Which Linux Distribution Boots The Fastest? An 11-Way Linux Comparison

The out-of-the-box details on the different Linux distributions on the same system...

As reported by systemd, these boot times were quite diverse and a wider range than expected. The slowest distribution to boot was CentOS Linux 7 while the fastest was Intel's Clear Linux. Intel's Clear Linux with the GNOME desktop booting the fastest was of little surprise considering all of the optimizations they've made, highly tailoring their kernel configuration, their GNOME desktop not being bloated, etc. Immediately behind Clear was Solus 3, which does make use of some Clear Linux performance optimizations and they too have also been investing in delivering a good out-of-the-box performance experience. Following Clear and Solus were the Arch-based Antergos and Manjaro distributions while in fifth was Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS.

Of the total boot time, the time spent within the kernel is quite quick. While CentOS 7 was the slowest to boot overall, its reported time spent in the kernel was the shortest and came just ahead of Clear Linux and Solus. Ubuntu meanwhile had the longest time spent within the kernel.

The stripped down efilinux UEFI bootloader on Clear and Solus saved a couple of seconds to help their boot times.