Pi OS Distributions

What you flash defines what your Pi is. Most workloads want a general-purpose Linux (Pi OS Bookworm/Trixie or Ubuntu); appliance workloads (Home Assistant, Klipper, retro gaming) ship as turnkey images. For flashing tools see Imaging Tools; for the hardware see Pi Models and Alternative SBCs.

General-purpose Pi OSes

• ★ Raspberry Pi OS (Trixie, 64-bit) — the official Debian-based distro; Trixie-based release shipped late 2025, replacing Bookworm. Use the Lite (headless) for servers and the full Desktop for desktop use. Works only on Raspberry Pi hardware.
• ★ Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS — first-class Pi support since 22.04; much closer to "real Linux server" if you want LTS, snaps, MAAS. Heavier than Pi OS Lite. Pi 4 / Pi 5 / CM4 / CM5 supported.
• Ubuntu Desktop 24.04+ on Pi 5 — usable as a real desktop; less responsive than Pi OS Desktop but you get the Ubuntu ecosystem.
• ★ DietPi — minimalist Debian-based (~80 MB after install), software catalog menu, optimized for SBCs. Great for "I want a curated installer for Pi-hole + Tailscale + Plex" without writing Ansible.
• ★ Armbian — the default for non-Pi SBCs (Orange Pi, Radxa, Khadas, ODROID). Rolling/community kernels, mature build system, support tiers per board. If you bought an alternative SBC, Armbian is what you flash.
• Manjaro ARM — Arch on ARM; rolling release. Niche but loved.
• Fedora ARM / IoT — Fedora on Pi; great if you live in Red Hat land.
• Alpine Linux — tiny, musl-based; ideal for read-only / RAM-rooted appliance Pis.
• Kali Linux ARM — security testing distro; Pi-specific images.

Appliance / single-purpose images

• ★ Home Assistant OS (HAOS, formerly HassOS) — buildroot-based; not a general Linux, you cannot install random packages. Manage everything through the HA UI. The default for Self-Hosted Automation. Pi 4/5 + USB-Zigbee dongle is the canonical install.
• ★ MainsailOS — Debian + Klipper + Moonraker + Mainsail + Crowsnest pre-baked. The default Klipper host image. See Klipper Printer UIs.
• ★ FluiddPi — same as MainsailOS but with Fluidd UI.
• ★ OctoPi — Debian + OctoPrint pre-baked. The OctoPrint image.
• RatOS — opinionated Klipper image with sensible defaults, RatRig-tuned but works on any printer.
• balenaOS — minimal, atomic-update OS purpose-built for balenaCloud fleet management. Free for hobby fleets up to 10 devices. See Pi Fleet Management.
• ★ RetroPie — Pi-focused retro gaming image, EmulationStation + RetroArch + dozens of emulators. Pi 4 sweet spot; Pi 5 supported but not all cores tuned yet.
• Lakka — LibreELEC-based, RetroArch only. More minimal than RetroPie; Pi + non-Pi SBCs supported.
• Batocera — sibling to Lakka, more polished out-of-box, broader hardware support including x86 mini-PCs.
• RecalBox — same niche, different community; gentler defaults for kids.
• LibreELEC / CoreELEC — Kodi appliances. LibreELEC for Pi, CoreELEC for Amlogic SBCs (ODROID, S905-class).
• Volumio — audiophile streamer (HiFiBerry / IQaudIO HAT-friendly).
• MoOdeAudio — same niche, FOSS-purist alternative to Volumio.
• RasPlex — Plex-Home-Theater on a Pi; mostly superseded by Kodi or running a Plex client elsewhere.
• OctoDash / KlipperScreen — touchscreen-only host distros for printer pads.

Self-hosting platforms (Pi-friendly)

• ★ CasaOS — friendly home-server UI on Debian/Ubuntu/Pi OS; 1-click app install. Free, FOSS, Pi 4/5 supported.
• ★ Umbrel — sleek home-server UI; free, FOSS; runs on Pi 4/5 (or x86). App store with curated services.
• YunoHost — Debian-based; broad app catalog with proper SSO and TLS automation.
• HomelabOS / Cosmos Cloud — Cosmos is a docker-based UI similar to Umbrel.
• Start9 (StartOS) — privacy/sovereignty-focused appliance OS; runs on Pi or their own hardware. Free / paid hardware.

Bitcoin / Lightning node images

• ★ Umbrel — most polished Bitcoin/Lightning home node, plus general self-hosting.
• RaspiBlitz — venerable Bitcoin/Lightning node; CLI-leaning, more configurable.
• Citadel — fork of Umbrel; FOSS-purist.
• MyNode — paid (lifetime license) Bitcoin node distribution; polished UI.
• Start9 — see above; full sovereignty stack.

Pi-hole as image (deprecated approach)

• Pi-hole "Pi-hole on a Pi" image — never officially packaged; install Pi-hole on top of Pi OS Lite. The historical "DietPi → Pi-hole" recipe is the easiest. See DNS Infrastructure.

Server-management distros

• Ubuntu Core — snap-based immutable server OS; Canonical's Pi-friendly flavor.
• OpenMediaVault — NAS distro; Debian-based; runs on Pi 4/5 with USB drives.

What "preconfigured" gets you in 2026

The Raspberry Pi Imager can pre-bake first-boot config into the SD card: hostname, Wi-Fi, locale, SSH on, public key, user/password. For all of the official Pi images (Pi OS, Ubuntu) and many third-party (HAOS, MainsailOS) this is the new "no monitor / keyboard ever needed" baseline.

Choosing in one sentence

• Pi 5 desktop: Pi OS Trixie Desktop.
• Pi 5 server / homelab: Pi OS Lite or Ubuntu Server.
• Smart home appliance: Home Assistant OS.
• 3D printer host: MainsailOS or FluiddPi (Klipper) / OctoPi (Marlin).
• Retro console: RetroPie or Batocera.
• Bitcoin / Lightning: Umbrel.
• General "easy app store" home server: Umbrel or CasaOS.
• Industrial fleet (10+ devices): balenaOS + balenaCloud.
• Non-Pi SBC: Armbian (then layer software per above).

Pick this if…

• Default new Pi server: Pi OS Lite (Trixie) or Ubuntu Server 24.04.
• Default Pi desktop: Pi OS Desktop (Trixie).
• Single-purpose appliance: the matching turnkey image (HAOS, MainsailOS, OctoPi, RetroPie).
• Tiny / appliance / advanced user: DietPi or Alpine.
• Non-Pi SBC of any flavor: Armbian (look up board support tier first).
• Fleet of 10+ devices, OTA updates: balenaOS + balenaCloud (free hobby tier).
• "Make my Pi feel like a polished appliance with apps": Umbrel or CasaOS.