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Kali Linux vs Rocky Linux comparison

Kali Linux and Rocky Linux are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. Kali Linux is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.7, while Rocky Linux is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6. Kali Linux holds a 3.0% mindshare in OSB, compared to Rocky Linux’s 14.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Kali Linux users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Rocky Linux users who would recommend it.
Kali Linux
Read 17 Kali Linux reviews
  • 2,788 Views
  • 2,035 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
Rocky Linux
Read 17 Rocky Linux reviews
  • 12,000 Views
  • 12,000 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Rocky Linux and Kali Linux serve different purposes within the Linux ecosystem. Rocky Linux is valued for its user-friendliness, stable performance, and enterprise-grade support, whereas Kali Linux stands out for its specialized security tools and penetration testing capabilities.

Features: Rocky Linux users value its compatibility with enterprise applications, robust system reliability, and versatile use. Kali Linux users favor its extensive toolkit for security professionals, pre-installed penetration testing tools, and its focused functionality in cybersecurity.

Room for Improvement: Rocky Linux can improve its update process, cloud integration, and adaptability to modern workflows. Kali Linux can enhance its user-friendliness, performance in non-security tasks, and expand its versatility beyond security-centric functions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Rocky Linux has a straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service, making it more accessible for enterprises with less technical staff. Kali Linux's deployment requires more technical expertise and is ideal for environments with dedicated security teams.

Pricing and ROI: Rocky Linux offers cost-effective solutions with significant ROI for large-scale enterprise deployments. Kali Linux, while free, provides exceptional value in professional penetration testing environments, albeit without traditional ROI metrics.

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To learn more, read our detailed Kali Linux vs. Rocky Linux Report (Updated: September 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Kali Linux vs. Rocky Linux
September 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.5
Kali Linux provided cost-effective vulnerability testing, enhancing system security and efficiency, while integrating with DevOps and facilitating faster learning.
Sentiment score
3.9
Switching to Rocky Linux saved costs and time, enhanced problem resolution, and supported increased employee onboarding and organizational growth.
Integrating Kali Linux with DevOps tools has resulted in reduced operational costs due to automated test cases, making it a worthwhile investment with significant returns by decreasing the attack surface area and the frequency of attack incidents.
If we had installed it on-premises or through other means, it would have incurred significant money and effort to create the VMs, deploy it on machines, and then delete and format it after use.
I have saved time by avoiding the lag I sometimes face on the TryHackMe in-built machine, and I have learned more efficiently.
For more quotes and insights, download the Kali Linux report
When it comes to return on investment, a lot of money is saved since we moved from a purchased license to the open source provided by Rocky Linux.
ROI has been good as we have significant open source community involvement.
I have seen a return on investment since there was definitely money saved at the time due to the lack of need for licensing since Rocky is available openly.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
Gaurav Pratap Singh - PeerSpot reviewerMathews Daniel - PeerSpot reviewerAditya Pillai - PeerSpot reviewerBasil Jiji - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2758263 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2772054 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.6
Kali Linux support relies on active community forums, offering reliable guidance and documentation, with limited traditional support.
Sentiment score
4.1
Rocky Linux customer service is reliable, with quick responses, good documentation, and high user satisfaction despite limited official reliance.
Since most of the tools and other things are community-based, the documentation and other community support are very good.
For more quotes and insights, download the Kali Linux report
The support level is extraordinary, providing on-time assistance.
We have not yet needed to contact a vendor regarding Rocky Linux.
Even if we raise a support ticket, we receive a resolution or a reply from the team within two business days.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
Mathews Daniel - PeerSpot reviewerDILIP BHARADWAJ - PeerSpot reviewerKRISTOF Laenen - PeerSpot reviewerBasil Jiji - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Kali Linux offers strong scalability, efficiently supporting single to multiple users for both personal and professional environments.
Sentiment score
5.3
Rocky Linux is scalable and user-friendly, with organizations recommending automation tools for efficient setup and expansion.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Kali Linux report
Even if the server is not responding and we want to attach the volume on another instance or a temporary instance, it is very easy and straightforward with no hiccups.
It has handled growth or changing needs well.
The scalability is quite good, though there are some issues with Rocky Linux.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
reviewer2758479 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2772054 - PeerSpot reviewerJetsada Malaisirirat - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Kali Linux is highly praised for its stability and reliability, particularly in virtualization, despite occasional system-specific issues.
Sentiment score
7.1
Rocky Linux is praised for its stability, ease of use, scalability, and reliable performance on low-resource systems and hardware.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Kali Linux report
Rocky Linux is stable, scalable, and it is very much easier to use.
Rocky Linux is stable.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
 

