Linux Statistics By Market Share, Usage, Number Of Users, Trends And Facts
Updated · Apr 15, 2025
WHAT WE HAVE ON THIS PAGE
Introduction
Linux Statistics: Linux, being an open-source operating system, has become a significant factor in computing. It serves as the energy source for everything from personal gadgets like mobile phones to enormous servers located within data centers. As we move toward 2024, demand for Linux remains on the steep rise, particularly in cloud computing, web hosting, and even personal computers. In other words, Linux has become more important as companies seek to cut down costs, boost their efficiency, and enhance security.
By 2024, about 45% of the global server operating system market will still be held by Linux due to its flexibility, security, and affordability. For instance, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of Linux for cloud computing. A lot of companies like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure use a number of their services based on servers running on Linux platforms.
This paper analyses some key Linux statistics related to the use of Linux through 2024, which includes but is not limited to the share market growth rate across different sectors’ economic impact and the introduction of new distributions that are likely to determine its destiny as an OS.
Editor’s Choice
- According to Linux statistics, 39.2% of the most popular websites are powered by Linux.
- 85% of smartphones run on Linux.
- Linux has a 2.09% market share and is the third most used desktop operating system.
- The global Linux market is projected to be worth $15.64 trillion by 2027.
- All of the fastest supercomputers in the world use Linux for their operating systems.
- Linux accounts for 96.3% of the top 1 million web servers (ZDNet).
- Active development and usage of Linux distributions today are evident.
- Following its flexibility, in 2022, Linux had a 34% share of the container orchestration market.
- StatCounter says that Linux accounts for about 3% of desktop OSs in terms of market share.
- The OS’s core Linux kernel contains over 80 million lines of code, which depicts its complexity and robustness.
- It is the top web host because more than 95% of the world’s most popular websites rely on it.
- All supercomputers around the world rely on it.
- This Linux-based Company’s revenue surpassed that of some whole country economies in 2023, reaching $13.4 billion. Thousands of different user needs have led to over 500 different active Linux distributions.
- Central to cloud computing, Linux powers more than 90% of public cloud workloads.
- Despite its smaller desktop presence, Linux is responsible for about 36.7% of all desktop operating systems, concentrating on the PC segment.
- Android, which is based on a Linux kernel, has a 70% share of the smartphone market.
- Each year, the Linux server market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 8.6%. The world’s fastest supercomputers are run by Linux, which is more than 92%. Globally, there are over 100 million active users with Linux operating systems installed on their computers and devices.
- Every year, more than 1.5 billion shipments of Android operating systems are made, and it is one of the most popular mobile platforms globally, relying on Linux technology as it does.
- Additionally, it tells us how significant embedded Linux has become in many industrial sectors since its market value reached USD 5.3 billion.
- This demonstrates how reliable it remains at the IoT infrastructure level; hence, eight out of ten connected devices used come from this OS family (68%).
- In addition, with over 25 thousand contributors, the Linux kernel is actively developed.
- The enterprise Linux market is projected to generate USD 14.4 billion in revenue from corporate deployments by 2025.
- It’s believed that Linux is safer than other operating systems by a factor of ten.
- More than three-quarters (over 75%) of stock exchanges around the globe are powered by Linux.
- Active Linux development can be demonstrated by the ten thousand code lines added to its kernel every day.
- Globally, it accounts for 70% of all web server operating systems.
- To support this assertion, Linux job postings have risen by 31% over the past year, indicating a high demand for Linux professionals.
Key Facts
- Within the desktop operating systems, Linux is ranked as the third most popular OS after Windows and macOS, with a 2.09% market share.
- However, according to Linux statistics, Linux’s global sharing in the server domain was 13.6%, which shows a remarkable nature in infrastructure.
- The global market for Linux is projected to reach $15.64 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.2%.
- This growth is largely driven by the increasing number of servers, rising internet penetration rates, and expansion in the number of data centres within this particular market segment.
- Because of its scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness attributes, this system powers over 90% of cloud infrastructure, making it a significant player in the cloud computing industry.
- Notably, major public cloud providers like AWS or Google Cloud Platform heavily rely on Linux as their backbone system.
- Finally, yet importantly, Android OS, which is known worldwide as the most used mobile OS, also utilises the Linux kernel, hence impacting the mobile device market through its open-source customisation features.
- The security features of Linux make it suitable for businesses and people who prioritize data protection.
