Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.
These tables compare notable distribution's latest stable release on wide-ranging objective criteria. It does not cover each operating system's subjective merits, branches marked as unstable or beta, nor compare Linux distributions with other operating systems.
General
The table below shows general information about the distributions: founder or producer, maintainer, release date, the latest version, etc.
Linux distributions endorsed by the Free Software Foundation are marked 100% Free under the System distribution commitment column.
Distribution Founder Maintainer Initial release year Current stable version Security updates (years) Release date System distribution commitment Forked from Target audience Cost Status AlmaLinux AlmaLinux OS Foundation AlmaLinux OS Foundation 2021 10 years Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) general Alpine Linux Alpine Linux Team Alpine Linux Team 2006 LEAF Project security, lightweight, general ALT Linux ALT Linux Team ALT Linux Team, ALT Linux LLC 2001 Mandrake Linux general, school antiX Anticapitalista Anticapitalista 2007 Debian, MEPIS old computers ArchBang Willensky Aristide Stan McLaren 2011 Rolling Rolling Rolling Arch Linux (UKM Edition) general Arch Linux Judd Vinet dev team 2002 Rolling Rolling Rolling Independent, inspired from CRUX general BLAG Brixton Linux Action Group Brixton Linux Action Group 2002 Fedora desktop Bodhi Linux Bodhi Linux Team Bodhi Linux Team 2011 Debian, Ubuntu desktop, lightweight Canaima CANTV / CNTI / CENTIDEL / Edelca / VIT / FUNDACITE / Free software community CANTV / CNTI / CENTIDEL / Edelca / VIT / FUNDACITE / Free software community 2007 Debian, Ubuntu Government of Venezuela CentOS CentOS Project CentOS Project 2003 8.5 10 years 2021-11-16 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server, workstation CentOS Stream CentOS Project CentOS Project 2019 10 5 years 2024-12-12 Upstream of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server, workstation Chakra Jan Mette and Arch Linux KDEmod developers The Chakra Project Team 2010 Rolling Rolling 2017.10 Arch Linux desktop Chimera Linux q66 Chimera Linux team 2021 Rolling Rolling Rolling Independent general ChromeOS Sundar Pichai Google 2011 Rolling Gentoo Linux web applications Clear Linux OS Arjan van de Ven Intel 2015 Rolling Rolling Rolling Independent container, server, desktop ClearOS Peter Baldwin ClearFoundation 2000 RHEL, CentOS server, gateway, network CrunchBang Linux Philip Newborough Philip Newborough 2008 Debian desktop CRUX Per Lidén CRUX Community 2002 Independent general Damn Small Linux John Andrews dev team 2003 Debian, Knoppix lightweight, portable Debian Ian Murdock Debian Project 1993 5 years10 years Freexian ELTS (paid) (main was 100% free, till 2022, non-free packages were optional) Independent, inspired by Softlanding Linux System (SLS) general, server, desktop Devuan The "Veteran Unix Admins" (VUA) The "Veteran Unix Admins" (VUA) 2017 Debian general Deepin Wuhan Deepin Technology Co., Ltd. Wuhan Deepin Technology Co., Ltd. 2004 Debian general Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre Matias A. Fonzo Matias A. Fonzo 2009 Independent, inspired from Slackware general dyne:bolic Jaromil Jaromilx 2005 Debian multimedia Elementary OS Danielle Foré elementary LLC 2011 Ubuntu, Debian general Emdebian Grip Embedded Debian Project Embedded Debian Project 2009 End-of-life Debian embedded systems EndeavourOS Bryan Poerwoatmodjo EndeavourOS 2019 Rolling 2022-09-14 Arch Linux general Fedora Linux Fedora Project Fedora Project 2003 1 year + 1 month Red Hat Linux general Freespire Lindows.com, Inc. PC/OpenSystems LLC 2001 Ubuntu desktop Gentoo Linux Daniel Robbins Gentoo Foundation, Inc. 2002 Rolling Rolling Rolling Enoch Linux general Guix System Ludovic Courtès Ludovic Courtès, Ricardo Wurmus, the Guix community 