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Debian vs NethServer comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Debian
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NethServer
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
33rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Debian is 5.7%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NethServer is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Debian5.7%
NethServer0.5%
Other93.8%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Badal Shrivastav - PeerSpot reviewer
embedded software engineer at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Reliable platform has supported long-term on-prem deployments and predictable OTA updates
If I consider how Debian can be improved, it could be more accessible in making newer software versions available for users who need recent features while still maintaining default stable behavior. While backports help, the workflow could be streamlined. The release cycle can feel slow for rapidly evolving tools, and better guidance around mixing stable, backports, and testing would help. Regarding hardware support, Debian can be improved by supporting multiple BSPs, making it more versatile in the embedded domain. Hardware support for new devices can sometimes lag behind, which is understandable given Debian's focus on stability. Clearer guidance on handling newer hardware or firmware would be beneficial.
Raj Ashish - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder - Director (Technology Business) at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Use of NethServer as DNS and DHCP along with Domain controller and multiple NIC cards
Few of the pointers marked below on the products improvement(s).. - A separate documentation section should be there for custom/DIY application installations and how to make it a part of hosted menu. - More work needs to be done on UI. - Some work would be required to allow systems integrators to configure LVMs and RAID with ease. - Preparing the HDD/SSD to ready to be used and to create Partition takes hell-lot-of time, this needs more work to be done. - NethServer 7.9.xxx is EOL, 8 is already in making, hope for the best! - CAPTCHA security code - capabilities should be added.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Debian has positively impacted my organization, and I have noticed specific improvements since adopting it."
"Debian offers the best features in that it is open source, simple, and battle-tested, with a good release cycle."
"Debian's best features are that it is very light and very comfortable for even older computers."
"<p>Debian positively impacts my organization by allowing us to utilize a much more lightweight operating system with Amazon EC2 instances, which greatly reduces costs because we can use EC2 instances with lower RAM.</p>"
"Debian is extremely stable, production-ready, and secure with regular updates."
"Debian has been a very reliable and stable foundation for all the systems I have worked on, and its package management, transparency, and predictable updates have been extremely helpful, especially for embedded and production environments."
"Debian is the most straightforward and compatible option, which greatly simplifies our engineers' tasks."
"Debian has positively impacted my organization in that most of our applications are running on Debian."
"Most important advantage of NethServer is - it gives "one-stop-solution" for SMB's, MsMe's and Startup businesses all-at-one place with virtually no cost other than the setup cost and the quality of the product is appreciable and acceptable with no vendor-lock-in."
 

Cons

"Customer support for Debian has been acceptable. We approached the Azure Debian support, and while it seems adequate, they need to improve somewhat."
"What keeps it from being a perfect score is mainly the slow access to newer software and hardware support, as well as documentation that is somewhat fragmented for advanced use cases."
"There are certain areas where Debian can definitely improve, particularly in restricted access privileges for certain aspects."
"I believe Debian can be improved by adding more containerization features out of the box, and it should make some updates when it comes to the UI."
"Debian should have a reset feature; if something goes wrong, such as when I have installed or modified any root file, there should be a reset feature to restore my initial default settings."
"Debian currently has some older packages that are not available in the latest version."
"I chose an eight out of ten because of the missing features we discussed, such as a command history similar to what Red Hat or Oracle Linux provides, and the lack of a preview option before installations."
"I wish the company responsible for Debian would send communications about updates and new features to keep people informed and to give Debian the recognition and praise that it deserves."
"Preparing the HDD/SSD to ready to be used and to create Partition takes hell-lot-of time, this needs more work to be done."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
21%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Debian?
The pricing for Debian is based on what is used and how much is used.
What needs improvement with Debian?
Debian currently has some older packages that are not available in the latest version. The stable release cycle is slow, where new features come late. Additionally, Debian is not as beginner-friend...
What is your primary use case for Debian?
Debian is used as a Linux distributor for hosting applications, servers, and deployments. The organization primarily relies on Debian for cloud and DevOps, creating Docker images and Kubernetes nod...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NethServer?
Very important! This you need to connect with us :), as it is highly depended on complexity of business needs, availability of associated Hardware's and how scalable you want the solution would be ...
What needs improvement with NethServer?
Few of the pointers marked below on the products improvement(s).. - A separate documentation section should be there for custom/DIY application installations and how to make it a part of hosted men...
What is your primary use case for NethServer?
Since last four years we have used NethServer 7.9.xxxx { by Nethesis SRL} (community editions...). Which is basically based on Rocky Linux. A well architected with web user interface and also suppo...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Debian 12
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Canonical, Rocky Linux and others in Operating Systems (OS) for Business. Updated: October 2026.
920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.