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Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu vs Kali Linux 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

Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
24th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
3.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Kali Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu is 0.2%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kali Linux is 4.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Kali Linux4.4%
Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu0.2%
Other95.4%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

KT
Software Engineering Manager at Visteon Corporation
Role-based automation has streamlined secure CI pipelines and supports data-driven delivery decisions
Any product that I create, I will have an improvement expectation for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu. The one expectation that I have is that the UI can be still improved. Some more metrics can be established. Nowadays, there are a lot of configurations. I should be able to really connect with AI as another feature that can also be integrated. These are the three or four items that can be added to the improvement toward Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu.Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu could include AI chat features in the future to make it even better. When there is a build happening or when there is a job happening, I could ask in the chat how long that takes or what is the current job running. These AI features can be included.
Ciyagi Ciyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Solution Architect & Delivery Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Runs efficiently across devices and streamlines penetration testing workflows
Kali Linux could be improved by including more tools. I would personally like to see improvements in Kali Linux, particularly regarding Grub issues that sometimes occur when installing the VM. Additionally, I have experienced problems when updating Kali Linux from a higher version to a lower version, which resulted in crashes. These Grub issues should be resolved. I face significant challenges with Kali Linux regarding a major issue with the Grub loader becoming corrupted, which makes it very difficult to recover data.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have set up a very critical infrastructure with both Jenkins and the Ubuntu hardening steps without any need for specific challenges."
"I have definitely noticed a reduction in incidents and time saved since switching to Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu, which saves at least between ten to twenty hours in configuration time, translating to potential savings of hundreds or even thousands of dollars."
"Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu is an open-source tool that has many plugins to support all applications, and this stands out as its main advantage."
"Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu has positively impacted my organization by showing a lot of improvement; it reduces our time and increases our development process, and it helps a lot everywhere."
"The benefits of Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu include its easy integration with every tool; it can be used as both an integration tool and a deployment tool, and with the help of scripts, we can easily configure Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu in an effective way."
"Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu has positively impacted my organization by increasing deployment times, with the number of deployments increasing from around twenty a day to more than double that, and it was easier to retry on failure because if anything failed within the automated pipelines, it was easy to retry."
"Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu has extremely benefited our CI/CD pipelines; the whole of our build systems are completely running on Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu and it is a day-to-day activity."
"Regarding Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu's AI capabilities, I find its governance and security to be quite secure."
"Kali Linux has helped me significantly in simulating penetration testing and other activities, and since all the tools are open source, I can easily modify and customize them based on my needs."
"The solution's most valuable feature is that it is very easy to use."
"Additionally, it now includes comprehensive migration analytics and reporting capabilities."
"I use the tool with Nmap to perform network audits. We use it to find vulnerabilities in our network through attacks. It's for those who want to launch or create viruses or perform attacks on systems. With Kali Linux, you can conduct penetration testing for networks, web applications, and Android mobile apps."
"Kali Linux has positively impacted my organization significantly as it aids in red team work and penetration testing."
"Kali Linux stands out compared to other operating systems I have used for security work because it is a specific distribution of Linux that has all the required tools pre-loaded and configured."
"Kali Linux offers excellent features including being lightweight with low memory usage, easy installation, portability, and multiple architectures such as ARM architecture and server architecture."
"Kali Linux is the only solution for cybersecurity if we are conducting pen testing or anything related to it."
 

Cons

"There is a maintenance overhead to using Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu since the customer is responsible for patching both Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu and the OS, and although security issues are somewhat handled, Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu third-party plugins may still be insecure, and hardened images can be too restrictive."
"One area Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu could improve is role control, particularly with RBAC permissions, as this has been an issue for a long time."
"Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu can have some enhancements; the UI can be more attractive, as it is just a normal layout right now, so we can have some kind of tiles and devise some separate area to choose that particular pipeline itself related to configuration and the pipeline, but apart from that, functionality-wise, it is good, though sometimes Jenkins is down when we are doing multiple deployments at the same time, which is one major issue."
"Initially, I faced some issues with plugins that might be incompatible while setting up Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu."
"Currently, Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu is almost obsolete."
"I have not seen a return on investment with Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu."
"I wish it had a more friendly user interface."
"The only real limitation I can see with Kali Linux is the steep learning curve of using it."
"The product should integrate AI and GPT capabilities."
"Increasing the tutorials and the help inside Kali Linux would make it more useful."
"The installation process of Kali Linux can be slow, particularly when installing and upgrading packages within virtualized environments."
"I would like to have automation in Kali Linux instead of manually configuring or setting up something in case of an upgrade."
"The tool is slightly difficult to learn."
"Any new user or someone without deep expertise won't be able to understand how to scale or manage it"
"From an improvement perspective, it should be made possible for users to learn about the product easily."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It is an open-source tool."
"The tool is open-source."
"Kali Linux is a free product, and you don't have to pay for a license."
"Kali Linux offers a perpetual license, meaning you pay for it once and can use it. While free versions of Linux are available, Kali Linux, being an enterprise edition, usually comes with a perpetual license. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"The licensing fee is expensive compared to other products."
"There is no need to make any payments towards the licensing costs since it is a solution that is available for free."
"I use it free of charge."
"I have used the free version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
32%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Healthcare Company
5%
Construction Company
12%
University
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu?
The price for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu is not a constraint for me. As long as there are good features and it is a must, there should not be a problem. I have to invest in order to do my business....
What needs improvement with Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu?
One area Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu could improve is role control, particularly with RBAC permissions, as this has been an issue for a long time. While some plugins have helped in the past, they ar...
What is your primary use case for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu?
My main use case for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu is building pipelines for CI/CD and making sure that it has the proper security where the product that we deploy demands it.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kali Linux?
It is open source. We do not need to pay anything. Most of the tools are open source, so we do not need to pay for licensing. There is minimum cost we have to pay, and based on our expertise, we ca...
What needs improvement with Kali Linux?
Kali Linux is an operating system plus tool, and it is a Linux-based product, so if we need to do anything for Windows, we do not have an option to use the same type of tool. If Kali could provide ...
What is your primary use case for Kali Linux?
I use Kali Linux for vulnerability testing, sandbox analysis, red team penetration testing, and checking vulnerabilities in the network, checking vulnerabilities with users, and red teaming proacti...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu vs. Kali Linux and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.