2012 Rolling Independent, inspired by NixOS general gNewSense Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley Sam Geeraerts with sponsorship from the Free Software Foundation 2006 Debian general, server Grml Michael Prokop The Grml Team 2005 Debian live, maintenance, security, network, forensic, accessibility Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre Hyperbola Founders Hyperbola Founders 2017 5 years (old stable) 3 years (stable) Arch Linux general IPFire Michael Tremer IPFire Project 2004 2.29 - Core Update 197 Rolling 2025-9-19 Independent firewall, router, security Kali Linux Max Moser, Mati Aharoni, Martin J. Muench Offensive Security 2013 Debian auditing, forensic, security, network Knoppix Klaus Knopper dev team 2000 Debian live Korora Chris Smart Dev Team 2005 Fedora desktop LibreCMC LibreCMC team LibreCMC team 2010 Merged from LibreWRT embedded systems Linspire Linspire, Inc. Linspire, Inc. 2001 Linux Mint Clement Lefebvre dev team 2006 5 years (main editions)3 years (LMDE) Debian (LMDE), Ubuntu (main editions) desktop Linux Lite Jerry Bezencon Linux Lite Team 2012 Ubuntu desktop Mageia Mageia Community mageia.org 2011 2 yearsMageia Support Mandriva Linux general Mandriva Linux Mandrakesoft S.A. Mandriva S.A. 1998 Red Hat Linux general Manjaro Linux Roland Singer dev team 2012 Rolling Rolling Rolling Arch Linux general MEPIS Warren Woodford MEPIS LLC 2003 Debian desktop, server Miracle Linux Cybertrust Japan Cybertrust Japan 2000 10 years (paid) Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server Musix GNU+Linux Musix team Musix team 2008 Debian multimedia MX Linux MX Linux team MX Linux team 2013 25.1 5 years 2026-01-19 Debian, MEPIS, antiX desktop Netrunner Blue Systems dev team 2009 Debian packages as per Debian Debian desktop NixOS Eelco Dolstra and Armijn Hemel NixOS Foundation 2003 0.5 years – general, server, desktop Novell Open Enterprise Server Novell Novell, Inc. dev team 2003 2023 2022-10 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server server OpenELEC Stephan Raue, OpenELEC Team OpenELEC Team 2011 8.0.4 2017-06-04 Kodi multimedia openSUSE SUSE Linux openSUSE Project 2006 2 years Slackware, Jurix general, desktop OpenWrt OpenWrt team 2004 Independent embedded systems OpenMandriva Lx OpenMandriva Association OpenMandriva Association 2013 1 year Mandriva Linux general Oracle Linux Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation 2006 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server Parabola GNU/Linux-libre Parabola Hackers Parabola Hackers 2009 Rolling Rolling 2021-08-11 Arch Linux general Pardus Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) TÜBİTAK 2005 Gentoo (2011.2)Debian general Parrot OS Lorenzo "Palinuro" Faletra Parrot Dev Team 2013 Rolling Debian security, desktop Parsix Alan Baghumian Parsix Project 2005 Debian desktop Parted Magic Patrick Verner Parted Magic LLC. 2007 Independent live, maintenance PCLinuxOS Bill Reynolds dev team 2003 2025.09 Semi-rolling 2025-09-20 Mandriva Linux desktop Pop! OS Carl Ritchell System76 2017 2 years for LTS releases2–3 months after the next release for other releases. Ubuntu desktop, laptop Pentoo Michael Zanetta, Rick Farina, Jens Pranaitis Pentoo 2005 2019.1 2019-01-17 Gentoo Linux auditing, security Porteus Fanthom Porteus 2010 Slackware lightweight, portable Puppy Linux Barry Kauler Puppy Foundation 2003 Independent, inspired from Vector linux lightweight, portable PureOS Todd Weaver Purism 2009 Stable and Rolling Debian general, security, privacy Qubes OS Joanna Rutkowska Invisible Things Lab 2012 Xen and Fedora security by compartmentalization, desktop Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Red Hat Red Hat 2002 12 years (paid) Red Hat Linux, Fedora general Red Hat Linux Red Hat Red Hat 1995 alias Shrike – server, workstation Rocks Cluster Distribution UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp 