Garuda in comparison to other popular distributions
To decide if Garuda is a good choice, it might be good to see how it compares to other well known distributions!
| Garuda Linux | Manjaro Linux | Ubuntu | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Package management | Pacman & Octopi | Pacman & Pamac | APT |
| Repository | Arch Repos + Chaotic AUR (precompiled) + AUR (need to compile) | Manjaro Repos (Arch + a bit of testing) + AUR (need to compile) | Ubuntu repos, missing well known software |
| Software | Most known software available by default (precompiled) | Many software installable via AUR (need to compile) | Software available via PPA (many different sources) |
| Software versions | Always the latest | New versions often a few weeks delayed | Well tested software but not the latest |
| Target audience | People who want a good out of the box experience with an opinionated set of applications and settings | People who want a stable environment with little changes - possible only due to freezing repos & reinstallation for new releases | |
| Installation | Calamares offline installer | Calamares offline installer | Ubuntu installer |
| Desktop environments | KDE (Dr460nized, Mokka, kde-lite), Xfce, GNOME, Cinnamon, COSMIC, i3wm, Sway, and Hyprland. | KDE, Xfce, GNOME, Cinnamon, i3wm, and Sway. | GNOME - Additional DEs available as different distributions, e.g. Kubuntu |