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Amazon Linux vs openSUSE Leap comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
openSUSE Leap
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
18th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Amazon Linux is 1.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 4.9%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Amazon Linux1.5%
openSUSE Leap4.9%
Other93.6%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Saurab Gnagurde - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
“Amazon Linux delivers automated security updates— including live kernel patching in AL2023—ensuring protected workloads with minimal manual effort and zero-downtime patching.”
One improvement for Amazon Linux would be stronger support for running it outside AWS. Although Amazon provides local VM images for VirtualBox and VMware, they are intended mainly for development and testing. Unlike Ubuntu, Debian, or Red Hat, Amazon Linux is not designed or fully supported as a production OS in on-prem or hybrid environments. Expanding official support outside AWS would offer more flexibility for teams that maintain mixed infrastructure. Another area for improvement is the community ecosystem. Compared to Ubuntu or Red Hat, Amazon Linux has a smaller community and fewer third-party resources or tutorials. A larger ecosystem would make troubleshooting and adoption easier. Finally, improving backward compatibility between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023—especially around package management (DNF vs yum) and updated toolchains—would simplify upgrades for teams managing large fleets.
NK
Senior Manager at Cognizant
Provides BTRFS file system, which allows you to take snapshots
I only use the tool for testing purposes on my team, but multiple people use it. We don't make a team effort to install the solution. When it comes to maintenance, we ask our company to buy SUSE Linux Enterprise. My team consists of 13 people. We are currently integrating the solution with Ansible to do some coding. Although not a full-fledged automation, we are integrating the solution with Ansible and executing a couple of playbooks connected to openSUSE Leap. I would recommend the solution to other users looking for an open-source solution. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It has been positive because Amazon Linux increases the speed of delivery due to the fast boot up times and the integrated tooling."
"Amazon Linux has positively impacted our organization in a couple of ways."
"Amazon Linux has impacted my organization positively because in any organization, the first priority is cost."
"The product itself is very good; even if I switch organizations and they are not using Amazon Linux, I will share my experience that Amazon Linux has worked great for us in these use cases."
"Whenever I deploy solutions on Amazon Linux, I almost never have to worry about the operating system."
"Amazon Linux has positively impacted my organization because we are able to host our applications, mainly Kubernetes applications, our servers, and testing environments, while also being able to get lower cost servers."
"The best features Amazon Linux offers are best practices in AWS, the usability, and the ease of use in AWS."
"Amazon Linux cost is free to use, which provides significant cost optimization benefits that we always leverage."
"The most valuable feature by far has been the virtualization capabilities of the operating system."
"The solution is very stable after it is configured. It is hard to have a panel slow, a problem, misconfiguration, or any kind of loss function."
"Stable - it just runs without the necessity to reboot."
"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."
"This solution has helped my organization's security from the use of its firewall, and the features for blocking or allowing traffic are very effective and have worked well for us."
"The solution is easy for me to use because the backend is derived from FreeBSD and this is something I have been using for over 20 years."
"Leap has provided me with the ability to offer what I consider Enterprise class server O/S platforms to my smaller customers who are looking to improve their competitive stances without breaking the bank."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the BTRFS file system, which allows you to take snapshots."
 

Cons

"Amazon Linux could be improved by including libraries for supervisor."
"Amazon Linux could be improved by including additional features and continuous improvements in various areas."
"I did not rate Amazon Linux as a perfect ten because of the upgrade path and standardizing the package behaviors."
"While the initial incompatibility between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023 was a source of frustration, it ultimately forced me to learn and appreciate that puzzle."
"While Amazon Linux worked very well overall for us, there could be a few areas for improvement."
"In terms of improvements, the one thing I would say which I wish Amazon Linux was better at is that sometimes I find that I need to compile my own software because some dependencies are not within Amazon Linux."
"Amazon Linux could be improved by providing more third-party software packages."
"Amazon Linux has some limitations, such as a smaller package ecosystem compared to Ubuntu."
"It would be helpful if we could easily switch from openSUSE Leap for testing to SUSE Linux Enterprise for production."
"There is room for improvement in the console."
"Somehow the change from OS12.x via 13.x to Leap was a bit bumpy and some old issues seemed to reappear."
"Like most Linux-based operating systems, the biggest challenge Leap faces is the GUI."
"In the future, the Active Directory could improve."
"I would like openSUSE Leap to have better link integration with Windows."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is open-source."
"This is an open-source operating system that can be used free of charge."
"The cost of this solution was reasonable and it was within our budget."
"openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost."
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902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Educational Organization
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
21%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon Linux?
Amazon Linux made a great change with the last version and made some features incompatible with the old version, so I did not like the new version and still prefer not to use Amazon Linux. Some opt...
What is your primary use case for Amazon Linux?
I use Amazon Linux on EC2 machines for different kinds of servers. I typically run automation scripts, deploy fast web servers, and use Docker machines for testing purposes and any other proprietar...
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Linux?
All Linux distributions have stability and security. The only advantage of Amazon Linux is the package system. I did not see any other great advantage. I prefer to use Ubuntu as my main option when...
What needs improvement with openSUSE Leap?
Both openSUSE Leap and the SUSE Enterprise version use the same kernel. Suppose I have a lower environment where I can run openSUSE to test all my products. It would be helpful if I could easily sw...
What is your primary use case for openSUSE Leap?
I use openSUSE Leap for testing purposes. Before officially using any server in our office, we test it using the solution. My office usually uses production servers on the SUSE Linux enterprise ver...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for openSUSE Leap?
openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Linux vs. openSUSE Leap and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.