Ubuntu linux desktop environment

The Best Desktop Environments For Linux (We Tested Them So That You Don’t Have To)

Last updated August 24, 2021 By Ankush Das 314 Comments

The desktop environment is usually the core of your Linux desktop system for how it looks/feels. If you don’t get a good user experience, it will be difficult to use a Linux distro on your desktop, right?

So, which is the best desktop environment available?

Trying out each and every desktop environment is a very time-consuming and tiring task.

So, here, we’ve created a list of the best desktop environments available for Linux distros along with their pros and cons for you. We tried them so that you don’t have to.

Best desktop environments for Linux distributions

Just to mention, this list is in no particular order of ranking.

1. KDE

KDE is one of the most popular desktop environments out there. You may also refer it as the “Plasma” desktop. Even though it’s not my primary choice, it is highly customizable and extremely lightweight.

Yes, it looks like KDE has managed to beat XFCE as one of the lightest desktop environments. Not just limited to Jason’s test, you will find numerous benchmark comparisons and tests that point to the same result.

KDE also makes it easier to connect your phone with your Linux system using KDE Connect. You will also find Plasma’s browser integration that connects your phone directly to your browser for establishing quick communication.

Overall, it looks like KDE is an incredibly lightweight desktop environment while being one of the most flexible as well.

Some Linux distros using KDE as the default are openSUSE, Kubuntu and KDE Neon. You may also refer to one of our tutorials to install KDE on Ubuntu, if that’s what you want.

• Modern and polished user interface
• Highly customizable and flexible experience
• Several useful tools built-in
• Extremely lightweight

• The customization options and tools might be a little too overwhelming for newbies, leading to potential confusion.

2. MATE

MATE Desktop Environment is based on GNOME 2. MATE was initially developed for the users who were disappointed with the latest iteration of GNOME shell — GNOME 3.

Even though it’s based on the good-old GNOME 2, the MATE team has improved the desktop environment on a lot of grounds. To get some idea, you might want to check out what Ubuntu MATE 20.04 has to offer.

If we take the example of Ubuntu MATE 20.04, MATE desktop is suitable for almost everyone. And, of course, especially for the ones who loved GNOME 2 but hate the new GNOME. In addition to the user experience, it is also worth noting that it is a lightweight desktop environment as well.

MATE comes with a collection of basic applications and includes a number of built-in useful tools.

Ubuntu MATE is one of the official flavors of Ubuntu that utilizes the MATE desktop. Some other popular Linux distributions like Linux Mint, Manjaro, etc, also offer MATE editions of their distributions.

• Easy to use and robust experience
• Lightweight
• Simple yet Customizable

• May not offer the most intuitive user experience

3. GNOME

GNOME is arguably the most popular desktop environment out there. Many of the popular Linux distros use GNOME as their default desktop environment and it has some popular forks, such as Cinnamon.

GNOME is designed to be easy to use and customizable. The user interface aims to provide a unique experience (kind of tailored for both mobile and desktops).

Unfortunately, GNOME isn’t a lightweight desktop environment. So, it’s not a great choice to go with if you are looking to install a Linux distribution on older computers or systems with less than 4 Gigs of RAM.

It’s good to see that GNOME is also focusing on the performance side of things with their recent GNOME 3.36 release.

So, if you want a good user experience with something that looks different from the likes of a traditional Windows layout, GNOME should be the perfect pick.

Some major distros using GNOME are Debian, Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu. Not to forget Pop OS 20.04 also features many good things along with GNOME desktop environment.

• Modern and touch-friendly UI
• Can extend functionalities through GNOME Shell Extensions
• Customizable

• Not suitable for older computers
• User Interface isn’t tailored for a Windows user

4. Cinnamon

Cinnamon, a fork of GNOME 3, was initially developed to be and is the default desktop environment for Linux Mint. It is known for its similarities with the Windows user interface which helps new Linux users get comfortable using easily.

