What Elementary does

Elementary, Inc. is a privately held US company (Seneca, United States; 1-10 employees) founded in 2007-2008 by Cassidy James Blaede and Lorenzo Tilney. It designs, develops, and distributes elementary OS, an open-source Linux-based desktop operating system oriented around privacy, ethical computing, and curated user experience, along with its proprietary Pantheon desktop environment built on Vala, GTK, and Granite libraries. The platform includes a curated suite of built-in applications (Music, Web, Mail, Photos, Videos, Calendar, Files, Terminal, Code, Camera), a Screen Time & Limits feature for family/parental controls, and Tattle-Tale microphone-use indicators. Elementary, Inc. also operates AppCenter, an open, pay-what-you-can curated app marketplace for independent developers.

The company is fully bootstrapped and founder-controlled, with no external institutional investment. Revenue is generated through four streams: pay-what-you-can downloads of elementary OS (suggested tiers $10/$20/$30, zero permitted), AppCenter marketplace commissions, OEM pre-installation licensing royalties on a per-device basis, and recurring community patronage via GitHub Sponsors, Patreon, and Liberapay. Go-to-market is product-led and community-led, with organic distribution through the elementary.io website (available in 40+ languages), the OEM partner program, and open-source community channels including GitHub and Weblate for translation. Target customers include individual desktop users seeking a privacy-respecting alternative to mainstream operating systems, hardware OEMs seeking differentiated OS offerings, and independent app developers distributing through AppCenter.

The company's strategic posture emphasizes open-source transparency, privacy-by-default architecture, no advertising-based data collection, and sustained operation at small scale. The most recent material milestone was the release of elementary OS 8.1 ('Circe') in 2025, which addressed over 1,100 issue reports and improved security, accessibility, and device support.

Name

Elementary

Legal name

elementary, Inc.

Website

https://elementary.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Elementary, Inc. is a bootstrapped, founder-owned US company that develops elementary OS, an open-source Linux-based desktop operating system with the Pantheon environment and a curated AppCenter marketplace. It serves privacy-conscious individual users, OEMs, and independent app developers via pay-what-you-can, licensing, and community patronage.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Desktop Operating System

NAICS

Computer Systems Design Services (541512)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

OEM & Device-Embedded App Stores (BPAMADAD)

Keywords

• Desktop operating system
• Linux distribution
• Open source OS
• App marketplace
• Privacy-respecting OS

Headquarters

HQ city

Seneca

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. OS Sales (Pay What You Can): Direct sales of elementary OS using a pay-what-you-can model. Users can pay any amount including zero. Revenue is generated directly from end users who value the product.
2. AppCenter App Sales: Revenue from paid apps in the AppCenter marketplace. Developers set their own prices using pay-what-you-can model. elementary takes a cut from app sales.
3. OEM Licensing: Hardware manufacturers (OEMs) pay royalties for pre-installing elementary OS on their devices. Partner program with per-device royalty arrangements.
4. Community Funding (GitHub Sponsors, Patreon, Liberapay): Ongoing patronage from community members through GitHub Sponsors, Patreon subscriptions, and Liberapay recurring contributions. In return, supporters receive GitHub badges and exclusive content.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

elementary, Inc. designs, develops, and distributes elementary OS, an open-source Linux-based desktop operating system focused on privacy, ethical computing, and thoughtful design, available in ARM64 and AMD64 versions under a pay-what-you-can model. The company also operates AppCenter, a curated pay-what-you-can app marketplace for indie developers, and offers an OEM licensing program allowing hardware manufacturers to pre-install the OS on their devices.

Product overview

Elementary offers elementary OS, a unified desktop operating system built on GNU/Linux. The product portfolio centers on elementary OS as the core offering, complemented by AppCenter as the app distribution platform. Elementary OS includes a carefully curated set of built-in applications including Music, Web (browser), Mail, Photos, Videos, Calendar, Files, Terminal, Code, and Camera. Additional features include Screen Time & Limits for parental controls, Multitasking View with workspaces, Picture-in-Picture, and Do Not Disturb mode. The platform emphasizes privacy-respecting, open-source software with a pay-what-you-can model.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AppCenter: The open, pay-what-you-can app store for indie developers on elementary OS
• elementary OS

Products and services

• elementary OS A privacy-respecting, open-source Linux-based desktop operating system focused on thoughtful design, security, and ethical computing. Available in ARM 64-bit and Intel/AMD 64-bit versions with pay-what-you-can pricing. Includes the Pantheon desktop environment and a curated set of built-in applications.
• AppCenter An open, pay-what-you-can app store for indie developers on elementary OS. All apps are reviewed and curated by elementary to ensure a native, privacy-respecting, and secure experience. Developers set their own prices and elementary takes a commission on app sales.
• OEM Licensing Program A partner program allowing hardware manufacturers to pre-install elementary OS on their devices. Includes per-model approval, featured listings in the elementary store, and OEM-specific branding options through System Settings. OEMs pay royalties on a per-device basis.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,100 issue reports fixed in OS 8.1 release

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Purism: Maker of privacy-focused Linux hardware (Librem laptops) running PureOS. Competes head-to-head with elementary on privacy-respecting, open-source, ethical computing — and also pursues OEM-style pre-installation.
• Canonical (Ubuntu): Maker of Ubuntu, the most widely used general-purpose Linux desktop distribution. Directly comparable to elementary as a consumer-facing Linux desktop OS with curated desktop experience and OEM/cloud ecosystem.
• Linux Mint: Community-driven Linux distribution built on Ubuntu with a strong focus on out-of-the-box usability for Windows/macOS switchers — mirroring elementary's ease-of-use positioning and consumer target.
• Zorin OS: Linux distribution explicitly designed to look and feel like Windows/macOS for migrating users, with a curated paid tier. Closely overlaps elementary's 'design-forward, beginner-friendly desktop' positioning.
• System76 (Pop!_OS): Hardware manufacturer that ships its own Linux distribution (Pop!_OS) pre-installed — directly mirrors elementary's OEM pre-installation channel and user experience ownership model.
• Tuxedo Computers: Linux hardware vendor that ships Tuxedo OS (a customized Ubuntu/KDE-based distro) pre-installed. Directly comparable OEM-style business model to elementary's pre-installation channel.
• Fedora Project: Community Linux distribution backed by Red Hat with curated spins (Workstation, KDE, etc.). Competes in the same Linux desktop category, though more developer/upstream focused than elementary.

Broad incumbents

• Red Hat: Enterprise Linux incumbent (RHEL, Fedora sponsor) with much broader portfolio. Indirectly comparable as a steward of a major Linux ecosystem in which elementary operates.
• SUSE: Enterprise Linux and open-source infrastructure vendor (openSUSE). Adjacent incumbent in the Linux desktop/server ecosystem where elementary competes.

Emerging players

• Linux Lite: Lightweight Linux distribution targeted at Windows users and older hardware. Smaller and less design-forward than elementary, but overlapping user-friendly-desktop positioning for newcomers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/elementary
• Xx.com/elementary
• Facebookfacebook.com/elementaryos

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Elementary