Off the default. 47.2% of runs end on a desktop that is not the distro's flagship.
Most common of those. NixOS with Hyprland, 242 runs.
The desktop field is narrower. The top three desktops take 47.8% of all desktop picks; the top three distros take 20.7% of theirs.
The bottom half of the table still shares 18.9% of all recommendations between them.
Rarest: Slackware 67 · openSUSE Leap 108 · Parrot OS 164
Rare is not bad. These are specialists: they win when someone answers the way they were built for. All 32 distro guides · all 16 desktop guides.
The leaderboards up top show what Distro Fighter recommends. This shows what the players root for: in the final rounds you can back the fighter you think will take the trophy, and this counts how often each distro and desktop gets picked.
The same rosters, two different measures: how often players back a fighter, and how often the engine crowns it. The gap is where taste and fit part company.
Backing a fighter is a call, not a vote — it changes nothing about the result, so it can be scored. The fighter players backed went on to win 28.5% of the time across 5,166 distro calls, and 34.7% across 1,503 desktop calls — a shorter field to guess from.
Most over-backed distro. Fedora is backed in 17.6% of calls, but crowned in 7.0% of runs.
Most overlooked distro. Xubuntu is backed in only 1.0% of calls, but crowned in 5.0% of runs.
And on the desktop side. KDE Plasma is the crowd's favourite relative to its record, while Xfce is the one they keep missing.
Backed distros in the top three. The fighter players backed finished in the engine's top three 59.0% of the time.
Backed desktops in the top three. 70.8% of the time.
Here is the most popular answers chosen by players. Playing this exact set of 8 answers gets you Ubuntu.
Linux experience level? Comfortable enough
What's this machine mainly for? Everyday desktop / office
Software: fresh or stable? A sensible balance
What's the hardware like? Modern / plenty of power
How much do you want to tinker? Some control is nice
Distro style? Lean & no-nonsense
Init system? systemd is fine, or no preference
System style? Traditional — a normal, editable system
1,061 players answered in exactly that way.
The most popular answer to all eight is unchanged over the last 30 days.
Most crowned in that window: Ubuntu, 140 times.
Most divided: Q2. Its biggest answer takes only 43.7%.
Most settled: Q7. One answer takes 86.9% on its own.
Read all 32 distro guides and all 16 desktop guides.
Here is the most popular answers chosen by players. Playing this exact set of 5 answers gets you KDE Plasma.
Task switching? One desktop, click around (Windows/Mac style)
Resource budget for the desktop? Balanced
How much setup are you up for? A little config is fine
Preferred look? Sleek & modern
Display server? Modern (Wayland), rough edges OK
1,593 players answered in exactly that way.
Most divided: D2. Its biggest answer takes only 53.6%.
Most settled: D5. One answer takes 69.8% on its own.
The most popular answer to all five is unchanged over the last 30 days.
Most crowned in that window: Xfce, 139 times — all time it is KDE Plasma.
The desktop round also reads your distro champion, so the same five answers can land differently depending on what round one crowned. All 16 desktop guides.
Talk it out on the forum Argue the results, share your run, and tell us what the engine got wrong — on linuxcommunity.io