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NethServer vs Windows Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 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

NethServer
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
25th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windows Server
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
196
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of NethServer is 0.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Server is 8.0%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Windows Server8.0%
NethServer0.3%
Other91.7%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

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.
GS
Manager, Information & Cloud Systems at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Long-standing experience improves reliability and security, making it a trusted platform
It's difficult to see improvements when using it daily. They improved compatibility with other platforms, such as Linux. One improvement I was thinking about some years ago was the ability to manage an on-premises server from Azure. Now, they have created Azure Arc, and we are using it as a very good way of managing on-premises servers. What can be improved is on the Azure side. With Active Directory on the server side and Entra ID on the Azure side in our hybrid environment, we find issues with data syncing to Entra ID. In Entra ID, Microsoft omitted some parameters. In Active Directory, you can put an expiring date to an account, but you cannot do that in Entra ID. We have other means of doing that, but it's common to have consultants working for six months, requiring account expiration or renewal processes. The Entra ID Connect syncing tool could be improved. Though they moved the service to Azure and use an agent instead of having a dedicated server, it remains cumbersome to set up due to the differences between Entra ID and Active Directory.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"A valuable feature of Windows Server has been the performance."
"We have been installing the solution for years and it has always been straightforward."
"The solution is stable; we created virtual machines with huge configurations and based on our volume of data or jobs it is running, it has been performing very well."
"It's easy to set up and deploy."
"It is very useful, and it is easy to use."
"Windows Server is user-friendly."
"Definitely, I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it."
"The solution is straightforward to install and took approximately 30 minutes."
 

Cons

"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."
"It would be great to have support for direct USB recognition for the virtual machines."
"I would like to see the security features improved in the future."
"If it had more integration capabilities, that would be ideal."
"The technical support could improve."
"But one issue I have with Windows Server is the limit on the number of concurrent sessions. You cannot have more than three simultaneous users unless you activate a license. You have to install it so that more people can access the applications simultaneously."
"The scalability could be improved a bit."
"If the service could be better integrated with the Azure Cloud, I think it would be a plus for Windows."
"There is a need for improved security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"If you're buying an instance in the cloud, then you'll pay for it monthly. Otherwise, a normal purchase is always upfront; there is no subscription model with Microsoft, at least for the Windows Server licenses."
"The price of the solution should be less expensive. There is an annual subscription to use the solution."
"Our customers had a bundle package with Microsoft that included Windows Server."
"There could be a one-time cost for Windows Server and not every month. It is a huge amount for the companies to pay yearly."
"Our customers prefer lifetime licenses."
"We have multiple types of licenses. Some of them are on a yearly basis, and some of them are prepaid."
"Windows Server's whole licensing model is complex because if you have, for example, Microsoft Office and end-user applications installed on a server with a remote desktop, then the licensing can be complex. If the model could be simplified it would be better."
"This is not an expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business78
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise89
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What needs improvement with Windows Server?
I cannot answer regarding which metrics I use to measure the effectiveness of Microsoft Defender for IoT because I have to check with my technical team. I have been fulfilling a role as IT manager ...
What is your primary use case for Windows Server?
What suits me the most is that for all my OT environment, I can manage all those devices in one secure portal from Microsoft.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Windows Server?
I think the licensing model of Microsoft products, including Windows Server, is not cheap. Microsoft has been guiding us for all the products toward a subscription model instead of a buying model. ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Rakuten, Rackspace, Tyco
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Rocky Linux, Canonical and others in Operating Systems (OS) for Business. Updated: March 2026.
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