The best apps for Linux
Most of these install from your Linux app store in a couple of clicks, and most are free. Pick the job you need done.
Office & documents
LibreOffice
Free office suite with word processor, spreadsheet and presentation apps. Opens and saves Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
LibreOffice Base
The database part of LibreOffice. Builds tables, forms, queries and reports, and is the nearest thing to Access.
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors
Free office suite built around Microsoft file formats, with a ribbon-style layout close to Word and Excel.
WPS Office
Free office suite that looks like Microsoft Office, with a writer, spreadsheet, presentation app and PDF tools.
Web browsers
Brave
Chrome-compatible browser with ad and tracker blocking built in. Official Linux packages from Brave.
Chromium
The open source browser Google Chrome is built from. Almost the same experience, without the Google extras.
Firefox
Mozilla's web browser, open source and preinstalled on most beginner Linux systems.
Google Chrome
Google's browser, available as an official Linux installer file. Not open source, unlike the Chromium project it is built on.
LibreWolf
A privacy-focused version of Firefox with tracking and telemetry stripped out. Official Linux builds.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft's browser has a real Linux version, offered as a .deb installer file. Not open source.
Opera
Opera's own Linux browser, with the built-in VPN, ad blocker and sidebar messengers you get on Windows.
Tor Browser
The Tor Project's anonymity browser. The same official build on Linux as on Windows.
Vivaldi
Highly customisable browser with built-in mail, calendar and notes. Official Linux packages, but not open source.
Email & calendar
Evolution
GNOME's email, calendar and contacts app. The one Linux mail client that talks to Microsoft Exchange out of the box.
Geary
Simple email app for GNOME that groups messages into conversations. Works with Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo.
Thunderbird
Mozilla's free email app with calendar and address book. The usual replacement for Outlook on a home computer.
Photos & graphics
darktable
Free raw photo developer and light table. The closest thing Linux has to Adobe Lightroom.
digiKam
Free photo library for sorting, tagging and searching a big picture collection, with an editor built in.
GIMP
Free image editor with layers, masks and retouching tools. The usual stand-in for Photoshop on Linux.
Gwenview
Quick, plain image viewer from the KDE project, with basic cropping, resizing, rotating and annotation.
Inkscape
Free vector drawing app for logos, signs and diagrams. The common replacement for Adobe Illustrator.
Krita
Free digital painting studio built for artists, with a large brush engine and good drawing tablet support.
Loupe
The image viewer built into GNOME desktops. Opens photos instantly and does quick crops and rotations.
Photopea
Photoshop-style image editor that runs in a web browser. Free with ads, opens .psd files with layers intact.
Pinta
Simple image editor with layers and effects, modelled on Paint.NET. Good for quick crops and touch-ups.
RawTherapee
Free raw photo developer with fine control over exposure, colour and detail. A stand-in for Capture One or DxO.
Upscayl
Free app that enlarges photos using AI models, for rescuing small or soft images.
XnView MP
Fast picture viewer, browser and batch converter. Reads camera RAW, PSD, HEIC and most other image formats.
Video
Celluloid
Plain, tidy video player that opens almost any file you double click. Good default for everyday watching.
DaVinci Resolve
Professional video editor and colour grading suite with a real Linux version. Free tier, with format limits on Linux.
HandBrake
Free video converter that shrinks and re-encodes files into formats phones, TVs and editors accept.
Kdenlive
Free video editor with a normal multi-track timeline. A sensible replacement for Movie Maker or basic Premiere work.
Kodi
Free media centre that turns a computer into a TV box for your own films, TV shows and music.
mpv
Very light, very fast video player with almost no interface. Best on older or low-powered computers.
OBS Studio
Free screen recording and live streaming app. The same OBS used on Windows, with an official Linux build.
Plex
Plays the films and shows on your own Plex server, with an official Linux desktop app and server.
Shotcut
Free video editor that is simpler than most. A gentle first timeline editor for anyone coming from Movie Maker.
