Ubuntu 26.04 to 24.04 comparison

As of 2026-04-28.

1. Kernel

	24.04 GA / 24.04.4 (HWE)	26.04 LTS
Kernel	6.8 GA / 6.17 HWE	Linux 7.0 (GA + HWE)
Real-time kernel	Pro only	Free in main archive (PREEMPT_RT mainlined)
`linux-lowlatency`	Separate binary	Retired; replaced by `lowlatency-kernel` userspace package, tunable on `linux-generic` at boot
ARM64 Livepatch	No	Yes (first LTS with rebootless ARM64 patching)
`sched_ext` (eBPF schedulers)	Absent	Stable; supports user-space scheduling policies
`linux-firmware`	Monolithic	Split into ~18 vendor sub-packages
Crash dumps	Off	On by default
cgroups	v1 + v2 hybrid	v2 only
IgH EtherCAT Master	Out of tree	Integrated module
RVA23S64	Not enforced	Required minimum for RISC-V
Hardware enablement	through Meteor Lake / Zen 5	Panther Lake + Xe3 + NPU; Wildcat Lake; Battlemage / Celestial Arc; Zen 6; RDNA 4; SEV-SNP; MI-300/325 ROCm
NTSYNC driver	Added in HWE	Default; Wine/Proton perf
DOCA-OFED	Older	26.01 modules

2. GNOME / Desktop session

	24.04 / 24.04.4	26.04
GNOME	46	GNOME 50 (cumulative 47/48/49/50)
Session	Wayland default + Xorg	Wayland only; XWayland still installed; first LTS without an Xorg session
Triple buffering	No	Yes
HDR output	No	Yes (per-monitor)
VRR	Manual	Default where supported
Fractional scaling	Experimental, blurry	Default with exact factors (133%, 166%); legacy XWayland scaling toggle
Notifications	Per-app stacked	Grouped by source, expandable, dismissable individually
Hardware-accelerated screen recording	No	Yes
Shell search providers	Apps + files	Adds snap apps and web search
Nautilus	Standard	Up to 5x faster directory loading; 10x faster Glycin thumbnails; pill-shaped search filters; floating properties window; reorderable bookmarks; “Other Locations” merged into sidebar
Tracker Miners	3.7	Renamed LocalSearch 3.11
Yaru	Original	Refreshed icons (accent-color folders), bolder text, raccoon mascot boot animation
Mutter	Standard	Spring-instead-of-fade popovers, perf work
Ubuntu Dock	Transparent	Opaque to match panel; transparency re-enableable
Power Profiles Manager	Basic	Battery-aware on newer hardware
Battery charge limit	No	Configurable (e.g., 80%)
Wellbeing	No	Screen-time tracking, daily limits, parental controls (`malcontent-gui`)
Login accessibility	Limited	Sticky on-screen keyboard, screen reader, magnifier at GDM
Remote Desktop	Basic	Persistent sessions, virtual headless monitor, touch forwarding, Vulkan/VA-API encode, NVIDIA explicit sync, Kerberos auth
Lock screen	No media controls	MPRIS playback widget
`PreLogin` / `PostSession` scripts	Available	Removed; use PAM session modules

3. Toolchains

	24.04 GA	26.04
GCC	13 default / 14 avail	15.2
binutils	2.42	2.46
glibc	2.39	2.43 (ISO C23)
LLVM/Clang	18	21
Rust	1.75	1.93 default (1.91, 1.92 also packaged)
Go	1.22	1.25
Python	3.12	3.14
PHP	8.3	8.5.2 (property hooks, asymmetric visibility, URI extension, pipe operator, `clone with`, `#[\NoDiscard]`, `array_first/array_last`)
OpenJDK default	21	OpenJDK 25 LTS (TCK on amd64/arm64/s390x/ppc64el); 8/11/17/21/26/27 also available; CRaC packages for 17/21/25
Zig	Not in archive	0.14.1 (0.15.2 in proposed)
.NET	8 / 9	.NET 10 on amd64/arm64/s390x/ppc64el
PowerShell snap	amd64 only	All four arches
GraalVM CE	Limited	JDK 21/24/25 snaps
Spring tooling	Plain	`devpack-for-spring` snap, Gradle/Maven plugins for Rockcraft
`cargo-auditable`	Not bundled	Opt-in metadata embed for CVE tracking

Uncertain: Ruby, Node.js, and Perl default versions are not listed in the official 26.04 LTS summary; they almost certainly inherit from 25.10 (Ruby 3.3, Node.js 22 LTS, Perl 5.40) but I could not confirm from authoritative sources.

