Overview

KDE Plasma is a modern, feature-rich desktop environment built with the Qt toolkit. Known for its incredible customizability, Plasma offers a sleek and polished experience that can be tailored to virtually any workflow. It is developed by the KDE community, one of the largest free software communities in the world, and is the default desktop on distributions like KDE neon and openSUSE.

Key Features

• Highly Customisable: Every aspect of the desktop can be themed, rearranged, and extended via widgets, panels, and downloadable community content.
• KRunner: A powerful universal search and command launcher that can find files, launch apps, perform calculations, translate text, and control system settings.
• KDE Connect: Seamlessly integrates mobile devices with the desktop — send files, receive notifications, control media playback, and use your phone as a remote input device.
• Virtual Desktops & Activities: Robust workspace management with multiple virtual desktops and Activities for grouping apps and settings by task or project.
• Wayland Support: Full Wayland compositor support in Plasma 6 for better security, performance, and HiDPI handling.

Use Cases

• Desktop computing for users who want full control over their interface
• Creative workstations with the KDE Applications suite (Krita, Kdenlive, etc.)
• Development environment with built-in terminal and code editing tools
• Multimedia and gaming on Linux with excellent GPU and peripheral support

Platforms

Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD

Latest Stable Version

6.7.2 (June 30, 2026)

Licence

GPL-2.0+ (various components under LGPL, BSD, MIT)

Website

kde.org/plasma-desktop

Parent Organisation

KDE e.V.