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Kali Linux vs openSUSE Leap comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Kali Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Kali Linux is 4.2%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of openSUSE Leap is 4.5%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Kali Linux4.2%
openSUSE Leap4.5%
Other91.3%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Ciyagi Ciyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Solution Architect & Delivery Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Runs efficiently across devices and streamlines penetration testing workflows
Kali Linux could be improved by including more tools. I would personally like to see improvements in Kali Linux, particularly regarding Grub issues that sometimes occur when installing the VM. Additionally, I have experienced problems when updating Kali Linux from a higher version to a lower version, which resulted in crashes. These Grub issues should be resolved. I face significant challenges with Kali Linux regarding a major issue with the Grub loader becoming corrupted, which makes it very difficult to recover data.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tools available in Kali Linux are incredibly effective for conducting security assessments."
"It helped by having a single instance with many security tools already available to test and investigate security concerns."
"Kali Linux has positively impacted my work by facilitating and simplifying the setup for an operating system and installing tools."
"Kali Linux has positively impacted my organization significantly as it aids in red team work and penetration testing."
"Additionally, it now includes comprehensive migration analytics and reporting capabilities."
"The solution's stability is very good."
"Kali Linux is a very good tool and a good overall operating system to use when it comes to penetration testing, as it has a wonderful set of tools."
"I'm mostly using for the web security web application, so end map and the troubleshoot will it's my price, and it's available in ColliNX."
"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."
"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."
"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."
"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."
"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."
"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."
 

Cons

"The only real limitation I can see with Kali Linux is the steep learning curve of using it."
"From an improvement perspective, Kali Linux could include more ML to help with academic literature, as it is one of the areas where there are shortcomings in the solution."
"I would like to have automation in Kali Linux instead of manually configuring or setting up something in case of an upgrade."
"Sometimes you need a graphical interface, it would be easier to start with if the AMI already have it installed and enabled it."
"Some tools in Kali Linux lack documentation and details on how to use them, which is one area where it can be improved."
"The product should integrate AI and GPT capabilities."
"While Kali Linux has gotten better over the past years, it could be improved if it was bundled in a CLI-only pack."
"The tool is already stable and well-developed, so there's minimal feedback for enhancement or change. However, it should improve security, which is crucial, especially with the increasing use of Kali Linux in cloud environments."
"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."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I have used the free version."
"I use it free of charge."
"Kali Linux is a free product, and you don't have to pay for a license."
"The tool is open-source."
"Kali Linux offers a perpetual license, meaning you pay for it once and can use it. While free versions of Linux are available, Kali Linux, being an enterprise edition, usually comes with a perpetual license. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"The licensing fee is expensive compared to other products."
"It is an open-source tool."
"Kali Linux is open source."
"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."
"openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost."
"The solution is open-source."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
13%
Construction Company
11%
University
10%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
23%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kali Linux?
It is open source. We do not need to pay anything. Most of the tools are open source, so we do not need to pay for licensing. There is minimum cost we have to pay, and based on our expertise, we ca...
What needs improvement with Kali Linux?
Kali Linux is an operating system plus tool, and it is a Linux-based product, so if we need to do anything for Windows, we do not have an option to use the same type of tool. If Kali could provide ...
What is your primary use case for Kali Linux?
I use Kali Linux for vulnerability testing, sandbox analysis, red team penetration testing, and checking vulnerabilities in the network, checking vulnerabilities with users, and red teaming proacti...
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Comparisons

 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Kali Linux vs. openSUSE Leap and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.