4. Init / systemd

systemd 255 to 259/259.5
cgroup v1 removed entirely at the systemd level; cgroup-v1 systems cannot upgrade.
tmp.mount (tmpfs /tmp) is now the upstream default.
Last release supporting System V init compatibility; native unit files required going forward.
WSL systemd-binfmt.service brittleness fixed in 2.5.7+.
Removable media now mount under /run/media instead of /media.

5. Display server

Wayland exclusive on GNOME; GDM has no X11 session.
Per-monitor brightness and HDR toggles in Settings, Displays.
VRR and fractional scaling default where hardware supports.
Legacy X11 app scaling toggle for XWayland blurriness.

6. Mesa / graphics

	24.04 / 24.04.4	26.04
Mesa	24.0 GA / 25.2.7-25.2.8 HWE	Mesa 26.0.3 (26.0.4 hotfix in proposed)
Vulkan API	1.3	1.4 across ANV, RADV, NVK
OpenCL	Clover + Rusticl partial	Rusticl only; Clover removed; OpenCL 3.0
NVK	Experimental	Production-ready Turing through Blackwell+
`gdk-pixbuf`	Native parsers	Glycin sandboxed Rust image parser
GStreamer	1.24	1.28
JPEG XL	Optional	Native
NVIDIA proprietary	535/550	590.x default; Dynamic Boost on by default; suspend/resume reliable
Battlemage / Celestial encode	None	Full HW AVC/JPEG/HEVC/AV1 encode; Embree 20 to 30% faster (up to 2 to 4x in ray tracing); Xe debugging
AMD ROCm	PPA only	7.1.0 in Universe: gfx908 with CI, MI-210/250/300/325, RX 6900/7900/7700/9060, Strix Halo / Ryzen AI MAX
NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit	NVIDIA repo	In Ubuntu archive (`apt install cuda-toolkit`)
Intel oneAPI / DPC++	NVIDIA repo only	In archive (`dpclang-6` + `onedpl-headers` + `onednn`)

7. Package management

APT 3.1 / 3.2

New solver3-style solver auto-engaged when classic solver fails.
GnuTLS/gcrypt switched to OpenSSL for TLS and hashing.
Automatic pager for apt show / apt list.
apt-key removed; use gpgv directly.
New history subcommands: apt history-list, history-info, history-undo, history-redo, history-rollback.
New apt why and apt why-not.
Colored output, removals listed last in red, expanded bash completion.

Snap and App Center

snapd 2.74.1 (vs ~2.63 era for 24.04 GA).
App Center now manages .deb packages (PackageKit + AppStream): manage, filter, uninstall, install local debs.
Search results show both snap and deb candidates.
Shell snap-app search provider.
Snap permissions prompting framework (preview).
Software Updater shows panel indicator instead of stealing focus.
“Software & Updates” GUI no longer installed by default.

Architecture variants (`amd64v3`)

Opt-in with APT::Architecture-Variants "amd64v3";.
Provides x86-64-v3 (Haswell / Excavator+, AVX2/FMA/BMI2) optimized builds.
Cloud images for AWS/Azure/GCP/IBM/Oracle now built as amd64v3 by default, dropping older instance generations and Ivy/Sandy Bridge.

8. Installer

New Subiquity / Flutter installer revisions integrated through 24.08.1, 24.10.1, 25.04, 25.10, 26.04.
Accessibility: screen reader during install (still has known difficulties triggering during the very first stage), magnifier and on-screen keyboard at login.
“Replace existing Linux installs” option exposed.
Improved dual-boot with BitLocker.
TPM-backed full-disk encryption: keys auto-generated and sealed in TPM; optional PIN/passphrase; recovery keys via Security Center; fwupd prompts for recovery key before firmware updates.
ZFS root install still experimental and hidden in advanced settings; OpenZFS 2.4.1.
Default filesystem remains ext4; bcachefs not exposed.
Raccoon mascot boot animation.
Landscape integration in desktop installer.
Ubuntu Insights replaces Ubuntu Report (opt-in metrics; old consent does not carry over).
Server installer auto-installs HWE/OEM kernel packages where appropriate.

