Which Linux distribution should I use for web-development?

[dewinang]

Hi everyone,
I’d like to start a discussion and hear real opinions from people who actively use Linux for web development (PHP, JS, Docker, servers, etc.).

Personally, I’m currently using KDE Neon, and so far it works very well for me. The main reasons:

1. It’s Debian-based, stable, and uses .deb packages — most Linux apps that officially support Linux provide .deb builds first.
2. It uses the KDE desktop environment, which I find the most mature and well-polished, with fewer bugs compared to other DEs.
3. Overall fast system performance and fewer random issues during daily development work.

That said, I know many developers prefer Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, or something else entirely.

What distro do you use for web development, and why?
Stability vs bleeding edge? Desktop vs server-like setup?
Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

[dos2unix]

This is a little like asking what's the best car. It depends, what do you want to do with it?
..and even once you decide that, you will get several different answers.

No special tools are needed to make web pages, you can make them with nano, vi, or notepad.
You can install specialized IDEs like VScode or Eclipse, but they aren't necessary.

Some of this has to do with the language you want to use?
html1, html5, html5, etc.. for what server? apache, nginx, nodejs, php, javascript, etc...
and another part is who do you want to work for?

amatuer hobbyists tend to go one way, and professionals tend to go another way.

In the end, it really doesn't matter very much, you can all of the tools on any distro.

 

[JasKinasis]

It literally makes no difference. There are development tools for all types of development, available on pretty much every distribution. The only real exceptions might be smaller, minimalist distributions with smaller software repositories. But any of the major, general-purpose Linux distributions will be just fine. regardless of the type of development you plan to do.

If you're just doing basic, static HTML, or even HTML and Javascript then all you need is a text editor and a browser with built in debugging tools (like firefox). And maybe something like Filezilla for uploading pages to your web-host.

If you're planning on developing client/server type web-applications, you could set up a server on a spare machine on your local network. Develop the backend and the client on your main machine. Then when it comes to testing, deploy the server side on your server and test the client side on your main machine.
Or you could set up the server on your main machine and develop and test the entire thing from the one PC via the localhost loopback interface. Entirely up to you.

I'm more of a systems/desktop applications programmer, so I just need a terminal, tmux, vim and any compilers/debuggers/interpreters for whatever languages I'm using. Mostly C/C++, Java, Python and bash/shellscript. But I use other languages too. Sometimes I'll use an IDE like QTCreator, Code::Blocks or Android studio. All common tools, available on all Linux distributions. (except Android Studio, which had to be downloaded and installed from the Android Studio website, along with the Android SDK. )

And there are plenty of tools for deploying embedded C/C++ applications onto SBC platforms like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Pine Cone, Teensy board etc.

Even if you want to use ancient, legacy languages that are pretty much obsolete, you can still find the tools available for Linux. Some will be available in your distros repos. Others will be available to build and install via Github. Linux is basically a massive playground for developers!

[edit] I mostly use Debian. I used a semi-rolling version of Debian Testing for many years, but I switched back to Debian stable when Debian 11 was released. Currently running Ubuntu Studio. But only because I borked my upgrade to Debian 13 and I needed my laptop up and running ASAP, so I could use my home studio to record some demos for my bands. [/edit]

 

[APTI]

I may not be a big fan of Debian but if it works for you then use it.

to answer the question:
It just doesn't matter. distro will not have any effect on web development. Only the tools and software do and those are available for all distros.

So do not change distro if you like it.

 

[deb_user]

The primary difference between distros is the package manager. The package manager has no role in web development.