These 3 Linux distros are criminally underrated on DistroWatch

Published Jul 29, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT Dibakar Ghosh is a tech journalist at How-To Geek, where he focuses on Linux, Windows, and productivity tools. His goal is simple—help readers at every skill level get more done with the tech they use every day. He began his writing career in 2016 with WordPress tutorials, later moving into digital marketing, where he spent years reviewing complex tools for marketers. His work has also appeared on Authority Hacker, where he’s shared in-depth guides on digital workflows and online productivity. That experience now shapes his journalism, blending analytical depth with practical, real-world advice. When he’s not writing or testing software, Dibakar is usually watching movies or playing video games. He’s a huge Christopher Nolan fan and a strong proponent of the theater experience. In gaming, he has sunk hundreds of hours into Insomniac’s Spider-Man series, Returnal, Prototype, Darksiders, and Final Fantasy titles. If you use DistroWatch to find new distros, you've probably assumed—and reasonably so—that its rankings point you toward the good stuff. And while I think it's a great discovery tool, it's a terrible way to judge the quality of a distro. Many distros I would never recommend are ranked higher than objectively better alternatives. Here are three Linux distros that are far better than their DistroWatch rankings suggest. Most Linux distributions don't collect telemetry on their users, so there's no reliable way to measure how many users each distro has. DistroWatch's popularity ranking is instead based on how many people visit each distribution's page on DistroWatch itself. This makes it a good proxy for interest and curiosity, but not for the size of a distribution's user base. Kubuntu Number 48 on the list? That makes no sense Kubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor, which means you get the same reliable, rock-solid Ubuntu core underneath. The main difference is that it swaps out GNOME's minimal, somewhat unfamiliar desktop for KDE Plasma—which, in my opinion, is simply the better desktop environment. In fact, I—and plenty of others—would go even further and argue that Kubuntu is a better distribution than Ubuntu itself. Now, Kubuntu ranks #48 on DistroWatch. For context, Ubuntu sits at #8. That doesn't compute. Sure, you could argue that the top 10 crowd just doesn't appreciate KDE Plasma, and fine—but not even the top 20 or 30? Meanwhile, KDE neon, which follows a similar concept—an Ubuntu base running KDE Plasma—ranks #26. And KDE neon isn't even intended for day-to-day use; it's primarily a showcase for the latest KDE Plasma features as they're released. Then you have AnduinOS at #13 and Zorin OS at #6, both Ubuntu-based distros trying to deliver a Windows-like experience by piling heavy extensions on top of GNOME and adding unnecessary bulk. Now Kubuntu uses KDE Plasma which, by default, already looks like a modernized version of Windows 7—and it does so while using fewer resources than either of those distros. There's also the common criticism that KDE Plasma is overly complicated. But it's only complicated if you want it to be. Out of the box, you get a simple, accessible layout, while the advanced features are there when you go looking for them. In fact, it's one of the few desktop environments that gives you genuinely deep control over how your OS looks and behaves without ever touching a config file. As such, I see no good reason for Kubuntu to be ranked this low. BlendOS Number 90 makes BlendOS the most criminally underrated distro BlendOS isn't exactly a household name, so I understand why it ranks lower on the list. But seeing it at #90 is preposterous. To understand why that's such a poor ranking, you first need to understand what BlendOS is all about. It's an immutable Arch-based distribution. One of the biggest anxieties surrounding Arch Linux is the fear of instability and system breakage—and BlendOS addresses that with its immutable design. And it doesn’t stop there. One of the main reasons people use Arch in the first place is the AUR (Arch User Repository), which provides access to nearly 100,000 packages. BlendOS takes that a step further by letting you install software from repositories across every major Linux distro family, including Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and CentOS Stream. It also supports Flatpak out of the box. In practice, that means you have access to virtually every Linux application in existence—all while retaining the reliability benefits of an immutable system. That's a remarkable combination. Ranking this distro at #90 feels criminal, especially when you look at what sits above it. Deepin is at #61—a distro with a complicated history that has raised privacy concerns. Then you've got Slackware at #66, which is an excellent distro but reserved for advanced users. BlendOS is far easier to install and use. Even SteamOS sits at #82 despite not supporting many PC configurations out of the box—while BlendOS delivers much broader hardware compatibility. The math just doesn't work. Garuda Linux Number 36 on the list doesn't reflect reality Finally, we have Garuda Linux—an Arch-based distribution targeted at gamers. Garuda is probably one of the most opinionated distros out there, particularly its Dragonized Edition, with a bold, flamboyant neon aesthetic that's very in-your-face. You're either going to love it or hate it. But I can’t see someone hating it so much that you have to put it at #36—especially when you can easily customize it to look a lot cleaner and neutral. Furthermore, design is just one factor in the equation—Garuda is also one of the most user-friendly takes on Arch you'll find. Whether you're a gamer or a regular desktop user, it rarely forces you to touch the terminal. The Garuda Rani toolset puts nearly every system maintenance task behind a graphical interface. And every package or tool you need to play PC games on Linux ships by default, properly configured. It's about as plug-and-play as Arch gets. Yes, you could call it somewhat bloated, but it's more of a choose-your-own-bloat philosophy. Now, here's what makes its rank #36 so baffling to me. Manjaro sits at number 11, and Manjaro's entire pitch is that it makes Arch easier to use. Garuda makes Arch even easier. Then there's CachyOS, a top choice on the DistroWatch list for the last couple of years—but in my book, Garuda beats CachyOS at its own game. Even CachyOS's key advantages, like the CachyOS kernel and its optimized repository, can be used on Garuda with minimal effort. Do I think Garuda should be ranked #1? Maybe not. But it belongs in the top 20—certainly not sitting at 36. A reminder that popularity doesn't dictate quality When we're starting out with something new, we naturally gravitate toward what's popular—it simplifies the decision and gets us moving. That's a perfectly fine way to get started, but it shouldn't be where your research ends. The most popular movie is rarely the best movie, the most popular song is rarely the best song, and the most popular Linux distribution is certainly not always the best Linux distribution.