| Most Popular Linux Distributions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Founder | Maintainer | Initial release year | Current stable version | Security updates (years) | Release date | System distribution commitment | Forked from | Target audience | Cost | Status |
| Arch Linux | Judd Vinet | dev team | 2002 | Rolling | Rolling | Rolling | X | Independent, inspired from CRUX | general | None | Active |
| Debian | Ian Murdock | Debian Project | 1993 | 11.4 | ~3 years | 2022-07-09 | Debian Social Contract and DFSG (main is 100% free, non-free packages are optional) | Independent, inspired by Softlanding Linux System (SLS) | general, server, desktop | None | Active |
| Deepin | Wuhan Deepin Technology Co., Ltd. | Wuhan Deepin Technology Co., Ltd. | 2004 | 20.6 | ? | 2022-05-31 | X | Debian | general | None | Active |
| Elementary OS | Daniel Foré | elementary LLC | 2011 | 5.1.7 | ? | 2020-02-05 | X | Ubuntu, Debian | general | None | Active |
| EndeavourOS | Bryan Poerwoatmodjo | EndeavourOS | 2019 | Rolling | ? | 2020-07-15 | X | Arch Linux | general | None | Active |
| Fedora Linux | Fedora Project | Fedora Project | 2003 | 35 | 1 year and month | 2021-11-02 | Fedora Licensing Guidelines | Red Hat Linux | general | None | Active |
| Gentoo Linux | Daniel Robbins | Gentoo Foundation, Inc. | 2002 | Rolling | Rolling | Rolling | Gentoo Social Contract | Enoch Linux | general | None | Active |
| Kali Linux | Max Moser, Mati Aharoni, Martin J. Muench | Offensive Security | 2013 | 2021.4a | ? | 2021-12-23 | X | Debian | auditing, forensic, security, network | None | Active |
| Linux Mint | Clement Lefebvre | dev team | 2006 | 20.2 | ~3 years (LMDE); 5 years (main editions) | 2021-07-08 | X | Debian(LMDE), Ubuntu (main editions) | desktop | None | Active |
| Manjaro Linux | Roland Singer | dev team | 2012 | Rolling | Rolling | Rolling | X | Arch Linux | general | None | Active |
| openSUSE | SUSE Linux | openSUSE Project | 2006 | Leap 15.2 | 3 years | 2020-07-02 | X | SLS/Slackware | general, desktop | None | Active |
| Pop! OS | Carl Ritchell | System76 | 2017 | 22.04 | 2 years for LTS releases. 2–3 months after the next release for other releases. | 2022-04-25 | X | Ubuntu | desktop, laptop | None | Active |
| Ubuntu and Derivatives | Canonical Ltd. | Canonical Ltd. | 2004 | 22.04 LTS | Standard releases 1 year, LTS releases 5 years. Flavor LTS releases 3 or 5 years. Ubuntu Pro 10 years. | 2021-04-22 | X | Debian | general, server, desktop, supercomputer, IBM mainframe | None | Active |
| Void Linux | Juan Romero Pardines | Juan RP and contributors | 2008 | Rolling | Rolling | 2019-11-09 | X | Independent, partially inspired by FreeBSD/NetBSD | general | None | Active |
| Zorin OS | Zorin Group | Zorin Group | 2009 | OS 16.1 | ? | 2022-03-10 | X | Ubuntu | general, desktop | Zorin OS Lite & Core are free, while Business and Ultimate are paid | Active |