VLC
Free media player that plays almost any video or audio file with no extra codecs to install.
Music & audio
Ardour
Free multitrack recording and mixing studio for music and podcasts, with MIDI, automation and plugin support.
Audacity
Free audio recorder and editor. The same Audacity as on Windows, for podcasts, voice notes and tidying up recordings.
Bitwig Studio
Paid music production studio with an official Linux version, built-in instruments and a modular sound builder.
Easy Effects
Live audio effects and microphone processing for Linux. Adds an equaliser, compressor and noise gate to any app.
LMMS
Free beat and melody maker with a piano roll, step sequencer and more than fifteen built-in synthesisers.
Lollypop
Modern music player for your own song files, with artwork, lyrics and party mode.
Mixxx
Free DJ software with two or four decks, beat matching and support for many DJ controllers.
MuseScore Studio
Free sheet music notation program. Write a score, hear it played back and print or export it as PDF.
REAPER
Full recording and mixing studio with an official Linux version, a 60-day free trial and a low one-off licence.
Rhythmbox
Simple music player for a collection of files on your own disk. Often already installed on GNOME systems.
Spotify
Spotify has a Linux desktop app, but the company says Linux is not a platform it actively supports.
Strawberry
Music player and collection organiser for people with large local libraries, with tag editing and artwork lookup.
Chat & video calls
Discord
Chat, voice and video for groups and gaming communities. Discord publishes the Linux app itself.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft has ended the Linux desktop app. On Linux you use Teams in a browser, optionally pinned as its own window.
Signal
Private messenger with end-to-end encryption. Signal provides an official Linux desktop app, linked to your phone.
Slack
Slack offers a Linux desktop app, still labelled beta on its own download page, plus the full browser version.
Telegram
Messaging app with a full Linux desktop version that works on its own, without needing your phone switched on.
Zoom
Zoom publishes a real Linux desktop app, and the browser version works as a fallback.
Gaming
Bottles
Runs Windows programs and games on Linux, each in its own tidy sandbox.
Dolphin Emulator
Free GameCube and Wii emulator with an official Linux build and higher resolution than the real consoles.
Heroic Games Launcher
A free launcher for your Epic Games, GOG and Amazon Games libraries on Linux.
Lutris
One launcher for games from Steam, GOG, Epic and old discs, using Wine to run the Windows ones.
MangoHud
On-screen overlay for games. Shows frame rate, frame times, temperatures and how hard the CPU and GPU are working.
Moonlight
Free app that streams games from a gaming PC on your own network to the machine in front of you.
PCSX2
Free PlayStation 2 emulator that officially supports Linux. Needs a BIOS copied from your own console.
ProtonUp-Qt
A small window for installing extra compatibility versions for Steam and Lutris, with no typing required.
RetroArch
Free all-in-one front end for retro game emulation, with one interface covering dozens of old consoles.
Steam
Valve's game store and launcher, with a built-in tool that lets many Windows games run on Linux.
Money & tax
Notes & PDFs
calibre
Ebook library manager that catalogues, converts and sends books to a reader. The standard tool for your own ebooks.
Evince
The plain, fast PDF reader built into GNOME. Opens, searches and annotates PDFs and a dozen other formats.
Foliate
Clean ebook reader for EPUB, Kindle format files, comics and PDFs, with notes, bookmarks and a dictionary.
Joplin
Open source notes and to-do lists that sync through Dropbox, OneDrive or your own storage.
Logseq
Open source notebook that links your notes together and keeps everything as plain Markdown files you own.
Manuskript
Free open source tool for planning and drafting a novel, with an outliner, index cards and character notes.
Master PDF Editor
Paid PDF editor for Linux that can change the text and images already inside a PDF, not just annotate them.
Obsidian
Note-taking app that keeps every note as a plain text file in a folder you own.
Okular
Document viewer for PDFs, ebooks and comics, with highlighting, notes and form filling.
