Applies to: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS, Server and Desktop editions

Short answer: Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop are the same operating system with a different set of software installed. Desktop adds a graphical desktop for a computer you sit in front of. Server has no graphical desktop, uses fewer resources and is what you want on a VPS, a dedicated server or any machine you manage over SSH.

What is the same

  • The same release and packages. Both editions use the same Ubuntu package archive, so Apache, MySQL, Docker or any other software installs with the same apt command on either one.
  • The same kernel. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS ships Linux 7.0 in both editions; 24.04 LTS shipped 6.8.
  • The same support period. An LTS release gets five years of standard security updates, and Ubuntu Pro extends that to ten years, according to the 26.04 release notes.

What is different

  • Desktop environment. Desktop comes with GNOME (version 50 in Ubuntu 26.04), a graphical login screen, the Files app, a web browser and the Terminal app. Server has none of these. You work at a text console or, far more often, over SSH.
  • Installer. Desktop has a graphical installer. Server uses a text-based installer that runs in any console, including a VPS’s VNC console. Its SSH screen has an Install OpenSSH server option and an Import SSH key option, so the server is reachable as soon as it reboots.
  • Server tools. The ubuntu-server package set includes LVM, mdadm for software RAID, multipath tools, tmux and vim.
  • Networking. Desktop includes NetworkManager, so you pick Wi-Fi networks from the top bar. Server has no NetworkManager; you set addresses in the Netplan files under /etc/netplan.
  • Resources. Canonical lists a 2 GHz dual-core processor, at least 6 GB of RAM and 25 GB of storage for Ubuntu Desktop 26.04. Server needs as little as 1.5 GB of RAM and 4 GB of storage, and more depending on what you run.

How much a desktop adds

To measure it, we installed the ubuntu-server package set on Ubuntu 26.04 and then asked apt what the minimal GNOME desktop would add:

$ sudo apt install --assume-no ubuntu-desktop-minimal
0 upgraded, 952 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 624 MB of archives.
After this operation, 2194 MB of additional disk space will be used.

That is 952 extra packages and about 2.2 GB of disk. Each of those packages also needs security updates, and a running desktop uses RAM that your websites or databases could use instead.

Which one to choose

  1. VPS, dedicated server, web, mail, database or game server, Docker host: choose Server. You manage it with SSH, and nothing is wasted on a screen nobody looks at.
  2. Laptop or workstation you use every day: choose Desktop.
  3. A server where you occasionally need a graphical tool: start with Server and add a lightweight desktop with remote access only if you need it. See xrdp on Ubuntu or a remote desktop over SSH and VNC.

You can switch later without reinstalling

The editions are only package sets, so you can change your mind:

# Server to desktop (GNOME, minimal set)
sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop-minimal

# Server to a lighter Xfce desktop (947 packages, about 2.1 GB in our test)
sudo apt install xubuntu-core

# Desktop to "also a server": add the SSH server and the firewall tool
sudo apt install openssh-server ufw

New to the command line? Start with how to open a terminal in Ubuntu. If you want a machine to run Ubuntu Server on, a KVM VPS gives you full root access and the VNC console mentioned above.

Official documentation: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release notes.

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