Software Alternatives & Reviews

Xfce VS Xubuntu

Compare Xfce VS Xubuntu and see what are their differences

Xfce logo Xfce

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.

Xubuntu logo Xubuntu

Xubuntu – Xubuntu is an elegant and easy-to-use operating system. Download XubuntuXubuntu – Xubuntu is an elegant and easy-to-use operating system. Feature Tour.
  • Xfce Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-04
  • Xubuntu Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-18

Xfce videos

Fully functional? - Xfce 4.14 First Impressions

More videos:

  • Review - Debian 10 XFCE Review
  • Review - Xfce Desktop Overview

Xubuntu videos

Thoughts on Xubuntu 19.04 - Linux distro review

More videos:

  • Review - Xubuntu 18.04 LTS Review
  • Review - Xubuntu 19.10 Review - Now with XFCE 4.14 Desktop

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Xfce and Xubuntu)
Linux
46 46%
54% 54
Operating Systems
43 43%
57% 57
Linux Distribution
0 0%
100% 100
Desktop Environments
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Xfce and Xubuntu

Xfce Reviews

9 Best Linux Desktop Environments to Use in 2023
XFCE is compatible with a wide range of Linux distros. Xfce does not offer sophisticated modifications, yet it is the most performance-oriented desktop environment. It’s a compact desktop environment with a comprehensive user interface. XFCE can be installed on a variety of UNIX systems. It has been reported to compile on Ubuntu, NetBSD, Solaris, Cygwin, OpenBSD, and macOS...
Source: geekflare.com
The 8 Best Ubuntu Desktop Environments (22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux)
Cinnamon desktop is another fork of the GNOME desktop. It has a rather conservative design and is similar to Xfce. It is uncomplicated to learn and from this reason might be a good choice for someone who is new to Linux.
Source: linuxconfig.org
Top 10 Best Desktop Environments in 2020
Lightweight and Low-resource can be considered the same, but in this case, there’s a difference. XFCE is a lightweight desktop environment even with a whole lot of built-in customizations and UI perks. LXDE, on the other hand, is a DE that is built to be as low-resource as possible. You certainly can add animations, but they need to be downloaded separately.
The 12 Best Linux Desktop Environments
At first look, Xfce looks a bit older and boring, but we assure you that your mindset will change after unpacking it because it is one of the best Linux lightweight desktop environments available. Xfce is becoming one of the most reliable choices, but it has a comparatively small team for development that results in late updates. Nowadays, many users think that Xfce is an...
Source: linuxhint.com
The Best Desktop Environments For Linux (We Tested Them So That You Don’t Have To)
Xfce is light on resources but proves to provide a feature-rich user experience. If you need a performance-centric desktop environment without needing advanced customizations, Xfce is a great choice to go with.
Source: itsfoss.com

Xubuntu Reviews

Best Top 20 Ubuntu Linux Alternatives (Pros and Cons)
Xubuntu is a community-maintained and built with Ubuntu as a base. Instead of Ubuntu’s GNOME desktop environment, Xubuntu uses the Xfce desktop environment. It ‘s goal is a light, stable and configurable desktop environment with conservative workflows.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Xubuntu should be more popular than Xfce. It has been mentiond 63 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Xfce mentions (19)

  • distro hopping
    Pick up your Desktop Environment based on your computer's specs, NOT on your visual preferences. (HINT: XFCE consumes way less system resources than GNOME and KDE). Source: 6 months ago
  • Lightweight dev tools.
    It’s a bit of an interesting challenge and has forced me to re-examine some of my tool usage. I started by a minimal install of Debian “bookworm” with the XFCE Desktop Environment which chews through much fewer resources than the default GNOME 43 based environment (although more than LXDE - but there still has to be room for aesthetics). - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • I Still Use Windows 95 (archived, 2008)
    Luckily you can get an efficient, clean Desktop Environment that works well and is actively developed: Xfce ( https://xfce.org/ ) I think you will like it. It has a very early-2000's feel IMO. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • best lightweight linux distro for old laptop and gaming
    Well, it depends. It was better experience than FreeBSD 7.2 that's for sure. :) It was running Xorg with https://i3wm.org, a web-server, XMPP-server, PostgreSQL, few bots and dovecot / postfix (e-mail server). It was doing fine routing internet for 2PCs and a WiFi router for 10 years until its HDD died. For gaming... erm... I was able to play something like Theme Hospital or Syndicate Wars in dosbox. You have to... Source: about 1 year ago
  • Only one of the four XFCE4's desktop/workspace got hung and now I can't use wallpaper
    Another resource for help might be xfce.org. It's a low traffic site, but responsive. Source: about 1 year ago
View more

Xubuntu mentions (63)

  • Can I run Linux on my old PC ?
    Yeah, for sure you can give It a try! Imo you have to use a lite desktop environment like xfce maybe . You can have a pretty good idea of what can be your experience Just running a live distro like Ubuntu xfceUbuntu xfce or Linux Mint xfce, if you are really desperate you can also try a very very lightweight like puppy linux. I Will try One of the First 2 in live mode and if It runs well you can install It on the... Source: 10 months ago
  • Can my computer run linux VM?
    If you still want to try it on a VM, I'd recommend assigning just 1 GB to it, coupled with a lightweight desktop environment, like XFCE (you can use Xubuntu). Source: 10 months ago
  • Should I use Ubuntu 16 in 2023?
    To get a modern lightweight Linux experience you can use a recent version of one the Ubuntu flavours that is optimized for low-resource machines: either Xubuntu (with XFCE) or Lubuntu (with LXQt). Source: 11 months ago
  • Why does resizing windows in Linux desktop don't feel quite as "snappy" as in other OSes?
    It works just fine for me in Xubuntu (Ubuntu with Xfce Desktop environment : https://xubuntu.org/ ). Source: 12 months ago
  • Distro Suggestion
    I run an older spec of the HP Stream. There's no perfect solution, it will be a bit laggy, but I've had good enough performance from the Fedora XFCE Spin and Xubuntu. Source: about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Xfce and Xubuntu, you can also consider the following products

LXDE - Why will you like it? Less resource needs. You can use it on your less-pricey embedded board or salvaged computer. Component-based design. Don't want something in LXDE, or you don't want to use LXDE but only part of it?

Ubuntu - Ubuntu is a Debian Linux-based open source operating system for desktop computers.

KDE Plasma Desktop - Plasma Workspaces is the umbrella term for all graphical environments provided by KDE.

Linux Mint - Linux Mint is one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions and used by millions of people.

LXQt - The LXQt team is proud to announce the release of qtermwidget and qterminal, both in version 0. 8. 0. Read more..

Arch Linux - You've reached the website for Arch Linux, a lightweight and flexible Linux® distribution that tries to Keep It Simple. Currently we have official packages optimized for the x86-64 architecture.