PDF Arranger
Merge, split, rotate and reorder PDF pages by dragging thumbnails around.
Planify
Simple Linux to-do list app that can sync your existing Todoist account, or a Nextcloud or CalDAV one.
Xournal++
Handwritten notes and PDF mark-up for a stylus or drawing tablet.
Cloud storage & backup
Déjà Dup Backups
Set-and-forget backup of your personal files, encrypted and on a schedule.
Dropbox
The official Dropbox sync folder, available on Linux but with fewer features than on Windows.
FreeFileSync
Free folder comparison and sync tool with the same look and the same job it does on Windows.
Insync
Paid desktop app that syncs Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox folders on Linux.
Nextcloud
Sync folder client for Nextcloud, a cloud storage service you can run yourself or rent.
Pika Backup
Friendly backups of your personal files to a drive or a remote server, encrypted.
Rescuezilla
Whole-disk backup and restore. Runs from a USB stick and copies an entire drive to an image file, or clones it.
Syncthing
Keeps folders matched between your own devices directly, with no cloud account at all.
Timeshift
Snapshots of your whole system so you can roll back a bad update, like System Restore.
Security & passwords
1Password
The same 1Password you use on Windows, made for Linux by the same company. Your vaults sync across.
Bitwarden
Password manager that syncs across every device, free for personal use.
ClamAV
Free open source virus scanner for Linux. Mostly used to check files before passing them to Windows users.
KeePassXC
Password manager that keeps everything in one encrypted file on your own computer.
Proton VPN
VPN with a real Linux app and a free plan that has no data limit.
VeraCrypt
Free disk encryption for Linux, with graphical packages for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE.
Utilities
AnyDesk
Remote desktop for helping someone, or being helped, with a short number instead of setup.
Ark
The archive tool built into KDE desktops. Opens and creates zip, 7z, rar and tar files from the right-click menu.
BleachBit
Clears caches, browser history and temporary files to free space and tidy up.
Calculator (GNOME)
The calculator that comes with Ubuntu and Fedora. Standard, scientific, programmer and conversion modes.
Czkawka
Finds duplicate files, similar photos and empty folders so you can clear space.
Disk Usage Analyzer (Baobab)
Shows what is eating your disk space as a tree and a coloured map. The Linux answer to WinDirStat.
Files (Nautilus)
The file manager on Ubuntu and Fedora. The Linux equivalent of File Explorer.
FileZilla
The same FTP and SFTP file transfer program you used on Windows, with an official Linux version.
Flameshot
Screenshot tool with arrows, blur and text you add right after you grab the shot.
FSearch
Instant file search by name. Type a few letters and matching files appear straight away.
GNOME Boxes
The easy way to run Windows or another Linux inside a window. Pick a system and it downloads and installs it.
GNOME Disks
Built-in disk tool. Checks drive health, formats USB sticks, writes images and shows what is on each drive.
GNOME Screenshot
Screen capture on GNOME desktops. Press the Print key and pick an area, a window or the whole screen.
GNOME Text Editor
The plain text editor that comes with GNOME desktops. The Notepad of Linux, with tabs and colour coding.
Google Earth Pro
Google's satellite globe, with official Linux installer files. A web version covers the same ground.
Java (OpenJDK)
The Java runtime that programs ask you to install. Free builds for Linux from Eclipse Temurin and your app store.
KDE Connect
Links your phone to your desktop for notifications, files, clipboard and a remote control.
ksnip
Screenshot tool with proper annotation. Draw, add text, blur private details and upload, on X11 or Wayland.
LocalSend
Sends files between your phone and computer over your own wifi, with no account.
Mission Center
Task Manager for Linux. Shows CPU, memory, disk, network and graphics use, plus what each app is using.
OpenRGB
One app for the lighting on all your gear, without Razer, Corsair, MSI or ASUS software.
PeaZip
Archive manager for zip, 7z, rar and around 200 other formats, with encryption.
