CentOS vs openSUSE Leap comparison

CentOS and openSUSE are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. CentOS is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.9, while openSUSE is ranked #13 with an average rating of 9.0. CentOS holds a 4.6% mindshare in OSB, compared to openSUSE’s 6.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of CentOS users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of openSUSE users who would recommend it.

CentOS

Read 69 CentOS reviews

6,682 Views
6,570 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

openSUSE Leap

Read 6 openSUSE Leap reviews

6,234 Views
5,650 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

CentOS

openSUSE Leap

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

CentOS and openSUSE Leap compete in the enterprise-level operating system category. openSUSE Leap seems to have the upper hand due to its advanced features, user-friendly deployment, and higher ROI.

Features: CentOS reviews highlight stability, strong community support, and reliability. openSUSE Leap reviews emphasize advanced tools, stability, and flexibility. openSUSE Leap offers more advanced features, making it a preferred choice for users needing comprehensive tools.

Room for Improvement: CentOS can enhance its graphical management tools, software repositories, and hardware compatibility. openSUSE Leap could benefit from better hardware compatibility, a more streamlined update process, and improved software repository management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CentOS users appreciate its straightforward deployment and strong community support but mention occasional complexities in initial setup. openSUSE Leap users find deployment easier due to comprehensive documentation and efficient customer service. openSUSE Leap edges out due to its user-friendly deployment and customer service.

Pricing and ROI: CentOS is praised for low setup costs and satisfactory ROI. openSUSE Leap, while having slightly higher setup costs, is viewed as offering higher ROI due to its extensive features and support. openSUSE Leap's higher ROI makes it attractive despite the initial investment.

To learn more, read our detailed CentOS vs. openSUSE Leap Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CentOS vs. openSUSE Leap

June 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

CentOS

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 4.6%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 6.4%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

Mahender Nirwan

Software developer at TAIGLE LLC

In-depth documentation available and command-line utility works well

One issue I recently faced, but I think it was due to my IT support guys, was that when the server storage gets full, the service crashes. It's very difficult to regain access and stability in that situation. That could be improved. So, the stability might be improved. But I don't think it's a CentOS-level issue. The system administrators need to come up with a solution for that, but I don't think it's CentOS's fault. I haven't done any research [R&D] on this issue. There's one thing for sure. We recently migrated from CentOS 7 to CentOS 9, and it was a bit difficult. For example, updating Windows is simple; you just download it, and it takes about 15-20 minutes. But that's not the case with migrating from CentOS 7 to 9. We had to back up the entire server, launch a new server, and then restore the backup to the new server. We couldn't directly migrate. I think that was a bit of a problem. The setup and updates are not that new in CentOS.

Read full review

Nagendra Kavadi

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"You can work with the UI or in command line, if you prefer."

"The product is based on Red Hat and very stable."

"There are a lot of sources on the internet that you can use to solve any issues, and people share their experiences. It's not a closed system"

"It helps us install and deploy our applications."

"The solution is open source."

"The pricing is good. We pay a minimal fee."

"The user interface of CentOS is intuitive, we can also use the command prompt."

"We particularly like that we can remove the graphic user interface to minimize attack settings for the operating system."

More CentOS pros

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

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

"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 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."

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

Cons

"Integration with other platforms could be improved."

"CentOS can be somewhat difficult for beginners, as it has a complex UI, especially for those not in the IT field."

"The GUI interface could always be better."

"Currently, CentOS is not providing support, so you will not get new packages that are compatible with that operating system."

"There is no notification before updates are applied to the solution, which occasionally means that new functionality isn't compatible with how the product is currently being used, and causes issues."

"The solution could improve by making the management tools better for the DevOps teams. For example, WebEX and Webstacks."

"The solution must improve its security."

"Integration with Open Stack could be improved."

More CentOS cons

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

"Somehow the change from OS12.x via 13.x to Leap was a bit bumpy and some old issues seemed to reappear."

"There is room for improvement in the console."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"CentOS is a free solution."

"Once you buy the license, Linux will provide you with yearly or monthly patches, so your systems will be scalable for a long time."

"It's freeware, so we can use it without worrying about licensing."

"CentOS is an open source that is free of cost."

"There are no costs for CentOS, it is open-source."

"We use the free, open-source solution because we cannot afford the price for Linux."

"There is no license required for this solution."

"The product is free."

More CentOS pricing and cost advice

"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 solution is open-source."

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

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Comparison Review

it_user281973

Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 24, 2017

It's improved our company's system environments that run Oracle databases.

Red Hat is mission critical to our environment Red Hat has improved the mission critical environments running Oracle databases, while CentOS has improved our web environment and MySQL. Oracle and SAP Environment and all HPC environments. 10 years No issues Very stable i don´t find any problem…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

16%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is fantastic. It is an inexpensive solution that has excellent security, performance, and stability, and also lots of features. I specifically like that the solution has fe...

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What do you like most about CentOS?

CentOS is very easy to use, and all the commands are user-friendly.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CentOS?

CentOS is a free product with free updates. There are third-party companies available for support, but they charge varying amounts for their services.

See all answers

What do you like most about openSUSE Leap?

openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman.

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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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Oracle Linux vs CentOS

Compared 36% of the time

Ubuntu Linux vs CentOS

Compared 11% of the time

Windows Server vs CentOS

Compared 8% of the time

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs CentOS

Compared 8% of the time

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs CentOS

Compared 8% of the time

More CentOS Competitors

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 27% of the time

Ubuntu Linux vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 20% of the time

Rocky Linux vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 18% of the time

Fedora Linux vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 10% of the time

Debian vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 4% of the time

More openSUSE Leap Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CentOS

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

June 2025

Download openSUSE Leap product report

Overview

CentOS is a versatile operating system with many use cases, including virtual spaces, scientific computing, data center servers, web-based applications, and more. Its valuable features include customization options, low memory consumption, performance, scalability, open-source nature, cost-saving, and compatibility with Red Hat packages.

The solution has helped organizations save money on licensing and improve testing capabilities for new implementations without spending additional resources. CentOS is a stable, reliable, and efficient operating system that is easy to use and integrate with other applications and services.

CentOS

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

Buyer's Guide

CentOS vs. openSUSE Leap

June 2025

Free Report: CentOS vs. openSUSE Leap

Find out what your peers are saying about CentOS vs. openSUSE Leap and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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