TeX Live vs MiKTeX vs Tectonic in 2026: Which LaTeX Distribution Should You Actually Use?

Installing LaTeX is where a shocking number of otherwise well-run projects die. You start with a simple goal — turn a .tex file into a PDF — and end up choosing between a 7 GB download, a Windows-first installer that behaves strangely on Linux, and a Rust binary that quietly fetches packages from a CDN. Pick wrong and you lose hours every week: CI pipelines that rebuild the same image for ten minutes, containers that are 6 GB before they compile a single chapter, and “works on my machine” build scripts that nobody dares touch.

The good news is that in 2026 there are only three distributions that matter for serious work: TeX Live, MiKTeX, and Tectonic. They are not interchangeable, and the right choice depends almost entirely on where your documents are built — a laptop, a Windows desktop, or a container in a CI runner.

TL;DR — The Quick Verdict

• Choose TeX Live if you want the reference implementation with the complete package universe, and you are willing to pay for it with disk space. It is the default on Linux, the base of every serious Docker image, and the distribution most academic templates assume.
• Choose MiKTeX if you work on Windows, or you want a small initial install that pulls packages on demand the first time a document needs them.
• Choose Tectonic if you build in containers or CI and want a single static binary, a lockfile for reproducible builds, and no 7 GB cache to keep warm.

If you only remember one line: TeX Live for completeness, MiKTeX for Windows and small installs, Tectonic for CI and reproducibility.

Quick Comparison: TeX Live vs MiKTeX vs Tectonic

The star counts tell an interesting story: Tectonic has 5× the GitHub attention of MiKTeX despite being the youngest of the three, because it solves a problem (deterministic container builds) that the older distributions were never designed for.

Decision Matrix — Pick in Ten Seconds

TeX Live — The Reference Distribution

TeX Live is what people mean when they say “LaTeX” without qualification. It is maintained by the TeX Users Group, ships the overwhelming majority of CTAN, and is the distribution every Linux package manager falls back to. The annual snapshot model means you get a frozen, tested package set each year, with rolling updates through tlmgr between releases.

The source mirror on GitHub (TeX-Live/texlive-source) shows a project that is very much alive — last push 2026‑10‑08 — even though the canonical development happens over Subversion on tug.org.

Install it on Linux or macOS with the official network installer:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11

# Download the installer
wget https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz
tar -xzf install-tl-unx.tar.gz
cd install-tl-*/

# Choose a scheme interactively, or use a scheme file
./install-tl --scheme=scheme-full

# Afterwards, manage packages with tlmgr
tlmgr update --self
tlmgr install booktabs geometry hyperref

For containers, the official texlive/texlive image is updated weekly, which is a meaningful advantage over hand-rolled images that drift out of date:

1
2

docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/work -w /work texlive/texlive:latest \
  pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex

The trade-off is size. A scheme-full installation lands around 7 GB, and even the texlive/texlive image is heavy. If your CI bills by the minute and your cache is cold, that cost is real.

MiKTeX — Small Installs and On-Demand Packages

MiKTeX’s defining feature is automatic package installation. When a document requests a package you do not have, MiKTeX pauses and fetches it rather than failing with File 'foo.sty' not found. On a Windows desktop this is genuinely pleasant: install once, never think about packages again.

The GitHub repository (MiKTeX/miktex, 983★, last push 2026‑08‑02) is the source of truth for the engine, while installers live on the project’s own site. The Docker image is the practical way to use it in a server context:

1
2

docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/miktex/work -w /miktex/work miktex/miktex:latest \
  pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex

There is a real operational caveat, and it is the reason many teams abandon MiKTeX for CI: on-demand installs make builds non-deterministic and slow the first time. A container that finds every package already present is fast; one that must download twenty packages mid-build is not, and if the package server is unreachable the build simply fails. MiKTeX also has a desktop-oriented configuration model (the MiKTeX Console) that maps awkwardly onto ephemeral containers.

Use MiKTeX when a human is in the loop and disk space matters. Do not use it as the base of a production PDF pipeline unless you pre-install every package you need.