Piper
Settings app for gaming mice. Changes DPI steps, button assignments and the light colour on supported models.
qBittorrent
Torrent client that looks like the old µTorrent, without the ads.
Remmina
Connects to other computers' screens over RDP, VNC and SSH from one window.
Software (GNOME Software)
The app store built into Ubuntu, Fedora and most GNOME systems. Browse, install, remove and update.
Solaar
Manager for Logitech keyboards and mice. Shows battery level, pairs devices to a receiver and changes button behaviour.
Ventoy
Turns a USB stick into a menu of installers, so you copy ISO files on and boot any of them.
VirtualBox
Runs a whole copy of Windows in a window on your Linux desktop.
Waydroid
Runs a full Android system on Linux so you can use Android apps on the desktop.
Coding
Android Studio
Google's official tool for building Android apps, with a proper Linux download from Google.
DBeaver Community
Free database tool that connects to SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and dozens more.
Godot Engine
Free open source game engine. The Linux build is one of the official downloads and needs no installing.
Insomnia
Open source API client for REST, GraphQL and gRPC. A lighter alternative to Postman, with a Linux build.
JetBrains Toolbox App
Free installer and updater for JetBrains coding tools such as IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm.
Meld
Free side-by-side comparison tool for files and folders, with colour-coded differences.
Podman Desktop
Free container manager with a normal window and buttons. The usual replacement for Docker Desktop on Linux.
Postman
The same Postman you used on Windows, with official Linux builds from Postman for 64-bit and ARM machines.
Sublime Text
The same fast text editor, with official Linux installer files and repositories from Sublime HQ.
Visual Studio Code
Microsoft's code editor, with official Linux installer files. The download from Microsoft is proprietary, not open source.
Business & accounting
Design, CAD & 3D
Blender
Free 3D modelling, animation, rendering and motion graphics suite, used professionally.
FreeCAD
Free parametric 3D modeller for mechanical parts, 3D printing and architecture.
LibreCAD
Free 2D drafting program for plans and technical drawings, built around DXF.
LibreOffice Draw
The drawing and diagram part of LibreOffice. Opens Visio and Publisher files and makes flowcharts and simple layouts.
OpenSCAD
3D modelling by writing a short description of the object instead of drawing it.
Penpot
Browser-based interface and prototype design tool, free to use and open source.
QCAD
2D drafting program with a free community edition and a paid professional add-on.
Scribus
Free page layout program for newsletters, flyers and booklets. The closest thing Linux has to Microsoft Publisher.
Accessibility
Dasher
Type by pointing instead of pressing keys. A remarkable idea that has barely moved in years, so check it runs before relying on it.
eSpeak NG
The compact speech synthesiser that gives Orca and other Linux tools their voice. Over 100 languages, and free.
Festival
An older text-to-speech system from the University of Edinburgh. A warmer alternative voice to eSpeak NG, with narrower language coverage.
GNOME Magnifier
The screen magnifier built into the GNOME desktop. Nothing to install, and it is switched on in Accessibility settings.
LanguageTool
Grammar, spelling and style checking in the browser, LibreOffice and Thunderbird. Free tier, paid premium, and no Linux desktop app.
Mousetweaks
The dwell-click tool behind GNOME's hover click. The standalone project is archived, but the feature lives on in GNOME settings.
Onboard
An on-screen keyboard for people who cannot use a physical keyboard. Works well on X11, and Wayland support is still experimental.
Orca
The screen reader for Linux desktops. Reads the screen aloud and drives a braille display, and it is free.
Education
Anki
Free flashcard program that schedules revision for you, with the same decks and sync on every device.
GeoGebra
Free maths tool for graphing, geometry, algebra and statistics. Runs in a browser on Linux.
RStudio
The standard workbench for the R statistics language, free and open source, with an official Linux build.
Zotero
Free reference manager that collects sources from your browser and builds bibliographies in Word or LibreOffice.