As with any operating system, Linux distributions have apps that users tend to use more. These reveal trends and preferences of this community, something that Canonical decided to compile.
After starting in 2019 the collection of installation data for apps on various systems, this year repeats the list presentation. We are able to know which apps are most installed on different Linux distributions.
When it launched the Snap packages, Ubuntu created an ecosystem that is truly transversal to Linux distributions. This form of installation has made it easier for programmers, especially in the process of distributing software and apps.
Most installed apps on Linux in 2020
With an ecosystem created and available to everyone, Canonical is able to create metrics and evaluate the most installed software. In 2020 the undisputed king seems to be Spotify, which is at the top of several distributions, being used more and more.
| Arch Linux | CentOS | Debian | Fedora | Manjaro | Ubuntu |
| spotify | certbot | certbot | spotify | spotify | vlc |
| skype | microk8s | snap-store | disagree | code | code |
| disagree | lxd | spotify | postman | skype | spotify |
| code | wekan | postman | anbox | zoom-client | canonical-livepatch |
| anbox | helm | code | code | disagree | gimp |
It is also important to highlight the growth that Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code has had. This is one of the apps of one of the companies that has most bet on operating systems that compete with their Windows.
Spotify already dominated this list of Linux in 2019
These data can be compared with last year. In 2019, Spotify dominated most of the tables of the different distributions, with Code starting to show a very interesting presence in these distributions.
| Arch Linux | CentOS | Debian | Fedora | Manjaro | Ubuntu |
| spotify | wekan | spotify | spotify | spotify | vlc |
| code | lxd | lxd | vlc | code | spotify |
| skype | microk8s | firefox | code | slack | skype |
| disagree | spotify | nextcloud | postman | disagree | chromium |
| slack | helm | pycharm-community | slack | skype | canonical-livepatch |
Interestingly, we don’t have a browser this year. These accompany the installation of the operating system and, therefore, are out of the list of installed apps. There are still other apps that are left out of this list, such as GNOME, KDE or WINE.
With more and more entertainment and productivity apps, it is clear that the use of these distributions is to replace Windows. Canonical’s list of apps also shows that each of the different distributions has a very specific target audience, with specific needs.