Are you confused by all the options available among different Linux desktop environments? Do you want to know how they compare to and differ from one another? Well, I tested 10 popular Linux desktop environments, and here’s my personal ranking of all of them!

If you ask me, picking the right desktop environment (DE) is far more important than picking the right distro. The same distro can offer multiple DE variations—like Manjaro offering KDE Plasma and GNOME editions—and the choice of DE can make or break your Linux experience. While I wouldn’t claim there’s an objective best DE since everyone has different preferences, here’s my personal ranking of 10 popular Linux desktop environments. This should highlight what each DE offers and help you pick the right one for yourself.

1 KDE Plasma

Close

KDE Plasma has been my favorite Linux desktop environment for years, and for good reason—it’s simply the most powerful, feature-rich, and endlessly customizable option out there. Even visually, the desktop environment offers a polished and modern appeal, especially with Plasma version 6.

What really sets Plasma apart is how it bakes advanced tools right into the desktop experience—features that would require several third-party apps on other DEs. I’m talking about features like KDE Activities, the deep catalog of desktop and panel widgets, animated desktop effects, among others.

Almost all the popular distros support KDE Plasma. I personally use Garuda Linux’s customized KDE version dubbed the Mokka edition. That said, if you’re new to Linux, you can try out Kubuntu or Fedora KDE spin.

2 GNOME

Close

I’ve always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with GNOME. I love how it looks and feels with its polished and modern aesthetics. It’s easily the most cohesive DE when it comes to design language. However, when it comes to features and functionality, that’s when it starts to get on my nerves!

Don’t get me wrong—by default, GNOME covers all the basic things you’d expect from a DE. However, it will feel somewhat rigid with limited customization options. Now, you can use GNOME extensions to make the DE more functional and customizable, almost on the same level as KDE Plasma. But then, a new GNOME version will drop and the majority of extensions will break or stop working. I just can’t live with this sort of instability, which is why it falls second to Plasma.

That said, this extension-breaking issue is mainly present with rolling release distros. If you get a stable release distro like Fedora or Ubuntu where the latest GNOME versions are released after careful stability checks, then this might not be as big of an issue.

3 Cinnamon

Close

Cinnamon tries to strike a balance between GNOME and KDE Plasma. It’s more polished than KDE yet not quite as sleek as GNOME, and it comes with more built-in functionality than GNOME but still falls short of KDE’s depth. While many like this middle ground, I personally find it a bit boring and uninspired.

Design-wise, it looks modern and polished with the option to add themes to customize how it looks. You can even make it look like Windows 10 if you want. In terms of functionality, it covers all the basic things you’d need along with applets (widget) support to make the desktop more functional. Overall, it’s an excellent option for new Linux users and worth a try if you want something simple and reliable.

Now, Cinnamon was made by the Linux Mint team, and that’s the distro I recommend for testing this DE. However, if you want a second option, I really like the Ubuntu Cinnamon edition with its black-orange theme.

4 Budgie

Close

Budgie, like Cinnamon, is another desktop environment that aims for that elusive middle ground between GNOME’s minimalism and KDE Plasma’s deep customizability. However, Budgie’s real claim to fame comes with its signature Raven sidebar—a pop-out panel that functions as a centralized hub for your notifications, calendar, and media controls. It feels a lot like Windows 11’s notification center but much more functional.

Other than this, Budgie lets you have multiple panels and add widgets to your panels, similar to KDE Plasma. The only issue is that there aren’t as many great widgets to pick from. Moreover, it leans on the GTK toolkit (which GNOME uses), so you get a clean and polished UI—though in my experience, it doesn’t quite achieve the visual polish of GNOME or Cinnamon.

Now, Budgie is the official DE of Solus, and that’s the best place to try it out. However, if you want some more options, I can recommend Ubuntu Budgie or EndeavourOS (you can pick which DE you want during installation) as excellent alternatives.

5 Xfce

Close

Xfce has a huge following in the Linux world, and I get why—it’s stable, reliable, and incredibly lightweight. On most systems, Xfce barely consumes 500 MB of RAM, so if you’re running older hardware or just want every bit of performance for your apps, it’s a fantastic choice.

The main issue with Xfce is that it just looks old and outdated. There’s a Windows XP vibe to the whole thing that I can’t really get past, and for me, the desktop’s aesthetics matter almost as much as its features. Yes, you can change themes, tweak icons, and even add widgets, but no matter what you do, it never quite feels as modern or polished as KDE Plasma or even Cinnamon.

