| Debian | Ubuntu |
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| Category | Linux distribution | Linux distribution |
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| Developer | Debian Project | Canonical |
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| Created by | Ian Murdock | Mark Shuttleworth |
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| First release | 1993 | 2004 |
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| License | GPL and other free licenses | GPL and other free licenses |
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| Open source | Yes | Yes |
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| Pricing | Free | Free with paid plans |
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| Website | https://www.debian.org | https://ubuntu.com |
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| Family | Debian | Debian |
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| Based on | Independent | Debian |
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| Package manager | APT | APT, Snap |
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| Package format | deb | deb |
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| Release model | Fixed releases | Fixed releases |
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| Release cadence | About every 2 years | Every 6 months, LTS every 2 years |
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| Support lifetime | 3 years, 5 with LTS | 5 years for LTS, up to 15 with Ubuntu Pro |
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| Init system | systemd | systemd |
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| Default desktop | GNOME (choice in the installer) | GNOME |
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| Immutable | No | No |
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| Made for | Desktop, Server, Containers | Desktop, Server, Cloud |
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| Backed by | A community | A company |
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| Beginner friendliness | 3 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
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| Architectures | amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x | amd64, arm64, ppc64el, s390x, riscv64 |
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