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Oracle Solaris vs openSUSE Leap comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

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

openSUSE Leap
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
25th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 4.6%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 2.6%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Solaris2.6%
openSUSE Leap4.6%
Other92.8%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Shafiq Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of IT at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Long-term server platform has supported secure banking operations and simplified virtualization
Oracle Solaris is a very good operating system. Most of the time, we do not need to change or replace any configuration. If at any point in time we need to change something, it is really simple and a user-friendly environment. Although it is a CLI, Oracle introduced a GUI environment with Solaris 11.5. Currently, 11.5 has the operating system GUI as well as the CLI. The technical persons working on the operating system most of the time prefer to work on the CLI. It is actually really good and easy to use. As it is a server-level operating system, most of the time you do not need any extra features in the operating system because you are not using the operating system on home machines, desktops, or laptop machines. The extra features are not needed if we are talking about the enterprise level or an official operating system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Stable - it just runs without the necessity to reboot."
"Leap has provided me with the ability to offer what I consider Enterprise class server O/S platforms to my smaller customers who are looking to improve their competitive stances without breaking the bank."
"The most valuable feature by far has been the virtualization capabilities of the operating system."
"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the BTRFS file system, which allows you to take snapshots."
"This solution has helped my organization's security from the use of its firewall, and the features for blocking or allowing traffic are very effective and have worked well for us."
"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."
"Overall, if I’m forced to make an automotive industry comparison, from my perspective Oracle Solaris is the “Volvo” of operating systems."
"Backwards compatibility and stability are the most valuable features."
"One of the main advantages is the rock-solid reliability. It works. The stability is very good. It has a very good track record in the data security database."
"It provided unmatchable stability, high availability, scalability and the best tunable performance."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"The ability to manipulate the zones and the files within the zones from a global OS provides us flexibility that no other virtualization can match."
"The product's most valuable feature is partitioning resources and optimizing hardware utilization effectively."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
 

Cons

"In the future, the Active Directory could improve."
"It would be helpful if we could easily switch from openSUSE Leap for testing to SUSE Linux Enterprise for production."
"There is room for improvement in the console."
"I would like openSUSE Leap to have better link integration with Windows."
"Like most Linux-based operating systems, the biggest challenge Leap faces is the GUI."
"Somehow the change from OS12.x via 13.x to Leap was a bit bumpy and some old issues seemed to reappear."
"With Solaris the administration part is through command-line which may be difficult for some people who may not be used to that way of working."
"The product is really good in and of itself. It does need more third-party support and applications."
"It would be helpful if the solution offered backend management. In the 11.4 version, Oracle added a management console. It would be great if we maybe had a user management tool to go with it."
"I would like it to be faster; sometimes it takes a while, including making a connection."
"More monitoring tools could be included in the product."
"Sometimes we get stuck for security reasons. There's an issue with either the filing or use management."
"Nowadays, I don't think Solaris has a lot of advantages over less expensive options."
"You DO need to know how to work with support, they do have all the information, and the means to figure out a problem, but like any support division, not always the easiest to engage with."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source."
"The cost of this solution was reasonable and it was within our budget."
"openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost."
"This is an open-source operating system that can be used free of charge."
"If you buy Oracle hardware it's supported free with the hardware. If you're putting it on non-Oracle hardware, that is when you buy the support license, which is also very reasonable. It is $1000 dollars per year, so it's not overly expensive."
"The solution is expensive and is based on an annual fee."
"The current setup with hardware devices involves a higher cost, but the performance is top-notch."
"Solaris is highly priced compared to other solutions, but since it's a niche product, this is to be expected."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The product is inexpensive."
"It is more expensive, but very complete and worth enacting."
"This solution needs a license to use it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
22%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Oracle Linux compare with Solaris?
When comparing Oracle Linux and Solaris, I believe that Linux is more secure and more flexible. It is also very suitable for enterprises that are already Oracle solution users. I found Linux to be ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Solaris?
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
What needs improvement with Oracle Solaris?
In my opinion, the GUI was missing, as I mentioned earlier. Oracle has already introduced it. There might be some additional security features. The firewall must be more capable because security is...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Solaris 11, Solaris
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Siemens, IVV
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Solaris vs. openSUSE Leap and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,877 professionals have used our research since 2012.