Draft OS ships in two editions with a shared foundation but a different philosophy for managing the system. Here's an honest comparison so you can choose deliberately.
Like CachyOS and classic Arch. The root system is mutable — edit any file, install from the repos and AUR, build your own kernel.
Like Bazzite, Fedora Silverblue and SteamOS. The base is read-only, updates are atomic, and breaking the system by accident is nearly impossible.
| Feature | Desktop Edition | Immutable Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Root filesystem | Mutable (read-write) | Immutable (read-only, OSTree) |
| Update model | Rolling, package by package | Atomic, whole image |
| System rollback | Via Btrfs snapshots (configurable) | Built-in, boot into a prior version |
| Installing apps | pacman, AUR, Flatpak | Flatpak, containers (distrobox) |
| System packages | Full freedom | Layered over the base (like rpm-ostree) |
| Risk of “breaking” it | Present, needs care | Minimal |
| Kernel customization | Full | Limited, via layers |
| Good for gaming | Yes | Yes, out of the box |
| Maintenance | Moderate — you're the captain | Low — it updates itself |
| Learning curve | For experienced users | Newcomer-friendly |
| Desktop environments | GNOME · KDE Plasma | GNOME · KDE Plasma |
| Architectures | x86-64 · AArch64 | x86-64 · AArch64 |
You can change your mind. Both editions use the same repositories and data formats. Your files in /home move between editions intact — a reinstall takes minutes.
Both editions are free. Grab the one that fits — or both, to compare for real.