Room For Improvement

Kali Linux needs better automation, AI integration, user interfaces, security, and community engagement for improved user experience and compatibility.
Rocky Linux needs identity clarity, better integrations, faster updates, improved security, API tools, documentation, and enhanced community support.
If real-time customized port scanning can be added, for example, instead of a default port such as 8080 or 443, if we can use a customized port such as 9876, that capability would be great.
Making Kali Linux more customizable would allow users to personalize it to their style.
It's still advertised as a Linux distro used only for security testing, and many of the tools run as root by default or with the highest privileges.
For more quotes and insights, download the Kali Linux report
It is based on customer requirements, as they might want to use Rocky Linux or Ubuntu, depending on their needs.
Rocky Linux could be improved by having more integration with Kubernetes.
Currently, it takes more than one month to release a new package or kernel, so speeding that up would help reduce reported vulnerability remediations.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
NilutpalDutta - PeerSpot reviewerAditya Pillai - PeerSpot reviewerMathews Daniel - PeerSpot reviewerJetsada Malaisirirat - PeerSpot reviewerMassimiliano Adamo - PeerSpot reviewerBasil Jiji - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

Kali Linux is free and open-source, offering cost-effective tools without licensing fees, except for potential setup costs.
Rocky Linux is praised for its affordability and streamlined licensing, appealing to cost-conscious enterprises and AWS users.
Kali Linux is free software, an operating system that's available to download without any cost or licensing fees.
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Kali Linux has been positive, as it operates under an open-source model.
The pricing and the deployment, resource usage are all spot on and clearly defined, making it helpful and useful for me to deploy and calculate costs.
For more quotes and insights, download the Kali Linux report
We switched to Rocky Linux because of the license price, and in our business, we don't need to have a higher cost as that is not a good idea.
There is no extra cost for a license if we are purchasing Rocky Linux from the AWS Marketplace.
Rocky Linux is free, and I can download it and deploy it in whatever environment I have, whether it be H3C, VMware, or Hyper-V.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
Aditya Pillai - PeerSpot reviewerGaurav Pratap Singh - PeerSpot reviewerMathews Daniel - PeerSpot reviewer
WA
reviewer2758479 - PeerSpot reviewerBakang Khunou - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

Kali Linux offers robust tools, security, scalability, and efficiency, enhancing penetration testing and reducing cybersecurity threats effectively.
Rocky Linux offers stability, cost savings, easy integration, and strong community support, making it ideal for critical systems management.
Kali Linux has positively impacted my organization by improving efficiency in penetration testing; its open-source nature permits extensive customization and inclusion of numerous comprehensive pre-installed tools, contributing to a secure network environment with effective monitoring of network applications.
Kali Linux has the capability of real-time data scanning for vulnerability assessment for backend services.
The overall focus on security in Kali Linux is what I find most useful.
For more quotes and insights, download the Kali Linux report
Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization, specifically through cost savings, because we did not have to buy any licenses or extra licenses of other distros, such as Oracle or Red Hat.
For production deployment, Rocky Linux is a great choice because it offers full RHEL compatibility without licensing costs, along with strong community support.
Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
Gaurav Pratap Singh - PeerSpot reviewerNilutpalDutta - PeerSpot reviewerAditya Pillai - PeerSpot reviewer
RD
reviewer2758479 - PeerSpot reviewerMassimiliano Adamo - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Categories and Ranking

Kali Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rocky Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Kali Linux is 3.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rocky Linux is 14.3%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Rocky Linux14.3%
Kali Linux3.0%
Other82.7%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Aditya Pillai - PeerSpot reviewer
Has helped me learn penetration testing through hands-on tasks and faster workflows
It would be helpful if Kali Linux could be involved in more systems or laptops. Windows is a standard for many laptops and comes pre-installed on many devices available in the market. If Kali Linux could do the same and increase their reach to better areas, it would be beneficial. They could improve Kali Linux's UI/UX. They have been following a standard UI/UX. They could add more options, similar to how CachyOS distro of Arch Linux has many different UI options to select from. Making Kali Linux more customizable would allow users to personalize it to their style. Many users utilize Kali Linux through virtual machines. Sometimes Kali Linux has issues detecting hardware such as inbuilt or external Wi-Fi adapters. Improving device detection would be beneficial.
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Massimiliano Adamo - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported seamless migrations and enabled running complex data workloads securely
The best features Rocky Linux offers include clustering and all the packages from Red Hat.Rocky Linux has impacted my organization very positively because we migrated everything from CentOS and Windows servers to Rocky Linux. Everything is clear, with good packaging, and now it's version 9.6, which is very important for us due to security problems since we are in Europe. Rocky Linux is very good for security and other aspects. Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released. We need to maintain a system similar to Red Hat, which is very stable and has many features such as file system, topology, and containers.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
12%
Educational Organization
11%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Kali Linux?
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 syste...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kali Linux?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Kali Linux has been positive, as it operates under an open-source model with setup costs primarily related to hardware and virtual machine...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Kali Linux?
There are areas for improvement in Kali Linux, particularly regarding its use of the Linux kernel, which requires external additional patching, and the fact that network services are disabled by de...
See all answers
What do you like most about Rocky Linux?
It's very simple to work with, easy to learn, and know where things are.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Rocky Linux?
I have no suggestions regarding how Rocky Linux can be improved. I haven't identified any areas that need improvement yet.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Rocky Linux?
As a Cloud Ops Engineer, we are setting up the server on the EC2 machine with Rocky Linux, while also doing some setup related to the frameworks for Ruby. We are installing their dependencies relat...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

