ComfyUI 20% Faster on Linux! Can Pop!_OS Replace Windows?

Introduction

Hello, this is Easygoing.

This time, I tried speeding up ComfyUI using the free operating system Linux, and I'd like to share the results with you.

The World's Most Widely Used OS is Android

As of March 2026, the most widely used operating system in the world is Android.

Android is an OS developed by Google in 2008 based on the open-source Linux kernel, and it is installed on smartphones and tablets around the world.

When looking specifically at desktop PCs, Windows still holds the largest market share, but Linux usage on desktop PCs has been gradually increasing in recent years.

Linux is an OS You "Add" Features To

Windows is an "all-in-one" OS that uses the same set of programs for both business and personal use.

While Windows is divided into editions such as Home, Pro, and Enterprise, they are basically the same core programs, with lower-tier editions simply having some features restricted for pricing reasons.

In contrast, the basic Linux implementation is simple, and it is an OS where users add only the features they need.

In general, for specific use cases, the simpler implementation allows Linux to perform processing faster than Windows.

Features of Pop!_OS!

There are various Distributions of Linux OS, but this time I used Pop!_OS released by the U.S. company System76.

gantt
    title Linux Distribution
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    axisFormat %Y
    section Linux Foundation
        Linux Kernel: done, 1991-10-05, 2026-03-26

    section Debian Project
        Debian: 1993-08-16, 2026-03-26

    section Canonical Ltd.
        Ubuntu: 2004-10-20, 2026-03-26

    section Linux Mint Team
        Linux Mint: 2006-08-27, 2026-03-26

    section Zorin Group
        Zorin OS: 2009-07-01, 2026-03-26

    section System76
        Pop!_OS: 2017-10-27, 2026-03-26

    section Google
        Android: crit, 2008-09-23, 2026-03-26

Features of Pop!_OS

• Written in the Rust language for high memory stability
• Includes NVIDIA drivers out of the box

Pop!_OS is a desktop environment OS written in Rust, a new computer language that Linux officially supported in December 2025. It offers high memory stability and excellent performance.

Additionally, Pop!_OS comes with NVIDIA GPU drivers pre-installed. This allows stable use of NVIDIA GPUs even in Linux environments, where compatibility issues are often a problem.

Dual-Booting Windows and Linux

For this test, I installed two SSDs in one PC and created a dual-boot environment for Windows and Linux.

flowchart LR

A1(PC)

subgraph SSD

B1("SSD1 (Windows, NTFS)")
B2("SSD2 (Linux, ext4)")

end

subgraph ComfyUI

C1(ComfyUI)

D1(venv)
D2(venv_linux)

end

A1-.-B1
A1-.-B2
B1-.-C1
C1-.-D1
C1-.-D2

ComfyUI was installed on SSD1 (Windows environment), and I ran it in separate virtual environments (venv for Windows and venv_linux for Linux).

Linux Excels at Random Reads!

First, I compared the speed of the SSD1 where ComfyUI is installed under both Windows and Linux.

Windows Access Speed (CrystalDiskMark)

Linux Access Speed (KDiskMark)

• Sequential reads: Windows is 15% faster
• Random reads: Linux is 50% faster

Since SSD1 is formatted with Windows' NTFS file system, sequential reads (which affect AI model loading times) are 15% faster on Windows.

On the other hand, random reads (related to small operations) are 50% faster on Linux, suggesting that application execution performance should favor Linux.

Although NTFS is Windows' file system, its implementation is quite complex to maintain over 30 years of backward compatibility. In contrast, the ntfs3 driver used on Linux was adopted in 2021 and is a newer implementation that may be better optimized for modern high-speed SSDs.

Running ComfyUI with Python 3.14!

Here are the details of the test environment.

• RAM: 32GB
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti 16GB
• ComfyUI: 0.17.2
• Python: 3.14
• PyTorch: 2.12 development version

ComfyUI has recently begun supporting Python 3.14, and using the development version of PyTorch can sometimes further improve performance. Therefore, I used the latest Python and the development build of PyTorch for this test.

Test Results

Here are the actual measurement results.

ComfyUI Startup Time (seconds)

• Linux is 40% faster

Lightweight Workflow (SDXL + Detaler)

• Linux is 5% faster

Heavyweight Workflow (SDXL + HiDream + Detaler)

• Linux is 20% faster

Graph (Median Values)

• ComfyUI startup: Linux is 40% faster
• Lightweight workflow: 5% faster
• Heavyweight workflow: 20% faster

In all ComfyUI processing, Linux outperformed Windows.

Linux's faster random storage access made ComfyUI startup 40% quicker.

For lightweight workflows where all models fit in VRAM, the advantage of Linux was relatively small. However, in heavyweight workflows that involve offloading to RAM or SSD swapping, Linux was 20% faster.

When using large next-generation models such as Flux, Z-Image, Qwen-Image, and HiDream, the benefits of Linux become especially significant.

Note: This Test Was Conducted Under Conditions Favorable to Windows

In this test, I assigned the faster SSD1 to Windows and installed Linux on the slower SSD2.

Furthermore, since the native Linux file system (ext4) has faster read speeds than Windows' NTFS, installing Linux and ComfyUI on the high-speed SSD1 would make Linux even faster.

Additionally, during startup, I manually applied the following memory settings to match my multi-GPU and low-RAM environment:

--reserve-vram 0 --disable-async-offload --disable-pinned-memory

If I had left memory management to ComfyUI's automatic settings instead of manual configuration, the performance gap would likely have been even larger, because ComfyUI uses more efficient memory management algorithms on Linux.

Can Pop!_OS Replace Windows?

The Pop!_OS I used this time has stable NVIDIA drivers and adopts a tile layout (COSMIC UI) similar to Windows, allowing for a user experience close to Windows.

Pop!_OS's default COSMIC Store distributes apps in Flatpak format, running them in a sandboxed environment isolated from the OS. This provides higher security and stability.

However, this also means that cross-app file operations (drag & drop, copy & paste, etc.) can be restricted, requiring per-app permission settings. In this regard, the experience feels closer to Android.

From my personal experience, if you don't mind the sensation of operating a PC like an Android device, transitioning from Windows to Linux is relatively smooth.

Conclusion: Run ComfyUI Faster with Linux!

• Linux has fast random access
• Especially faster with heavy workflows
• Operation feels similar to Android

This time, I tested running ComfyUI on Linux.

Not only is ComfyUI execution faster on Linux, but its excellent control over the NTFS file system also contributed to a significant overall performance difference.

While it takes some courage to try Linux for the first time, it comes with Git and Python pre-installed by default, making it a great match for users who manually install ComfyUI.

In the next article, I plan to cover the installation steps for Pop!_OS and share my actual user experience.

Thank you for reading until the end!