Xubuntu is the official Ubuntu flavor carrying the Xfce desktop, and it has spent a long history perfecting a particular balance: lighter than the mainstream desktops, yet complete and polished enough to feel like a first choice rather than a compromise. Xfce contributes a conventional panel-and-menu workflow, fine-grained configuration through small focused dialogs, and a development pace that values stability over reinvention. Xubuntu adds tasteful defaults and sensible application choices, including the Whisker menu for launching, on top of the full Ubuntu foundation: the shared deb archive with APT, Snap availability, April and October releases, and long-term-support versions. Its resource appetite sits comfortably below GNOME's and Plasma's, though modern Xfce is no longer aimed only at weak machines. Xubuntu suits pragmatists who want a desktop that simply keeps working the same way. An OpenFactory browser VM offers an unhurried look at that quiet consistency.
Select a version of Xubuntu to try online:
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Need Xubuntu for more than a quick browser preview?
The buttons above launch an ephemeral browser VM, perfect for kicking the tires. Paid plans unlock the things you'd actually use it for:
- ✓Persistent VMs you can SSH into and customize
- ✓Snapshots, your own packages, a downloadable ISO
- ✓Fleet deployment to your own machines (on-prem or cloud)