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ISO download - openKylin
Pop!_OS RSS Feed DistroWatch.com: Pop!_OS

Pop!_OS


Last Update: 2026-02-08 01:17 UTC


popos-24.04 (more screenshots in our gallery)  
Pop!_OS is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution featuring its own GNOME-based desktop environment called COSMIC. It is designed with productivity in mind; it has fluid windows, search navigation via the Super key, workspaces that can hide clutter, and efficient auto-tiling of windows. The distribution is developed by US-based Linux computer retailer System76.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 5 (1,336), 6 months: 4 (1,194), 3 months: 5 (1,009), 4 weeks: 4 (980), 1 week: 6 (1,048)

Average visitor rating: 7.9/10 from 333 review(s).


Pop!_OS
Distribution Pop!_OS
Home Page https://system76.com/pop
Mailing Lists --
User Forums https://chat.pop-os.org/
Alternative User Forums Reddit.com
Documentation https://support.system76.com/#pop
Screenshots --
Screencasts
Download Mirrors https://system76.com/popDistroWatch Torrent Archive
Bug Tracker https://github.com/system76/pop-distro/issues
Related Websites GitHub
Reviews 24.04: Diolinux (Portuguese) • FOSS ForceFOSS ForceIt's FOSS
21.x: DistroWatchJeremy Morgan
20.x: Linux za sve (Croatian) • DistroWatchArstechnicaDistroWatch
18.x: CMS CriticDistroWatchDominickm
17.x: DedoimedoDistroWatchMakeUseOf
Where To Donate, Buy or Try https://system76.com/donateThe Linux Shop

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases announcements with download links and checksums:
 • 2025-12-11: Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 24.04
 • 2025-09-27: Development Release: Pop!_OS 24.04 Beta
 • 2025-01-10: Development Release: Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5
 • 2024-12-05: Development Release: Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 4
 • 2024-08-08: Development Release: Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 1
 • 2022-04-25: Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 22.04
 • 2021-12-14: Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 21.10
 • 2021-06-30: Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 21.04
 • 2020-10-23: Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 20.10
 • 2020-05-01: Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 20.04
 • 2020-04-17: Development Release: Pop!_OS 20.04 Beta
 • 2019-04-20: Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 19.04
 • More Pop!_OS releases...

