Here are my top five Linux application lists of 2025 that have made my year a little bit better, a lot more productive, and fun.
TUI Applications
Caligula is a user-friendly tool for burning disk images to USB drives, designed to simplify the process compared to traditional methods like dd. It is fast and has never failed me. It is in most Linux repos.
aerc is an email client that runs in your terminal. I find it really straight forward and easier than Mutt.
Stress-Terminal UI, s-tui, monitors CPU temperature, frequency, power and utilization in a graphical way from the terminal.
calcurse is a calendar and scheduling application for the command line. It’s a l=bit of a pain to use with Google calendars, but once setup it is solid. Here’s my post on setting Google up.
Kew is a command-line music player for Linux that allows you to play music directly from your terminal.
Bonus:
Yazi is a terminal-based file manager written in Rust that utilizes asynchronous I/O for efficient file management. Solid.
GUI Applications
Kdenlive is the acronym for KDE Non-Linear Video Editor. I love this program.
Mousam is the nicest looking weather application on Linux. Not only is it nice looking, it has everything you need for basic weather information.
Elisa music player. A very nice player. I like that the playlists are files so they can be used elsewhere.
FreeTube The Private YouTube Client. Great interface, no logons to subscribe so you are less tracked, or not tracked by Google.
GPU Screen Recorder is a screen recorder that has minimal impact on system performance by recording your monitor using the GPU only, similar to shadowplay on windows. This is the fastest screen recording tool for Linux.
Bonus:
Lazarus is a Delphi compatible cross-platform IDE for Rapid Application Development. If you want to create desktop apps for Windows, Linux\Unix, and OS X for free with a built-in GUI designer, this is it. Pascal is an older language so there is a bit of a learning curve.
Commercial Applications
Bitwig Studio is a professional DAW for recording and arranging music. I do like Ardour, Muse, and even LMMS, but Bitwig is just feature rich and top notch. If you want to make music on Linux, Bitwig is the way to go.
VivaDesigner is an extremely easy-to-use AI-based design, publishing, layout, typesetting and illustration program. I use Scribus but this app has some nice features. There is a free version.
Sononym is a sample browser that offers a fresh perspective on how sounds can be explored and organized. If you have a lot of loops, this will help you manage them.
Davinci Resolve Professional Video Editing, Color, Effects and Audio Post! I can do most of this in KDEnlive, but I suppose if I were doing professional level stuff I would spring for this. There is a free version.
Radar Omega is a storm tracking application. If you are serious about weather, this is for you.
Bonus:
Enpass is a password manager with dark web check. I use Keepassxc, but if you the convenience of syncing everywhere, this a good program.
Operating Systems
CachyOS is a blazingly Fast & Customizable Linux distribution. I am running this currently and I think I will be using it for a long time.
Pop! OS with Cosmic is a Ubuntu based distribution from System 76. Cosmic is their home built desktop environment written in Rust.
Omarchy is an Arch based distro running Hyperland. Likely the easiest Arch Hyperland setup on the planet.
Fedora A nice solid distro. A run it from time to time.
Garuda is yet another Arch based distro. It’s pretty, fast, and is solid like CachyOS. A little easier than CachyOS for setting up some things as they have GUI’s to get you through a lot of things where CachyOS only has a few.
Bonus:
HaikuOS is a complete open source rewrite of BeOS. I loved BeOS back in the day and run this one the side. I may develop some software for it at some point when I have time.
I know these lists are short but I wanted to touch on a few areas so I limited it. The reality is many open source applications on are lists all over the internet, these are some I am focused on currently. There are so many great programs I could write for days.
If you use open source and\or run Linux, donate to your favorites! There are people working on this stuff, some for free, in their spare time to bring us these products and they deserve our gratitude and support.
