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SUSE Linux Enterprise vs openSUSE Leap comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

openSUSE Leap
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
26th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
13th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 4.4%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 4.0%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SUSE Linux Enterprise4.0%
openSUSE Leap4.4%
Other91.6%
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.
Prashant Saxena - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution specialist Data and AI at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has supported ongoing hybrid deployments and integration but requires clearer feature documentation
I understand your point regarding my current use case for SUSE Linux Enterprise. I want to know if the purchase process is mostly directly from SUSE or through the AWS Marketplace, and what ways I am working with the vendor The high availability features in SUSE Linux Enterprise are helping in my…

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."
"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."
"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 most valuable feature by far has been the virtualization capabilities of the operating system."
"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."
"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."
"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."
"The stability of the solution is good. We have not had any issue with performance."
"Linux Enterprise is quite stable."
"It's easy to set up."
"The solution offers a secure operation system."
"It provides a stable and reliable OS, and I recommended it based on its stability and functionality."
"The initial setup for most modern Linux distributions is normally straightforward. Most of the common distributions use an ncurses or GUI install."
"SUSE Linux's most valuable feature is the documentation - there is a lot of documentation about how to create custom servers."
"SUSE Linux is the best enterprise Linux distribution, period."
 

Cons

"Somehow the change from OS12.x via 13.x to Leap was a bit bumpy and some old issues seemed to reappear."
"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."
"I would like openSUSE Leap to have better link integration with Windows."
"There is room for improvement in the console."
"Like most Linux-based operating systems, the biggest challenge Leap faces is the GUI."
"The free version sometimes has security holes."
"The product must improve its UI."
"Additionally, error handling needs improvement. The system should be more transparent when there's an error, rather than just declaring a generic error. It would be helpful if it could provide more specific information about the problem on that particular system. As it stands, you can waste a lot of time trying to troubleshoot these vague errors."
"They should improve their educational portal."
"Sometimes it is a bit of work for developers to change the configurations."
"SUSE could make more APIs available."
"If you want to do something simple like changing an IP number, you have to be quite aware of all the configuration files where you will change that."
"Compared with the competition, of late actually, the solution has increased its pricing tremendously."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source."
"openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost."
"The cost of this solution was reasonable and it was within our budget."
"This is an open-source operating system that can be used free of charge."
"The product is expensive. We purchase its yearly license."
"The tool is expensive compared to Red Hat. I rate its pricing a nine out of ten."
"The price is reasonable."
"The price of SUSE Linux Enterprise could be cheaper. Other solutions, such as"
"As far as licensing goes, there is nothing unusual here. The price and model have worked fine for my organization."
"When we first implemented this product, we had licenses for support."
"The license we pay is for Oracle. We make use of the community edition."
"I have to pay for a license in order to get support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
23%
University
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

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 Business9
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
I would rate pricing for SUSE Linux Enterprise considering one is a high price and ten is a low price.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
SUSE can make improvements to SUSE Linux Enterprise. I have suggestions about what they can add to the product to simplify users' lives. They need to intensely work on their marketing strategy.
What is your primary use case for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
I understand your point regarding my current use case for SUSE Linux Enterprise. I want to know if the purchase process is mostly directly from SUSE or through the AWS Marketplace, and what ways I ...
 

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 SUSE Linux Enterprise vs. openSUSE Leap and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
918,614 professionals have used our research since 2012.