- A worldwide survey conducted among professional developers shows that 47% use Linux.
- The desktop operating system market share is at 2.09%.
- The forecasted global market value of Linux will be USD 17,506.92 million by 2028.
- Among the top one million web servers, 96.3% run on Linux.
- The top 500 supercomputers in the world are driven by 91.5% of them running on Linux.
- 8 of 4 % of enterprise companies are using Linux.
- Container operating systems are dominated by L Linux, which enjoys 85 % of the market share.
- 85 % of smartphones available globally are based on Android platforms built around the Linux kernel.
- Access control lists (ACLs), mandatory access control (MAC), and secure computing mode (seccomp) are some of the security features in the Linux kernel.
- Because of its stability and flexibility, Linux is a major player in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. It powers a wide range of devices, from smart home products to industrial IoT applications.
- 47% of all professional programmers prefer Linux because it is much more flexible and has compilers or interpreters that Windows lacks.
- The 96.3% deployment of it on the top one million web servers demonstrates its widespread use by internet infrastructure.
- There are over 600 active distributions, with Ubuntu being the most common one, accounting for 33.9%, while Debian and CentOS follow closely behind.
- Linux’s future growth prospects are promising in areas such as edge computing and the automotive industry, where stability, security, and its open-source nature are highly valued.
Linux Market Worldwide
(Reference: enterpriseappstoday.com)
- As per Linux statistics, More than 600 Linux Distributions are in use today, with an additional 500 under development.
- This creates a living system that is changing continuously.
- Debian has got the most users.
- Ubuntu accounts for 33.9% of all Linux distributions.
- Over one-fourth of the total number of websites exist due to Ubuntu, based on which Debian comes second with 16%.
- CentOS has a 9.3% share of the market.
- Other smaller ones include RedHat, Fedora, and SuSE, which have market shares of between 0.5% and 0.8%, 0.2%, and 0.1%, respectively.
(Source: statista.com)
- As of July 2024, Linux’s share of the desktop operating system market in India was about 16.21%.
- A comparison of its May 2023 position shows that this represents a huge increase in Linux’s market share, which means that Linux has been gaining popularity on desktops in India for over a year now.
- These Linux statistics reveal that more users and organizations are switching to Linux from other operating systems like Windows and macOS, perhaps because it is an open-source program with good security features and customization options.
Linux Statistics Trends
- Linux statistics show that Mozilla, Hugging Face projects, Meta, and Intel AI alliances, among other contributors, are expected to contribute to the growth of open-source AI.
- Supporting the Linux platform natively to encourage developers, as shown in Valve’s Steam Deck, is predicted to enhance the gaming experience on Linux.
- Immutable Linux distributions might increase with Ubuntu taking the lead through its Snap-based immutable desktop in the 24.04 LTS release.
- RISC-V-powered servers may rise to prominence as they reflect a trend toward independence in chip manufacturing.
- User interface and experience improvements are viewed as remarkable enhancements across different distributions and desktop environments, such as GNOME and KDE Plasma.
- Towards increasing trust and transparency, it expects licensing that is source-available for this shift without going all open-source.
- For instance, Canonical is likely to continue concentrating on business growth, with a heavy focus on IoT (Internet of Things) and cloud computing technology.
- Expanding the support of Linux and Android applications could increase the general acceptance of Chromebooks, making Chrome OS versatile.
- Furthermore, advancements in containerisation technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes are set to make application deployment and management easier.
- Again, continual improvements in Linux’s robust security features will enhance its attractiveness for enterprises while maintaining high resilience against cyberattacks.
- Additionally, due to its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, Linux is quite popular among individuals who develop IoT devices; these people also have various tools and distributions at their disposal for such device production purposes.
- Expectations are that AI integrative technologies into Linux will continue increasing, resulting in enhanced data analysis and machine learning capabilities.
- Moreover, the Linux gaming ecosystem is likely to grow significantly, with more games available on platforms like SteamOS and Proton, hence their rising popularity.
Distribution of Linux Website By Global Ranking
(Reference: truelist.co)
- There are approximately 40% of known operating system-based websites that run on Linux, making it more popular than Windows, which is used by 22% of the same type of sites.
- According to Linux statistics, Linux accounts for 47.7 % of the top 1000 sites worldwide and 38.8 % within a hundred times that number.