9. Security

Area	24.04	26.04
`sudo`	GNU sudo	`sudo-rs` default (`sudo` command unchanged; original at `/usr/bin/sudo.ws`); password feedback (asterisks) on by default; `sudo-ldap` removed
Coreutils	GNU	`rust-coreutils` (uutils) for most utilities; `cp`, `mv`, `rm` remain GNU; GNU available with `gnu-` prefix; can switch back
AppArmor	Standard	Many additional sandboxing profiles by default (potential breakage; bug reports requested)
TPM-backed FDE	None	GA in installer (TPM 2.0 + Secure Boot)
Confidential computing	None	Intel TDX host; AMD SEV-SNP host+guest
OpenSSL	3.0	3.5.6 LTS (post-quantum ML-KEM/ML-DSA/SLH-DSA, QUIC)
GnuTLS	3.8.x	3.8.12
NSS	3.98	3.120
libgcrypt	1.10	1.12.0
OpenSSH	9.6p1	10.2p1: PerSourcePenalties, `mlkem768x25519-sha256` PQ KEX default, DSA host keys/sigs removed, SHA1 SSHFP deprecation warning, `match invalid-user`, `sshd.service` alias, separate `openssh-{client,server}-gssapi`, no longer reads `~/.pam_environment`
Snap permission prompting	No	Experimental Security Center + XDG Desktop Portals
`fwupd`	Standard	TPM-FDE-aware
BlueZ	5.72	5.85
PipeWire	1.0	1.6.2

10. Networking

Default desktop renderer remains NetworkManager (writes through Netplan).
Default server / cloud renderer remains systemd-networkd.
WiFi backend remains wpa_supplicant. The long-discussed iwd default switch did not land for 26.04; iwd remains experimental.
Netplan 1.0 to 1.2: custom systemd-networkd-wait-online (link-local + one routable interface), embedded-switch-mode SR-IOV, wpa-psk-sha256 WiFi, routing-policy on NetworkManager backend, OVS support.
Time daemon: systemd-timesyncd to chrony 4.8 with NTS by default, Ubuntu NTP pools in /etc/chrony/sources.d/ubuntu-ntp-pools.sources.
libfprint: new SDCP fingerprint protocol drivers and many new readers.

11. Filesystem

Default remains ext4.
ZFS: OpenZFS 2.4.1; root install still experimental.
bcachefs: still not exposed as a default install option (DKMS path remains).
Removable media mount path: /run/media (was /media).
dmraid: removed (minimal upstream support).
kpartx-boot: discontinued; functionality preserved in kpartx.

12. Initramfs

initramfs-tools to dracut as the default initramfs generator on new installs (transition completed in 25.10; default for 26.04). systemd-in-initrd, Bluetooth and NVMe-oF support, modular architecture, host-only initramfs by default. initramfs-tools remains in the archive for upgrade paths and custom hooks.

13. Default applications

Role	24.04	26.04
PDF viewer	Evince	Papers (GTK4, partial Rust rewrite; ink annotation, freeform text, digital signatures)
Image viewer	Eye of GNOME	Loupe (Rust, GTK4/libadwaita; multitouch, crop/rotate/flip)
Terminal	GNOME Terminal	Ptyxis (GTK4/libadwaita, GPU-accelerated, container quick-launch, profile + session persistence)
System monitor	GNOME System Monitor + Power Statistics	Resources (Rust, modern graphs, GPU/NPU/encoder/decoder telemetry)
Video player	Totem	Showtime (extended install only)
Video/audio thumbnailer	Totem	`gst-thumbnailers` (Rust GStreamer bindings)
Profiler	None	`Sysprof` installed by default
Browser	Firefox 124 (snap)	Firefox 150 (snap)
Office	LibreOffice 24.2 (deb)	LibreOffice 25.8 (deb)
Mail	Thunderbird 115 (snap)	Thunderbird 140 “Eclipse” (snap)
Image editor	GIMP 2.10	GIMP 3.0 (Xubuntu ships 3.2.2; secondary sources differ)
Security Center	None	New (Pro, encryption keys, snap permissions hub)

14. Removed / deprecated

GNOME on X11 session
“Software & Updates” GUI by default
Startup Applications UI (moved to Settings, Applications)
Google Drive Nautilus integration
GNOME PreLogin / PostSession scripts
apt-key
sudo-ldap
Original GNU sudo renamed to sudo.ws
System V init compatibility (last release supporting it)
cgroup v1
dmraid
kpartx-boot
linux-lowlatency
ovmf-ia32, qemu-efi-arm (split via ovmf-legacy)
Pacemaker 2 to 3 (breaking)
oracledb, zabbixagent resource-agents (replaced)
Samba: nmbd proxy logon, cldap port, fruit:posix_rename
NFS blkmapd / nfs-blkmap services
TLS 1.0/1.1 in Apache disabled per RFC 8996
Apache MPM-event MemoryDenyWriteExecute=yes (breaks PHP JIT with mod-php)
arcfour-hmac-md5, des3-cbc-sha1 from Kerberos defaults
Squid: client_delay_access, ftp_epsv, cache_peer no-netdb-exchange, client_persistent_connections, server_persistent_connections
OpenStack Manila V1 API and shell utility
PHP backtick operator deprecated; non-canonical cast names deprecated; null as array offset deprecated
PostgreSQL no longer built for i386
samba-vfs-modules / -extra transitionals not built for i386
dumpmscat
python3-samba not built for i386
samba-vfs-ceph split into separate package
Postfix not installed in chroot by default
MySQL Server 32-bit removed (clients remain for armhf/i386)
Azure cloud images: python3-parted, python3-six, lsscsi removed from minimal
AWS dropped: M1-M4, C1/C3/C4, R3/R4, I2, G3, P2/P3/P3dn
GCP requires Haswell+ Intel

