The head
The big one
Valve
valvesoftware.com
Steam · Proton · Steam Deck · Source engine
Platform giant · gaming-first · 400+ staff↗
The long tail
Foundations, distros & indie shops
Community-driven, often decades-old — and disproportionately influential. The throughline isn't a shared name; it's a commitment to open source and user freedom.
Canonical
canonical.com
Ubuntu · Snap · Landscape · MAAS
London, UK · distro + cloud · since 2004↗
System76
system76.com
Pop!_OS · COSMIC desktop · hardware
Denver, US · hardware-funded software · since 2005↗
Blender Foundation
blender.org
Blender · Blender Studio · Blender Cloud
Amsterdam · donation-funded · since 2002↗
KDE e.V.
kde.org
Plasma · Dolphin · Kate · Krita · Ark
Community foundation · Qt/KDE · since 1996↗
GNOME Foundation
gnome.org
GNOME Shell · GTK · LibreOffice-adjacent tools
Non-profit · GTK/Libadwaita · since 2000↗
elementary
elementary.io
elementary OS · AppCenter · Mail · Music
Pay-what-you-want · designer-led · since 2011↗
Collabora
collabora.com
LibreOffice support · Collabora Online · Wayland
Open-source consultancy · since 2005↗
Purism
puri.sm
PureOS · Librem hardware · privacy focus
Social-purpose corp · since 2014↗
Red Hat
redhat.com
Fedora · RHEL · Flatpak co-development
IBM subsidiary · enterprise + desktop · since 1993↗
SUSE
suse.com
openSUSE · YaST · Rancher
Enterprise + community · since 1992↗
OBS Project
obsproject.com
OBS Studio · libobs
Sponsored FOSS · streaming standard · since 2012↗
Linux Mint
linuxmint.com
Linux Mint · Cinnamon · Warpinator
Community distro · user-friendly · since 2006↗