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DistroWatch Review

Worth it

Should I use DistroWatch?

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions - distrowatch.com

· 1 month ago

Free and worth using if you're choosing or tracking Linux/BSD distributions — deep news, release announcements, and comparison tables. Don't treat its page-hit rankings as real popularity or its user reviews as reliable.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 14 public sources (Reddit, forums, Trustpilot, ZDNET, Wikipedia, HackerOne)

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free site

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly fees2.65M
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Patreon supporterDonation-based

Best for

  • Linux newcomers comparing distros
  • Open-source news readers
  • Admins tracking package versions
  • Distro maintainers watching releases

Not for

  • Anyone reading rankings as real popularity stats
  • Enterprises making OS procurement decisions
  • People wanting trustworthy, well-moderated user reviews
  • Windows/macOS buyers — simply irrelevant

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Rankings count page visits, not installs — never base OS choices on them

medium

Review moderation is selective; critical reviews may never appear

medium

Recurring downtime and country-level access blocks reported

low

Free but ad-funded; operations subsidized via Patreon donations

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free, long-running news and feature lists for Linux and BSD distributions
  • Called one of the best resources for people exploring Linux
  • Has donated $47,739 to open-source projects as of 2017
  • Search covers even small and obscure distributions
  • Has a vulnerability disclosure process via HackerOne

Cons

  • Page-hit rankings don't measure actual distro popularity
  • User reviews accused of AI-generated responses
  • Review moderation opaque; one user's review unaccepted for months
  • Users report outages and 'not secure' errors
  • Blocked by ISPs in some countries, notably Turkey

Sources & method

- 12 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x1review x5security x2news x4

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Completely free site
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Users complain about dated interface
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Deep distro data, search, feature tables
  • Support quality: 2/5. Review moderation and acceptance complaints
  • Security posture: 3/5. HackerOne disclosure policy; unconfirmed incident reports
  • 3.5/5 SmartCustomer rating 4 reviews
  • 2.65M Monthly traffic visits per month
  • $0 Price Free, ad-supported site
  • $47,739 Open-source donations Cumulative as of 2017

Pricing

Free site

$0

  • News, rankings, feature tables
  • Ad-supported
  • Optional Patreon support

Patreon supporter

Donation-based

  • 89 exclusive posts
  • Funds site operations

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Longtime Linux users value it as a news and comparison hub but widely dispute its popularity rankings and question review moderation.

“Distrowatch doesn't measure popularity and doesn't even aim to.”
Reddit, r/linuxquestions
“Use Distrowatch to explore the many Linux distributions that are available.”
ZDNET
“DistroWatch reviews have AI generated responses.”
Reddit, r/linux
Full analysis

Based on 14 public sources (Reddit, forums, Trustpilot, ZDNET, Wikipedia, HackerOne)

Free Linux/BSD news hub, great for comparing distros; ignore its misleading page-hit 'popularity' rankings.

Methodology

Based on 14 public sources (Reddit, forums, Trustpilot, ZDNET, Wikipedia, HackerOne)

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. DistroWatch.com official sitedistrowatch.com
    official
  2. DistroWatch - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  3. Site review: Distrowatch.com - Linux.comlinux.com
    news
  4. ZDNET: There's a right way and a wrong way to use Distrowatchzdnet.com
    news
  5. Reddit: Is distrowatch even legit?reddit.com
    review
  6. Reddit: DistroWatch reviews have AI generated responsesreddit.com
    review
  7. Trustpilot: DistroWatch reviewstrustpilot.com
    review
  8. SmartCustomer: DistroWatch reviewssmartcustomer.com
    review
  9. antiX forum: Distrowatch reviewsantixforum.com
    review
  10. DistroWatch Vulnerability Disclosure Policy - HackerOnehackerone.com
    security
  11. Tor forum: Distrowatch.com broken or just me?forum.torproject.org
    security
  12. Kochava Media Index: DistroWatch trafficmedia-index.kochava.com
    news

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