Linux software equivalent to Windows software
When migrating to Linux from Windows, a common question is "Where can I get an application for Linux that is similar to XYZ program on Windows?" Fear not! Listed below are programs that could be considered roughly equivalent to certain popular Windows applications. Note that the Linux programs might not have all the features which can be found in Windows proprietary software, but unless you are an expert in some Windows program this should not be a major obstacle.
Here is how to install software in Linux: Installing software
To install software in Linux you need root privileges i.e the root password.
Office and Productivity
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, Libre Office, WPS Office, Softmaker Office, Onlyoffice Desktop | Libre Office, WPS Office(WPS-Community), OpenOffice, Calligra, Softmaker FreeOffice, OnlyOffice Desktop | Office package |
| Microsoft Word, OOwriter, LibreOffice Writer, WPS Writer, Softmaker TextMaker, OnlyOffice Desktop | OOWriter, AbiWord, WPS Writer, LibreOffice Writer, Calligra Words, FreeOffice TextMaker, OnlyOffice Desktop, Lyx, LaTeX | Word Processing |
| Notepad, Wordpad, TheGun, EditPlus, SciTE, Notepad++ |
Vim, KWrite, Kate, BlueFish, Gedit, Joe, Sublime Text, Leafpad, Nano |
Text Editors |
| Access, dBase, Foxpro, Paradox, OOBase, LibreOffice Base | Kexi, OOBase, LibreOffice Base | Database |
| Excel, Corel WordPrefect, LibreOffice Calc, Softmaker Office PlanMaker, WPS Spreedsheets, OOCalc, OnlyOffice Desktop | LibreOffice Calc, Calligra Sheets, Softmaker Office PlanMaker, WPS Spreedsheets, OOCalc, gnumeric, OnlyOffice Desktop | Spreadsheet |
| Visio, yED, LibreOffice Draw | Calligra Flow, yED, LibreOffice Draw | Diagramming |
| PowerPoint, LibreOffice Impress, OOImpress, WPS Presentation, Softmaker Office Presentations, OnlyOffice Desktop | LibreOffice Impress, OOImpress, Calligra Stage, WPS Presentation, Softmaker Office Presentations, OnlyOffice Desktop | Presentation software |
| Final Draft, Script Studio, Fade In, KIT Scenarist, Story Architect, Trelby, Scrite | Fade In, KIT Scenarist, Story Architect, Trelby, Scrite | Screenwriting software |
| Microsoft Project Manager | MOOS Project Viewer, Calligra Plan | Project management |
| Wondershare EdrawMax, XMind | Wondershare EdrawMax, Minder, XMind | Mind maps |
| Outlook, Thunderbird + Lightning | Kontact, BALSA, Thunderbird + Lightning | Personal information managers |
| Alcohol 120%, Discjuggler, Easy CD Creator, Nero Burning ROM | DVD/CD burning | |
| Alcohol 120%, Nero Burning ROM, MakeMKV, ImgBurn, Infrarecorder | MakeMKV, Thoggen, Dvdbackup, HandBrake, DVD::RIP, AcidRIP | DVD ripping software |
| Quicken, Microsoft Money, TurboTax | GnucAsh, KMyMoney, CrossOver Office with Quicken, lazy8ledger | Accounting |
| ActiveSync | Synchronization with Windows Mobile devices | |
| WinEdt, TeXnicCenter | Kile, Texmaker, LyX | LaTeX IDEs |
| Veritas Backup Exec, Cobian Backup, Duplicati |
LuckyBackup, Déjà Dup, Grsync, Duplicati more |
Backup |
| Google Desktop | Desktop Search |
File and partition management
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Norton Ghost |
Partition Image, g4u, Mondo Rescue, dd, gDiskDump (a dd frontend), Clonezilla, Trinity Rescue Kit |
Disk imaging |
| Norton Partition Magic |
GParted, Clonezilla (a live cd), KDE Partition Manager, GNOME Disks |
Disk partitioning |
