

4.8

(5)

"FTW."

"I’m having a great time with Garuda."

"It's hands down the best distro I've ever used."

"I really like Garuda and works great for me."

"Garuda."

#30

Peppermint OS

4.4

(5)

"Peppermint OS is another distro that should work really fast on that hardware."

"Try peppermint os, its debian with a lightweight desktop and more drivers."

"Runs PeppermintOS."

"The best for a new user would be peppermint os imo."

#31

Solus

4.3

(4)

"My new winner for the most working stuff out of the box is Sulus."

"Solus is a good non-standard answer."

"Solus, pop!_os , Ubuntu."

"Solus is pretty straightforward if you don't mind updating it weekly."

#32

Endeavour OS

4.3

(4)

"I'd personally recommend EndeavourOS."

"I'm considering Endeavor OS this time around."

"Personally, I'd vote for Endevour OS, Debian if you value stability or Linux Mint."

"Install something friendly but minimal like Endeavour OS."

#33

Fedora Silverblue

4.3

(4)

"Fedora Silverblue or a other immutable distro."

"Fedora silverblue."

"If you don't want to suffer with maintenance go with Fedora Silverblue."

"I think Fedora Silverblue might be worth looking into."

#34

Gentoo

3.8

(4)

"Might be worth giving a test run."

"Gentoo. It has nice tool to convert any cabal package into system package (ebuild) that can be managed by Portage."

"Gentoo https://www.shlomifish.org/humour/by-others/funroll-loops/Gentoo-is-Rice.html"

"If you want to learn and understand linux, you can install Gentoo... you will learn a lot about Linux and open-source software."

#35

Zorin OS Education

5.0

(3)

"It comes with all the tools you will ever need, including an application that allows you to see what the students are doing on their computers."

"Zorin os education edition."

"Zorin education."

#36

BunsenLabs

5.0

(3)

"BunsenLabs has a nice sensible configuration of the box if Linux Mint Cinnamon is too slow."

"Try Bunsenlabs"

"If you want something really lightweight, try bunsenlabs."

#37

SSD

5.0

(3)

"If it's 10 minutes, it's not just a slow hard drive, it's a failing one."

"Also, go buy a small SSD and stick it in there."

"Just get the lowest RPM you can buy new that still on the market... or better yet, get an SSD."

#38

5.0

(2)

"Debian+ xfce4."

"Debian XFCE would run on this no prob."

#46

Garuda Linux

5.0

(2)

"Garuda should do it."

"Garuda Linux."

#47

Kali Linux

3.0

(3)

"Are good networking option distros."

"Kali comes with all the security shenanigans installed."

"Kali is not for 'general' use."

#48

KDE Plasma

4.5

(2)

"The most windows 10-like desktop environment for Linux is KDE Plasma."

"I would rather go with KDE Plasma as it has more of a Windows vibe."

#49

Sugar on a Stick

4.5

(2)

"SoaS/Sugar Toast is what I put on my daughters computer."

"An educational platform that uses the Sugar learning environment."

#50

4.0

2.0

(1)

"Just get your parents some nice iPads."

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