snap search brave & I see a result; I’d check what it says on the snapcraft site; ie. look at Install brave on Linux | Snap Store and from that I’d likely be happy; though I’d visit https://brave.com/ as well (link on from snapcraft page)
Name Version Publisher Notes Summary
brave 1.80.115 brave✓ -
flatpak search brave & I see
Name Description Application ID Version Branch Remotes
Brave Fast Internet, AI, Adblock com.brave.Browser 1.80.115 stable flathub
You just mention going to the Brave website where I do see the warning you mention.
I’d still likely try the snap first; remembering the warning you saw at their site and see if I encounter issues with it. Given their warning I’d likely do it on a test system I have; but if I didn’t have a test system handy; I’d just do it on my own [primary] box as snap package, and if I had problems with it maybe consider transferring my data to the browser packaged in a different format (Note: Whilst I’ve not used brave; I have no issues moving firefox/chromium data between my boxes; even if they’re using snap packages here, deb on my Debian box, or other boxes also running Ubuntu but different releases (or a Fedora install I have); so I’d expect to be able to do that with brave also).
I almost only install deb from Ubuntu repository, so I mainly use apt from terminal.
Sometimes for test I installed some flatpak using gnome-software.
I don’t have flatpaks currently installed on my main Ubuntu installations 24.04 and 25.10.
Even the snaps are only the pre-installed ones.
Even in Debian which I keep in another partition as a lifeboat I only have debs installed via apt.
Would some moderator (or the OP) mind to change the title to “… application installation method” ? (when opening the topic I was literally expecting a discussion around the various Ubuntu OS install methods, not really a deb vs snap vs flatapak/appimage one and i bet others would expect this too)
This answer is both with Garuda Linux gaming PC (formerly Tuxedo OS) & Pop!_OS 24.04 laptop in mind
Native (from default repos)
only for open-source software
if they’re up-to-date
Snaps/Flatpaks
Mainly if the repo doesn’t have the newest version
For VMs, I’d put this on first place
I can put my Snaps in a dedicated virtual disk and have them be shared, keeping disk usage small, but not without caveats
I can migrate them from one system to another or have them be shared across systems
Flatpak can handle that WAY better than Snap since while I’m both able to put their respective directories in a subvolume and mount them on different systems, Flatpaks will essentially handle it as if it was always there, while Snap would freak out. To fix the issue with Snap, I would either:
Reinstall the Snap
Revert and refresh
luckily, there’s a refresh on the next boot
I can even put my Flatpaks in a dedicated server and have the my desktops access it via NFS
Native (3rd party repo)
I prefer to keep things as official as possible
Compile from source
AppImage
I don’t really use this option unless it was handled by something like EmuDeck
I’ve been testing Brave from Flatpak and it works without any issues. It’s possible that it might also work correctly with Snap.
-Do you prefer to install from Snap/Flkatpak rather than downloading the .deb package from the manufacturer’s website and installing it manually?
-May I know why you prefer Snap over Flatpak?
Thank you very much for your help.
I have about 2,200 debs, 5 snaps, 12 flatpaks. I generally prefer debs, with the only exception for things that I want the latest and greatest (KeepassXC, OBS, etc.) I get from Flathub.
I’m sure others have perspective and reasons here as well but for me, especially on the LTS’ the versions available through the repositories can be quite out of date. For things like KeepassXC, which has the odd security bug; OBS, which can get some feature updates that are advantageous, I tend to seek out the flatpak (or snap if it was up to date).
Of course every new LTS release changes the equation a bit as packages are refreshed in the repositories to more recent versions.
I understand what you mean.
In my case, I don’t use LTS versions; I use the latest versions.
I don’t know what other colleagues think.
What do you think @YamiYukiSenpai@popey@guiverc ?
Not really. I don’t have a preference of one over the other regularly in my PC. It also depends on the app because if it doesn’t work in one platform, I’ll just switch to the other. Also, whatever the official developer supports will also be a deciding factor.
Some examples:
OBS - I use the one in Flathub because its the one they maintain (along with the fact that the one in the Snap store is broken).
LibreOffice - I use the one in Flathub because the Snap version can’t access my SFTP mount (I have a KDE Neon desktop at work + a Windows system for PowerShell+Azure+AD stuff so that I won’t have to jump into a domain controller).
Zoom - Since the Snaps in my system were setup when it was still a Tuxedo OS system, Zoom didn’t install in there as a Snap (can’t recall why), so I went for the Flatpak version
If we’re talking about my VMs, then yea I do prefer Flatpak since I can make it in a way that a whole bunch of computers can access same Flatpaks without reinstalling.
> snap list | wc -l
72
> flatpak list | wc -l
37
I am still hoping that Snap can be setup in an NFS or separate partition or subvolume and be accessible by multiple OS’s
But don’t official repositories offer more security and stability than other platforms? If you have plenty of space on your PC, what’s stopping you from installing everything from Flatpak (as long as they’re official apps maintained by their developers)?
Not necessarily, no. Besides, security is only one factor for decision-making. Performance, updates, support, and functionality are among the factors people consider.
