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Kali Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 5, 2025

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
4.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers higher ROI and cost savings for SAP deployments compared to Red Hat, enhancing cloud migration value.
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.
I have seen a return on investment by switching our clusters from on-prem to Azure public cloud, using our same Bring Your Own Licenses, which saved costs on licensing.
 

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
6.6
SUSE Linux Enterprise boasts strong customer support with efficient responses, though costs and regional support quality may vary.
Since most of the tools and other things are community-based, the documentation and other community support are very good.
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides a stable, secure, and well-supported platform for enterprise workloads, with powerful management tools and robust support for clustering, cloud, and containers.
The customer support is good; whenever we have opened a case, they have provided detailed explanations of the issues and resolutions.
I rate the customer service 10 out of 10 because SUSE has 24/7 availability support, extended support, security, multi-Linux distribution support, upgradation, and everything is user-friendly.
 

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
6.3
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers scalable solutions for organizations, supporting seamless integration, maintenance, upgrades, and cloud compatibility to meet diverse needs.
Its scalability is quite good since we are using Azure, which allows us to easily scale up or down our resources as needed.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is widely recognized for its strong scalability, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to global enterprises.
 

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
8.0
SUSE Linux Enterprise is highly stable, with users rating its reliability between eight to ten, despite minor occasional glitches.
When HANA is utilized by many applications, I notice that while utilization does increase, we have never faced lagging or server unresponsiveness.
I would rate stability for SUSE Linux Enterprise an eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Kali Linux needs better automation, AI integration, user interfaces, security, and community engagement for improved user experience and compatibility.
SUSE Linux Enterprise needs improved management, integration, pricing, and support, alongside development of APIs, AI, and educational resources.
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.
Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.
The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications.
The license we subscribed to should carry over within the same instance family.
 

Setup Cost

Kali Linux is free and open-source, offering cost-effective tools without licensing fees, except for potential setup costs.
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers flexible support options with varying costs, appreciated for its open-source nature and straightforward licensing.
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.
Upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
I would rate pricing for SUSE Linux Enterprise considering one is a high price and ten is a low price.
The licensing cost is a bit high.
 

Valuable Features

Kali Linux offers robust tools, security, scalability, and efficiency, enhancing penetration testing and reducing cybersecurity threats effectively.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is acclaimed for its robust security, SAP integration, scalability, stability, efficient management, and comprehensive support.
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.
SUSE Linux had a clean user interface, which was a valuable feature for me.
It has a stable and reliable OS.
The LVM is very easy to configure, along with simple disk scanning compared to other systems.
 

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
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
36
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 SUSE Linux Enterprise is 6.4%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SUSE Linux Enterprise6.4%
Kali Linux3.0%
Other90.6%
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.
MoezCHEBBI - PeerSpot reviewer
Has delivered expert training and enabled smooth migrations using automated deployment tools
SUSE Linux Enterprise is a mature and reliable platform, but there are areas where it can be improved. Modernizing the system management tools is important as many users appreciate YaST for its centralized management, but there is a growing demand for more modern, web-based, and modular tools. The introduction of tools such as Agama, a web-based installer, and Cockpit in newer releases is a step in the right direction.SUSE has made progress with multi-Linux support, allowing organizations to manage and support not just SUSE systems but also other distributions such as Red Hat and CentOS; continuing to expand these capabilities, especially for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, will help organizations manage diverse infrastructure more effectively. Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.
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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
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

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 Business8
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise21
 

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...
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...
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...
What do you like most about SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The initial setup is simple and takes five minutes for deployment and if you have automation in place, it will take four minutes.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
We are facing an issue with licensing usage. The subscription does not carry over within the same instance family, so upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
Whatever SUSE has is a better solution, and I'm not that much of an expert to suggest improvements or say how SUSE can improve, because SUSE is always improving themselves, and I know that soon the...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Air India, Akademicki Szpital Kliniczny (ASK), Allone, Altran, Apollo, ARCHIVA, Asia Innovatory Management School, ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH, AutoData Norge AS, Baldor Electric, Business Connexion, CASIO, Ciclum Farma, Delta Lloyd, Edumate , HPE,  SAP SE,  Lenovo, BMW, T-Systems, UCX, Turners & Growers, Shenzhen Development Bank, Bosch Group, JK Tyres & Industries, IOCL, European Space Agency, Daimler AG, China Minsheng Banking Corp, Café Coffee Day, Unisys,  Petrochina Company Ltd, Fitch Ratings, ABeam Consulting Co Ltd, Tyro Payments, Rackspace, Pacific Textiles, ...
Find out what your peers are saying about Kali Linux vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.