Amazon Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and SUSE are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.5, while SUSE is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.9. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.5% mindshare in OSB, compared to SUSE’s 4.4% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of SUSE users who would recommend it.

Amazon Linux

Read 47 Amazon Linux reviews

4,580 Views
2,840 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Read 36 SUSE Linux Enterprise reviews

8,867 Views
7,892 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Amazon Linux

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

SUSE Linux Enterprise and Amazon Linux compete in the enterprise-level Linux distributions category. While SUSE Linux Enterprise is noted for its robust support and enterprise-grade security features, Amazon Linux holds an advantage with its seamless AWS integration and cloud-centric efficiency.

Features: SUSE Linux Enterprise is known for high scalability and comprehensive management tools. It excels in enterprise system complexity, supporting multiple architectures and enhancing security. Amazon Linux is optimized for AWS integration, offering easy customization and automation features suited to cloud-native applications, with compatibility with AWS services and tools being a distinct advantage.

Room for Improvement: SUSE Linux Enterprise could enhance its deployment speed and ease in cloud environments, streamline the learning curve associated with SUSE-specific tools, and expand its documentation precision. Amazon Linux might benefit from broadening support channels beyond AWS standard channels, improving community support, and incorporating a more user-friendly GUI for broader usability beyond CLI environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SUSE Linux Enterprise provides extensive documentation and strong support, simplifying deployment in diverse environments. Its proactive and responsive customer service sets it apart. Amazon Linux offers optimized deployment for AWS infrastructure with straightforward AWS tool integration, maximizing the ease of deployment within AWS ecosystems, albeit relying on AWS's standard support channels.

Pricing and ROI: SUSE Linux Enterprise involves higher upfront costs, driven by its extensive support and features, potentially leading to a strong ROI for enterprises desiring comprehensive services. Amazon Linux offers cost-efficient solutions within the AWS ecosystem, showing lower initial setup costs and rapid ROI for those dedicated to cloud technologies, balancing upfront investment with cloud-specific advantages.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Linux vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Linux vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise

June 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 900,277 peers since 2012

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

5.0

Amazon Linux offers cost savings, efficiency, and scalability through zero licensing fees, seamless AWS integration, and ARM optimization.

Sentiment score

4.9

SUSE Linux Enterprise provides better ROI and cost savings for SAP deployment than Red Hat, enhancing revenue by 10-15%.

With Amazon Linux, selecting and launching instances on a public cloud provider means the machine spins up in fewer than ten seconds, making it efficient.

reviewer2797587

Cloud Solution Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

By switching the compute fleet from a paid distribution to Amazon Linux, we have reduced our OS-related overhead cost by 100%.

BasilJiji

System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Some wins commonly seen after switching, particularly when moving from general-purpose distributions such as Ubuntu, include approximately twenty to forty percent better price-performance ratio.

Janindra Janekumaradi

configuration and management deployment at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Linux report

I have seen a return on investment by switching our clusters from on-prem to Azure public cloud, using our same Bring Your Own Licenses, which saved costs on licensing.

G Srivastava

Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SUSE Linux Enterprise report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.2

Amazon Linux support is highly rated for fast responses, knowledgeable engineers, and excellent problem-solving, ensuring user satisfaction.

Sentiment score

5.6

SUSE Linux Enterprise support is generally praised for expertise, though experiences vary, with high costs for certain interactions.

Amazon has the best expertise and they are available 24/7.

Saurab Gnagurde

IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy

Timely and helpful responses for performance, updates, or AWS integration issues.

Anastasiya Sousa

QA Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

It offers specific advantages and constraints depending on the use case.

reviewer2738745

Cloud Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Linux report

SUSE Linux Enterprise provides a stable, secure, and well-supported platform for enterprise workloads, with powerful management tools and robust support for clustering, cloud, and containers.

MoezCHEBBI

Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl

The customer support is good; whenever we have opened a case, they have provided detailed explanations of the issues and resolutions.

