In this video, I take a full look at the Fedora 44 COSMIC spin — Fedora’s official release of the COSMIC Desktop Environment. I cover a first look at the interface, a bit of the history behind COSMIC, its standout auto-tiling feature, and why I made the switch to Fedora COSMIC as my daily driver. If you’re curious whether Fedora COSMIC is worth using in 2026, this review breaks it down for you.
What I Like About COSMIC
To get us started, let’s begin with a quick refresher on the COSMIC desktop for those of you who haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.
COSMIC was created by System76, a company known for building Linux-first computers. Originally, COSMIC started as a collection of extensions for GNOME that added features such as auto-tiling and workflow enhancements. Over time, it transformed GNOME into something with its own unique identity—so much so that it often felt like an entirely separate desktop environment.
Eventually, System76 made the decision to rebuild COSMIC from the ground up. Rather than continuing to rely on GNOME as its foundation, they set out to create a completely independent desktop environment with its own architecture and design philosophy.
What’s particularly interesting is that the new COSMIC retains the workflow that made the original version so popular. Features such as auto-tiling, window stacks, and other productivity-focused enhancements have all been re-implemented in the new desktop. After an extensive development cycle, the first stable release of COSMIC finally arrived in December.
Today, COSMIC is still relatively new, but it already includes nearly everything most desktop users need for day-to-day work. There are still some features on the roadmap—window animations, for example—but those missing pieces are gradually being added as the project continues to mature. Even without every planned feature in place, COSMIC already feels complete and fully usable. In fact, it’s become my daily driver desktop environment.
For me, auto-tiling is the standout feature. I tend to have a large number of applications open at any given time, and tiling helps ensure that no window gets left behind—literally. Every application gets its own dedicated space on the screen, and rearranging windows is quick and intuitive.
The challenge with tiling, however, is that it doesn’t always work well on standard 16:9 displays, where screen space is more limited. That’s where COSMIC’s window stacks come in. Window stacks allow you to group multiple applications together within the same tiled area, making tiling practical even on smaller displays. For me, that’s the feature that makes the entire workflow click.
Beyond tiling, COSMIC includes several other features that stand out as well. There’s a powerful application launcher that appears when you press the Super key, a highly customizable panel and dock, and a growing collection of thoughtful productivity enhancements throughout the desktop.
One of the things I appreciate most about COSMIC is that, even though it’s developed by System76 and serves as a core component of Pop!_OS, it’s also available on other Linux distributions—which brings us to Fedora.
Why I decided on Fedora COSMIC
For quite a while now, Fedora Workstation has been my daily driver Linux distribution. Some time ago, I made the decision not to use Ubuntu-based distributions on my own systems anymore. That said, I still cover Ubuntu regularly on this channel because I know many of you use it every day. For my own workflow, though, Fedora ended up being a great fit.
That doesn’t mean Fedora is perfect.
In my recent review of Fedora 44 Workstation, I described it as a somewhat uneventful release. There weren’t many major new features to talk about, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Every release doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, and it’s perfectly reasonable for a project to focus on stability and refinement from time to time.
My bigger concern is hardware enablement. While Fedora continues to deliver a solid experience overall, some competing distributions have moved further ahead when it comes to hardware support and ease of setup. As one example, installing NVIDIA drivers on Fedora still requires additional steps that many other distributions either simplify or handle automatically. Fedora’s focus on stability is understandable, but if other distributions continue improving hardware support at a faster pace, Fedora may eventually find itself playing catch-up.
For me personally, that’s not a major issue. Most of my workstation setup is automated anyway, so those extra configuration steps don’t have much impact on my day-to-day experience.
Up until recently, the GNOME edition of Fedora was my primary desktop environment. I’ve always enjoyed GNOME, and I still think it’s a great desktop. The problem is that while GNOME works well for me, it isn’t quite the perfect match for the way I prefer to work.
That’s where COSMIC comes in.
Once I discovered that Fedora offered an official spin featuring the COSMIC desktop, it quickly became my preferred setup. It gave me everything I already liked about Fedora while adding a desktop environment that aligns much more closely with my workflow. Since Fedora 44 has now been released, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a fresh look at the latest version of the COSMIC Spin.
At this point, an obvious question is: Why not just use Pop!_OS?
For many COSMIC enthusiasts, that’s the default recommendation. After all, COSMIC is developed by System76 and serves as the flagship desktop environment for Pop!_OS. If you want the most direct COSMIC experience, that’s generally where people will point you.