15. Architectures

Arch	24.04	26.04
amd64	Generic baseline	Same baseline + opt-in `amd64v3`; cloud images default to v3
arm64	Server + experimental desktop	Official ARM64 desktop ISO; Snapdragon WoA; ACPI+EFI VMs; Livepatch
ppc64el	Standard	OpenJDK 25 TCK, .NET 10, PowerShell snap
s390x	z14 minimum	z15 minimum (z14 / LinuxONE II dropped); s390-tools 2.41; new udev rules; `pvverify`; `zkey` with `dm-integrity`; KVM zVDT
RISC-V	RVA20	RVA23S64 mandatory (older RV hardware unsupported)
i386	Multilib only	Multilib only; further packages dropped

16. Server-side

Cloud / WSL

cloud-init 26.1: s390x platform detection on LXD, Tilaa support, network v1 enhancements for bonds/bridges.
All AMD64 cloud images built as AMD64v3 by default.
AWS PV / older instance generations dropped.
Azure minimal images shed python3-parted, python3-six, lsscsi.
WSL: chrony for time sync, Ubuntu Insights opt-in, binfmt_misc fix, case-preserving usernames, non-ASCII names, Ubuntu Pro for WSL 1.0 Windows app for Pro attach, Landscape registration, enterprise deployment.
Server installer auto-installs HWE/OEM kernel packages.

Container / virt

	24.04	26.04
containerd	1.7	2.2.2 (breaking from 1.x)
runc	1.1	1.4.0 (`pids.limit` matches OCI)
Docker	24	29 (experimental nftables; containerd image store default)
QEMU	8.x	10.2.1 (HWE virt stack, twice-yearly updates)
libvirt	10.x	12.0.0
EDK2	older	2025.11; `ovmf-legacy` introduced
Virt stacks	Single	Dual: classic + new HWE virt (`qemu-hwe`, `libvirt-hwe`, `seabios-hwe`, `edk2-hwe`); `ubuntu_virt_helper` switches
Confidential	None	Intel TDX host, AMD SEV-SNP guest+host
ARM MTE on KVM	No	Yes
RISC-V virt	RVA20	RVA23 + privilege 1.13, Zacas/Zaamo/Zalrsc/Ztso
s390x	gen 16	gen 17 CPUs, POWER11

Server applications

	24.04	26.04
Samba	4.20	4.23 (SMB3 Unix Extensions on by default; NetBios off; SMB3 directory leases; Netlogon ping over LDAP; experimental Himmelblaud auth; gMSA; functional level 2012R2; auto keytab updates)
OpenLDAP	2.6	2.6.10
SSSD	2.10	2.12 (runs as `sssd` user, not root; implicit files provider removed)
Postfix	3.7/3.8	3.9.0/3.10.0; no chroot by default
Exim	4.96	4.99.1
Dovecot	2.3	2.4.2 (config format migration required)
ClamAV	1.0	1.4.3 (OneNote, UDF, HTML CSS images, alz/lha/lzh, image fuzzy hashing, custom cache, systemd timer, mTLS for mirrors)
Squid	6	7.2 (`tls_key_log`, `key-extras`, `doh_query`, `cache_peer tls-client-cert-switch`)
Apache	2.4.5x	2.4.65 (TLS 1.0/1.1 disabled per RFC 8996)
Nginx	1.24	1.28.2
HAProxy	2.x	3.2 LTS (faster QUIC; runtime API detection; stricter URI parsing; `tune.ssl.ocsp-update`)
MySQL	8.0	8.4.8 LTS
MariaDB	10.11	11.8.6 (full main-archive support)
PostgreSQL	16	18 (new I/O subsystem; up to 3x read perf; virtual generated columns; `uuidv7()`; OAuth 2.0); not on i386
Valkey/Redis	Redis 7.x	Valkey 9.0.3 (atomic slot migrations, hash field expiration)
DocumentDB	None	0.108-0 (Mongo-compatible on PostgreSQL)
RabbitMQ	3.12	Newer with feature-flag manual upgrade steps
Django	4.2 LTS	5.2 LTS
MAAS	3.4	Latest
OpenStack	Caracal 2024.1	2026.1 “Gazpacho” (SLURP release; eventlet migration; Nova/Neutron/Ironic/Manila enhancements)
Pacemaker	2	3 (breaking)

authd / Active Directory

authd in Universe: Google IAM broker, Microsoft Entra ID device registration, generic OIDC broker, authctl CLI, device ownership, IdP access enforcement.
ADSys: polkit fixes, GPO userPrincipalName search.
Landscape registration integrated into the desktop installer.

