Linux

I use Bunsenlabs and like it a lot

Fedora. Any kind.

Arch (cachyos) on my desktop, Debian on my server.

Doesn’t really get any better than those two in my opinion

Debian Stable. Predictable, low-maintenance, and well-supported. From time to time, I think about switching over to Alpine or even BSD, but the software selection and abundance of Q&A posts for Debian and its derivatives keeps me coming back. Having been a holdout on older Windows versions in the past, I'm quite used to waiting for new features and still amazed at how much easier life is with a proper package manager.

MX Linux is the best, obviously. Otherwise it wouldn't be #1 on DistroWatch, right? /j

Personnaly, i'm using Fedora and i love it!

I use fedora-based atomic distros for the reliability and security. Nothing else really runs SELinux out of the box and I care about security so that’s a necessary baseline. I roll my own distro though using BlueBuild, and base it off the SecureBlue image of Silverblue. Just using SecureBlue gets you nearly to what I use though

GNU Guix

If there were a universal answer to this, there wouldn't be any others.

I myself currently use Debian (testing), have for some years now, but I have used other distros in the past too.

Fedora Atomic, especially Bluefin, Bazzite and Aurora.

Nearly unbreakable, very reliable and stable in everyday use, needs no maintenance (updates itself, etc.) and more!

I really love NixOS and use it on all my devices. Its not as difficult as people say and it really makes the linux experience a piece of cake once you get it down.

The single config file to control almost everything is just what I was looking for in linux and the fact that it solved any kind of dependency hell I have experienced in the past is huge. If I had to list a top 3 it would be NixOS, Fedora, and Arch.

I just installed Bazzite about a month ago and love it! Used Ubuntu in the past and it was ok, but eventually went back to Windows. I definitely don't feel that way about Bazzite though, I think I might stick with it as my primary OS!

I use Arch for personal and gaming, Debian for self hosting and hacking, Alpine for containerized cloud deployments.

I use Gentoo and I love it. The installation process is a bit more complex than Arch but it doesn't have to be if you choose the precompiled kernel.

The package management is extremely flexible and the community are great. I have a morning routine where I log onto my gentoo desktop before work and update everything; would compare it to raking one of those miniature buddhist sand gardens. Very theraputic!

Arch because I like getting the latest releases of packages

There isn't a best distro, tho I stick to the root of a distro tree, meaning arch / debian.

Nobody has mentioned immutables yet?!

I finally dipped my toes into trying a new distro over the summer and have been really impressed with Project Bluefin. All the familiarity of Gnome for existing Ubuntu or Debian users but with a completely hands off rolling update experience.

The main drawbacks are the slight complexity of how the fuck to install stuff on an immutable system. In theory you use Homebrew for CLI apps and flatpak for GUI apps but I'm really not a fan of installing from sources other than the original dev.

The best for my user cases atm

For work bluefin For general stations mint For gaming cachyos or bazzite

Endeavouraos, arch but also easy

Screw distros, just use Arch

Debian and Fedora. I use Debian on servers and Fedora on my desktop and laptop.

Debian for my daily workstation. Minimal terminal-only install, and then I piece together my environment.

For smaller, headless applications I like Alpine. Containerized projects, VPS, etc.

Debian, it Just Works.

Fedora, but I wouldn’t say I’m in love with it. It frustrates me the least. No Linux distro is perfect, but they’re all better than Windows.

I got arch cus its light af basically, id just install what i want/need myself

I started with Slackware in the nineties, have been through Redhat, Suse, Ubuntu, Arch, Tumbleweed.

I could use anything really but these days my focus have moved; I kinda just want functional and well configured up front. Using Pop!_OS 24 alpha on my gaming/dev laptop, it works well/is well put together and I’m having fun writing COSMIC apps. I’m using Ubuntu on a few servers, I picked it many years ago and they’ve been through a number of painless upgrades.

OpenSuSE Tumbleweed is my current favourite. It's user friendly with good system tools in Yast, it's got good repos including community repos with lots of software.

Its also a rolling release but has been stable and reliable for me. Leap is their point release version if rolling is not right for you.

I've been using Tumbleweed for over a year, and it's my main OS since I stopped using windows. I've dual booted Linux for many years but always mained windows up until Tumbleweed.

Previously I used to use Mint; it's decent but switching to Tumbleweed (and in particular KDE) convinced me to completely switch from Windows. Everything "just works", and I do a fair bit of gaming without issue with nvidia drivers, steam, and lutris.

For example I've been playing Stardew, Cyberpunk 2077, Distant Worlds 2, and Factorio recently - all in Linux and all without issue.

Nix and Bazzite

Opensuse Tumbleweed. Sometimes I try something else, but Tumbleweed is the one I keep going back to. It is quite solid and rolling release.

LFS

Best Distro

Needs dictate preferences. An objective assessment isn't possible even on an individual level, as circumstances change over time. Linux Mint serves as a common starting point, with many users eventually 'graduating' to other distributions. The opposite is also true; many eventually return to low-maintenance distros like Linux Mint, preferring something that 'just works'.

I’m very curious of which distro users loves the most that they have it on their daily hardware?

I daily drive secureblue.

Xubuntu on my desktop/laptop, debian on a server. Mostly because while I really like tinkering with things, I usually just want shit to work so I can get something done.

I think Pop!_OS and Linux Mint are the best no brains required distributions.

Gentoo, because no other distro offers as much choice.