# Cinnamon desktop environment

57 Hacker News commenters recommended Cinnamon desktop environment and 12 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A polished, Windows-like Linux desktop that is simple and light on resources. Critics say it is less customizable than KDE or GNOME.

## Why people recommend it

- Familiar, Windows-like desktop layout (3 comments): "gave everyone back a more familiar and intuitive desktop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45824870)) "essentially a Windows like experience without the BS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46027552)) "an excellent DE in the classic (and therefore best) style" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690308))
- Simple, works well out of the box (4 comments): "Looks great out of the box and easy to configure quickly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46585484)) "Not too ambitious but that ends up keeping things simple and mostly just works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029491)) "Imo its the most user friendly and boring + batteries DE" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49834345))
- Uses less RAM than other desktops (2 comments): "it uses considerably less RAM for just the desktop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48055121)) "Cinnamon for fat systems or XFCE for lean ones do wonders for my sanity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829566))
- Better than GNOME for many users (3 comments): "I've had twice the issues with GNOME as I have with KDE or Cinnamon" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47287593)) "Cinnamon and MATE are the directions I'd have preferred for Gnome to go." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46527327)) "an experience that's similar to GNOME-when-it-was-good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47888207))

## What people warn about

- Wayland support still immature (2 comments): "just coming out of experimental support for Wayland" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49709877)) "XFCE and Cinnamon will be Wayland native before then." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47394072))
- Less customization than KDE or GNOME (2 comments): "Only problem I believe is the lack of customization options in Cinnamon compared to KDE and even Gnome with extensions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575191)) "Gnome with a few tweaks ended up being much closer to my ideal than even heavily customized Cinnamon" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47449873))
- Desktop crashes reported (2 comments): "watching multiple Linux desktop environments crash when I switched to my Bluetooth headphones" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46483107)) "Cinnamon and Budgie both crashed. No one knows why." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46472819))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [KDE Plasma](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kde-plasma.md): 650 recommend
- [GNOME](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnome.md): 340 recommend
- [Xfce](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xfce.md): 183 recommend
- [COSMIC desktop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmic-desktop-environment.md): 75 recommend
- [MATE Desktop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mate-desktop.md): 29 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Cinnamon desktop environment", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cinnamon/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).