G Srivastava

Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

I rate the customer service 10 out of 10 because SUSE has 24/7 availability support, extended support, security, multi-Linux distribution support, upgradation, and everything is user-friendly.

Ajit Gite

Devops MAnager at DXC Technology

For more quotes and insights, download the SUSE Linux Enterprise report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.1

Amazon Linux boasts high scalability, seamless AWS integration, and consistent reliability for efficient vertical and horizontal scaling across regions.

Sentiment score

6.0

SUSE Linux Enterprise is praised for its strong scalability, ease of maintenance, cloud compatibility, but faces some kernel issues.

Since it is tightly integrated with AWS services, I can easily scale instances up or down based on demand using EC2 auto-scaling and load balancing.

Vibin Thomas

Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems

The compatibility of container scalability with Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS, along with performance optimizations and low latency for workloads.

Vishal Kayande

Technical Trainer at DIEMS Chh.Sambhajinagar

Its real scalability comes from its seamless integration with AWS tools like CloudFormation, Auto Scaling, and user data scripts, which allow me to deploy and configure hundreds of identical ready-to-use instances automatically.

Leo Ladeira

Student at Unemployed at the moment

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Linux report

Its scalability is quite good since we are using Azure, which allows us to easily scale up or down our resources as needed.

G Srivastava

Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

SUSE Linux Enterprise is widely recognized for its strong scalability, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to global enterprises.

MoezCHEBBI

Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl

For more quotes and insights, download the SUSE Linux Enterprise report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.5

Amazon Linux ensures reliability and security with stable performance, seamless updates, and AWS integration, ideal for high-availability architectures.

Sentiment score

7.9

SUSE Linux Enterprise is praised for its stability and reliability, with occasional minor issues in newer versions and Hyper-V.

Combined with AWS managed infrastructure, it provides enterprise-grade reliability suitable for production workloads.

Deva Rugved

Software Engineer at INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

Since it is purpose-built for the cloud, it lacks the bloat of traditional desktop-focused distributions, which leads to fewer crashes and higher uptime.

BasilJiji

System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Compared to other Linux distributions, Amazon Linux is significantly more stable for AWS workloads because it is pre-optimized for EC2 hypervisor and includes integrated AWS tools out of the box.

Hussain Gagan

FullStack Developer at EnactOn Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Linux report

When HANA is utilized by many applications, I notice that while utilization does increase, we have never faced lagging or server unresponsiveness.

G Srivastava

Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

I would rate stability for SUSE Linux Enterprise an eight out of ten.

Prashant Saxena

Solution specialist Data and AI at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SUSE Linux Enterprise report

Room For Improvement

Migrating to Amazon Linux 2023 faces challenges with package availability, unclear documentation, lacking third-party support, and integration issues.

SUSE Linux Enterprise requires improvements in package management, security policies, cloud integration, UI, documentation, licensing, and support services.

Documentation explaining the differences between Ubuntu and Amazon Linux would be valuable.

Tim Robles

full stack developer at 71Lbs

Since we are working in a real-time manner and need to scale things immediately, the time it takes to boot an instance and then deploy things is preventing me from giving it a perfect rating.

reviewer2785038

Senior Data Engineer at a transportation company with 501-1,000 employees

My advice for others looking into using Amazon Linux is to make sure the command line is easy and that Amazon Linux has more performance than other Linux environments and is more secure than other Linux environments as well.

Arjun Parmar

DevOps Engineer at Wissen infotech

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Linux report

Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.

MoezCHEBBI

Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl

The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications.

Charles White Jr

Lead Desktop Support Technician at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

The license we subscribed to should carry over within the same instance family.

reviewer2754477

IT Manager at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SUSE Linux Enterprise report

Setup Cost

Amazon Linux offers cost-effective deployment with no license fees, enhancing appeal for enterprises seeking budget-friendly alternatives.

SUSE Linux Enterprise provides flexible pricing, emphasizing support over licensing, with mixed affordability perceptions but justified by scalability and support.

