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Oracle Solaris vs Rocky Linux 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
Oracle Solaris enhances ROI with integration, ease of use, troubleshooting efficiencies, despite concerns about costs and limited feature benefits.
Sentiment score
3.9
Switching to Rocky Linux saved costs and time, enhanced problem resolution, and supported increased employee onboarding and organizational growth.
In terms of ROI, there have been performance improvements because Oracle Solaris is lighter.
When it comes to return on investment, a lot of money is saved since we moved from a purchased license to the open source provided by Rocky Linux.
ROI has been good as we have significant open source community involvement.
I have seen a return on investment since there was definitely money saved at the time due to the lack of need for licensing since Rocky is available openly.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Oracle Solaris support is reliable with 24/7 service, though some users find self-resolution faster than official assistance.
Sentiment score
4.1
Rocky Linux customer service is reliable, with quick responses, good documentation, and high user satisfaction despite limited official reliance.
The technical support by Oracle is good.
The support level is extraordinary, providing on-time assistance.
We have not yet needed to contact a vendor regarding Rocky Linux.
Even if we raise a support ticket, we receive a resolution or a reply from the team within two business days.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Oracle Solaris offers robust scalability and adaptability, excelling in both vertical and horizontal scaling for large enterprises.
Sentiment score
5.3
Rocky Linux is scalable and user-friendly, with organizations recommending automation tools for efficient setup and expansion.
Regarding vertical scalability, Oracle Solaris is probably one of the most scalable operating systems in the industry.
Even if the server is not responding and we want to attach the volume on another instance or a temporary instance, it is very easy and straightforward with no hiccups.
It has handled growth or changing needs well.
The scalability is quite good, though there are some issues with Rocky Linux.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Oracle Solaris is renowned for its high stability, reliable security, and minimal crash occurrences compared to other operating systems.
Sentiment score
7.1
Rocky Linux is praised for its stability, ease of use, scalability, and reliable performance on low-resource systems and hardware.
Rocky Linux is stable, scalable, and it is very much easier to use.
Rocky Linux is stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle Solaris users seek better compatibility, modernization, open-source support, and enhanced documentation, with improved interfaces akin to Linux.
Rocky Linux needs identity clarity, better integrations, faster updates, improved security, API tools, documentation, and enhanced community support.
Oracle Solaris needs to improve its compatibility with office tools like Excel.
Oracle is going to discontinue it, so I do not think any improvement is possible in Oracle Solaris.
It is based on customer requirements, as they might want to use Rocky Linux or Ubuntu, depending on their needs.
Rocky Linux could be improved by having more integration with Kubernetes.
Currently, it takes more than one month to release a new package or kernel, so speeding that up would help reduce reported vulnerability remediations.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Oracle Solaris competitive yet costly, valuing integration and security but noting complex licensing and setup expenses.
Rocky Linux is praised for its affordability and streamlined licensing, appealing to cost-conscious enterprises and AWS users.
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
We switched to Rocky Linux because of the license price, and in our business, we don't need to have a higher cost as that is not a good idea.
There is no extra cost for a license if we are purchasing Rocky Linux from the AWS Marketplace.
Rocky Linux is free, and I can download it and deploy it in whatever environment I have, whether it be H3C, VMware, or Hyper-V.
 

Valuable Features

Oracle Solaris excels in virtualization, security, and performance with features like Zones and ZFS, offering reliable cloud readiness.
Rocky Linux offers stability, cost savings, easy integration, and strong community support, making it ideal for critical systems management.
The operating system is lightweight, which makes it easier to use on an average computer compared to systems like Windows.
Additionally, regarding security, you do not have to implement any antivirus software.
Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization, specifically through cost savings, because we did not have to buy any licenses or extra licenses of other distros, such as Oracle or Red Hat.
For production deployment, Rocky Linux is a great choice because it offers full RHEL compatibility without licensing costs, along with strong community support.
Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released.
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rocky Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 1.9%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rocky Linux is 14.3%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Rocky Linux14.3%
Oracle Solaris1.9%
Other83.8%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Prabir Kumar Kundu - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience robust performance and security for large organizations
For big organizations who look for performance, better security, and better manageability, I usually recommend Oracle Solaris. It is not recommended for smaller organizations because you need a specialized person to manage this operating system. Linux can be managed by anybody. However, maintaining Oracle Solaris, creating clusters, and tuning at the OS level needs a specialized resource. Smaller organizations may not have those resources, or it will be too costly for them to maintain. Everybody is moving towards the cloud. I am not sure how they are going to do that because it is going to be a dead product already compared to its competitors. I would recommend Oracle Linux instead of Oracle Solaris now. On a scale of 1-10, I rate Oracle Solaris a 9.
Massimiliano Adamo - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported seamless migrations and enabled running complex data workloads securely
The best features Rocky Linux offers include clustering and all the packages from Red Hat.Rocky Linux has impacted my organization very positively because we migrated everything from CentOS and Windows servers to Rocky Linux. Everything is clear, with good packaging, and now it's version 9.6, which is very important for us due to security problems since we are in Europe. Rocky Linux is very good for security and other aspects. Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released. We need to maintain a system similar to Red Hat, which is very stable and has many features such as file system, topology, and containers.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about Rocky Linux?
It's very simple to work with, easy to learn, and know where things are.
What needs improvement with Rocky Linux?
Currently, I have nothing to say about how Rocky Linux can be improved. The rolling update for Rocky Linux is very limited and focused on stability, so the software may not always be the latest ver...
What is your primary use case for Rocky Linux?
For the last two years, I have been using Rocky Linux for our project. I do all the things: installations of Rocky Linux, coding in Rocky Linux, and using Rocky Linux as a platform. We use Rocky Li...
 

Also Known As

Solaris 11, Solaris
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Siemens, IVV
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Solaris vs. Rocky Linux and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.