| Disk Size Explorer | File Light, Konqueror, Baobab, xdiskusage, duc ref. | Disk usage analyzers |
| Filemon, Regmon | syscalltrack | system call tracking (file monitor & others) |
| WinMerge, SyncToy | File synchronization | |
| Google Drive, Dropbox, etc | Cloud hosted file synchronization (Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Cloud Storage, Google Drive, FTP, Microsoft OneDrive, sFTP, etc) | |
| Windows Update, Add/Remove programs |
apt-get, Aptitude, portage, rpm, urpmi, yast, yum, Synaptic, Snapcraft (Snap) |
Every Linux distribution has an infrastructure to manage installed software which is quite different from Windows. For instance, all updates are handled by a single program. See package management. |
| WinRunner | xautomation | automating interactive applications |
| 7-Zip, Winzip, Winrar, Peazip |
Karchiver, File Roller, Xarchiver, ark, hjsplit; command line tools |
Archivers |
| chkdsk | fsck, other tools | check your file system (and the hard disk beneath it) for errors |
| Daemon Tools |
mount, Disk Image Mounter in Gnome/KDE, Furius ISO mount, AcetoneISO |
ISO mounting |
| Disclib | gWhere | Disk cataloging programs |
| Evernote, OneNote | NixNote, Tusk, Whatever, GeekNote, ForeverNote, Joplin, Xournal, XFCE4 Notes, Xpad, Hnb, Gnote, Feathernotes, Cherrytree, Bijiben, Basket, Noblenote, Nvpy. Thanks to [1] | Note Taking App |
Desktop Publishing
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dreamweaver, Google Web Designer, Bluefish Editor, Aptana Studio, SeaMonkey, CodeLobster |
Google Web Designer (WYSIWYG), Bluefish Editor, Aptana Studio, SeaMonkey, CodeLobster more |
Web Design |
| Quark, Quark Express, Microsoft Publisher, Scribus, Karbon |
Scribus, Karbon, Laidout, VivaDesigner, QuickSilver, Xara Xtreme |
DTP software |
| Adobe Acrobat Reader, Xpdf Reader, Foxit reader, Sumatra pdf |
Evince, Zathura, Okular, Bookworm, Qpdfview, Foxit reader, PDF Studio Viewer, Xpdf, MuPDF, Atril, Ghostview, more |
PDF readers |
| Adobe Acrobat Distiller, PDFCreator |
CUPS-PDF, Libre Office, OpenOffice.org, PDF Studio, Kprinter -- can convert to pdf. more |
PDF authoring |
| Adobe Acrobat, PDF Studio Pro, Master PDF Editor, Libreoffice Draw, Scribus, Inkscape, Flexipdf, OnlyOffice Desktop Editors |
PDF Studio Pro, Master PDF Editor, OnlyOffice Desktop Editors, Pdfedit, Pdfjam, Pdftk, Scribus, Inkscape, Karbon, Flexipdf, Okular, Libreoffice Draw. Thanks to this more |
PDF editing tools |
| SilverFast |
xSane, VueScan, Simple Scan, Skanlite, Gscan2pdf, GIMP with Quitelnsane |
scanning |
| FinePrint |
boomaga, page-crunch, mpage, Kprinter, psnup/PSutils, pdfnup/PDFjam |
Document printing/reformatting tools |
Networking
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Pale Moon, Brave, Vivaldi, Otter Browser, Falkon, Dooble, Slimjet | Firefox, Konqueror, Epiphany (Gnome Web), Falkon, Microsoft Edge, Slimjet, Midori, Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Otter Browser, Brave, Vivaldi, Falkon, Pale Moon, Dillo, Dooble, LibreWolf, Links more | Web Browsers |
| Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, Pegasus, Lotus Notes, Seamonkey, Claws Mail, Mailspring |
Kontact, Evolution, Seamonkey, Thunderbird, Claws Mail, Mailspring, Geary others |
Email clients. |
| Trillian, Hexchat, Pidgin, Irssi, ICQ | Instant messaging software. | |
| Microsoft HyperTerminal | ||
| FileZilla FTP Client, WS FTP, Bullet Proof FTP, CuteFTP |