With Amazon Linux itself, there is no cost associated with using it, so I would say it is very good from a pricing perspective.

reviewer2795433

Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

If I am a new AWS customer, the AWS Free Tier typically includes, for the first six months, micro instances such as t2.micro or t3.micro for free.

Deva Rugved

Software Engineer at INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

I only pay for the EC2 instance and any other AWS resources I use, but the operating system itself has no licensing fees, which is a significant advantage over commercial operating systems like Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Windows servers, which incur extra hourly charges.

Leo Ladeira

Student at Unemployed at the moment

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Linux report

Upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.

reviewer2754477

IT Manager at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees

I would rate pricing for SUSE Linux Enterprise considering one is a high price and ten is a low price.

Prashant Saxena

Solution specialist Data and AI at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The licensing cost is a bit high.

G Srivastava

Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SUSE Linux Enterprise report

Valuable Features

Amazon Linux offers cost-effective, reliable performance with AWS integration, security features, and documentation for enhanced productivity and deployment efficiency.

SUSE Linux Enterprise excels in stability, security, easy administration, cost-effectiveness, and adaptability, ideal for enterprise workloads.

Amazon Linux handles this automatically. It is optimized for EC2, AWS hardware and software, mostly secure and stable, and there is no additional cost.

Saurab Gnagurde

IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy

In terms of service security, there are many constraint security protocols and policies that help me create our own networks, security groups, and inline policies.

Jagadeesh J

Software Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Amazon Linux's security updates have been helpful in general because I have had to be more specific in using the Identity Access Management (IAM) service so that we can have role-based permissions in preference to just keeping it open.

Steven Alila

Fullstack Developer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Linux report

SUSE Linux had a clean user interface, which was a valuable feature for me.

Charles White Jr

Lead Desktop Support Technician at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

It has a stable and reliable OS.

reviewer2754477

IT Manager at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The LVM is very easy to configure, along with simple disk scanning compared to other systems.

G Srivastava

Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SUSE Linux Enterprise report

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Linux

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

14th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Amazon Linux is 1.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 4.4%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SUSE Linux Enterprise	4.4%
Amazon Linux	1.5%
Other	94.1%

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

Saurab Gnagurde

IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy

“Amazon Linux delivers automated security updates— including live kernel patching in AL2023—ensuring protected workloads with minimal manual effort and zero-downtime patching.”

One improvement for Amazon Linux would be stronger support for running it outside AWS. Although Amazon provides local VM images for VirtualBox and VMware, they are intended mainly for development and testing. Unlike Ubuntu, Debian, or Red Hat, Amazon Linux is not designed or fully supported as a production OS in on-prem or hybrid environments. Expanding official support outside AWS would offer more flexibility for teams that maintain mixed infrastructure. Another area for improvement is the community ecosystem. Compared to Ubuntu or Red Hat, Amazon Linux has a smaller community and fewer third-party resources or tutorials. A larger ecosystem would make troubleshooting and adoption easier. Finally, improving backward compatibility between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023—especially around package management (DNF vs yum) and updated toolchains—would simplify upgrades for teams managing large fleets.

Read full review

MoezCHEBBI

Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl

Has delivered expert training and enabled smooth migrations using automated deployment tools

SUSE Linux Enterprise is a mature and reliable platform, but there are areas where it can be improved. Modernizing the system management tools is important as many users appreciate YaST for its centralized management, but there is a growing demand for more modern, web-based, and modular tools. The introduction of tools such as Agama, a web-based installer, and Cockpit in newer releases is a step in the right direction.SUSE has made progress with multi-Linux support, allowing organizations to manage and support not just SUSE systems but also other distributions such as Red Hat and CentOS; continuing to expand these capabilities, especially for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, will help organizations manage diverse infrastructure more effectively. Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

13%

Educational Organization

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	20

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	23

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon Linux?

Amazon Linux made a great change with the last version and made some features incompatible with the old version, so I did not like the new version and still prefer not to use Amazon Linux. Some opt...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon Linux?