Tectonic — One Binary, Lockfile, Zero Drama

Tectonic is the distribution that took CI seriously. It is a single, self-contained binary — install it and you are done:

1
2
3
4
5

# From crates.io (requires a Rust toolchain)
cargo install tectonic

# Or grab a static release binary (Linux/macOS/Windows)
# https://github.com/tectonic-typesetting/tectonic/releases/latest

When it compiles a document, Tectonic reads a bundle manifest that specifies which TeX Live packages to use, fetches exactly those files, and caches them locally. The build writes a Tectonic.lock file recording the precise bundle revision, which means a document built today can be rebuilt byte-identically years from now. That property is why reproducible-research projects and documentation pipelines gravitate to it.

A representative CI step looks like this:

1
2
3
4
5
6

- name: Build PDF
  uses: actions/checkout@v4
- run: |
    curl -fsSL https://github.com/tectonic-typesetting/tectonic/releases/latest/download/tectonic-0.17.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz \
      | tar -xz -C /usr/local/bin tectonic
    tectonic --keep-logs main.tex

Tectonic also disables shell escape by default, which removes an entire class of “my build ran arbitrary code from a template” incidents. The cost is compatibility: it is XeTeX-derived, so pdfTeX-only packages and heavy LuaTeX scripting are out of reach, and the on-demand bundle fetch needs network access (or a pre-warmed cache) on the first build.

Common Pitfalls When You Switch Distributions

• Missing packages after a move to Tectonic. Tectonic only fetches what its bundle contains. If a document depends on an obscure CTAN package, it will fail — test early, not on release day.
• Assuming TeX Live’s full scheme is available everywhere. Debian’s texlive-full is not identical to the upstream scheme-full, and package names differ. Pin your distribution in CI to avoid “it compiles locally” surprises.
• Letting MiKTeX auto-install in production. Set the package repository explicitly and pre-install, or accept random first-build latency.
• Forgetting the cache. Tectonic without a persistent bundle cache re-downloads on every cold container, which can be slower than a warm TeX Live image. Cache ~/.cache/Tectonic.
• Version drift between authors. If two people build the same paper with different TeX Live snapshots, output can differ subtly. Commit a lockfile (Tectonic) or pin a tlmgr revision.

For a broader look at turning source files into deliverable PDFs, our self-hosted PDF generation guide covers the HTML-to-PDF half of the problem, and the collaborative LaTeX editors comparison covers what to do when several authors edit the same document. If your documents are generated from templates rather than written by hand, the document automation tools guide is the natural next read.

FAQ

Is TeX Live still the best LaTeX distribution in 2026?

For completeness, yes. TeX Live ships essentially all of CTAN, it is the default on Linux, and academic templates are written against it. It is not the best choice for container-based builds, where Tectonic’s single binary and lockfile win on speed and reproducibility.

Can Tectonic compile any LaTeX document?

Almost, but not all. Tectonic is XeTeX-derived, so XeTeX-compatible documents work well. Documents that rely on pdfTeX-specific primitives, heavy LuaTeX scripting, or packages outside the Tectonic bundle may fail. Test your most complex document before migrating a pipeline.

Does MiKTeX work on Linux and in Docker?

Yes. MiKTeX builds for Linux and there is an official miktex/miktex Docker image. The catch is that its on-demand package installation was designed for interactive desktops; in ephemeral containers, pre-install your packages to keep builds fast and deterministic.

How large is a full TeX Live installation?

A full scheme-full TeX Live installation is roughly 7 GB, and the texlive/texlive image is comparable. A basic scheme is closer to 100–200 MB. Tectonic avoids the question entirely by fetching only the files a document actually needs.

Which distribution should I use in GitHub Actions?

Tectonic in most cases: one binary to download, a bundle cache you can persist, and a lockfile that makes rebuilds reproducible. Use the texlive/texlive image if your project depends on the full package set and you are comfortable caching a multi-gigabyte layer.

💰 想测试你的市场判断力？我用 Polymarket 做预测市场交易——这是全球最大的预测市场平台，从大选结果到技术监管时间线，什么都可以押注。和赌博不同，这是真正的信息市场：你懂的信息越多，胜率越高。我靠预测技术相关事件的走向已经赚了不少。用我的邀请链接注册：Polymarket.com