CentOS vs Kali Linux Logo
CentOS vs Kali Linux
Compared 22% of the time
Windows 10 vs Kali Linux Logo
Windows 10 vs Kali Linux
Compared 16% of the time
Windows 11 vs Kali Linux Logo
Windows 11 vs Kali Linux
Compared 13% of the time
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs Kali Linux Logo
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs Kali Linux
Compared 12% of the time
Security Onion vs Kali Linux Logo
Security Onion vs Kali Linux
Compared 5% of the time
More Kali Linux Competitors
Fedora Linux vs Rocky Linux Logo
Fedora Linux vs Rocky Linux
Compared 26% of the time
Debian vs Rocky Linux Logo
Debian vs Rocky Linux
Compared 18% of the time
Ubuntu Linux vs Rocky Linux Logo
Ubuntu Linux vs Rocky Linux
Compared 17% of the time
Oracle Linux vs Rocky Linux Logo
Oracle Linux vs Rocky Linux
Compared 10% of the time
CentOS vs Rocky Linux Logo
CentOS vs Rocky Linux
Compared 1% of the time
More Rocky Linux Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Kali Linux
October 2025
Kali Linux reportDownload Kali Linux product report
Buyer's Guide
Rocky Linux
October 2025
Rocky Linux reportDownload Rocky Linux product report
 

Overview

Kali Linux is widely used by organizations for penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, web application security, network audits, ethical hacking, and open-source intelligence, providing extensive free features.

Organizations run Kali Linux in virtualized environments alongside other operating systems, employing tools for automated scans, malware identification, infrastructure testing, and application development or hosting. These users benefit from lower maintenance requirements and a smaller footprint. The toolset includes Nmap, SQLMap, Metasploit, and Hydra, ensuring effective security assessments. Its high scalability, performance, user-friendly interface, and extensive documentation enhance the platform's usability. Known for stability, flexibility, and virus resistance, Kali Linux supports web security, troubleshooting, and configuration tasks comprehensively.

What are the most important features of Kali Linux?

  • Nmap: A network scanning tool for discovering hosts and services.
  • SQLMap: An SQL injection and database takeover tool.
  • Metasploit: A penetration testing platform with various exploit tools.
  • Hydra: A network log-in cracker supporting numerous protocols.
  • Documentation: Offers extensive resources for user guidance.
  • Stability: Provides a reliable and consistent operating environment.
  • Scalability: Adapts efficiently to growing security needs.
  • Performance: Ensures fast and efficient operations.
  • Virus Resistance: Enhances security through robust virus protection.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

  • Cost Efficiency: Free tools reduce operational expenses.
  • Operational Efficiency: Lower maintenance needs and quick setup.
  • Enhanced Security: Robust tools for comprehensive security measures.
  • Flexibility: Adaptable to different environments and requirements.

Kali Linux can support industries in improving security through stable and flexible environments that resist viruses and provide extensive documentation. Users employ it for web security, troubleshooting, and configuring capabilities. Necessary improvements include automation, user-friendliness, and integrating AI and blockchain. Enhancements in security features, faster installations, and better learning tools are also essential. Machine learning integration and non-enterprise user functionalities can address current limitations.

Kali Linux

Rocky Linux is a robust and secure enterprise-grade operating system designed as a drop-in replacement for CentOS. Its primary use case is to provide a stable and reliable platform for organizations to run their critical workloads and applications.


The most valuable functionality of Rocky Linux lies in its compatibility with CentOS, ensuring a seamless transition for organizations already using CentOS. It offers long-term support, regular security updates, and a predictable release cycle, providing stability and reliability for mission-critical systems.

Rocky Linux helps organizations by offering a free and open-source alternative to CentOS, which was discontinued by Red Hat. It allows businesses to continue using their existing CentOS-based infrastructure without the need for costly migrations or vendor lock-in. With its strong community support and active development, Rocky Linux ensures a sustainable and community-driven future for CentOS users.

Moreover, Rocky Linux is built with security in mind, providing robust features like SELinux and secure defaults. This helps organizations protect their data and systems from potential threats and vulnerabilities.

Rocky Linux
Buyer's Guide
Kali Linux vs. Rocky Linux
September 2025
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