Updated April 6, 2023
Introduction to Manjaro and Mint
Manjaro and Mint are both Linux-based operating systems that are freely available for the developers to use them as per their requirement. Defining the terms individually, Manjaro is an Arch-based Linux operating system distribution that is open-source and freely available to developers for respective use cases in addition to providing better usability and accessibility with its different applications and software that are pre-installed. On the other hand, Mint is a Debian or a Ubuntu-based Linux distribution that is driven by the community and provides various chunks of open-source software for ready use. In this article, we will look at various genres on which Manjaro and Mint can be differentiated, so that while making a decision on what distribution to use, it becomes an easier choice.
Head to Head Comparison Between Manjaro vs Mint (Infographics)
Below are the top 10 differences between Manjaro vs Mint:
Key differences between Manjaro and Mint
Before we learn about the differences between Manjaro and Mint, we need to understand the point of similarity in order to understand why the confusion between these 2 Linux distros is crept in for which this article is scripted. Since both of them are Linux distros hence it sometimes becomes a tough task for users to understand which one out of Manjaro and Mint will be the best for the scenario. With this article, we will list down some of the pointers which will enable users to easily collect the points which will suit the best to make the correct informed decision.
The first point of difference is the architecture of the distro. Manjaro is an arch-based Linux distribution and registered under Manjaro GmbH & Co. KG and driven by the same organization whereas Mint is a Debian- or an Ubuntu-based one driven by community support. More about the difference between Debian and arch is available in one of our other articles (Link: https://www.educba.com/debian-vs-arch/). The conceptualization of individual distribution is in itself different where Manjaro comes from the land of Germany and on the other hand, Mint has originated from Ireland. As a default desktop environment, Manjaro provides KDE, GNOME, and XFCE whereas Mint provides Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE and we can see that XFCE desktop environment is similar to both of them. Officially, Manjaro supports i386 and AMD64 CPU architecture, and Mint supportsx86-64 CPU architecture.
Now from the lens of package manager which allows user to decide the ease of installing or uninstalling software, Manjaro uses Pacman which combines simple binary package format to make an easy-to-use build system and Mint uses Debian package manager like APT or snappy which offers users to install consistent sets of the built-in binary package from the archive list. Another important thing for any distribution is the frequency of updates, and here, Manjaro provides rolling release cycles as the updates are delivered to the application on a regular short interval with keeping just one version of the distribution. Mint provides a 6-month release and 2-year Long term support for the distribution.
Manjaro as a distribution is targeted towards experienced users and hence beginners might find it difficult to extract the maximum out of the distribution and on the other hand Mint is very useful for beginners with extensive documentation and community support to guide them towards solving the use case. Last and least, Mint requires somehow a better off system to run, although this difference is too less of importance whereas Manjaro is capable of running in old architectures efficiently.
Comparison Table of Manjaro vs Mint
Below are mentioned few comparisons:
| Gerne of comparison |
Manjaro |
Mint |
| Type of Distribution | From the definition, we understand that the first genre of difference is that Manjaro is an arch-based Linux distribution. | On the other hand, in the same genre of difference, Mint is a Debian or Ubuntu-based Linux distribution |
| Place of Origination | The concept of Manjaro Linux distribution was originated in Germany | The concept of Mint Linux distribution was originated in Ireland. |
| Default environment in desktop | The default desktop environment is either one of the KDE, GNOME, and XFCE. | The default desktop’s environment is either one of the Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE. |
| Architecture officially supported | The CPU architecture that is supported by Manjaro distribution is i386, which is the first 32-bit CPU in the family of x86 and AMD64. | In Mint x86-64 CPU architecture is officially supported as per the documentation released. |
| Packaging manager | In terms of management of packaging, pacman is the package manager that is used which combines a simple binary package format to make an easy-to-use build system. | In Mint, we use Debian package manager which offers users to install consistent sets of built-in binary packages from the archive list. |
| Release cycles of upgrades or bug fixes | Manjaro has a rolling release cycle, where updates are frequently delivered to the applications with the version being a single one. | Mint has 6-month and 2-year Long term support release cycles for the distros release. |
| Out of box software support | Manjaro has a little weaker support in terms of software support through the support to basic tools and proprietary drivers are available. | Mint has better out of box software support along with support to basic tools and proprietary drivers. |
| Repository size | Manjaro’s repository size is lesser as compared to Mint’s one. | Mint offers access to a larger repository to the users or developers. |
| Expertise level required | Manjaro distribution is targeted at matured and experienced developers’ crowd. | Mint is mostly good for beginners with good community support and documentation easy enough for beginners to understand. |
| Hardware requirement | Manjaro is capable of running efficiently on old hardware and simply can run on any kind of machine given to it | Mint needs a decent machine to run the distribution efficiently with each component running at par! |
Conclusion
Going through all the differences, we do understand that due to superficial similarities, it starts to be challenging for developers to choose the right distribution for their use case, and often people land up on the wrong ones. For all those folks, let us just remember that Manjaro is for those who want the best gaming distribution and Mint for the ones who need a workstation distro.
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