FileZilla FTP Client, KFTP (KFTPGrabber), Kasablanca, FireFTP, Konqueror, KBear, gFTP, CrossFTP, Nautilus |
FTP clients. Please note GNOME, KDE (and other) programs can directly open and edit files on FTP, SFTP and WebDAV shares, often using KIO, GIO or [GVfs]]. |
| mIRC, Trillian, Hexchat, Pidgin, Quassel, KVIrc, Irssi |
Trillian, HexChat, PidgIn, Quassel, KVIrc, Irssi, Konversation, BitchX |
IRC Clients |
| UltraVNC, TightVNC, RealVNC, Remote Desktop |
TightVNC, RealVNC, rdesktop, FreeNX, x11vnc, Synergy, XDMCP, SSH with X11 forwarding (-X or -Y option) |
Desktop Sharing |
| MailWasher, SpamAssassin for Windows |
SpamAssassin |
Spam filter |
| Forte Free Agent, Thunderbird, Pan | News Reader (Usenet newsgroups) | |
| eMule, aMule | aMule | ED2K P2P network clients |
| Vuze (formerly Azureus), utorrent, Transmission, Deluge, qBittorrent, Tixati, Frostwire, Tribler |
Vuze (formerly Azureus), Transmission, Deluge, qBittorrent, Tixati, Frostwire, Tribler, Qtorrent, bittornado, Ktorrent, |
BitTorrent P2P network clients |
| Skype, Voipbuster, Yate, Linphone, Jitsi | VoIP software | |
| Bitvise Tunnelier | gSTM is a front-end for managing SSH-tunneled port redirects. |
Server
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| IIS, Apache | Web Servers | |
| Folder sharing, printer sharing | Share files and printers between Windows and Linux systems. Installed by default on most distributions. | |
| IIS, FileZilla FTP Client & Server | vsftpd, pure-ftpd | FTP servers, for hosting files. |
| NetLimiter |
Trickle, Level 7 Filter, ClarkConnect, Bandwidth Arbitrator, MasterShaper |
Bandwidth shaping and management. |
| Exchange | Groupware (sharing of appointments, contacts, e-mail, documents, etc. between members of a group) | |
| Sharepoint | Manage and secure documents, collaborate around document creation and editing, full document contents indexing | |
| Norton/McAfee Antivirus, ClamWin, AVG, AntiVir, Avast, ClamAV | Antivirus software. | |
| ZoneAlarm , Sygate SPF | Firewall software |
Multimedia
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo-Paint, GIMP, Glimpse, GIMPShop, ImageMagick, Xnview, LightZone (non-free high quality), Darktable, Pinta, MyPaint, Krita, Filmulator, Photivo, RawTherapee, digiKam, nomacs |
GIMP, Glimpse, GIMPShop, ImageMagick, Pinta, MyPaint, Krita, Xnview, LightZone (non-free high quality), Darktable, Filmulator, Photivo, RawTherapee, digiKam, nomacs |
Raster graphics editors |
| Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, Vectr, Gravit, LibreOffice Draw, sK1, SVG-edit |
Inkscape, Vectr, Gravit, LibreOffice Draw, Karbon, sK1, SVG-edit. Ref. |
Vector graphics editors |
| Adobe Animate, Synfig, Pencil2D, Tupi (Tupitube Desk), OpenToonz, Blender, Toon Boom Harmony, Krita, Aseprite, TVPaint, Animaker, Ajax Animator, Glaxnimate, Tahoma2D, Enve |
Synfig, Pencil2D, Tupi (Tupitube Desk), OpenToonz, Blender, Toon Boom Harmony, Krita, Aseprite, TVPaint, Animaker, Ajax Animator, Glaxnimate, Tahoma2D , Enve |
2D Animations |
| Irfanview, ACDSee, digiKam, Xnview, nomacs |
XnView, Mirage, GThumb, Shotwell, KPhotoAlbum, Geeqie, digiKam, Gwenview, Ristretto, Viewnior, Nomacs |
Image viewers |
| 3D Studio MAX, Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D | 3D modeling software | |
| Autodesk Inventor, Solidworks, CATIA | FreeCAD, SALOME platform | Professional 3D CAD software |
| Windows Media Player, PowerDVD, SMPlayer, MPV, VLC |
SMPlayer, MPV, VLC, Xine, Totem, Kaffeine, Parole, Celluloid, MPlayer |
