About a month ago, an Arch Linux Reddit community moderator shared a survey with over 35 questions, exploring various aspects of users’ interactions with the distribution.
It garnered 3,923 responses, and the results have now been made publicly available, offering valuable insights into how the community views and uses Arch Linux, with some of the findings being especially intriguing. Here’s a summary of the most interesting highlights.
Regarding hardware, AMD processors are the top choice, making up 57% of usage, while Intel trails behind with just over 41% among Arch users. NVIDIA leads the pack with 40% usage for GPUs, followed by AMD at 31%.
On the desktop environment side, KDE stands out as the clear leader, gaining a 36% preference. The second-place spot is particularly intriguing and well-earned by Hyprland, a tiling Wayland compositor, with 26% popularity. GNOME comes in third, with just over 10% of Arch users choosing it as their favorite desktop environment.
When it comes to browsers, Firefox reigns supreme, with almost 58% of users choosing it as their go-to option. Another 17% prefer a browser based on Firefox, solidifying its influence. In third place, Brave captures over 9% of users. Surprisingly, despite its widespread dominance on the internet, Google Chrome wins the loyalty of just over 5% of Arch users.
When asked, “For which tasks do you use Arch Linux?” most Arch users said they rely on their favorite distro for browsing the web, playing music, or personal productivity. These top activities are followed by software development, gaming, and work-related tasks.
Another interesting question is: “What, if anything, is keeping you from using or trying Arch Linux?” answered by users who have not yet tried Arch.
Unsurprisingly, most responses focus on its challenging installation process, followed by concerns about system stability. If I may share my humble opinion here, however, while the first concern is valid, when it comes to stability, I want to assure everyone that Arch is an incredibly reliable system.
In light of this, almost 55% of users installed Arch using the traditional method described in the official distribution documentation. At the same time, 32% used an automated script like Archinstall for their installation.
For additional software, without any surprises, the go-to choice for Arch users is the AUR repo. Flatpak and AppImages are the next best options. At the same time, the Snap packages are highly unpopular among Arch users, with many actively avoiding them.
An interesting point of comparison is the Linux kernels being used. Most users stick with the default one (about 80%), followed by the Zen kernel (a personal favorite!) and the Arch LTS kernel. For the default file system, almost 60% of users stick with the classic ext4, while around 35% prefer Btrfs. The remaining 5% is split among various other file systems.
As for the choice between command-line tools and GUI applications, it’s no surprise—given Arch’s nature and the tech-savviness of its users—that over 65% prefer using the command line. The top three favorite terminal emulators are Kitty, which is leading with 30%, KDE’s Konsole at 23%, and Alacritty at 17%.
As a rolling release distribution, it’s no surprise that nearly 80% of users prefer Arch for their desktop or laptop machines. However, about 22% choose it to power their servers. Regarding the preferred session type, the classic Xorg holds a modest 20% of the vote. Wayland takes the lead by a wide margin, with nearly 80% of Arch users choosing it as their go-to option.
Review the survey results, or check the related Reddit post for more details.