I use Amazon Linux on EC2 machines for different kinds of servers. I typically run automation scripts, deploy fast web servers, and use Docker machines for testing purposes and any other proprietar...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Linux?

All Linux distributions have stability and security. The only advantage of Amazon Linux is the package system. I did not see any other great advantage. I prefer to use Ubuntu as my main option when...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs Amazon Linux

Compared 16% of the time

Debian vs Amazon Linux

Compared 15% of the time

AlmaLinux vs Amazon Linux

Compared 13% of the time

Alpine Linux vs Amazon Linux

Compared 8% of the time

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS - Noble (Arm) vs Amazon Linux

Compared 3% of the time

More Amazon Linux Competitors

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 16% of the time

Ubuntu Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 15% of the time

openSUSE Leap vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 12% of the time

CentOS vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 8% of the time

More SUSE Linux Enterprise Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Linux

June 2026

Download Amazon Linux product report

Buyer's Guide

SUSE Linux Enterprise

May 2026

Download SUSE Linux Enterprise product report

Also Known As

No data available

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3

Overview

Amazon Linux is a secure and stable distribution for cloud environments, optimized for AWS performance. It is widely adopted by developers seeking minimal disruption in deployment and management, offering a seamless operational experience.

Developed by Amazon Web Services, Amazon Linux provides an environment streamlined for performance on AWS infrastructure. By offering long-term support and regular security updates, it ensures crucial security and reliability. It is tailored to enhance cloud-centric application development, making it a preferred choice for developers needing efficient resource management. Its compatibility with a wide range of AWS tools and services makes it highly adaptable for cloud-native solutions.

What are the key features of Amazon Linux?

Security: Offers frequent updates and security patches for a reliable operating environment.
Performance: Optimized for AWS, improving speed and efficiency.
Flexibility: Easily customizable to meet specific application needs.
Long-term Support: Provides extended software support to reduce maintenance overhead.

What benefits or ROI should users look for in Amazon Linux reviews?

Integrated AWS Tools: Improves workflow efficiency by seamless integration with AWS ecosystem.
Regular Updates: Ensures up-to-date security and performance features.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational costs with optimized cloud resources.
Developer Satisfaction: Enhances developer productivity with streamlined resource management.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Amazon Linux is used to develop cloud applications that require secure data handling and robust performance. Media companies appreciate its flexibility and speed in managing high-demand scenarios, ensuring scalable content delivery and reliable performance.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

SUSE Linux Enterprise offers features like YaST for server management, seamless integration with Oracle and SAP, and a robust security setup. Renowned for stability, it efficiently supports workstations, SAP workloads, and cloud migrations across diverse industries.

SUSE Linux Enterprise is known for its lightweight design, high performance, and ease of installation. Its flexible architecture supports extensive documentation and efficient patching. The system uses the BTRFS file system for effective virtualization, and community support is significant. However, challenges include package updates causing conflicts, difficult initial setup and software management, high pricing, and support response times. Improvements in security compliance, cloud integration, hardware compatibility, and documentation are also needed.

What are SUSE Linux Enterprise's important features?

YaST Server Management: Simplifies server setup and configurations.
Oracle & SAP Integration: Enhances performance with major enterprise applications.
HANA Firewall: Provides robust security measures.
BTRFS File System: Supports advanced storage management and snapshots.
Virtualization: Efficiently runs multiple operating systems on a single machine.

What benefits should users expect from using SUSE Linux Enterprise?

Stability & Performance: Reliability for critical applications and workloads.
Lightweight Design: Reduces resource consumption while maintaining efficiency.
Community Support: Access to extensive user and developer collaboration.
Automated Upgrades: Simplifies system maintenance and updates.

Industries like healthcare and banking use SUSE Linux Enterprise for secure transactions and structured application deployment. It is also a choice for organizations involved in testing, automation, and web development, offering support for SAP HANA integration and facilitating cloud migrations.

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

Amazon Linux vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise

June 2026

Free Report: Amazon Linux vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise

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