- It follows that Linux largely dominates the web hosting industry because 49.9% of the best 100,000 websites and 45.4% of the best one million websites globally are powered by this operating system.
(Reference: truelist.co)
- According to recent Linux statistics, it’s earlier than you think, so it may well be said that Linux had become fairly commonly adopted for global servers. This represented 13.6% as of 2019.
- Although Windows still dominates the server market, there was almost commensurable growth in Linux and Windows systems between 2018 and 2019.
- In addition, the server share of Windows increased marginally from 71.9% to 7, while the share of Linux-powered ones surged from 12.9% to 13.6%.
Linux Usage Statistics
- Regarding Linux statistics, the market for desktop operating systems shows that Linux has a share of 2.09%, which is third after Windows, which holds over 70%, and macOS, which has a share of 15.33%.
- In the international server industry, Linux’s share is 1, and as it grows further, its 3.6% is equivalent to Windows’s, although it is the main player in the market.
- Linux statistics for web infrastructure show that Linux powers 96.3% of the top one million web servers.
- Ubuntu is leading among Linux distributions with a percentage of 33.9%, followed by Debian and then CentoOS at great percentages, respectively.
- Globally, Android, which is based on Linux, supports 85% of smartphones, while more than 58% of Internet of Things devices are powered by Linux.
- Almost half of professional developers prefer using this operating system because it offers much flexibility and features not found in Windows.
- The number of desktop users for Linux is ever increasing, with a single want estimated yearlyated figure between 800,000 and 900,000.
- 74% say that their workplaces prefer Linux because it has strong and secure systems which allow application development.
- The Linux kernel releases since version 4.8 have had more than two million lines of code, demonstrating how powerful its user and contributor community can be.
- The global Linux statistics market will attain $15.64 billion by 2027 because increasing server demand and enhanced internet usage worldwide are driving this growth.
- Linux powers about 90% of cloud infrastructure, making it important in terms of cloud computing; moreover, it supports 41.8% of all known operating systems used on websites, showing its significance in internet services.
Future Trends
- Throughout, the user will still use Linux since it is the leading operating system for servers. It will also gradually rise in popularity among desktop platforms.
- Decentralised OSs have been unfairly abandoned for these reasons, among other things.
- The ever-increasing adoption of Linux over these years has been accompanied by technological advancements such as AI, machine learning, edge computing, and so on.
- By 2025, it is predicted that more than 75% of edge devices worldwide will be running on this platform, making it highly relevant to future computing arrangements.
- In terms of economic expansion, the global market for Linux is expected to hit $30 billion by 2025 due to various factors, including greater enterprise usage, growth in cloud infrastructure, and more industries, such as IoT and AI, that rely on Linux-based solutions.
Conclusion
In the year 2024, Linux statistics attracted much attention as it became the heart of significant technological developments, including, but not limited to, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence. It is relied upon by businesses as well as developers due to its ability to scale up or down and being open-source software. As a result, Linux continues to grow in popularity over the coming years, with a lot of companies making huge profits by selling products and services based on it. New versions of some well-known distributions are going to be released soon.
Thus, Linux statistics will be more relevant in technology in the future since companies are hoping for cheaper, more secure, and unique alternatives.
Sources
FAQ.
There is a clear reason why Linux dominates the cloud infrastructure, with over 90% of it and 96.3% among a million websites. It’s preferred by cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and even public and private data centres because of its cost-effectiveness, scalability, and security.
85% of global smartphones run on Android, which shows how much influence Linux has on the mobile phone industry (Canalys). Over 58% of IoT devices use either this operating system or other different ones based on Linux, targeting specific applications within this field.
As many as 47% of professional developers prefer Linux due to its flexibility and various uses.
The global Linux market is expected to reach $15.64 billion by 2027, with growth fueled by increased server demand, rising internet penetration, and expansion in data centres.
Linux is expected to remain a leading platform for AI development, edge computing, and gaming. By 2025, over 75% of edge devices are predicted to run on Linux. Immutable Linux distributions, advancements in containerisation technologies, and increased adoption of Linux-based AI and IoT systems are also on the horizon.
Barry is a technology enthusiast with a passion for in-depth research on various technological topics. He meticulously gathers comprehensive statistics and facts to assist users. Barry's primary interest lies in understanding the intricacies of software and creating content that highlights its value. When not evaluating applications or programs, Barry enjoys experimenting with new healthy recipes, practicing yoga, meditating, or taking nature walks with his child.
