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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
14th
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
15th
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 March 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 5.6%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 2.1%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
openSUSE Leap5.6%
Oracle Solaris2.1%
Other92.3%
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

"Stable - it just runs without the necessity to reboot."
"Stable - it just runs without the necessity to reboot."
"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."
"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."
"The most valuable feature by far has been the virtualization capabilities of the operating system."
"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 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."
"Oracle Solaris has a graphical interface that is user-friendly, especially with its use of dark colors."
"It is not a bad solution, it is a perfect solution because we have used it for more than 25 years and have never lost one record."
"We like that the virtualization is built in, so you don't have to spend extra money on buying licenses for a hypervisor."
"I recommend Oracle solutions such as T5 Super-Cluster, T5-8 and the Oracle Solaris 11 operating system, as they are highly scalable and fault-tolerant systems."
"Solaris Zones and Containers are my favorite features."
"The backup capabilities are quite good."
"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."
"Backwards compatibility and stability are the most valuable features."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the console."
"It would be helpful if we could easily switch from openSUSE Leap for testing to SUSE Linux Enterprise for production."
"Somehow the change from OS12.x via 13.x to Leap was a bit bumpy and some old issues seemed to reappear."
"Somehow the change from OS12.x via 13.x to Leap was a bit bumpy and some old issues seemed to reappear."
"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."
"In the future, the Active Directory could improve."
"Like most Linux-based operating systems, the biggest challenge Leap faces is the GUI."
"Sometimes we get stuck for security reasons. There's an issue with either the filing or use management."
"Since Solaris Volume Manager is the obvious choice for a shared filesystem, I would love to see improvements in SVM so that filesystems can be increased or migrated without downtime for the environment - in a similar way that ZFS is capable of."
"Oracle is going to discontinue it, so I do not think any improvement is possible in Oracle Solaris."
"Right now, I see less and less organizations using Solaris and, at least from my point of view, there is not much active development around it."
"Solaris is not easy to use. It needs better GUI, UI, and configuration tools."
"Solaris' package management could be improved, especially in comparison to Linux."
"The product is really good in and of itself. It does need more third-party support and applications."
"The primary drawback with this product is the lack of version updates."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source operating system that can be used free of charge."
"The cost of this solution was reasonable and it was within our budget."
"The solution is open-source."
"openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost."
"The current setup with hardware devices involves a higher cost, but the performance is top-notch."
"The price is not good and needs to improve."
"It is an expensive product. I rate the pricing a ten out of ten."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
"There is no OS licensing cost if you use their hardware and purchase hardware maintenance."
"The product is inexpensive."
"Solaris is highly priced compared to other solutions, but since it's a niche product, this is to be expected."
"The solution is expensive and is based on an annual fee."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
20%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software 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

What needs improvement with openSUSE Leap?
Both openSUSE Leap and the SUSE Enterprise version use the same kernel. Suppose I have a lower environment where I can run openSUSE to test all my products. It would be helpful if I could easily sw...
What is your primary use case for openSUSE Leap?
I use openSUSE Leap for testing purposes. Before officially using any server in our office, we test it using the solution. My office usually uses production servers on the SUSE Linux enterprise ver...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for openSUSE Leap?
openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost.
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 do you like most about Oracle Solaris?
We use the solution as an internal operating system.
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.
 

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: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.