Free Software Collection
Free Linux Software
Moving from Windows to Linux, people usually get stuck on three things: whether a docx someone sends will keep its layout, how to play games bought on Epic and GOG, and whether a Windows-only program will still run. The first two have ready answers — ONLYOFFICE has some of the best Office-format fidelity among open-source suites, and Heroic takes over Epic and GOG libraries. The third goes to Bottles, which gives every Windows program its own isolated environment. Most other everyday software is already cross-platform open source with a native Linux build. This list sorts six ways: web and email, office, media and creative work, development, passwords and data, and gaming.
22 curated recommendations
Selection Criteria
- Has a native Linux build, or is built for Linux specifically.
- Core features are free, with no everyday capability behind a subscription.
- No ads and no forced registration.
- Open source, actively maintained and installable on mainstream distributions are preferred.
Recommended Tools
Firefox
An open-source browser built by a nonprofit that protects privacy by default
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
Mozilla Thunderbird
The veteran free email client that puts privacy first
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
LibreOffice
A complete office suite, Office-compatible, free forever
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors
A free office suite with outstanding format compatibility
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
VLC
The universal player that plays anything
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
GIMP
A free, professional image editor — the open-source answer to Photoshop
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Krita
A free, professional digital painting app made by artists
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
OBS Studio
Pro-grade screen recording and live streaming — fully open, fully free
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Kdenlive
A professional-grade free video editor from KDE
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
HandBrake
The open-source video transcoder — compress and convert entirely offline
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Flameshot
A simple, handy open-source screenshot annotator
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
VSCodium
Clean, telemetry-free builds of VS Code
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
KeePassXC
A fully offline password vault — one encrypted file holds it all
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Bitwarden
An open-source password manager whose free tier covers a lifetime of personal use
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Cross-platform
Syncthing
Peer-to-peer real-time file sync, no cloud needed
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Kopia
Encrypted, deduplicated incremental backup — you choose where it lands
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
LocalSend
Move files between phone and PC without the cloud, a chat group or recompression
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
KDE Connect
Bridges phone and computer — notifications, clipboard, files, remote control
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Lutris
Runs Windows games on Linux, with the configuration scripts already written
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
Heroic Games Launcher
Play your Epic and GOG library on Linux and macOS
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
Bottles
Every Windows program gets its own isolated environment
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
Ventoy
Drop in an ISO and boot — the multi-ISO USB solution
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
FAQ
- What should I prepare before installing Linux?
- Make a boot drive with Ventoy on Windows. Install Ventoy to a USB stick once, then drag distribution ISOs straight onto it and boot from them — one ISO per distribution you want to try, with no reformatting. Back up important files with Kopia first; it encrypts and deduplicates locally before storing to a drive, a NAS or cloud storage.
- LibreOffice or ONLYOFFICE for Office documents?
- If you exchange docx, xlsx and pptx often, ONLYOFFICE — its interface is close to MS Office and complex spreadsheets and decks rarely shift. LibreOffice has more components, adding drawing, formulas and a database to the word processor, spreadsheet and presentations. Install both and pick per file.
- How do I set up gaming on Linux?
- Steam has an official Linux client with Proton built in and needs nothing extra. Epic and GOG have no Linux client, so use Heroic. For Windows games from other sources and for emulators, use Lutris, whose community install scripts set up the right Wine version and dependencies. Multiplayer games with kernel-level anti-cheat mostly do not run — a restriction from the anti-cheat vendors — so check the game's ProtonDB rating before buying.
- How do I connect a phone to a Linux computer?
- On Android, install KDE Connect for notifications, shared clipboard, file transfer and using the phone as a touchpad; Linux is its native platform. For a one-off file transfer use LocalSend, which also works on iPhone. To keep a folder identical across two devices continuously, use Syncthing, with no central server involved.