According to Canonical’s documentation, the upcoming Ubuntu Desktop 26.04 LTS, scheduled for release on April 23, will require more memory than the current LTS release.
At the moment, the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS download page lists 4 GB of RAM as the minimum for Desktop installations, while the (still-in-progress) Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release notes specify a 2 GHz dual-core processor or better, at least 6 GB RAM, and 25 GB of free disk space.
This will be the first recent Ubuntu Desktop LTS release to increase the minimum RAM requirement from 4 GB to 6 GB. Other Desktop requirements remain unchanged, with CPU and storage still listed at 2 GHz dual-core and 25 GB.
Importantly, this change does not apply to Ubuntu Server. According to Canonical’s Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release notes, Server requirements “scale with your specific use case,” starting at 1.5 GB RAM and 4 GB of storage.
The current Ubuntu Server requirements for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on amd64 are 1.5 GB RAM for ISO installs, 1 GB RAM for cloud images, 5 GB storage for ISO installs, and 4 GB storage for cloud images.
Finally, believe it or not, Ubuntu’s new 6 GB Desktop minimum now exceeds Microsoft’s official RAM requirements for both Windows 10 and Windows 11, which remain 2 GB for 64-bit Windows 10 and 4 GB for Windows 11.
Canonical has not published an official reason for the increase, so the safest explanation is that Ubuntu is setting a more realistic minimum for the full Desktop experience, taking into account that Ubuntu 26.04 LTS moves the desktop to GNOME 50, which is likely the main reason for the higher requirements.
I’m testing and it’s 1.5gb on desktop. With 4vcpu 16gb 400ssd zfs (btw on I5 gen 3 Intel)