Cinnamon tries to present itself as a modern desktop environment while offering a traditional user interface. And, being somewhat light on resources makes Cinnamon a balanced choice for many Linux users.

• Sleek and polished look
• Familiar interface
• Pretty customizable

• May not offer the most intuitive user experience

5. Budgie

Budgie desktop has been developed by the Solus project. In case you didn’t know, Solus is an independently developed Linux distro where they utilize GNOME technologies such as GTK to develop the Budgie desktop environment.

It’s a mixed bag of modern UI and a traditional user interface. It’s not exactly resource heavy but not a complete lightweight desktop environment either.

Ubuntu Budgie — an official Ubuntu flavour features the Budgie desktop as the default. Not a lot of major distributions support Budgie desktop environment out of the box. So, you’d be better off using Solus or Ubuntu Budgie for the most part.

• Solid and intuitive
• Modern UI, elegant looks
• Seamless desktop experience

• Available only on few distributions (can be installed on your own manually)

6. LXQt

LXQt is a lightweight Qt desktop environment. When compared to LXDE, it’s safe to say that LXQt is indeed a lightweight desktop environment while providing a better user experience than LXDE (in terms of its look and feel).

Not just theoretically, but we also found it to be a great replacement to LXDE on Lubuntu 20.04.

Even though LXQt tries to present a modern look without comprising the performance, it is still not the most intuitive experience out there. Of course, if you need performance over the look and feel, LXQt is an impressive choice.

• Extremely fast performing and lightweight
• Decent UI for a lightweight desktop environment

• User interface may seem unappealing
• Not much customizable
• Available only on few distributions (can be installed on your own manually)

7. Xfce

Xfce is one of the most lightweight desktop environments out there. Unlike LXQt, you will find a lot of major Linux distributions support XFCE editions.

Xfce is light on resources but proves to provide a feature-rich user experience. If you need a performance-centric desktop environment without needing advanced customizations, Xfce is a great choice to go with.

To give you an example, I’d recommend you check out our initial impressions on Zorin OS 15 Lite which includes Xfce desktop environment as the default.

Major Linux distributions like Manjaro Linux, Xubuntu, MX Linux, Zorin OS Lite, and several others feature Xfce as the default desktop environment.

• Lightweight and adaptable to old hardware
• Modern and visually appealing
• Windows-like familiar UI

8. Deepin

Sometimes it’s not enough to offer customization options or being light on resources. There’s a lot of users who prefer an eye candy user interface by compromising the performance of the desktop environment.

That’s when the Deepin desktop environment comes to the scene. It may offer a macOS-ish interface in a way but because of the animations and the layout, the looks and feel of Deepin desktop environment is something to appreciate.

Originally, it was only available on Deepin OS, but it is now gradually being added to some other distributions as well. Recently an interesting project (UbuntuDDE) has managed to incorporate it on top of Ubuntu. It isn’t fairly new but it is being slowly adopted by other Linux distributions.

Pros

• Eye candy user interface
• Sleek animations

Cons

• Heavy on resource usage and sluggish at times

So, which is the best desktop environment?

The reason why different desktop environment exists because there’s no ultimate desktop environment. Every user has a different set of requirements. Some look for a fast experience while some drool over an eye candy UI.

Even though we’ve already mentioned the best available in this article, there are a few other desktop environments that deserve the mention. Some of them are:

What desktop environment do you prefer and why? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

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Ubuntu flavours

Ubuntu flavours offer a unique way to experience Ubuntu, each with their own choice of default applications and settings. Ubuntu flavours are backed by the full Ubuntu archive for packages and updates.

Kubuntu

Kubuntu offers the KDE Plasma Workspace experience, a good-looking system for home and office use.

Lubuntu

Lubuntu is a light, fast, and modern Ubuntu flavor using LXQt as its default desktop environment. Lubuntu used to use LXDE as its default desktop environment.

Ubuntu Budgie

Ubuntu Budgie provides the Budgie desktop environment which focuses on simplicity and elegance. It provides a traditional desktop metaphor based interface utilising a customisable panel based menu driven system.

Ubuntu Kylin

The Ubuntu Kylin project is tuned to the needs of Chinese users, providing a thoughtful and elegant Chinese experience out-of-the-box.

Ubuntu MATE

Ubuntu MATE expresses the simplicity of a classic desktop environment. Ubuntu MATE is the continuation of the GNOME 2 desktop which was Ubuntu’s default desktop until October 2010.

Ubuntu Studio

Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia content creation flavor of Ubuntu, aimed at the audio, video and graphic enthusiast or professional.

Xubuntu

Xubuntu is an elegant and easy to use operating system. Xubuntu comes with Xfce, which is a stable, light and configurable desktop environment.

A complete list of known flavours, editions and customisations is maintained on the Ubuntu Wiki’s UbuntuFlavors page.

Download an Ubuntu Appliance

Try a new class of Ubuntu derivative using Ubuntu Core

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SpicyTricks

One of the main feature of Linux Distributions, you can customize that with any Desktop Environments. Ubuntu is Popular and Best Linux Distro, used by many new Linux users. By default, Ubuntu is packed with Unity Desktop environment, also other flavors are available like Ubuntu Gnome, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Cinnamon.

Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Elementary OS and Xubuntu are derived from the Ubuntu Distro. These Distros are also using different Desktop Environments.

If you don’t the Unity Desktop and want to use new Desktop, then read this post. Now, Using our Guide you can install the Following Desktop Environments in Ubuntu and enjoy with new Desktop in Ubuntu.

Do you know what is Linux desktop Environments ?

Desktop Environment comes with following tools that allows you to use your Linux Computer with GUI.В Many calls the Ubuntu Desktop Environments as Ubuntu desktop manager. Mostly Desktop Environment consists of the following components,

• Window manager
• Display Manager
• Terminal
• Panels
• Menus
• Widgets
• File Manager
• Browser
• Office Suite
• Text Editor

Lets see the best Desktops for Ubuntu and How to install them

10 Best Linux Desktop Environments for Ubuntu

1. GNOME Desktop

The GNOME Desktop is the Popular desktop environment for Linux and widely used by many users for the long time. Canonical developed the Unity desktop as default environment sometime for Ubuntu ago. Now they are again ditched the Unity Desktop and moving back to the GNOME.В GNOME Shell is the default desktop interface for Ubuntu since version 17.10. From Now, You can call this Ubuntu desktop environment.

GNOME is the default desktop environment PopularВ Linux distributions including, Debian, Ubuntu,В Fedora,В Kali Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise (exclusively), Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, and SteamOS.В The defaultВ window managerВ in ubuntu w/GNOMEВ Shell is Mutter.

GNOME has core set of applications built by many developers. That includes the GNOME Graphic Shell,В Control Center,В Chat. Files file Manager etc.

How to install GNOME In Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Open the terminal in Ubuntu and run the following command to start the installation process in Ubuntu,

That will install GNOME desktop on your Ubuntu OS. Logout and Choose the Default Desktop as GNOME environment and use it. If you have any stability issues and want to switch back to Unity Desktop,

the run the following command in the terminal to remove the GNOME and its dependencies,

Run the following command to completely remove the GNOME system files in terminal,

Now, Restore the Unity Desktop by running the following command,

Then Login again, If you have any issues when in the Login screen, Open tty terminal by pressing the CTRL + ALT + F1

2. Cinnamon Desktop

Cinnamon is the most popular and Best Desktop Environment, Default one for Linux Mint Distro.В Cinnamon will give you the polished, Modern, Stylish and awesome desktop. The Windows users who migrated to the Linux Operating System will definitely love this Cinnamon Desktop. You can change the wallpaper, add and position panels, add applets to the panels, Desklets and get the unique interface.