2000 Red Hat Linux server, workstation Rocky LinuxRocky Enterprise Software FoundationRocky Enterprise Software Foundation202110 yearsRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)general ROSA LLC NTC IT ROSA 2011 Mandriva server, general Sabayon Linux Fabio Erculiani dev team 2005 Gentoo Linux general Salix OS Cyrille Pontvieux, George Vlahavas, Pierrick Le Brun, Thorsten Mühlfelder Salix team 2009 Slackware general Scientific Linux CERN, Fermilab dev team 2004 Red Hat Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server, workstation Slackware Patrick Volkerding dev team 1993 Softlanding Linux System (SLS) general Slax Tomas Matejicek Tomas Matejicek 2002 Debian, Slackware (until Slax 9) live SliTaz GNU/Linux Christophe Lincoln dev team 2008 Rolling Rolling 2020-02-23 Independent portable Solus Ikey Doherty dev team2005 Rolling Rolling 2021-07-11 Pardus Linux desktop SolydXK Arjen Balfoort dev team 2013 Debian packages as per Debian Debian desktop SparkyLinux Sparky Linux team 2012 Debian general, video games Source Mage GNU/Linux Ryan Abrams, Eric Schabell dev team 2002 Sorcerer general SteamOS Valve Valve 2013 Debian (2.0)Arch Linux (3.0) video games SUSE Linux Enterprise SUSE SUSE 2000 SP5 16 years (paid) 2023-06-20 Common code base for x86-64, Power, System z, Arm64 Slackware, Jurix edge, workstation, server, supercomputer Tails Tails Development Team 2009 – Debian security-focused aimed for anonymity and privacy Tiny Core Linux Robert Shingledecker Team Tiny Core 2009 Independent, inspired from Damn Small Linux portable Trisquel GNU/Linux Rubén Rodríguez Pérez (quidam) Rubén Rodríguez Pérez (quidam) 2005 3 years Ubuntu LTS desktop TurnKey GNU/Linux Alon Swartz, Liraz Siri TurnKey GNU/Linux Team 2008 Debian packages as per Debian; TurnKey packages for life of current major version (plus backports per request) Debian server based software appliance library aiming to balance security and ease of use Ubuntu and derivatives Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2004 10 years Ubuntu Pro (paid)5 years (LTS releases)9 months (Standard releases) Debian general, server, desktop, supercomputer, IBM mainframe Univention Corporate Server Univention GmbH Univention GmbH 2004 7 years (paid)6 months Core Edition Debian home, business, and school Ututo Diego Saravia, Daniel Olivera UTUTO dev team 2000 XS 2012 2012-04-27 Ututo XS: Gentoo Linux, Ututo UL: Ubuntu general VectorLinux Robert S. Lange dev team 1999 Slackware desktop Void Linux Juan Romero Pardines Juan RP and contributors 2008 Rolling Rolling 2022-10-17 Independent, partially inspired by FreeBSD/NetBSD general Webconverger Kai Hendry Webconverger Limited 2007 Debian kiosk software, digital signage Xandros Xandros Incorporated Xandros Incorporated 2001 2007-07-26 Corel Linux Zentyal eBox Technologies eBox Technologies 2005 Debian, Ubuntu small business server Zenwalk Jean-Philippe Guillemin dev team 2004 Slackware general Zorin OS Zorin Group Zorin Group 2009 Ubuntu general, desktop
Technical The table below shows the default file system, but many Linux distributions support some or all of ext2, ext3, ext4, Btrfs, ReiserFS, Reiser4, JFS, XFS, GFS2, OCFS2, and NILFS. It is possible to install Linux onto most of these file systems. The ext file systems, namely ext2, ext3, and ext4 are based on the original Linux file system.
File systems have been developed by companies to meet their specific needs, by hobbyists, or adapted from Unix, Microsoft Windows, and other operating systems. Linux has full support for XFS and JFS, FAT (the DOS file system), and HFS, the main file system for the Macintosh. Support for Microsoft Windows NT's NTFS file system has been developed and is now comparable with other native Unix file systems. CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs' ISO 9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF) are supported.