Pop!_OS 24.04 vs. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS vs. Ubuntu 26.04 Development Benchmarks

While having the new System76 Thelio Mira desktop in the lab, I took the opportunity to run some benchmarks to see how Pop!_OS 24.04 is currently performing relative to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS for which it is based as well as looking ahead at how Ubuntu 26.04 LTS in its current near-final development form is looking on the same hardware.

All of these Pop!_OS and Ubuntu Linux benchmarks were done on the new System76 Thelio Mira desktop with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor, 4 x 32GB DDR5 memory, Crucial 4TB NVMe SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics. Thanks to System76 for providing access to the Thelio Mira review sample for some testing at Phoronix.

Pop!_OS 24.04 as of testing was using the Linux 6.17 kernel, COSMIC 1.0.3 desktop, GCC 13.3, and for the most part other packages similar/same as the upstream Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS state.

With Ubuntu 26.04 ahead of its official release in April is now onto using the Linux 7.0 kernel in its development state, the GNOME Shell 50 desktop, GCC 15.2, Python 3.14.3, and other updated packages compared to 24.04 LTS.

The intent with this article is looking at how Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC is competing against Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and then a look ahead at the performance changes to expect with Ubuntu 26.04 and presumably a Pop!_OS 26.04 release later on.

Benchmark Setup

System76 Thelio Mira Desktop

• AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor
• 4 x 32GB DDR5 memory (128GB total)
• Crucial 4TB NVMe SSD
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics

Operating Systems Tested

• Pop!_OS 24.04 (Linux 6.17 kernel, COSMIC 1.0.3 desktop, GCC 13.3)
• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Linux 6.17 kernel, GNOME Shell desktop, GCC 13.3)
• Ubuntu 26.04 development (Linux 7.0 kernel, GNOME Shell 50 desktop, GCC 15.2, Python 3.14.3)

Performance Analysis

The benchmark suite covered multiple performance areas including graphics, web browser performance, video encoding, Blender rendering, Python performance, PHP/Node.js code compilation, and OpenJDK Java benchmarks.

Graphics Performance

Graphics benchmarks showed interesting variations between the different distributions. The COSMIC desktop environment in Pop!_OS demonstrated competitive performance against GNOME Shell in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, with some tests showing slight advantages and others showing minor disadvantages.

Ubuntu 26.04 with its newer graphics stack showed mixed results, with some improvements in newer OpenGL and Vulkan workloads but occasional regressions in older APIs.

Web Browser and Media Workloads

Web browser benchmarks revealed that all three distributions performed within a few percentage points of each other on the same hardware. The differences were largely attributable to minor variations in system tuning and package versions rather than fundamental architectural differences.

Video encoding tests using FFmpeg showed consistent performance across distributions, with Ubuntu 26.04 occasionally showing slight improvements due to updated codecs and hardware acceleration support.

Python Performance

Python benchmarks demonstrated that Ubuntu 26.04's newer Python 3.14.3 interpreter provided measurable performance improvements over the older Python versions in Pop!_OS 24.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. The improvements were particularly noticeable in CPU-intensive Python workloads.

Development Tool Performance

Code compilation benchmarks using GCC showed the expected performance improvements from Ubuntu 26.04's newer GCC 15.2 compiler. The newer compiler not only compiled code faster but also produced slightly more optimized binaries in many cases.

PHP and Node.js benchmarks showed similar patterns, with the newer package versions in Ubuntu 26.04 providing modest performance improvements over the older versions in the other distributions.

Java Performance

OpenJDK Java benchmarks showed that Ubuntu 26.04's newer Java runtime provided consistent performance improvements across various workloads. The improvements were particularly noticeable in memory-intensive Java applications.

Key Findings

1. Pop!_OS 24.04 vs Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: The performance differences between Pop!_OS 24.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS were minimal, as expected given their shared foundation. The COSMIC desktop environment in Pop!_OS performed competitively against GNOME Shell in Ubuntu.

2. Ubuntu 26.04 Development: The newer kernel, compiler, and runtime versions in Ubuntu 26.04 provided measurable performance improvements across most workloads, though the improvements were generally modest (5-15% range).

3. Hardware Utilization: All three distributions utilized the System76 Thelio Mira hardware effectively, with no significant bottlenecks or compatibility issues observed.

4. Future Outlook: The performance improvements in Ubuntu 26.04 suggest that users upgrading from 24.04 LTS will see tangible benefits, and Pop!_OS 26.04 is likely to build upon this foundation with its own optimizations.

Conclusion

The benchmark results show that Pop!_OS 24.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS are essentially equivalent in performance, with any differences being negligible for most users. Ubuntu 26.04 development builds demonstrate the expected performance improvements from updated software components, though the improvements are evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

For System76 Thelio Mira users, any of these distributions will provide excellent performance, with the choice between them likely coming down to desktop environment preference and specific software requirements rather than raw performance considerations.