How to install Cinnamon In Ubuntu

To Install the Cinnamon run the following command in terminal

To remove Cinnamon from the ubuntu, run the command.

3. KDE Plasma

KDE Plasma is also Popular DE like GNOME. It provides the much similar modern, stylish look like Cinnamon Desktop. It is so widely used because of its wide range default Applications. Looks familiar with Windows Desktop and provides the lots of widget to use in the panel.В KDE uses the KWinВ window manager.

How to install KDE Plasma In Ubuntu

To remove the KDE Plasma

4. XFCE

XFCE is very fast, light-weight desktop environment. It is light system resources and able to work in the low-level configuration systems. If you want the fast Linux system, then choose the XFCE desktop environment.

Xfce is based on the GTK toolkit, uses theВ Xfwm Window Manager. Xubuntu Distro uses the XFCE as a Default Desktop.

How to install XFCE In Ubuntu

To install additional apps and extension, use the following command.

If you want to install Xfce 4.12 on Ubuntu 14.04 and 15.04:

To uninstall PPA:

5.В LXDE

Like the XFCE, LXDE is also Light-weight Linux Desktop Environment. You can use this DE for older computer Systems. XFCE will only offers the very basic applications by default and uses low memory. So it is best suitable for older hardware.

It’s very simple to install the LXDE.

How to install LXDE In Ubuntu

Run the following command in terminal,

6. MATE

MATE is developed from the GNOME 2 Desktop Environment. Many users want the same old GNOME 2 when GNOME 3 was launched. That’s where the MATE Desktop born. You can use this DE in old or Modern Computers without any issues. In Linux Mint, thisВ lightweight MATE Desktop is provided alternative the default cinnamon in Linux Mint.

How to install MATE Desktop on Ubuntu

Run the following commands in terminal to install the MATE Desktop on the latest Ubuntu 16.04, and newer,

To Uninstall and Remove Mate Desktop:

Install MATE Desktop on Ubuntu 15.10. Run the following commands:

To uninstall and remove Mate Desktop:

7. Pantheon Desktop

If you want the Apple’s Mac OS like Desktop for Linux Ubuntu, then install the Pantheon Desktop. It was originally developed for the elementary OS and the default DE for it too.В Like the XFCE, LXDE, it is not a highly customizable and have only minimal default applications. However, you can use this for minimal user interface.

Install Pantheon Desktop Environment On Ubuntu

8. LXQt

LXQt was developed from the popular desktop environment LXDE and Razot Qt Project. It is alsoВ lightweight and fast desktop environment for Linux and BSD.LXQt is the latest version of LXDE and will be used by default for the most popular LXDE deskop distros like Lubuntu, Knoppix etc

How Install LXQt on Ubuntu

Just run the following command in terminal to install LXQt

9. Budgie

Budgie Desktop uses the GTK+ and was developed for the Solus Project.В You can install Budgie desktop on Ubuntu alongside Unity, GNOME Shell, and Cinnamon with no conflicts. There isВ Ubuntu Budgie flavor is also now available for Ubuntu 16.04.3

How to Install Budgie on ubuntu

For Ubuntu 16.04 LTS you need to run this command first:

For Ubuntu 17.04 you need to run this command:

Once you have the relevant PPA enabled you can go ahead and install (or upgrade) Budgie 10.4 by running:

10. Unity 8

Like I said before, Unity is going to be removed from the Ubuntu and added with GNOME.В However, If you still want to use the Unity on your ubuntu machine, the you can install it using the following commands.

How to install Unity 8 On Ubuntu

If you want to install on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Add the Stable Phone Overlay PPA

Ubuntu 14.10 and 15.04

Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04:

For setting up run the following command

To remove Unity 8 use this command:

Note that, Don’t install the All the Desktop Environments in same System before removing the previous one. If you install all DE in single system, it may damage your Current OS and you have to reconfigure it.

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