  Headlines:
 • 2026-08-25 New COSMIC release brings more accessibility features
 • 2026-06-27 COSMIC gets a new system monitor
 • 2026-06-03 COSMIC desktop gets Frosted Glass effect
 • 2026-03-11 System76 pushes back against new age verification bills
 • 2026-02-04 System76 publishes roadmap for future COSMIC versions
 • 2025-01-02 Pop!_OS release featuring COSMIC faces ongoing delays
 • 2024-03-12 COSMIC desktop to include a new software centre
 • 2024-02-16 System76 shows off COSMIC progress
 • 2023-09-28 COSMIC desktop get new feature to swap between windows
 • 2023-05-11 Desktop and audio scheduling improvements coming to Pop!_OS
 • More Pop!_OS headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
  • Select view:
  • To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
  • Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
  • Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
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Feature 24.04 22.04 21.10 21.04 20.10 20.04 19.10 19.04 18.10 18.04 17.10 Feature
Release Date 2025-12-11 2022-04-25 2021-12-14 2021-06-29 2020-10-23 2020-04-30 2019-10-19 2019-04-20 2018-10-19 2018-04-30 2017-10-18 Release Date
End Of Life             2020-07 2020-01 2019-07     End Of Life
Price (US$) Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Price (US$)
Image Size (MB) 2900-3500 2500-3200 2500-3000 2400-2900 2200-2700 2100-2500 2100-2400 2100-2400 2000-2300 1800-2100 1700-1800 Image Size (MB)
Free Download ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO Free Download
Installation Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Pop Installer Graphical Installation
Default Desktop COSMIC GNOME GNOME GNOME GNOME GNOME GNOME GNOME GNOME GNOME GNOME Default Desktop
Default Browser Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Default Browser
Package Format deb, flatpak, PackageKit deb, flatpak deb, flatpak deb, flatpak deb, flatpak deb, flatpak deb deb deb deb deb Package Format
Package Management                       Package Management
Release Model Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Release Model
Office Suite LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice Office Suite
Processor Architecture aarch64, x86_64 aarch64, x86_64 aarch64, x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 Processor Architecture
Init Software systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd Init Software
Journaled File Systems Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4 Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Journaled File Systems
Multilingual Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -- -- -- -- Multilingual
Full Package List 24.04 22.04 21.10 21.04 20.10 20.04 19.10 19.04 18.10 18.04 17.10 Full Package List
Package 24.04 22.04 21.10 21.04 20.10 20.04 19.10 19.04 18.10 18.04 17.10 Package
alsa-lib (1.2.16.1) 1.2.11 1.2.6 1.2.4 1.2.4 1.2.3.2 1.2.2 1.1.9 1.1.8 1.1.6 1.1.3 1.1.3 alsa-lib (1.2.16.1)
amdgpu (25.0.0) 23.0.0 22.0.0 21.0.0 19.1.0 19.1.0 19.1.0 19.0.1 19.0.1 18.0.1 18.0.1 -- amdgpu (25.0.0)
apparmor (5.0.2) 4.0.1 3.0.4 3.0.3 3.0.0 3.0.0 2.13.3 2.13.3 2.13.2 2.12 2.12 2.11.0 apparmor (5.0.2)
apt (3.3.3) 2.8.3 2.4.5 2.3.12 2.2.3 2.1.10 2.0.2 1.9.4 1.8.0 1.7.0 1.6.1 1.5 apt (3.3.3)
bash (5.3) 5.2.21 5.1 5.1 5.1 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.4.18 4.4 4.4 bash (5.3)
bind (9.20.27) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- bind (9.20.27)
chromium (152.0.7977.64) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- chromium (152.0.7977.64)
cinnamon (6.6.9) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- cinnamon (6.6.9)
cups (2.4.19) 2.4.7 2.4.1 2.3.3 2.3.3 2.3.3 2.3.1 2.2.12 2.2.10 2.2.8 2.2.7 2.2.4 cups (2.4.19)
e2fsprogs (1.47.4) 1.47.0 1.46.5 1.46.3 1.45.7 1.45.6 1.45.5 1.45.3 1.44.6 1.44.4 1.44.1 1.43.5 e2fsprogs (1.47.4)
ffmpeg (9.0.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ffmpeg (9.0.1)
firefox (155.0) 146.0 99.0.1 95.0 89.0.2 81.0.2 75.0 69.0.3 66.0.3 63.0 59.0.2 56.0 firefox (155.0)
flatpak (1.18.2) 1.16.1 1.12.7 1.11.2 1.8.5 1.8.2 1.6.3 -- -- -- -- -- flatpak (1.18.2)
freetype (2.14.3) 2.13.2 2.11.1 2.10.4 2.10.4 2.10.2 2.10.1 2.9.1 2.9.1 2.8.1 2.8.1 2.8 freetype (2.14.3)
gcc (16.2.0) 14.2.0 11.2.0 11.2.0 10.3.0 10.2.0 9.3.0 9.2.1 8.3.0 8.2.0 7.3.0 7.2.0 gcc (16.2.0)
gimp (3.2.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- gimp (3.2.4)
git (2.55.0) 2.43.0 2.34.1 2.32.0 2.30.2 2.27.0 2.25.1 2.20.1 2.20.1 2.19.1 2.17.0 2.14.1 git (2.55.0)
glibc (2.44) 2.39 2.35 2.34 2.33 2.32 2.31 2.30 2.29 2.28 2.27 2.26 glibc (2.44)
gnome-shell (50.4) -- 42.0 40.5 3.38.4 3.38.1 3.36.1 3.34.1 3.32.0 3.30.1 3.28.1 3.26.1 gnome-shell (50.4)
grub (2.14) 2.12 2.06 2.04 2.04 2.04 2.04 2.04 2.02 2.02 2.02 2.02beta3 grub (2.14)
gtk (4.22.4) 4.14.5 4.6.2 4.4.0 3.24.25 3.24.23 3.24.17 3.24.12 3.24.8 3.24.1 3.22.30 3.22.24 gtk (4.22.4)
httpd (2.4.68) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- httpd (2.4.68)
hyprland (0.56.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- hyprland (0.56.2)
inkscape (1.4.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- inkscape (1.4.4)
kmod (34.2) 31 29 28 28 27 27 26 25 25 24 24 kmod (34.2)
krita (6.0.3) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- krita (6.0.3)
Package 24.04 22.04 21.10 21.04 20.10 20.04 19.10 19.04 18.10 18.04 17.10 Package
LibreOffice (26.8.0) 24.2.7 7.3.2 7.2.3 7.1.3 7.0.2 6.4.2 6.3.2 6.2.2 6.1.2 6.0.3 5.4.1 LibreOffice (26.8.0)
libselinux (3.11) 3.5 3.3 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.7 libselinux (3.11)
linux (7.2.2) 6.17.9 5.16.19 5.15.5 5.11 5.8 5.4 5.3 5.0 4.18 4.15 4.13 linux (7.2.2)
mariadb (12.3.3) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- mariadb (12.3.3)
mate-desktop (1.28.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- mate-desktop (1.28.2)
mesa (26.2.1) 25.1.5 22.0.1 21.2.2 21.0.1 20.2.1 20.0.4 19.2.1 19.0.2 18.2.2 18.0.0rc5 17.2.2 mesa (26.2.1)
nautilus (50.3) -- 42.0 40.2 3.38.2 3.38.1 3.36.1.1 3.34.1 3.32.0 3.26.4 3.26.3 3.26.0 nautilus (50.3)
NVIDIA (610.57.04) 580.82.09 510.60.02 470.86 465.31 455.28 440.82 440.64 418.56 410.57 390.48 -- NVIDIA (610.57.04)
openjdk (26.0.2.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- openjdk (26.0.2.1)
openssh (10.5p1) 9.6p1 8.9p1 8.4p1 8.4p1 8.3p1 8.2p1 8.0p1 7.9p1 7.7p1 7.6p1 7.5p1 openssh (10.5p1)
openssl (4.0.2) 3.0.13 3.0.2 1.1.1l 1.1.1j 1.1.1f 1.1.1f 1.1.1c 1.1.1b 1.1.1 1.1.0g 1.0.2g openssl (4.0.2)
perl (5.44.0) 5.38.2 5.34.0 5.32.1 5.32.1 5.30.3 5.30.0 5.28.1 5.28.1 5.26.2 5.26.1 5.26.0 perl (5.44.0)
php (8.5.10) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- php (8.5.10)
plasma-desktop (6.7.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- plasma-desktop (6.7.4)
postfix (3.11.6) 3.8.6 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- postfix (3.11.6)
postgresql (18.6) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- postgresql (18.6)
Python (3.14.7) 3.12.3 3.10.4 3.9.4 3.9.4 3.8.6 3.8.2 3.7.5 2.7.16 2.7.15 2.7.15 2.7.14 Python (3.14.7)
qt (6.11.2) 5.15.13 -- -- -- -- -- 5.12.4 5.12.2 -- -- -- qt (6.11.2)
samba (4.24.6) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- samba (4.24.6)
systemd (261.2) 255.4 249.11 248.3 247.3 246 245 242 240 239 237 234 systemd (261.2)
thunderbird (154.0) 128.14.0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- thunderbird (154.0)
vim (9.2) 9.1 8.2 8.2 8.2 8.2 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.0 8.0 8.0 vim (9.2)
vlc (3.0.23) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- vlc (3.0.23)
wayland (1.26.0) 1.23.1 1.20.0 1.19.0 1.18.0 1.18.0 1.18.0 1.17.0 1.16.0 1.16.0 1.14.0 1.14.0 wayland (1.26.0)
xfdesktop (4.20.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- xfdesktop (4.20.2)
xorg-server (21.1.24) 21.1.12 21.1.3 1.20.13 1.20.11 1.20.9 1.20.8 1.20.5 1.20.4 1.20.1 1.19.6 1.19.5 xorg-server (21.1.24)

Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for Pop!_OS

Average rating
7.9
from 333 review(s)



What are your thoughts on Pop!_OS?
Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system.
Our FAQ page has tips on writing a good mini-review.

Version:

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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 24.04
Rating: 7
Date: 2026-08-27
Country: United States
Votes: 0


I want to like POP-OS but two problems will force me to choose another distro.

1. It seems to have a problem with BT headphones as an audio output device. I've tried every method I could find to get them to work with no success. I had no problem getting them to work on LMDE, but everything I tried on POP has not put them on the list of audio output devices.

2. The Brave web browser. Ever since Firefox sold-out to Google, I've been using Brave as my go-to browser. I've been using it on LMDE for several months and it has always updated fine on that OS. On POP-OS, I keep getting the message Brave can't be updated. I've uninstalled and reinstalled it a couple of times now but "can't be updated" remains.

I'll admit to being a fairly average Linux user, been using various Linux distros for about 8 years now, mostly Mint and LMDE, but trying out other OS' from time to time. I like that POP-OS gives you a lot of tweaks to try, but those 2 faults are deal-breakers for me.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-08-25
Country: Germany
Votes: 0


It is my first Linux distro for my main PC and I really like it. For me, as someone who always used Windows, the change to Pop!_OS was very easy. Also, my three monitors worked instantly, and setting them up was so easy. My Nvidia GPU works great with all the games I play. I really like the COSMIC DE, even though it is not fully developed yet. The only bad things are that the cursor feels a bit weird in games and the power options reset when I restart. I cannot imagine switching back to Windows.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 24.04
Rating: 7
Date: 2026-08-23
Country: India
Votes: 2


I switched to Pop os in duel boot on august 2nd week, from windows on to the victus with Nvidia RTX 5080, this was my first time using any linux distro. I majorly use laptop for ML and AI work with llms and ocr.............

People are talking about the new Cosmic DE ,that it's too soon to release and it not fully ready yet for general users and that's ok...

For me personally ....I cared more about nvidia drive setup, system-breaks. so far nothing very troublesome happened, the system monitor and disk analyzer are very handy to monitor the memory, vram and disk space, ............

It used to be a pain on Windows to identify why the my free-space is rapidly shrinking. .........I have to manually go through each folder and see the space occupied in those nested folders.

but with the disk analyzer it became easy to see which folders are tacking space, how much the cache folders are occupying...........this became easy to clean the cache and manage my disk space when ever the space shrinks rapidly...........

But there are few issues with web apps (QtWebEngineProcess), wifi-disconnect, and suspend and i tried to resolve...........the wifi issue was able to resolve,...........the web apps (QtWebEngineProcess), some times the python programs that i stop/closed on vs code won't get stopped in backgroud , i have to manually go there and kill those process...........

Overall it good compared to windows 11 experience, but if these things get fixed it will be really great.


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See all 333 reader reviews of Pop!_OS...



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