On Ubuntu and various other Linux platforms, you can also use the snap package (installation instructions for snap).
On the terminal, type:

$ sudo snap install inkscape

Note that the Inkscape snap package comes with a couple of restrictions. Some of these can be solved, and some are unavoidable due to the safety level of the packaging format:

  •  custom markers and custom filters cannot be saved to the file where Inkscape is looking for them (which is /usr/share/inkscape/markers/markers.svg and /usr/share/inkscape/filters/filters.svg) in all Inkscape versions older than 1.0. This behavior cannot be changed.
  •  third-party extensions that are installed into ~/.config/inkscape/extensions do not work. To work around this restriction you can do:
    sudo snap remove inkscape
    sudo snap install --classic inkscape
    echo 'export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}:/snap/inkscape/current/share/inkscape/extensions' >> ~/.bashrc

    The --classic parameter will, though, also disable the security advantages that snap has over a normal, package based install or over the other binary install options for Linux. In addition to the above commands, you must use a different directory for saving your third-party extensions. You can look it up in Inkscape, under Edit > Preferences > System : User extensions
  • by default, only files that are saved in the user's home directory are accessible to Inkscape
  • printing isn't possible by default (see here for solution or reinstall with --classic parameter, see above)
  • external devices, like plotters or cutters, will not be found by Inkscape (see here for solution or install with --classic parameter, see above)
  • Inkscape will not integrate well with your desktop theme, but will use its own default gtk theme. Work to fix this has been done in preparation for Inkscape 1.0.
  • fonts that you have installed globally on your system are not available (workaround: copy the font files into ~/.fonts/)