17. Hardware highlights

NVIDIA: Dynamic Boost on by default; suspend/resume reliable; smoother desktop with proprietary drivers; DOCA-OFED via PPA.
Intel: Battlemage Arc 5 B570/B580 + Arc Pro B50/B60/B65/B70 with full HW encode; Celestial early support; Panther Lake Xe3 + NPU; CCS optimization in Compute Runtime; Xe debugging; oneAPI Level Zero v1.13.1.
AMD ROCm 7.1.0 in Universe.
Lemonade Server snap or deb for local AMD/CPU/NPU inference.
Raspberry Pi: A/B boot layout for safer updates (firmware 2022-11-25+ on Pi 4/400/CM4; 2025-02-11+ on Pi 5/500/CM5); desktop image based on minimal seed (saves ~777 MB by removing deja-dup, file-roller, gnome-calendar, gnome-snapshot, libreoffice, remmina, rhythmbox, shotwell, simple-scan, thunderbird, showtime, transmission-gtk); cloud-init swap; Pi 5 with 4 GB RAM / 16 GB storage minimum.
System minimums: desktop 6 GB RAM / 25 GB / 2 GHz dual-core; server 1.5 GB RAM / 4 GB.

18. Other UI / UX

Yaru folder icons inherit accent color; engraved emblems; bolder UI text; mascot login background.
Default monospace font size reduced.
Dock indicators rounded to match dock edge radius.
DING desktop icons: Ctrl + +/- resize; Shift + arrow multi-select; Home / End jump.
Do Not Disturb in Quick Settings; Accessibility menu in lower-right of login.
VA-API HW video acceleration on AMD/Intel by default.
Optional non-free codecs include AAC for Bluetooth headsets.
Ubuntu Insights: opt-in flow, more frequent than Ubuntu Report; Settings, Privacy & Security, Telemetry.

19. Lifecycle

26.04 LTS: 5 years standard support to April 2031, extending to 10 years total via Ubuntu Pro ESM (April 2036).
24.04 LTS: standard support through April 2029; one final point release (24.04.5) expected August 2026 to backport the 26.04 kernel/graphics stack.

20. Confirmed-vs-flagged

Confirmed by Canonical or Phoronix directly: Linux 7.0, GNOME 50, GCC 15.2, glibc 2.43, LLVM 21, Rust 1.93, Go 1.25, Python 3.14, OpenJDK 25 default, .NET 10, Mesa 26.0, systemd 259, OpenSSH 10.2p1, Netplan 1.2, sudo-rs default, rust-coreutils default, dracut default, App Center deb support, ZFS 2.4.1, Wayland-only, RVA23S64 baseline, z15 minimum, AMD64v3 cloud default, OpenStack 2026.1, PostgreSQL 18, MySQL 8.4.8, MariaDB 11.8.6, Valkey 9.0.3, Samba 4.23, PHP 8.5.2, Docker 29, containerd 2.2.2, runc 1.4.0, QEMU 10.2.1, libvirt 12.0.0, ROCm 7.1.0, CUDA in archive, snapd 2.74.1, BlueZ 5.85, PipeWire 1.6.2, chrony 4.8 default, OpenSSL 3.5.6.

Uncertain or partially conflicting:

Python: most sources say 3.14; one secondary source claims 3.13.9 default with 3.14 available. Treat 3.14 as authoritative per the LTS summary.
GIMP: main archive likely 3.0 per primary sources, but the LTS summary’s “2.10 to 3.0 to 3.2 (major rewrite in Rust)” trajectory implies 3.2 by release. Xubuntu confirmed 3.2.2.
Ruby, Node.js, Perl default versions are not enumerated in the official summary.
iwd: Ubuntu 26.04 still defaults to wpa_supplicant; the long-discussed switch did not land.
bcachefs: still not exposed as a default install option.
A pre-release Phoronix Radeon gaming preview cited “Linux 6.19” in March 2026, but the final 26.04 ships with Linux 7.0.

Sources: