Year in review

Most Popular Linux Distros of 2023

In 2023, Starbuntu was the most-viewed operating system on OpenSourceFeed, ahead of Clover OS or CloverOS and ROSA Linux. Budgie Desktop led the desktop environments. The biggest climber in the top 50 was SolydXK, up from #90 to #14.

Jan 1, 2023 – Dec 31, 2023 · compared with 2022

See the live ranking →

Operating Systems

#1 Starbuntu

Ubuntu-based

▲ 1 100/100

#2 Clover OS or CloverOS

Gentoo-based

▼ 1 34/100

#3 ROSA Linux

Independent

Latest: ROSA Desktop Fresh R10

– 18/100

Biggest risers

SolydXK #90 → #14 ▲ 76 places up from rank 90
Voyager Live #92 → #41 ▲ 51 places up from rank 92
deepin #81 → #39 ▲ 42 places up from rank 81

Biggest fallers

Elive Linux #16 → #37 ▼ 21 places down from rank 16
FreeBSD #10 → #30 ▼ 20 places down from rank 10
Peppermint OS #26 → #46 ▼ 20 places down from rank 26

1 Starbuntu Ubuntu-based Openbox ▲ 1 places up from rank 2 100 out of 100
2 Clover OS or CloverOS Gentoo-based Fvwm ▼ 1 places down from rank 1 34 out of 100
3 ROSA Linux Independent GNOMEXfceKDE Plasma –No change 18 out of 100
4 EndeavourOS Arch-based XfceMATECinnamon ▲ 2 places up from rank 6 9 out of 100
5 Mauna Linux Debian-based XfceGNOMEMATE ▲ 27 places up from rank 32 9 out of 100
6 CutefishOS Debian-based Cutefish ▼ 2 places down from rank 4 6 out of 100
7 Kali Linux Debian-based XfceGNOMEKDE Plasma ▼ 2 places down from rank 5 6 out of 100
8 Zorin OS Ubuntu-based GNOMEXfce –No change 5 out of 100
9 Ubuntu Debian-based UnityGNOMECutefish –No change 5 out of 100
10 Vanilla OS Debian-based GNOME NEW 4 out of 100
11 Sparky Linux Debian-based LXQtMATELXDE ▼ 4 places down from rank 7 4 out of 100
12 Solus Linux Independent BudgieXfceGNOME ▲ 5 places up from rank 17 3 out of 100
13 Lubuntu Ubuntu-based LXDELXQt ▼ 2 places down from rank 11 3 out of 100
14 SolydXK Debian-based XfceKDE Plasma ▲ 76 places up from rank 90 3 out of 100
15 4MLinux Independent Jwm ▼ 1 places down from rank 14 3 out of 100
16 antiX Debian-based IcewmFluxboxJwm ▲ 15 places up from rank 31 3 out of 100
17 Ubuntu Cinnamon Ubuntu-based Cinnamon ▲ 4 places up from rank 21 3 out of 100
18 Arch Linux Independent GNOMEKDE PlasmaMATE ▲ 19 places up from rank 37 2 out of 100
19 ReactOS Independent Windows 9x inspired desktop ▲ 11 places up from rank 30 2 out of 100
20 Linux Lite Ubuntu-based Xfce ▼ 8 places down from rank 12 2 out of 100
21 Slax Linux Debian-based Fluxbox ▼ 3 places down from rank 18 2 out of 100
22 MX Linux Debian-based XfceKDE PlasmaFluxbox ▲ 1 places up from rank 23 2 out of 100
23 BackBox Linux Ubuntu-based Xfce ▼ 4 places down from rank 19 2 out of 100
24 Debian Independent GNOMEKDE PlasmaXfce ▼ 9 places down from rank 15 2 out of 100
25 Linux Mint Ubuntu-based MATECinnamonXfce ▼ 12 places down from rank 13 2 out of 100
26 ArchLabs Arch-based Openbox ▼ 1 places down from rank 25 2 out of 100
27 Fedora Linux Independent GNOMEKDE PlasmaMATE ▲ 12 places up from rank 39 2 out of 100
28 feren OS Linuxmint-based Cinnamon ▲ 27 places up from rank 55 2 out of 100
29 Ultimate Edition Ubuntu-based BudgieGNOMEKDE Plasma ▲ 6 places up from rank 35 2 out of 100
30 FreeBSD Independent ▼ 20 places down from rank 10 2 out of 100
31 Manjaro Linux Arch-based KDE PlasmaXfceMATE ▼ 3 places down from rank 28 2 out of 100
32 PCLinuxOS Independent XfceKDE PlasmaMATE ▼ 12 places down from rank 20 2 out of 100
33 Q4OS Debian-based TrinityKDE Plasma ▼ 4 places down from rank 29 2 out of 100
34 Gentoo Linux Independent BudgieCinnamonFvwm-crystal ▼ 7 places down from rank 27 2 out of 100
35 Apricity OS Arch-based CinnamonGNOME ▲ 17 places up from rank 52 2 out of 100
36 Enso OS Ubuntu-based Xfce ▼ 14 places down from rank 22 2 out of 100
37 Elive Linux Debian-based Enlightenment ▼ 21 places down from rank 16 1 out of 100
38 Shark Linux Debian-based MATE ▼ 14 places down from rank 24 1 out of 100
39 deepin Debian-based Deepindesktop ▲ 42 places up from rank 81 1 out of 100
40 Pardus Debian-based XfceGNOME ▲ 26 places up from rank 66 1 out of 100
41 Voyager Live Debian-based GNOMEXfce ▲ 51 places up from rank 92 1 out of 100
42 elementary OS Ubuntu-based Pantheon ▲ 12 places up from rank 54 1 out of 100
43 MidnightBSD FreeBSD-based LuminaGNOME ▲ 34 places up from rank 77 1 out of 100
44 NomadBSD FreeBSD-based Openbox ▼ 4 places down from rank 40 1 out of 100
45 OpenMandriva Independent KDE Plasma ▲ 20 places up from rank 65 1 out of 100
46 Peppermint OS Debian-based LXDE ▼ 20 places down from rank 26 1 out of 100
47 Porteus Slackware-based CinnamonMATEKDE Plasma ▲ 3 places up from rank 50 1 out of 100
48 Puppy Linux Independent JwmRoxfiler ▲ 35 places up from rank 83 1 out of 100
49 Sabayon Linux Gentoo-based KDE PlasmaGNOMEXfce ▼ 16 places down from rank 33 1 out of 100
50 Raspbian Debian-based ▲ 37 places up from rank 87 1 out of 100
51 Endless OS Debian-based GNOME ▲ 24 places up from rank 75 1 out of 100
52 Kodachi Linux Debian-based Xfce ▲ 32 places up from rank 84 1 out of 100
53 Pentoo Gentoo-based Xfce ▼ 10 places down from rank 43 1 out of 100
54 Maui Linux Kdeneon-based KDE Plasma ▼ 5 places down from rank 49 1 out of 100
55 UbuntuDDE Remix Ubuntu-based Deepindesktop ▼ 10 places down from rank 45 1 out of 100
56 Antergos Arch-based CinnamonGNOMEKDE Plasma ▲ 12 places up from rank 68 1 out of 100
57 Arya Linux LFS-based MATEXfceGNOME ▼ 10 places down from rank 47 1 out of 100
58 Chakra Linux Independent KDE Plasma ▲ 16 places up from rank 74 1 out of 100
59 MakuluLinux Debian-based XfceCinnamon ▲ 2 places up from rank 61 1 out of 100
60 RedCore Linux Gentoo-based KDE Plasma ▼ 16 places down from rank 44 1 out of 100
61 TrueOS FreeBSD-based Lumina ▲ 1 places up from rank 62 1 out of 100
62 CRUX Independent Openbox ▲ 18 places up from rank 80 1 out of 100
63 DragonFly FreeBSD-based AwesomeCinnamonFluxbox ▼ 25 places down from rank 38 1 out of 100
64 Mageia Independent GNOMEKDE PlasmaXfce ▼ 8 places down from rank 56 1 out of 100
65 Trident Trueos-based Lumina ▲ 6 places up from rank 71 1 out of 100
66 Ubuntu Budgie Ubuntu-based Budgie ▼ 6 places down from rank 60 1 out of 100
67 ArchBang Arch-based Openboxi3 ▼ 10 places down from rank 57 1 out of 100
68 Linux From Scratch Independent ▲ 2 places up from rank 70 1 out of 100
69 openSUSE Independent GNOMEKDE PlasmaXfce ▲ 24 places up from rank 93 1 out of 100
70 Xubuntu Ubuntu-based Xfce ▼ 3 places down from rank 67 1 out of 100
71 Bodhi Linux Ubuntu-based Moksha NEW 1 out of 100
72 GhostBSD FreeBSD-based MATE ▼ 24 places down from rank 48 1 out of 100
73 Oracle Linux Red Hat-based GNOME ▲ 21 places up from rank 94 1 out of 100
74 Pop!_OS Ubuntu-based GNOME ▼ 21 places down from rank 53 1 out of 100
75 Siduction Debian-based KDE PlasmaXfceLXQt ▼ 34 places down from rank 41 1 out of 100
76 Ubuntu Unity Ubuntu-based Unity ▼ 30 places down from rank 46 1 out of 100
77 Korora Fedora-based GNOMEKDE PlasmaMATE ▼ 1 places down from rank 76 1 out of 100
78 Kubuntu Ubuntu-based KDE Plasma ▲ 4 places up from rank 82 1 out of 100
79 Salix Slackware-based Xfce ▼ 28 places down from rank 51 1 out of 100
80 Archman Arch-based XfceMATEKDE Plasma ▼ 8 places down from rank 72 1 out of 100
81 ArcoLinux Arch-based XfceOpenboxi3 ▼ 12 places down from rank 69 1 out of 100
82 Calculate Linux Gentoo-based KDE PlasmaMATEXfce ▼ 9 places down from rank 73 1 out of 100
83 Trisquel GNU/Linux Ubuntu-based MATE ▼ 41 places down from rank 42 1 out of 100
84 Ubuntu GNOME Ubuntu-based GNOME ▲ 4 places up from rank 88 1 out of 100
85 KaOS Independent KDE Plasma ▼ 27 places down from rank 58 1 out of 100
86 Netrunner Debian-based KDE Plasma –No change 1 out of 100
87 Parsix GNU/Linux Debian-based GNOME ▼ 53 places down from rank 34 1 out of 100
88 Tails Debian-based GNOME ▲ 3 places up from rank 91 1 out of 100
89 Devuan GNU+Linux Debian-based Xfce ▼ 26 places down from rank 63 1 out of 100
90 KDE neon Ubuntu-based KDE Plasma ▼ 26 places down from rank 64 1 out of 100
91 Uruk GNU/Linux Pureos-based MATE ▼ 55 places down from rank 36 1 out of 100
92 Neptune Debian-based KDE Plasma ▼ 33 places down from rank 59 1 out of 100
93 Nitrux Linux Debian-based Hyprland ▼ 15 places down from rank 78 1 out of 100
94 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Independent GNOME ▼ 5 places down from rank 89 1 out of 100
95 Ubuntu MATE Ubuntu-based MATE ▼ 16 places down from rank 79 1 out of 100
96 NetBSD Independent ▼ 11 places down from rank 85 1 out of 100

Desktop Environments

#1 Budgie Desktop

Latest: Budgie Desktop 10.7

– 100/100

#2 Cinnamon Desktop

Latest: Cinnamon 3.4 (Dead Link)

▲ 1 79/100

#3 GNOME Desktop Environment

Latest: GNOME 51

▲ 5 62/100

Biggest risers

Moksha Desktop #17 → #8 ▲ 9 places up from rank 17
Pantheon Desktop #14 → #7 ▲ 7 places up from rank 14
GNOME Desktop Environment #8 → #3 ▲ 5 places up from rank 8

Biggest fallers

MATE Desktop #6 → #10 ▼ 4 places down from rank 6
Deepin Desktop #11 → #15 ▼ 4 places down from rank 11
LXDE #12 → #16 ▼ 4 places down from rank 12

1 Budgie Desktop Budgie Desktop 10.7 –No change 100 out of 100
2 Cinnamon Desktop Cinnamon 3.4 (Dead Link) ▲ 1 places up from rank 3 79 out of 100
3 GNOME Desktop Environment GNOME 51 ▲ 5 places up from rank 8 62 out of 100
4 Cutefish Desktop ▼ 2 places down from rank 2 52 out of 100
5 KDE Plasma Plasma 5.14.4 –No change 40 out of 100
6 Xfce Xfce 4.20 ▼ 2 places down from rank 4 36 out of 100
7 Pantheon Desktop ▲ 7 places up from rank 14 34 out of 100
8 Moksha Desktop ▲ 9 places up from rank 17 30 out of 100
9 Regolith Desktop ▼ 2 places down from rank 7 28 out of 100
10 MATE Desktop MATE Desktop 1.20 ▼ 4 places down from rank 6 23 out of 100
11 helloSystem ▼ 2 places down from rank 9 21 out of 100
12 LXQt Desktop Environment LXQt 2.4.0 ▼ 2 places down from rank 10 19 out of 100
13 Trinity Desktop –No change 19 out of 100
14 Lumina Desktop Lumina Desktop 1.4.0 ▲ 1 places up from rank 15 18 out of 100
15 Deepin Desktop ▼ 4 places down from rank 11 14 out of 100
16 LXDE ▼ 4 places down from rank 12 11 out of 100
17 Enlightenment ▼ 1 places down from rank 16 8 out of 100

Rankings archive

Year in review 2025 2024 2023

2026 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

2025 Nov Dec

Methodology

Data source: Page views of each distribution and desktop page on OpenSourceFeed during this calendar year, from the Google Analytics Data API. Hits on old or alias URLs are merged into the main page.
Popularity score: Each entry's page views divided by those of the #1 entry in the same list, scaled to 100.
Rank change: Compared with the rank in 2022. “NEW” means the entry was not ranked then.
Frozen data: This page is a snapshot. It is not updated after the period ends; see the live ranking for current numbers.