It has been more than 3 years since Project Crostini (Linux Support) was announced and now the majority of Chromebooks have Linux app support. Initially, Crostini was available only on Developer Mode, but thankfully, now you can install Linux apps in both normal mode and stable channel as well. And in the last two years, Linux has improved by leaps and bounds and it’s almost stable to use.
We have mentioned the 22 best Linux apps on Chrome OS along with their installation guide. In case, you are new to this ecosystem, go through our Linux installation tutorial on Chrome OS first, and then follow this article.
- GIMP
- Libre Office
- Master PDF Editor
- Wine 5.0
- Steam
- Flatpak
- Firefox
- Microsoft Edge
- Kdenlive / OpenShot
- uGet
- Transmission
- Inkscape
- Kolourpaint
- Pinta
- Thunderbird
- Bluemail
- FocusWriter
- Audacity
- Nautilus
- Visual Studio Code / Android Studio
- balenaEtcher
- Virtual Machine Manager
Top Linux Apps for Chromebooks
1. GIMP
GIMP is a cross-platform graphics editor that is quite popular on Windows, macOS, and Linux. For many users who are not well versed with Adobe Photoshop, GIMP acts as a simple and effective tool for image editing without any complexity. With the support of Linux on Chrome OS, now you can use this awesome program on Chromebooks as well. There are many advanced tools like layers, lasso and shear tool, cage transform, plugins support, and more. So, if you ever wanted a proper image editor on Chrome OS, this app is for you.
sudo apt-get install gimp
2. Libre Office
While we have mentioned some Office programs in our article for the best Chrome OS apps, you can use some of the Linux programs for documents and word processing as well. In this regard, Libre Office is ranked among the best Linux apps on Chromebooks as it’s completely free and open-source.
sudo apt install libreoffice
3. Master PDF Editor
In the above two Linux apps, we offered alternatives for Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office on Chrome OS. Here, we are going to offer you another Linux app for editing PDFs similar to Adobe Acrobat. Master PDF Editor is an excellent program for creating and editing PDF files.
sudo apt-get install libsane
Wine is not a GUI-based app, but it’s one of the most powerful Linux apps that you must install on your Chromebook. Wine is a compatibility layer (not an emulator) that allows you to install Windows apps on Chromebooks. Believe me, I have installed and continue to use full-fledged Windows versions of Microsoft Office, IDM, IrfanView, research tools like GraphPad, powerful OCR software, and much more on my Chromebook.
- How to Install: Just follow our dedicated guide on how to install Windows programs on Chrome OS using Wine 5.0.
You may not be aware but Steam works wonderfully well on Chromebook, thanks to the Linux support. It also features the Proton layer (a modified version of Wine) which you can use to play Windows games on Chromebook. Not all Windows games are supported though. You can find more information about the state of Linux gaming from our article on the best Linux games. Anyway, the installation process is pretty simple and we have mentioned a detailed guide below.
While Chrome OS comes with Linux support, it does not have a user-facing Linux app store from where users can seamlessly install apps. So if you are looking for an online hub where you can find Linux apps that are compatible on Chromebook then Flatpak is what you need.
- How to Install Flatpak: You can follow our guide and learn how to install Flatpak on Chromebook. However, to explain briefly, execute the below commands to install Flatpak. After that, open flathub.org and open any app of your choice. Now, copy the command at the bottom and execute it on the Terminal to install the app.
sudo apt install flatpak flatpak –user remote-add –if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
While Chromebook is all about the Chrome browser, things have changed after the Linux support. Now, you can install Firefox on your Chromebook and use parallel web browsers without any issue. In fact, the performance difference is not bad at all. Despite running in a container, Firefox was easily able to play a 1080p YouTube video, with a couple of tabs open. In tandem, Firefox didn’t stutter a bit and that’s quite great.
sudo apt-get install firefox-esr
- How to Install the Standard Firefox: Download Firefox from the official website and move it to the Linux files section. After that, rename the file to firefox.tar.bz2 and then execute the below commands. After the installation, to access Firefox, you will have to use the last two commands only.
tar -xvf firefox.tar.bz2 cd firefox ./firefox
If you are not satisfied with Chrome or Firefox on your Chromebook and want to taste the newly released Microsoft Edge for Linux then you can very well install Chromium Edge on your Chromebook. I have been using it for quite some time and the performance is decent enough to be used as a daily driver.
It does not have the same fluidity as Chrome, but works pretty well across websites. Just don’t expect full-res DRM content from Netflix, Prime Video on Edge. Also, note that the installation process is quite seamless as you have to just install the DEB file instead of dealing with Linux commands.
While Chrome OS does not have a full-fledged video editor, Linux allows you to install a desktop-class and powerful application called Kdenlive for video editing. It’s a very popular app among the Linux users community and we tried it on our Chromebook and it worked just fine. Sure, the app was sometimes slow to respond, but it certainly worked in our testing. Apart from that, you can use another widely popular open-source video editor OpenShot which is also quite feature-packed.
sudo apt-get install kdenlive
- How to Install OpenShot: Open Terminal and execute the below command. After the installation, you will find the app in the app drawer inside the Linux apps folder. You can also install OpenShot by downloading the latest AppImage file. You can learn how to install AppImage programs on Chromebook from our guide.
sudo apt-get install openshot
10. uGet
Since IDM is not available on Chrome OS, you can install the popular open-source download manager, uGet. Yes, it works pretty well using the Linux Container and I did not face any issues on my Chromebook. I was able to download a video from YouTube by just pasting the link and uGet took care of everything.
sudo apt-get install uget
So you are a regular torrent user and unable to find a good torrent client on Chrome OS? Well, nothing to worry as Linux has you covered on this new operating system. You can install the popular Transmission app on Chromebook using the Linux system. It comes with all the features that you get on Windows or macOS.