That said, if looks aren’t your top concern, and you value efficiency above all else, Xfce absolutely gets the job done. To experience Xfce, I’d recommend Xubuntu, Linux Mint XFCE Edition, or Manjaro XFCE.

6 LXQt

Close

LXQt is another lightweight desktop environment that puts efficiency front and center. If you need to squeeze the most out of older or low-powered hardware, LXQt is hard to beat since it barely makes a dent in your system resources.

That said, like Xfce, it definitely looks and feels a bit dated. Using LXQt reminds me of Linux desktops from the late 2000s, with a lot of small applets, inconsistent right-click menus, and an overall vibe that just doesn’t feel as cohesive as some of the modern DEs. While it covers all the basic features and can reliably function as your daily driver, I just find it a bit too utilitarian for my liking.

That said, if you like what you read or want a DE for your old PC or laptop, then LXQt is an excellent pick. Lubuntu is hands down the best way to experience this DE, so much so that no alternative comes to mind!

7 MATE

Close

MATE is basically a love letter to GNOME 2—faithfully recreating the look and feel of the classic Linux desktop environment from the early 2000s. If you’re feeling nostalgic about the early days of desktop Linux, you might like using MATE, but I want my DEs with a modern polish, which is why it’s lower on my list.

Furthermore, MATE also skips out on many modern functionalities like native HDR or Wayland support, which is simply a deal-breaker for me. Not to mention that the entire visual look of MATE can potentially be replicated on GNOME by using extensions and themes.

That said, GNOME is one of the heaviest DEs and MATE is super lightweight. As such, if you want something nostalgic, stable, and light, MATE can be a good pick. Linux Mint’s MATE edition and Fedora MATE-Compiz spin are two excellent distros to try out the DE.

8 Pantheon

Close

Pantheon has always struck me as one of the more distinctive-looking desktop environments out there. It offers a macOS-style layout with a top panel showing system information and a bottom dock for pinned apps. However, instead of Apple’s more polished and professional aesthetic, you get what feels to me like a somewhat cartoony and childish design language.

In terms of functionality, Pantheon covers all the core features with some simple customization options like tweaking fonts and color schemes. Unfortunately, there’s nothing here that feels especially powerful or groundbreaking.

Overall, it’s a simple and reliable DE that might be a great pick for a kid’s PC or in a classroom setting, but not something I’d reach for myself. If you want to try it out, Pantheon is the default on elementary OS, and that’s really the best way to experience it.

9 DDE (Deepin Desktop Environment)

Close

DDE, or Deepin Desktop Environment, is easily one of the best-looking Linux desktops around. Its modern design language, glass-like transparency, and polished UI elements really make it stand out visually!

Out of the box, Deepin gives you all the tools you’d expect for tweaking the interface, like adjusting the taskbar, window sizes, themes, and accent colors, making it easy to personalize your setup. However, when it comes to core functionality, DDE doesn’t really offer much beyond its good looks—most of the power features you’d find in KDE Plasma or even GNOME just aren’t here.

In fact, if you really wanted, you could probably recreate Deepin’s style with theming on other DEs and get more features as a bonus. Another caveat is its resource usage—DDE is heavy, almost rivaling GNOME for RAM consumption when idle. For all these reasons, DDE gets a hard pass from me, but if you want to try it out, both Deepin and UbuntuDDE are good options.

10 Cosmic

Close

Cosmic is one of the newest faces in the Linux desktop world, and it’s shaking things up in a way that feels genuinely fresh. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, it’s still in development and somewhat buggy and unstable for daily use—which is the only reason I have it in 10th position. Otherwise, I would have it at number three or two.

You see, the Cosmic desktop environment is being developed by System76 for Pop!_OS. At present, the distro runs a heavily customized version of GNOME, with tons of custom features like a tiling window manager, advanced keyboard shortcuts, a spotlight-like search bar, a traditional app launcher, and more. Now, Cosmic is being built from the ground up to natively offer all these features without resorting to unstable GNOME extensions!

From my testing, I loved Cosmic, and it’s poised to rock the Linux world once it’s fully released. That said, if you want to test it right now, you can download Pop!_OS running Cosmic or get the Garuda Cosmic edition.

There you have it—10 popular Linux desktop environments and how they stack up against each other. Of course, this is just my personal ranking based on what I value most, and your preferences might look completely different.

Choosing a desktop environment is always a personal decision, and it really comes down to what matters to you—whether it’s customization, features, resource usage, or just the way things look and feel. Try out a few, see what clicks, and don’t be afraid to make it your own.