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CachyOS RSS Feed DistroWatch.com: CachyOS

CachyOS


Last Update: 2026-02-08 01:17 UTC


CachyOS is a Linux distribution based on Arch Linux. It focuses on speed and security optimisations - the default Linux kernel is heavily optimised using the BORE (Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer) scheduler, while the desktop packages are compiled with LTO, x86-64-v3 and x86-64-v4, Zen 4 optimization, security flags and performance improvements. The available desktop environments, window managers and Wayland compositors include bspwm, Budgie, Cinnamon, COSMIC, GNOME, Hyprland, i3, KDE Plasma, LXDE, LXQt, MATE, Niri, Openbox, Qtile, Sway, UKUI, Wayfire and Xfce. CachyOS also ships with both graphical and command-line system installers.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 1 (3,902), 6 months: 1 (4,451), 3 months: 1 (4,300), 4 weeks: 1 (4,124), 1 week: 1 (3,912)

Average visitor rating: 7.9/10 from 414 review(s).


CachyOS Summary
Distribution CachyOS
Home Page https://cachyos.org/
Mailing Lists --
User Forums https://discuss.cachyos.org/
Alternative User Forums DiscordMastodon
Documentation https://wiki.cachyos.org/
Screenshots https://wiki.cachyos.org/installation/desktop_environments/DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors https://cachyos.org/download
Bug Tracker https://github.com/CachyOS/distribution/issues
Related Websites GitHub
Reviews 25x: FOSS ForceDistroWatch
22x: DistroWatch
Where To Donate, Buy or Try Patreon

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases announcements with download links and checksums:
 • 2026-01-24: Distribution Release: CachyOS 260124
 • 2025-11-30: Distribution Release: CachyOS 251129
 • 2025-08-24: Distribution Release: CachyOS 250824
 • 2025-07-13: Distribution Release: CachyOS 250713
 • 2025-03-30: Distribution Release: CachyOS 250330
 • 2024-12-22: Distribution Release: CachyOS 241221
 • 2024-11-11: Distribution Release: CachyOS 241110
 • 2024-03-14: Distribution Release: CachyOS 240313
 • More CachyOS releases...

  Headlines:
 • 2025-12-28 CachyOS team plans server edition
 • 2025-08-24 CachyOS offers web-based package browsing
 • 2025-04-24 CachyOS ships with stress testing tool
 • More CachyOS headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
  • Select view:
  • To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
  • Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
  • Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
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Feature 260124 251129 241221 231210 221230
Release Date 2026-01-24 2025-11-29 2024-12-21 2023-12-10 2022-12-30
End Of Life          
Price (US$) Free Free Free Free Free
Image Size (MB) 2900-3000 2900-3000 2600-2700 2300-2500 2200-2300
Free Download ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO
Installation Calamares Calamares Calamares Calamares Calamares
Default Desktop KDE Plasma KDE Plasma KDE Plasma GNOME, KDE Plasma GNOME, KDE Plasma
Default Browser Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox
Package Format pkg pkg pkg pkg pkg
Package Management          
Release Model Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling
Office Suite -- -- -- -- --
Processor Architecture x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64
Init Software systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd
Journaled File Systems Btrfs, ext4, JFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS
Multilingual Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Full Package List 260124 251129 241221 231210 221230
Package 260124 251129 241221 231210 221230
alsa-lib (1.2.15.3) 1.2.15.3 1.2.14 1.2.13 1.2.10 1.2.8
amdgpu (25.0.0) -- 25.0.0 23.0.0 -- 19.1.0
apparmor (4.1.4) -- -- -- -- --
apt (3.1.15) -- -- -- -- --
bash (5.3) 5.3 5.3 5.2 5.2 5.1
bind (9.20.18) 9.20.18 9.20.16 9.20.4 9.18.20 9.18.10
chromium (144.0.7559.132) -- -- -- -- --
cinnamon (6.6.6) -- -- -- -- --
cups (2.4.16) -- -- -- -- --
e2fsprogs (1.47.3) 1.47.3 1.47.3 1.47.1 1.47.0 1.46.5
ffmpeg (8.0.1) 8.0.1 8.0.1 7.1 6.1 5.1.2
firefox (147.0.3) 147.0.1 145.0.2 -- -- 108.0.1
flatpak (1.16.3) -- -- -- -- --
freetype (2.14.1) 2.14.1 2.13.3 2.13.3 2.13.2 2.12.1
gcc (15.2.0) 15.2.1 -- -- 13.2.1 12.2.0
gimp (3.0.8) -- -- -- -- --
git (2.53.0) 2.52.0 2.52.0 2.47.1 2.43.0 2.39.0
glibc (2.43) 2.42 2.42 2.40 2.38 2.36
gnome-shell (49.3) -- -- -- 45.2 43.2
grub (2.14) 2.14 2.12 2.12 2.12rc1 2.06
gtk (4.20.3) 3.24.51 3.24.51 3.24.43 4.12.4 4.8.3
httpd (2.4.66) -- -- -- -- --
inkscape (1.4.3) -- -- -- -- --
kmod (34.2) 34.2 34.2 33 31 30
krita (5.2.15) -- -- -- -- --
LibreOffice (26.2.0) -- -- -- -- --
Package 260124 251129 241221 231210 221230
libselinux (3.10) -- -- -- -- --
linux (6.18.9) 6.18.6 6.12.58 6.12.6 6.6.5 6.1.1
mariadb (12.1.2) -- -- -- -- --
mate-desktop (1.28.2) -- -- -- -- --
mesa (25.3.5) 25.3.4 25.2.6 24.3.1 23.3.0 22.3.1
mysql (9.6.0) -- -- -- -- --
nautilus (49.4) -- -- -- 45.2.1 43.1
NVIDIA (590.48.01) -- -- -- 545.29.06 525.60.11
openjdk (25) -- -- -- -- --
openssh (10.2p1) 10.2p1 10.2p1 9.9p1 9.5p1 9.1p1
openssl (3.6.1) 3.6.0 3.6.0 3.4.0 3.1.4 3.0.7
perl (5.42.0) 5.42.0 5.42.0 5.40.0 5.38.1 5.36.0
php (8.5.2) -- -- -- -- --
plasma-desktop (6.5.5) 6.5.5 6.5.3 6.2.4 5.27.10 5.26.4
postfix (3.10.7) -- -- -- -- --
postgresql (18.1) -- -- -- -- --
Python (3.14.3) 3.14.2 3.13.7 3.12.7 3.11.5 3.10.9
qt (6.10.2) 6.10.1 6.10.1 6.8.1 5.15.11 5.15.7
samba (4.23.5) 4.23.5 4.23.3 4.21.2 4.19.3 4.17.4
systemd (259.1) 259 258.2 257 255 252.4
thunderbird (147.0.1) -- -- -- -- --
vim (9.1) 9.1 9.1 9.1 9.0 9.0
vlc (3.0.23) -- -- 3.0.21 -- --
wayland (1.24.0) 1.24.0 1.24.0 1.23.1 1.22.0 1.21.0
xfdesktop (4.20.1) -- -- -- -- --
xorg-server (21.1.21) 21.1.21 21.1.21 21.1.15 21.1.9 21.1.6

Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for CachyOS

Average rating
7.9
from 414 review(s)



What are your thoughts on CachyOS?
Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system.
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Version:

Rating:    out of 10

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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 260124
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-02-05
Votes: 14


Endlich Freiheit: Mein Wechsel von Windows zu CachyOS
Nach etlichen Jahren als treuer Windows-Nutzer war für mich der Punkt erreicht, an dem das Fass überlief. Die ständigen Datenschutzprobleme, das Gefühl, ungefragt als Datenquelle für Telemetrie herhalten zu müssen, und die zunehmende Überladenheit des Systems haben mich nach Alternativen suchen lassen. Mein Ziel war klar: Ein System, das meine Privatsphäre respektiert, ohne dass ich dafür ein Informatikstudium absolvieren muss.

Die Überraschung: Geschwindigkeit trifft auf Intuition Ich habe mich für CachyOS entschieden und was soll ich sagen? Ich bin schlichtweg fassungslos, wie reibungslos dieser Umstieg verlief. Ich hatte mit einer steilen Lernkurve und komplizierten Terminal-Befehlen gerechnet, doch das Gegenteil ist der Fall. Ich kam auf Anhieb klar. Die Benutzeroberfläche ist modern, logisch aufgebaut und reagiert so schnell, dass Windows dagegen wie ein Relikt aus der Steinzeit wirkt.

Performance, die man spüren kann Es ist nicht nur ein subjektives Gefühl – CachyOS läuft heftig schnell. Dank der optimierten Kernel und der speziellen Anpassungen an die Hardwarearchitektur fühlt sich jede Interaktion verzögerungsfrei an. Programme öffnen sich instant, und das gesamte System wirkt extrem „snappy“. Dass ein so leistungsfähiges Betriebssystem gleichzeitig so einsteigerfreundlich sein kann, hat mich am meisten überrascht.

Fazit Wer den Datenschutz-Albtraum von Windows satt hat und ein System sucht, das nicht nur sicher, sondern auch technisch brillant optimiert ist, kommt an CachyOS nicht vorbei. Ein absoluter Gamechanger für jeden, der einfach nur will, dass sein Rechner das tut, was er soll – und das in Lichtgeschwindigkeit!


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 260124
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-02-05
Votes: 1


The good:
1. Detects nVidia driver out of the box. No more configuration requires, which a lot of other Linux distros struggle to achieve
2. Very minimal OS updates after new installation and gets up and running quickly.
3. Hello CachyOS app has a great selections of popular apps and makes choices much easier
4. has built-in Snapper automatic backup tool that create a restore point before each major updates.
5. detects my Brother printer out of the box. no config
6. file input/out read/write speeds are very fast.

The bad:
1. the installation process is not very smooth. I almost could not install it on my 9 years old workstation until I select one of the other installation options for legacy hardware, which is rather confusing and took me a while to figure out
2. Gnome desktop environment is missing a lot of Gnome apps and features, something that Fedora's Gnome does really well but CachyOS can't, which I guess are intentionally left out, for speed and performance at the sake of the elegance and integration of functions.


Overall, it's a really fast OS but just may be missing some user-friendly features which can be an obstacles to more mainstream audiences.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 260124
Rating: 7
Date: 2026-02-05
Votes: 0


overall not bad but wouldn't recommend this OS for a first time Linux user. I would say if you are willing to make the leap to Linux style OS's maybe revisit this one when you have more experience with Linux. Even tho this is one of the easier to use Arch OS Distro's it still can be daunting for a first time user.

Pros:
1.) easier Arch based OS than most Arch distro's.
2.) driver support is quite good out of the box
3.) has many User Interfaces that can help someone transition from other popular OS's


Cons:
1.) community support is good but less tolerant when it comes to newbies you will run into elitist personalities.
2.) setup can be a pain for older hardware, would suggest cutting edge hardware.
3.) AUR does have issues of packages not being vetted or informing user. again suggest you have more experience with Linux before diving into this disto.
4.) Arch is not for the faint at heart you will have to get in touch with your inner terminal user and be vigilant on what you install and trust.


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