Manjaro vs Fedora
One rolls and the other releases: Manjaro keeps Arch packages moving with a testing stage and ships Xfce, while Fedora assembles a tested RPM set twice a year and ships GNOME. Manjaro's newest entry runs kernel 7.1; Fedora's release 44 runs kernel 6.19.10. Both install a writable root and neither is immutable.
Side by side
| Manjaro Linux | Fedora | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | arch | rpm |
| Release model | Rolling release | Versioned releases |
| Desktop | Xfce | GNOME |
| Package manager | pacman + Pamac (GTK) | DNF (rpm) |
| Init system | systemd | systemd |
| Immutable root | No | No |
| Wayland by default | Mixed | Yes |
| Minimum RAM | — | 4 GB |
| ISO size | 5.2 GB | 2.6 GB |
| Latest kernel | 7.1 | 6.19.10 |
| Releases archived | 38 | 50 |
| Latest release | 12 August 2026 | 28 April 2026 |
What differs
Base & packages
Manjaro uses pacman with Pamac as a front end; Fedora uses DNF over RPM. Fedora's 44 snapshot records GCC 16.0, glibc 2.43, LLVM 22, Golang 1.26 and LibreOffice 26.2.1, while Manjaro's 26.1.0 snapshot records Xfce 4.20 and no compiler or library versions, so the toolchains cannot be compared from the data.
Desktop & display
Manjaro ships Xfce 4.20 and records Wayland as mixed. Fedora ships GNOME 50 with Wayland as the default, installed through Anaconda onto an ext4 root.
Release model
Manjaro publishes dated snapshots inside a rolling stream: 26.0 on 7 December 2025, 26.0.1 on 1 February 2026 with kernel 6.18, 26.0.3 on 22 May 2026 and 26.1.0 on 17 July 2026 with kernel 7.1. Fedora published 43 on 28 October 2025 with kernel 7.2 and 44 on 28 April 2026 with kernel 6.19.10, and between those dates its packages do not change.
Hardware requirements
Fedora states 4 GB of memory and a 2,615 MB image; Manjaro records no memory minimum and a 5,278 MB image. Fedora's download is less than half the size, which follows from shipping GNOME without Manjaro's extra tooling and installer.
Init & immutability
systemd on both, at 259 for Fedora 44 and unversioned for Manjaro, with neither immutable. Manjaro's Calamares or Architect path and Fedora's Anaconda both end in a writable root.
Verdict
Choose Manjaro if you want Xfce, a rolling stream with a testing stage, and updates that arrive continuously rather than at release boundaries. Choose Fedora if you want current compilers and kernels in a tested set, a smaller download, and a 4 GB memory floor you can plan against. Manjaro offers newer kernels by date; Fedora offers newer tooling by version.
FAQ
Which has the newer kernel?
Manjaro's newest entry records kernel 7.1 on 17 July 2026, against Fedora 44's kernel 6.19.10 on 28 April 2026. Fedora 43, from October 2025, recorded kernel 7.2.
Are the package versions comparable?
Not from this data: Fedora has a full snapshot for release 44, while Manjaro's entry records only its desktop version, Xfce 4.20.