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Debian vs openSUSE Leap comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 14, 2025

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
15th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
openSUSE Leap
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
12th
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 December 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Debian is 5.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 6.2%, up from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
openSUSE Leap6.2%
Debian5.0%
Other88.8%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2774055 - PeerSpot reviewer
cybersecurity engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Has reduced licensing costs and helped the team focus on implementation instead of compatibility workarounds
The best features Debian offers include compatibility and the wide range of software available on it, along with flexibility. The commands and most tutorials or documentation online for anything you need are always mainly built for Debian. It's much easier to find resources for Debian compared to other Linux distributions. Debian's compatibility and flexibility have significantly helped me in my work. For example, if I want to install any prerequisites for software on Debian, it's very easy to use the default commands for installing software such as APT-get, and I always find the package I want to install compatible and available in any of Debian's libraries or repos. When I try the same on Kali Linux or CentOS, I almost always struggle to find the packages easily, but for Debian, I always find what I need. Debian has positively impacted my organization by making it much easier for the technical team. If we had forced our team to use Kali Linux or any other Linux-based distributions, they would struggle more to complete projects that rely on Linux. Debian is the most straightforward and compatible option, which greatly simplifies our engineers' tasks. This ease of use with Debian has translated into results for our team by saving time and reducing errors. For example, when deploying a Linux-based application or software for one of our customers, since it's most likely compatible with Debian, the team can concentrate on implementing the product and installing it without working around limitations or compatibility issues.
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

"Debian offers the best features in that it is open source, simple, and battle-tested, with a good release cycle."
"Debian is the most straightforward and compatible option, which greatly simplifies our engineers' tasks."
"The best features Debian offers are its low weight, lightweight architecture, and faster response to services."
"Debian's stability helps me in my daily work because my work relies on stability; I'm trying to deploy production workloads, and Debian offers that stability for me."
"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."
"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."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the BTRFS file system, which allows you to take snapshots."
"The most valuable feature by far has been the virtualization capabilities of the operating system."
"Stable - it just runs without the necessity to reboot."
"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."
 

Cons

"It seems there should be a more deterministic way to do that. It does seem that you are running a lot of random install scripts to install things or relying on another two or three package management services, so there could be better software installation methods."
"I cannot say that I have seen a return on investment with Debian because I am a DevOps engineer, and it is my job to do this."
"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."
"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."
"In the future, the Active Directory could improve."
"I would like openSUSE Leap to have better link integration with Windows."
"It would be helpful if we could easily switch from openSUSE Leap for testing to SUSE Linux Enterprise for production."
"Like most Linux-based operating systems, the biggest challenge Leap faces is the GUI."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost."
"The cost of this solution was reasonable and it was within our budget."
"This is an open-source operating system that can be used free of charge."
"The solution is open-source."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
15%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
18%
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Debian?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is quite favorable; since Debian is totally free, it is one of my first options.
What needs improvement with Debian?
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. In addition to the needed improvements, I think if...
What is your primary use case for Debian?
As a DevOps engineer, my main use case for Debian is that it is my daily driver. I use Debian in my daily work most of the time for tasks such as installing daemons and servers like Nginx, hosting ...
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

 

Also Known As

Debian 12
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Debian vs. openSUSE Leap and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.