DNF vs APT Key Differences

DNF vs APT Key Differences | Generated by AI

Home 2026.02

Question: Compare DNF and APT

Answer:

DNF and APT are the two most widely used command-line package managers in Linux, but they belong to different ecosystems.

Aspect	APT	DNF
Primary distributions	Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, etc.	Fedora, RHEL ≥8, CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, etc.
Package format	`.deb`	`.rpm`
Underlying low-level tool	`dpkg`	`rpm`
Predecessor	`apt-get` / `apt-cache`	`yum` (DNF = Dandified YUM)
Introduced	Early 2000s (very mature)	2015 (replaced yum in Fedora)
Speed (2025–2026 perception)	Generally feels faster & snappier	Much improved (especially DNF5 in newer Fedora), close or sometimes equal to APT
Dependency resolution	Very good	Excellent (historically stronger than yum, modular streams support)
Cache handling	Needs explicit `apt update`	Automatically refreshes metadata when needed
Command structure	Multiple tools historically (`apt`, `apt-get`, `apt-cache`)	Single modern command `dnf`
Output style	Compact, comma-separated lists	Nicer formatted table (version, size, repo, etc.)
Remove behavior	`remove` leaves config files `purge` deletes them	`remove` usually deletes config files too
Module / Streams support	No native (PPAs used instead)	Yes – very powerful (e.g. multiple versions of nginx, python, etc.)
Enterprise / Signing focus	Metadata signing	Per-package PGP signing (better for strict corporate auditing)
Typical repo size	Very large (especially with PPAs)	Large + growing Flatpak/AppImage integration

Task	APT command	DNF command
Refresh package index	`sudo apt update`	Usually automatic or `sudo dnf check-update`
Upgrade all packages	`sudo apt upgrade`	`sudo dnf upgrade`
Install package	`sudo apt install firefox`	`sudo dnf install firefox`
Search package	`apt search keyword`	`dnf search keyword`
Show package info	`apt show package`	`dnf info package`
Remove package	`sudo apt remove package`	`sudo dnf remove package`
Remove + config files	`sudo apt purge package`	Usually included in `remove`
Autoremove unused deps	`sudo apt autoremove`	`sudo dnf autoremove`
List installed packages	`apt list --installed`	`dnf list installed`
History / undo	Limited	`dnf history`, `dnf history undo`

There is no objectively better package manager — it depends on your distribution:

Choose APT if you’re using Ubuntu / Debian family → biggest ecosystem, fastest for many users, enormous number of packages + PPAs
Choose DNF if you’re using Fedora / RHEL family → better modular streams, cleaner enterprise-grade signing story, very good dependency solver, nice output formatting

Performance gap that existed years ago (DNF being noticeably slower) has largely closed thanks to DNF improvements (and DNF5 work in Fedora).

Both are mature, secure, and reliable tools in 2026.

References:

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