Last Updated on July 2, 2025
Let’s kick off with a collection of detailed reviews highlighting 45 essential utilities. They are small, indispensable tools, useful for anyone running a Linux machine. They cover a wide spectrum of utilities.
The following articles focus on specific topics.
| Utilities | |
|---|---|
| A kind of system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer | |
 | Alternatives to Top - top is a small utility that offers a dynamic real-time view of a running system. This article identifies alternatives to top that offer more control in managing processes on a running system. |
 | Archive Managers: Graphical Archive Managers, Terminal-Based Archive Managers - A file archiver is computer software which brings together a group of files into a single archive file. An archive file is therefore a collection of files and directories that are stored in one file. |
 | Batch Renamers: Graphical Batch Renamers and Terminal-Based Batch Renamers - Batch rename files and directories quickly and safely with these useful apps. |
 | Benchmark Tools - A benchmark is the act of running computer programs in order to assess the performance of computer hardware and software applications. |
 | Boot Utilities - Improve the load time of your system, customize the booster loader and create bootable live USB drives without burning optical media. |
 | Character Maps - A character map allows you to view and access the characters in a particular font. |
 | Cheatsheet Tools - A cheatsheet is a concise set of notes used for quick reference. We recommend the best cheatsheet tools for Linux. |
 | Clipboard Managers - Small lean applications that focus on speed and efficiency. This type of application lets you copy and manage items to your clipboard. Copying, searching, managing and sharing clips is common functionality offered by this type of application. |
 | Command Schedulers: Graphical Schedulers and Command-Line Schedulers - Users who set up and maintain software environments use cron to schedule jobs (commands or shell scripts) to run periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals. |
 | Compression Tools - Data compression is the process of storing data in a format that uses less space than the original representation would use. Compressing data can be very useful particularly in the field of communications as it enables devices to transmit or store data in fewer bits. |
 | Compression Tools (Multi core) - Use all the cores present on your system when compressing files, offering massive speed advantages. |
 | Dictionary Tools - Look up words and phrases or different languages in multiple dictionary file formats |
 | Diff: Terminal-Based Diff Tools, GUI Diff Tools - File comparison compares the contents of computer files, finding their common contents and their differences. The result of the comparison is often known as a diff. |
 | Drop-in replacements for Core Utilities - Budding open source developers have tasked themselves to modernise some of the coreutils. |
 | Duplicate Files (Find and Delete): GUI Tools and CLI Tools - Good duplicate finding software compares more than just a filename – including the file size – so it doesn’t remove files which are different to each other. |
 | e-book Tools - An electronic book (commonly abbreviated e-book) is a text and image-based publication which can be read on a computer or other digital devices such as an e-book reader. Read e-books on a desktop computer or notebook |
 | Flash OS Images - Install various Linux distributions and operating systems on a removable flash drive or external hard disk. |
 | Flatpak Tools - Flatpak is an open source containerized package format similar to Snap. We recommend useful Flatpak tools. |
 | Food and Drink - Looking to keep fit, make beer, or master the art of cooking? Try this software. |
 | Fonts: We reccomend the finest Font Renderers, Fonts, Font Viewers, Font Managers, and Font Editors. |
 | Home Automation - Home Automation software is software that lets you control and monitor common home and office appliances using a computer. |
| Home Automation (X10) - X10 is an open standard for controlling home electrical equipment remotely. It works across home power lines and is extremely low-bandwidth. |
 | KVM Switches (Software-Based) - Software that mimics a hardware KVM switch. Use a single keyboard and mouse to control multiple computers by moving your mouse to the edge of the screen, or by using a keypress to switch focus to a different system. |
 | Magnifying Tools - Accessibility is the degree to which products, devices, services, or environments are available to as many people as possible whatever their circumstances. We look at screen magnification accessibility tools. |
 | Monitor Calibration - The objective when calibrating a monitor is to ensure the monitor has color references known by everyone (humans and software). |
 | Navigation Tools (CLI) - Tiny but useful tools that complement the cd command. They help users to navigate faster around the filesystem, and increase productivity when using the shell. |
 | Password Managers: GUI-based tools, Terminal-based tools - A password manager is a utility which helps users store and retrieve passwords and other data. Most password managers use a local database to hold the encrypted password data. |
 | Printer Tools (3D) - A 3D printer is a machine that builds a three-dimensional object from digital designs by adding layers of material |
 | QR Code Tools - A QR code (also known as a quick-response code) is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode originally invented for labelling automobile parts. |
 | Reclaiming Disk Space - Graphical utilities designed to make tracking down wasted disk space effortless. |
 | Replacements for du - Programs used to estimate file space usage. du is part of coreutils. |
 | Replacements for ls - Recommended replacements for ls, a command to list computer files. ls is part of coreutils. |
 | Screen-readers - Screen-readers read the contents of a visual display. They can use a speech synthesizer to read text aloud letting users listen to the contents appearing in different parts of the display. Other software communicates data via a braille display. |
 | Search the Filesystem - Desktop search is a software application which searches the contents of computer files, rather than searching the internet. |
 | Shells - The shell is a program that takes commands from the keyboard and gives them to the operating system to perform. This environment lets users run commands, programs, and shell scripts. |
 | Shutdown Timers - These tools let you turn off or suspend a computer at a specified time. They feature various time and delay options. |
 | Snippet Tools - A snippet tool is utility software that can boost your productivity. They are especially useful to save complex commands, or rarely used commands which we tend to forget. |
| Software Installation: AppImage Desktop Integration Tools - integrate AppImages with your desktop's app launcher. AppImage Package Managers - manage your AppImages. |
 | System Cleaning - Vaccum up the detritus on your computer. This software ensures your computer system retains its vitality. |
 | System Resource Monitoring (GUI Tools) are targeted at a desktop user who wants to monitor resources being used on their machine. |
 | Terminal Multiplexers - Exploit the full power of the terminal. Improve your productivity at the console. Combine one of these terminal multiplexers with a tiling window manager, and you’ve got a low resource desktop environment. |
| Universal Access - Accessibility is the degree to which products, devices, services, or environments are available to as many people as possible whatever their circumstances. |
 | Virtual Keyboards is software that displays a visual keyboard with all the standard keys. Use a mouse or another pointing device to select keys. |
 | Wallpaper Setters - Do you find your Linux desktop background rather mundane but have problems in finding attractive wallpapers? |
 | Zsh Configuration Frameworks - We highly recommend installing a framework with Zsh as it makes dealing with configuration, plugins and themes a lot more straightforward. |