- How to Install: Open Terminal and execute the below command. After installation, you will find the app in the app drawer inside the Linux apps folder.
sudo apt-get install transmission-qt
If you are a graphics editor and looking for a program for illustrations and vector graphics then Inkscape is the one to get. You can say that it is an alternative to Adobe Illustrator on Chrome OS and for that reason alone, Inkscape is one of the best Linux apps on Chromebook. The program is very advanced and comes with all the controls that you need for complex paintings, arts, logos and more.
sudo apt-get install inkscape
Personally, for me, Kolourpaint is the best Linux apps on Chromebook and I will tell you why. It’s very close to MS-Paint that we have on Windows and does not leave out any of the major features. In fact, it brings more advanced features like free-form selection, scale by image portion, skew diagram, monochrome effect and much more.
Apart from that, Kolourpaint performed really well and it didn’t feel like the app was running in a container. There is no lag and you can create and edit a bulk of images in one go. If you ever wanted to use an app like Microsoft Paint on Chrome OS, this is the best option and I think, it’s much better.
sudo apt-get install kolourpaint
Pinta is another alternative to MS Paint on Chromebook that you can use for basic editing your images. It’s slightly advanced than Kolourpaint and comes with Lasso tool, Magic Wand and more. What I like about this app is that it’s pretty lightweight and does not hog resources at all. So if you want to try another photo editor on Linux for Chromebook then Pinta will take you right home.
Thunderbird is a widely popular email client and you can get it on Chromebook with a simple Linux command. As we already know, it’s an open-source email client that has been built for maximum privacy and security for both general and advanced users. Not to mention, Thunderbird is packed with awesome features like calendar, tasks, and reminders — all baked into one.
Basically, you get an offline email client with all the desktop features that are available on Windows and macOS apps. Surprisingly, Thunderbird performed far better than my expectations and feels almost like a native app. So, if you want an email client and Android apps are not scaling well then Thunderbird is the app you need. It’s truly one of the best Linux apps on this list.
sudo apt-get install thunderbird
While Thunderbird is great, if you need an email client alternative for Linux on Chromebook then Bluemail has you covered. It offers a modern UI with support for various domains such as Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, and more. You can even manually set up IMAP, POP3, Exchange accounts on Bluemail. What I love about Bluemail is that its Linux version is quite feature-rich and supports dark mode too. So go ahead and install Bluemail on your Chrom ebook.
Want a Linux app on Chromebook for distraction-free writing? Well, check out FocusWriter which is a full-screen word processor and comes with hide-away UI. You can immerse yourself in writing and create a customizable ambiance with background images, colors, font, themes and more. Not to mention, FocusWriter also supports spell-checking, daily goals, dark mode, etc.
How to Install: First of all, set up Flatpak by following point #6 of this article. After that, open this link and copy the command at the bottom of the page. Now, paste the command on the Linux Terminal and it will install FocusWriter on your Chromebook.
Another pick for our best Linux apps on Chromebook is Audacity. In case you don’t know, Audacity is an advanced audio editor and a cross-platform recording application. The app is brimming with features and can help you mix songs, record tracks and also create karaoke of any song.
sudo apt-get install audacity
19. Nautilus
Nautilus is one of the best Linux apps on Chromebook as it allows you to access Linux directories just like any other Linux distro. With the default Files app on Chromebook, you can only access the Linux file section and at most, can see the hidden files. However, if you want to access system directories like mnt, usr or root then Nautilus helps you access those folders easily.
sudo apt-get install nautilus
If you are a programmer then Chromebook has you covered with the most popular development tools out there. You can run and set up Visual Studio Code seamlessly, as you can Android Studio. The out-of-the-box experience is very hassle-free, just like on Windows and macOS. In fact, Google recently announced a new portal where you can get all the information required to set up Android, Web and Flutter development environments.
21. balenaEtcher
On Windows, if you want to flash ISO images or create a bootable USB drive then you have reliable tools like Rufus and PowerISO. On Chromebook, you don’t have native app support, but there is Linux which can bring all the tools for you. Thankfully, one of the popular Rufus alternatives, balenaEtcher is available on Linux which means you can install it on your Chromebook too.
If you are using one of the latest Chromebooks that feature the 10th-gen Intel Comet Lake CPU then Virtual Machine Manager will be of great help. The latest-gen Chromebooks (based on Hatch board) now come with Nested KVM support which means you will be able to run Windows 10 on a virtual machine. And Virtual Machine Manager is the app you should use on Chrome OS to seamlessly create a VM.
sudo apt-get install virt-manager
Install the Best Linux Apps on Your Chromebook
So this is our list of the 22 best Linux apps available on Chromebook right now. We have included many applications ranging from productivity to creative software. As we can see, Linux support on Chrome OS is groundbreaking and it’s bringing many professional software to Chrome OS users just like that. I am pretty sure, in a few years, Linux apps will become the de-facto app platform on Chrome OS.
