X.org X server
Ranked 7 of 9 display servers by recommenders
Long-running free display server people still rely on for working setups and legacy software, though critics say its security model is weak and development has stalled.
Long-running free display server people still rely on for working setups and legacy software, though critics say its security model is weak and development has stalled.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 17
- approval share
- 41%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Mature and feature-complete
“Xorg already had this, since you can set the DPI for each display through RandR/xrandr”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig” “I do not see what it offers that X does not already provide.”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland” “I consider xorg to be 'feature complete'.”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK” Legacy compatibility; avoids forced Wayland
“Some people continue to develop X, so I hope this is sufficient that I can continue to avoid Wayland.”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “A Wayland Compositor in Minecraft” “So you've managed to get redhat to commit to continue to package an X server, then?”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Can I start using Wayland in 2026?” “A server does for backwards compatibility and this is a good thing!”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland” Works fine for existing setups
“X.org worked entirely fine for me, sans some NVIDIA driver config I had to set up in /etc”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “Phoenix: A modern X server written from scratch in Zig” “from X.org which did the job”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “Byobu – text-based window manager and terminal multiplexer”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weak security model and vulnerabilities
“X11's practical absence of any security mechanisms for user sessions means you should probably not run any kind of low-trust UI program anyway”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland” “X11 security vulnerabilities are more numerous and as nasty as they've ever been.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Preparing for KDE Plasma's Last X11-Supported Release” “Linux desktop security and privacy absolutely sucks, and X.org is part of that.”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “Xfwl4 – The Roadmap for a Xfce Wayland Compositor” - Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Problems with D-Bus on the Linux desktop”
- Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland”
Neglected; bitrot and stalled development
“stopping any major development on X.org immediately even though it's was the one and only option at the time”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland” “There's still bitrot on the X.org side even if your DM is maintained”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “CachyOS: Fast and Customizable Linux Distribution” “Xorg is largely neglected now, it still works mostly by luck.”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Can I start using Wayland in 2026?” - Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland”
Wayland simpler; X carries bloat
“getting stuff like VRR on Wayland working is way easier than X.org”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Separating the Wayland Compositor and Window Manager” “the X Server has a bunch of capabilities which are irrelevant”
Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years”
Other display servers people recommend
The four most recommended other display servers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayland | 272 | 405 | 40% | 12 | 3 yrs32 owners | — |
| X11 (X.Org) | 140 | 102 | 58% | 12 | 20 yrs9 owners | — |
| Xorg | 40 | 36 | 53% | 11 | 22 yrs3 owners | — |
| XLibre | 31 | 37 | 46% | 8 | — | — |
| X.org X serverThis page | 12 | 17 | 41% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
30 of the 32 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it has yet to turn into a pumpkin”
“X11 made the right choice in putting graphics drivers in the”
“I consider xorg to be 'feature complete'.”
“X.org is absolutely terrible”
“from X.org which did the job”
“Many tools even running under unix not doing so like gcc, x.org, etc.”
“X11 security vulnerabilities are more numerous and as nasty as they've ever been.”
“the kernel should not cover for architectural missteps of the X server”
“Some people continue to develop X, so I hope this is sufficient that I can continue to avoid Wayland.”
“The codebase is old and complex.”
“the X Server has a bunch of capabilities which are irrelevant”
“getting stuff like VRR on Wayland working is way easier than X.org”
“everything from x.org and freedesktop.org”
“Linux desktop security and privacy absolutely sucks, and X.org is part of that.”
“Wayland vs X11. I should compare Sway versus X.org+i3.”
“So you've managed to get redhat to commit to continue to package an X server, then?”
“Xorg is largely neglected now, it still works mostly by luck.”
“X.org worked entirely fine for me, sans some NVIDIA driver config I had to set up in /etc”
“Xorg already had this, since you can set the DPI for each display through RandR/xrandr”
“We all know that X.org had no security model and it sucks”
“There's still bitrot on the X.org side even if your DM is maintained”
“X server has always had an awful accessibility story.”
“I do not see what it offers that X does not already provide.”
“A server does for backwards compatibility and this is a good thing!”
“with X11 the chain is Exploit -> Game over.”
“stopping any major development on X.org immediately even though it's was the one and only option at the time”
“having a network attached monitor rocks”
“It is generally true that X needs to be replaced”
“XLibre updated their xserver port with 1000s of issues that were never addressed on the x.org side of things”
“X11's practical absence of any security mechanisms for user sessions means you should probably not run any kind of low-trust UI program anyway”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.