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Amazon Linux vs Oracle Solaris 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
16th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Henry Rivera - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable documentation and support streamline deployment and troubleshooting
The best features with Amazon Linux include the integration with AWS and other services. It is an operating system that AWS manages, and I feel I can trust it regarding the updates without interfering with or interrupting services. The performance of Amazon Linux with AWS services is perfectly fine. I use it and change the instance type to give it more resources at times, and for the sandbox, I give it less, and it satisfies what we want. Amazon Linux reduces the time it would take for setup or deployment because I rely on the documentation for AWS since it's streamlined, and the commands I need to run are easily accessible whenever I need to look up anything. We've used the application load balancers with Amazon Linux, and that's the main one I can think of regarding advanced networking capabilities. That feature has definitely helped us enhance the scalability and reliability of our cloud applications by easing administration, as the application load balancer is managed by AWS and ties in with Amazon Certificate Manager, ensuring I do not have to concern myself with scalability and any updates. The main positive impact of Amazon Linux on my company has been no interruptions of services. The public website is up and running, which allows us to monetize with virtually no staff hours for downtime or service interruptions.
Peter Karlsson - PeerSpot reviewer
Advanced security and predictive features improve IT management capabilities
There can always be enhancements. The usability can be enhanced, and they need to enhance the web management. In Linux, you have the Cockpit that is fairly useful. The Oracle Solaris similar features are more cumbersome to use because they are designed for more advanced users, so the ease of use for novice system administrators might be something that should be improved. There are things with ZFS I would to see improved when it comes to device removal, the ability to shrink a Z-pool, and to be able to remove devices and restructure a Z-pool without having to rebuild it from scratch. There are other technical and feature functions that are a couple of layers deeper than what most people are looking for.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Whenever I deploy solutions on Amazon Linux, I almost never have to worry about the operating system."
"Solaris Zones and Containers are my favorite features."
"We are able to deploy new environments very quickly and securely. Using the virtualization features, we can migrate the environments very flexibly between our servers."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"Oracle Solaris is great due to the fact that it actually is meant for high-end servers."
"Oracle Solaris is pre-installed in our environment. Thus, it is simple to customize."
"Solaris is scalable because they have their own file system, like CFS."
"We use the solution as an internal operating system."
"This product is stable, has good documentation, lots of solutions, a big community, and good support."
 

Cons

"I have honestly never had any problems with Amazon Linux, aside from disk space issues."
"I believe before Oracle was using Oracle Linux, they were using Oracle Solaris for their customers who are using Oracle databases. This was because it was more optimized for the hardware built for it. It has good performance for the database only. However, if you take it out of the Oracle applications, it will not do well compared to other operating systems, such as Linux or even Windows can have better performance."
"More monitoring tools could be included in the product."
"The primary drawback with this product is the lack of version updates."
"There is an issue where Solaris doesn't give the correct figures for memory use when checked."
"I don't want to receive any updates on Oracle"
"Solaris' package management could be improved, especially in comparison to Linux."
"They could also enable Oracle OEM for x86 architecture as well."
"Currently, there are two variants, there's SPARC and there's x86. I would have wanted a scenario where they're all just one product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"If you buy Oracle hardware it's supported free with the hardware. If you're putting it on non-Oracle hardware, that is when you buy the support license, which is also very reasonable. It is $1000 dollars per year, so it's not overly expensive."
"There should be an option to install the solution for free and just pay for the support. We purchased an annual license and the price could be better."
"The price is not good and needs to improve."
"The price of Oracle Solaris could be less expensive."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The solution is expensive and is based on an annual fee."
"There is no OS licensing cost if you use their hardware and purchase hardware maintenance."
"There are no licensing fees but you can opt to pay for support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon Linux?
In my opinion, for improvement, Amazon Linux could make better integration with third-party vendors, perhaps enhance user experience or lower the price compared to other Linux solutions. For the fu...
What is your primary use case for Amazon Linux?
My use case for Amazon Linux is mostly for running containers. I am using SELinux for enhanced security in Amazon Linux, and it is helpful for me.
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Linux?
I am not using IPv6 and I'm okay with that. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Amazon Linux an eight.
How does Oracle Linux compare with Solaris?
When comparing Oracle Linux and Solaris, I believe that Linux is more secure and more flexible. It is also very suitable for enterprises that are already Oracle solution users. I found Linux to be ...
What do you like most about Oracle Solaris?
We use the solution as an internal operating system.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Solaris?
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Solaris 11, Solaris
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Siemens, IVV
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Linux vs. Oracle Solaris and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.