Ubuntu Pro is a subscription offering for Ubuntu users who want to pay for the assurance of getting quick and high-quality security updates for Ubuntu. I tested it out to see how it works in practice, and to evaluate how well it works as a commercial open source service model for Linux.
Anyone running Ubuntu can subscribe to it at ubuntu.com/pro/subscribe by selecting the setup type “Desktops” for the price of $25 per year (+applicable taxes) for Enterprise users. There is also a free version for personal use. Once you have an account, you can find your activation token at ubuntu.com/pro/dashboard, and use it to activate Ubuntu Pro on your desktop or laptop Ubuntu machine by running sudo pro attach <token>:
$ sudo pro attach aabbcc112233aabbcc112233
Enabling default service esm-apps
Updating package lists
Ubuntu Pro: ESM Apps enabled
Enabling default service esm-infra
Updating package lists
Ubuntu Pro: ESM Infra enabled
Enabling default service livepatch
Installing canonical-livepatch snap
Canonical livepatch enabled.
Unable to determine current instance-id
This machine is now attached to 'Ubuntu Pro Desktop'You can at any time confirm the Ubuntu Pro status by running:
$ sudo pro status --all
SERVICE ENTITLED STATUS DESCRIPTION
anbox-cloud yes disabled Scalable Android in the cloud
cc-eal yes n/a Common Criteria EAL2 Provisioning Packages
esm-apps yes enabled Expanded Security Maintenance for Applications
esm-infra yes enabled Expanded Security Maintenance for Infrastructure
fips yes n/a NIST-certified FIPS crypto packages
fips-preview yes n/a Preview of FIPS crypto packages undergoing certification with NIST
fips-updates yes disabled FIPS compliant crypto packages with stable security updates
landscape yes enabled Management and administration tool for Ubuntu
livepatch yes disabled Canonical Livepatch service
realtime-kernel yes disabled Ubuntu kernel with PREEMPT_RT patches integrated
├ generic yes disabled Generic version of the RT kernel (default)
├ intel-iotg yes n/a RT kernel optimized for Intel IOTG platform
└ raspi yes n/a 24.04 Real-time kernel optimised for Raspberry Pi
ros yes n/a Security Updates for the Robot Operating System
ros-updates yes n/a All Updates for the Robot Operating System
usg yes disabled Security compliance and audit tools
Enable services with: pro enable <service>
Account: Otto Kekalainen
Subscription: Ubuntu Pro Desktop
Valid until: Thu Mar 3 08:08:38 2026 PDT
Technical support level: essentialFor a regular desktop/laptop user the most relevant service is the esm-apps, which delivers extended security updates to many applications typically used on desktop systems.
Another relevant command to confirm the current subscription status is:
$ sudo pro security-status
2828 packages installed:
2143 packages from Ubuntu Main/Restricted repository
660 packages from Ubuntu Universe/Multiverse repository
13 packages from third parties
12 packages no longer available for download
To get more information about the packages, run
pro security-status --help
for a list of available options.
This machine is receiving security patching for Ubuntu Main/Restricted
repository until 2029.
This machine is attached to an Ubuntu Pro subscription.
Ubuntu Pro with 'esm-infra' enabled provides security updates for
Main/Restricted packages until 2034.
Ubuntu Pro with 'esm-apps' enabled provides security updates for
Universe/Multiverse packages until 2034. You have received 26 security
updates.This confirms the scope of the security support. You can even run sudo pro security-status --esm-apps to get a detailed breakdown of the installed software packages in scope for Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM).
Experiences from using Ubuntu Pro for over a year
Personally I have been using it on two laptop systems for well over a year now and everything seems to have worked well. I see apt is downloading software updates from https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu, but other than that there aren’t any notable signs of Ubuntu Pro being in use. That is a good thing – after all one is paying for assurance that everything works with minimum disruptions, so the system that enables smooth sailing should stay in the background and not make too much noise of itself.
Using Landscape to manage multiple Ubuntu laptops
Landscape.canonical.com is a fleet management system that shows information like security update status and resource utilization for the computers you administer. Ubuntu Pro attached systems under one’s account are not automatically visible in Landscape, but have to be enrolled in it.
To enroll an Ubuntu Pro attached desktop/laptop to Landscape, first install the required package with sudo apt install landscape-client and then run sudo landscape-config --account-name <account name> to start the configuration wizard. You can find your account name in the Landscape portal. On the last wizard question Request a new registration for this computer now? [y/N] hit y to accept. If successful, the new computer will be visible on the Landscape portal page “Pending computers”, from where you can click to accept it.
If I had a large fleet of computers, Landscape might come in useful. Also it is obvious Landscape is intended primarily for managing server systems. For example, the default alarm trigger on systems being offline, which is common for laptops and desktop computers, is an alert-worthy thing only on server systems.
It is good to know that Landscape exists, but on desktop systems I would probably skip it, and only stick to the security updates offered by Ubuntu Pro without using Landscape.
Landscape is evolving
The screenshots above are from the current Landscape portal which I have been using so far. Recently Canonical has also launched a new web portal, with a fresh look:
This shows Canonical is actively investing in the service and it is likely going to sit at the center of their business model for years to come.
Other offerings by Canonical for individual users
Canonical, the company behind the world’s most popular desktop Linux distribution Ubuntu, has been offering various commercial support services for corporate customers since the company launched back in 2005, but there haven’t been any offerings available to individual users since Ubuntu One, with file syncing, a music store and more, was wound down back in 2014. Canonical and the other major Linux companies, Red Hat and SUSE, have always been very enterprise-oriented, presumably because achieving economies of scale is much easier when maintaining standardized corporate environments compared to dealing with a wide range of custom configurations that individual consumer customers might have. I remember some years ago Canonical offered desktop support under the Ubuntu Advantage product name, but the minimum subscription was for 5 desktop systems, which typically isn’t an option for a regular home consumer.
I am glad to see Ubuntu Pro is now available and I honestly hope people using Ubuntu will opt into it. The more customers it has, the more it incentivizes Canonical to develop and maintain features that are important for desktop and home users.
Pay for Linux because you can, not because you have to
Open source is a great software development model for rapid innovation and adoption, but I don’t think the business models in the space are yet quite mature. Users who get long-term value should participate more in funding open source maintenance work. While some donation platforms like GitHub Sponsors, OpenCollective and the like have gained popularity in recent years, none of them seem to generate recurring revenue comparable to the scale of how popular open source software is now in 2026.
I welcome more paid schemes, such as Ubuntu Pro, as I believe it is beneficial for the whole ecosystem. I also expect more service providers to enter this space and experiment with different open source business models and various forms of decentralized funding. Linux and open source are primarily free as in speech, but as a side effect license fees are hard to enforce and many use Linux without paying for it. The more people, corporations and even countries rely on it to stay sovereign in the information society, the more users should think about how they want to use Linux and who they want to pay to maintain it and other critical parts of the open source ecosystem.