SUSE Linux Enterprise vs openSUSE Leap comparison

openSUSE and SUSE are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. openSUSE is ranked #13 with an average rating of 9.5, while SUSE is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.2. openSUSE holds a 6.3% mindshare in OSB, compared to SUSE’s 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of openSUSE users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of SUSE users who would recommend it.

openSUSE Leap

Read 6 openSUSE Leap reviews

6,981 Views
6,263 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Read 32 SUSE Linux Enterprise reviews

10,390 Views
9,260 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

openSUSE Leap

SUSE Linux Enterprise

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap are leading contenders in the Linux category, with SUSE Linux Enterprise taking the upper hand due to its superior enterprise-level features and support.

Features: SUSE Linux Enterprise offers a seamless upgrade process, centralized server management through YaST, and advanced security features. It is known for stable and robust SAP HANA support, scalability, and integration with Oracle and Windows environments. openSUSE Leap provides a stable environment with ease of use and management simplicity, though it lacks some of the enterprise-level features of its counterpart.

Room for Improvement: SUSE Linux Enterprise can enhance integration with Autodesk, improve comprehensive Security Technical Implementation Guides, and refine its cloud functionality. Pricing and limited clustering features compared to Red Hat are areas where it falls short. openSUSE Leap faces challenges with GUI stability, inconsistent configuration documentation, and lacks comprehensive support for third-party applications, which affects its global appeal.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SUSE Linux Enterprise provides strong deployment options across public, on-premises, and hybrid clouds, supported by quick-response customer service that's costly. openSUSE Leap, focusing on on-premises deployment, relies more on community resources for support, resulting in varied user experiences.

Pricing and ROI: SUSE Linux Enterprise is noted for its clear licensing model yet is more expensive than competitors like Red Hat. It is seen as a worthwhile investment for enterprises, especially those emphasizing SAP deployment efficiency. openSUSE Leap aligns with open-source philosophies, offering a cost-effective solution with free usage, though enterprise-level support often requires a paid subscription.

To learn more, read our detailed SUSE Linux Enterprise vs. openSUSE Leap Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs. openSUSE Leap

April 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:

Categories and Ranking

openSUSE Leap

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

13th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 6.3%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 7.1%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

NagendraKavadi

Systems Analyst at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

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.

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Dominique Locksley

Linux System Administrator at Adapt IT

Has good kernel modules and upgrades

I like how the tool handles kernel modules and upgrades - we rarely have issues after upgrades, unlike with other Linux distributions like Oracle Linux or Ubuntu. The kernel module management is excellent. Changes made in one version typically work the same in other versions too, which isn't always the case with other distributions. There's also lots of information and community support available if you run into any problems, both on the official website and in forums and user groups. I know many people who use it specifically, so it's easy to get independent support if needed. I've been working with the tool for a long time, since 2003, before they became SUSE Linux Enterprise. It's always been one of the most admin-friendly Linux versions.

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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."

"The most valuable feature by far has been the virtualization capabilities of the operating system."

"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."

"Stable - it just runs without the necessity to reboot."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the BTRFS file system, which allows you to take snapshots."

"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."

"The technical support services are good."

"The return on investment has been significant, especially considering its cost-effectiveness compared to other solutions."

"The main feature is that Linux is flexible to work with for most web-based applications."

"The most important feature is the automatic kernel lifecycle subscription, which is critical for us because the server cannot go down once we start offering any services on the cluster."

"The solution offers a secure operation system."

"It's a flexible solution."

"It also was very easy to setup, and offered an easy to use advanced setup option as well. This helped to create special configurations for different use cases."

"It's easy to set up."

More SUSE Linux Enterprise pros

Cons

"In the future, the Active Directory could improve."

"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."

"It would be helpful if we could easily switch from openSUSE Leap for testing to SUSE Linux Enterprise for production."

"Like most Linux-based operating systems, the biggest challenge Leap faces is the GUI."

"There is room for improvement in the console."

"Compared with the competition, of late actually, the solution has increased its pricing tremendously."

"The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu."

"I would appreciate the product's future releases being lighter and operating more efficiently on smaller systems."

"I would like to see better functionality for interacting with cloud-based systems."

"The free version sometimes has security holes."

"They should improve their educational portal."

"The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu."

"Sometimes it is a bit of work for developers to change the configurations."

More SUSE Linux Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source."

"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."

"The cost of this solution was reasonable and it was within our budget."

"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"There is no license for this solution, there is only a subscription of support available."

"Anyone can use Linux because it is open-source."

"The product is expensive. We purchase its yearly license."

"The product's licensing options align well with the evolving landscape of Linux variants."

"SUSE Linux Enterprise is reasonably priced compared to other operating systems. I find it's a much better option for us than Oracle, for example, because of the pricing structure. The pricing is easier to explain to clients and makes it easier to get clients' commitment. The licensing is also simpler to manage and keep track of. Their responsiveness is great - they give feedback very quickly when we ask questions about licensing or other aspects. This helps ensure we're always at the gold standard regarding licensing and everything related to SUSE Linux Enterprise."

"As far as licensing goes, there is nothing unusual here. The price and model have worked fine for my organization."

"The tool is expensive compared to Red Hat. I rate its pricing a nine out of ten."

More SUSE Linux Enterprise pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

14%

Educational Organization

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about openSUSE Leap?

openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

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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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?

I used the open-source version, so there were no setup costs.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?

The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu. The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications. Additionally, I encounter...

See all answers

Comparisons

Ubuntu Linux vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 21% of the time

Rocky Linux vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 18% of the time

Fedora Linux vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 10% of the time

CentOS vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 6% of the time

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 5% of the time

More openSUSE Leap Competitors

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 31% of the time

Ubuntu Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 18% of the time

Rocky Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

CentOS vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 5% of the time

More SUSE Linux Enterprise Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

April 2025

Download openSUSE Leap product report

Buyer's Guide

SUSE Linux Enterprise

April 2025

Download SUSE Linux Enterprise product report

Overview

openSUSE Leap is a brand new way of building openSUSE and is new type of hybrid Linux distribution. Leap uses source from SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE), which gives Leap a level of stability unmatched by other Linux distributions, and combines that with community developments to give users, developers and sysadmins the best stable Linux experience available. Contributor and enterprise efforts for Leap bridge a gap between matured packages and newer packages found in openSUSE’s other distribution Tumbleweed.

openSUSE

SUSE Linux Enterprise is a versatile operating system ideal for deploying solutions, managing applications, and running certain applications. It is also used for migrating SAP workloads to the cloud, integrating with SAP HANA solutions and products, and as an operating system for application servers.

The solution is praised for its YaST tool for easier server administration, compatibility with Oracle and SAP, stability, scalability, ease of use, extensive documentation, pacemaker cluster, and SUSE Manager for patching. SUSE Linux offers extended support for each version and a special edition for SAP applications.

SUSE

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, ...

Buyer's Guide

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs. openSUSE Leap

April 2025

Free Report: SUSE Linux Enterprise vs. openSUSE Leap

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