Video Players |
| SIA Smaart Live | BRP-PACU | Sound analysis |
| Winamp, Sonique, iTunes, aTunes, Clementine, VLC, SMplayer, Deadbeef, Audacious, Strawberry, Exaile |
Amarok, RhythmBox, Banshee, Xine, Elisa, Clementine, VLC, SMplayer, Deadbeef, Audacious, Strawberry, Exaile, pMusic. See also Video Players section |
Music Players |
| OTSAV, OTS Turntables, Serato, Traktor, Virtual DJ, PC DJ, Mixxx, UltraMixer | Mixxx, UltraMixer | Audio & video play out (DJ/presenter) |
| Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Elements, Multiquence, Avidemux, OpenShot, VidCutter, Shotcut, DaVinci Resolve, Natron, Olive, Lightworks |
Cinelerra (difficult but very professional), KDenlive (easy and powerful), LiVES, AviDemux, OpenShot, VidCutter, Flowblade, Pitivi, DaVinci Resolve, Natron, Olive, Lightworks (thanks to Linux Format magazine), Shotcut(thanks to Linux Format magazine) |
Video Editors |
| Audacity, Cubase, Ardour, Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit Pro), GoldWave, Cakewalk/Sonar, DaVinci Resolve, LMMS, Traverso-DAW, Harrison Mixbus, Bitwig Studio, Waveform |
Audacity, Rosegarden, Beast, Ardour, Harrison Mixbus, Radium, DaVinci Resolve, Bitwig Studio, Qtractor, Traverso-DAW, LMMS, Waveform |
Digital audio workstation software |
| Audio Catalyst, Ocenaudio, dbpoweramp, CDex, DaVinci Resolve, Audacity | Audio Editors | |
| Wavesurfer, Audacity, Sox | Audio Recorder, Ecasound, Audacity, Sox, Wavesurfer | Audio recorders |
| Cakewalk/Sonar | MIDI | |
| NoteWorthy Composer, MuseScore, LilyPond | Musical score typesetting | |
| GuitarPro, TuxGuitar | Guitar tablature editors | |
| Microsoft Paint, Kid Pix, Tux Paint, Pencil 2D, Krita, Pinta, Mypaint, Mtpaint |
Tuxpaint, KolourPaint, Pencil 2D, Krita, Dibuja, Pinta, Mypaint, Mtpaint |
Basic raster painting programs |
| Videora, Handbrake, WinFF, VLC, VCT - Video Converter & Transcoder | Handbrake, WinFF, Curlew, Selene Media Converter, VLC, Transmageddon, VCT - Video Converter & Transcoder | Video converter |
| WinFF, Handbrake, fre:ac - free audio converter (freac), VLC, VCT - Video Converter & Transcoder | Handbrake, WinFF, Curlew, Selene Media Converter, VLC, fre:ac - free audio converter (freac), VCT - Video Converter & Transcoder | Audio converter |
| TMPGEnc DVD Author, Roxio DVDit, Open DVD Producer, DVDStyler |
DVDStyler, Open DVD Producer, DeVeDe |
DVD authoring software |
| uTox, qTox, Jitsi, OpenMeetings, Jami (formerly GNU Ring, SFLphone), Microsoft Teams, Zoom | uTox, qTox, OpenMettings, Jitsi, Jami (formerly GNU Ring, SFLphone), Empathy, Microsoft Teams, Zoom | Video Conferencing |
Education
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Klavaro, Tipp10 | Klavaro, Tipp10, KTouch, Tux Typing, GNU Typist | Touch typing tutors |
| Maple, Mathematica | Maple, Mathematica, Maxima | Computer algebra systems |
| Matlab, Octave, Scilab | High level numeric computation environments | |
| SPSS, Stata, EViews, PSPP, R-project, Gretl | Statistical analysis | |
| Verilog | Verilog Simulator | |
| Google Earth, NASA World Wind, Celestia, Stellarium, Skychart, Aladin Sky Atlas, Microsoft Flight Simulator, FlightGear |
Google Earth, Celestia, Stellarium, Marble, Geody, Kstars, Skychart, Aladin Sky Atlas, FlightGear |
Geography, astronomy and simulation |
Please add new applications to this list. A good resource is the BeetleSpace Windows/Linux Software Table of Equivalents, which is GNU FDL licensed.