10 Great Linux Apps in 2026

There is a lot of software available on Linux systems. While your distro and desktop environment come with their preferred apps the ones listed here are ones that I have found to be useful with any set-up and it may be worth your time to seek them out. They may be available through your software center. If not, see the official websites for installation details.

Gvim

Gvim is graphical Vim and Vim is the best writing software I’ve come across. It makes typing enjoyable and you don’t need to interrupt your flow to reach for a mouse as Vim (and by extension Gvim) is fully keyboard operated. Vim is best used in conjunction with a markup language like Markdown, html, or LaTex. Personally, I use Markdown for all my writing.

Gvim, without a toolbar or menu bar on xfce

On Ubuntu you will want to look for the vim-gtk3 package if you want to download Vim with a GUI.

mpv

This is a simple, easy-to-use command line application for playing all your media files. It works great with scripts or straight out of the terminal with an interactive TUI control interface. It shows playback progress, allows you to skip or shuffle tracks, and is generally super useful. Mpv even offers a pseudo-gui so can watch movies in the tty. This is by far my most preferred media playing application, though I sometimes use Celluloid, a front-end for mpv, when I want to use a GUI.

Waterfox

I got away from Firefox last year and one of the browsers I landed on is Waterfox. Waterfox is Firefox without Mozilla. Of course you’re just exchanging one company for another — see Waterfox’s terms and privacy policy for details, but for me it’s a good change. Waterfox has no AI features or telemetry and it has ad blocking by default (though in my opinion uBlock Origin is still the way to go). Waterfox has the Firefox features you expect like container tabs, tracking protection, DNS over HTTPS, and extension compatibility.

Zen Browser

As a newer entrant into the browser space, Zen really makes a good first impression. It is a fork of Firefox with all-time vertical tabs. It is compatible with Firefox plugins and comes with the features you would expect from Mozilla’s offering, such as user.js file compatibility, about:config settings, and compatibility with extensions at addons.mozilla.org.

I haven’t used Zen a whole lot but I have been using it daily for the past several weeks and so far I really like it. I can recommend it if you are looking for something stylish with frequent updates.

A Flatpak is available for easy installation.

RedNotebook

If you’re looking to keep a diary or journal this is a great application to try. RedNotebook comes with a built-in calendar and lets you take date-specific notes. From those notes a word cloud is generated and allows you to list your notes by subject matter. You can also use tags to organize your notes.

I previously used jrnl for similar purposes but I find it easier to sort through my data to find what I’m looking for using RedNotebook. I don’t hear a lot about this software. It seems to fly under the radar, but it is really a good app and you should try it if you are looking for something to keep records, or to keep something like a dream journal. It should work well for morning pages or anything along those lines.

Webapp Manager

This is a part of the core suite of apps offered on the Linux Mint distro but it’s not too tricky getting it to run on something else. If you’re using Ubuntu it is straightforward. On Arch I’m pretty sure it’s available through the Arch User Repository, but you probably shouldn’t use the AUR right now.

Webapp Manager is great if you like using web sites like stand-alone applications. This affects the way they are treated by window switchers (including alt+tab) making it easy to keep different activities focused and separate. For instance you can have one web app for GitHub and another for YouTube, complete with their own site-specific icons.

I get a lot of use out of this open source tool and it works with a wide assortment of browsers. I’m not a big fan of Vivaldi’s behavior when used with the Webapp Manager, and my primary browser of choice didn’t work by default, though it was easy to add the functionality by modifying the /usr/lib/webapp-manager/common.py file.

Joplin

I used to use Joplin a lot but I quit using it for a couple of years. I was doing most of my note taking with jrnl. Admittedly I don’t do a lot of note taking. My notes devolved into a journal pretty quickly. That was not ideal.

I recently went back to Joplin and I’m even using it to manage my short form writing, organizing it into “notebooks” based on stage of completion, intended platform, and publication status. Joplin really shines at this. I use it like a gateway to my work. Since Joplin allows for an external editor I can still use Gvim for the actual editing.

Joplin is a free and open source alternative to software like Evernote, OneNote, and Obsidian. There is even a web clipper extension for Chromium and Firefox based browsers so you can easily save your research to the Joplin database.

Guake

I recently migrated away from the xfce terminal and wanted something to replace its drop-down functionality. The terminal I gravitated to is Guake, which is drop-down only. It looks good, it’s responsive, and I’ve had good success with it so far.

Zathura

Zathura is the pdf viewer I have settled on and, since I have quit using my Paperwhite, I’ve been getting quite a lot of use out of it. You can invert colors, giving you a white-on-black display which I find to be easier to gaze upon than a white screen. Zathura is fully keyboard operable using Vim-like keybindings. It also has a command system and it’s configurable using the zathurarc file.

Thunar

Thunar with split view

Thunar is the default file manager for my desktop environment of choice. This is admittedly the main reason I use Thunar and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. But on the same note part of the reason I use xfce as my chosen DE is because it uses Thunar, one of my favorite file browsing applications.

It has the basic features you probably expect, plus some you don’t. Some of my favorite things about Thunar are the ability to create custom context menu items and the ability to display files in three different ways: icon, list, and compact.

All of these are good apps but there are plenty more out there and I will try to get around to some of those, soon. In the meantime, leave a comment about your favorite software on Linux. What apps do you use on a regular basis? Have you used any of these? If so let me know of your experiences, and if you enjoyed this list please leave some claps for the algorithm.