For me, though, the answer is simple. I made the decision a long time ago to move away from Ubuntu-based distributions. The reasons aren’t important for this particular video, but the end result is that Fedora became my platform of choice. The great thing is that COSMIC isn’t limited to Pop!_OS. Thanks to projects like the Fedora COSMIC Spin, I can enjoy the desktop environment I prefer while continuing to use the distribution that best fits my needs.
For me, that’s the best of both worlds.
Overall Thoughts
For me, Fedora COSMIC has been a fantastic experience.
Even though COSMIC is still in its early days, it already includes nearly everything most users need. The developers also maintain a public roadmap, so if you’re curious about what’s coming next, it’s easy to follow the project’s progress. Earlier, I mentioned workspace renaming, which is one feature I’m particularly looking forward to, but there are several other major enhancements planned as well.
One of the most notable upcoming features is HDR support. At the time I’m recording this video, HDR isn’t available in COSMIC yet, though development is already underway. For some users, the lack of HDR support may be a deal breaker. My primary display supports HDR, and without it enabled, colors appear less vibrant and overall brightness isn’t quite where it should be. Surprisingly, though, I’ve still enjoyed using COSMIC enough to make it my daily driver despite that limitation. That says a lot about how much I enjoy the desktop overall. Still, I can’t wait for HDR support to arrive.
I’ve mentioned my workflow several times throughout this review, and that’s really where COSMIC shines for me.
I tend to organize my work around projects, with multiple workspaces dedicated to specific tasks. For example, I might have one workspace for communication tools such as Thunderbird and Discord, another for system administration tasks, another for video production, and so on. Most desktop environments can accommodate that workflow, but COSMIC takes it a step further.
The reason is tiling.
Many desktop environments offer tiling support in one form or another, but COSMIC was designed around that concept from the beginning. As a result, tiling feels like a natural part of the desktop rather than an add-on feature. Combined with window stacks, it allows me to manage large numbers of applications efficiently without feeling overwhelmed by clutter.
Honestly, once HDR support and workspace renaming are added, COSMIC will satisfy essentially every requirement I have for a desktop environment. And based on the project’s development pace, it’s only a matter of time before those features arrive.
The Fedora implementation is solid as well.
Installation is straightforward and uses the same installer found in other Fedora editions. You can boot the live environment, test the desktop for yourself, launch the installer, answer a few questions, and be up and running in just a few minutes.
After the installation is complete and you log in for the first time, you’re greeted by a welcome screen that introduces some of COSMIC’s features and provides access to a handful of initial configuration options.
From there, customization becomes one of COSMIC’s strongest areas.
You can customize the panel, the dock, colors, layout, applets, and a variety of other interface elements. Components can be added, removed, or rearranged however you like. In fact, COSMIC already offers an impressive level of customization, especially when you consider that the desktop has only recently reached its first stable release.
The biggest drawback right now isn’t the desktop itself—it’s availability.
Because COSMIC is still relatively new, support across Linux distributions remains somewhat limited. Personally, I’d love to see official packages available for distributions such as Debian and AlmaLinux, both of which I use regularly. At the moment, choosing COSMIC means choosing from a smaller list of supported distributions, but hopefully that situation improves as the project continues to mature.
Performance has been excellent as well.
The desktop generally stays out of your way until you need it. If you want an even more distraction-free experience, you can configure both the panel and dock to auto-hide, allowing your applications to take center stage without unnecessary visual clutter.
COSMIC also includes its own collection of desktop applications, including a file manager, terminal emulator, text editor, video player, and more. There’s also the COSMIC Store, which serves as the desktop’s software center and replaces GNOME Software on Fedora COSMIC installations.
I actually like COSMIC Store quite a bit. It’s simpler than GNOME Software, feels responsive, and does exactly what it needs to do. Personally, I don’t use graphical software stores very often because I prefer managing software from the command line, but for most users it should work perfectly well. Installing applications is as simple as searching for what you need and clicking Install, and the store can also handle system and application updates.
At the end of the day, I have no problem recommending Fedora COSMIC.
If you’re interested in the COSMIC desktop but prefer a distribution outside the Ubuntu ecosystem, Fedora COSMIC is an excellent option. It combines Fedora’s solid foundation with one of the most exciting new desktop environments in the Linux space.
It’s fast, highly customizable, productivity-focused, and already surprisingly polished despite how new it is. And with major features still on the horizon, it’s only going to get better from here.
