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Kali Linux vs Oracle Solaris 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
Kali Linux offers cost-effective security tools with DevOps integration, saving time and resources without upfront costs.
Sentiment score
4.6
Oracle Solaris offers high ROI with stability, integration, reduced downtime, performance boosts, and cost benefits, enhancing operational efficiency.
Integrating Kali Linux with DevOps tools has resulted in reduced operational costs due to automated test cases, making it a worthwhile investment with significant returns by decreasing the attack surface area and the frequency of attack incidents.
SWE-1 at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If we had installed it on-premises or through other means, it would have incurred significant money and effort to create the VMs, deploy it on machines, and then delete and format it after use.
Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Kali Linux is a time-saving and cost-saving solution.
Senior Solution Architect & Delivery Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
In terms of ROI, there have been performance improvements because Oracle Solaris is lighter.
Technology Consultant at Clarinox Technologies Kenya
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Kali Linux users rely on active community forums and documentation for effective support and troubleshooting, with generally positive experiences.
Sentiment score
4.6
Oracle Solaris support is 24/7, efficient yet sometimes slow, with helpful tools and mixed user ratings on effectiveness.
Since most of the tools and other things are community-based, the documentation and other community support are very good.
Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I was able to solve the problems I was experiencing.
Product security engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Customer support for Kali Linux relies heavily on community documentation due to its open-source nature.
Assistant Consultant at cmc
The technical support by Oracle is good.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Kali Linux offers scalability across environments, supporting devices efficiently with positive performance linked to available hardware resources.
Sentiment score
6.1
Oracle Solaris excels in scalable performance, efficiently handling extensive workloads with robust file systems and virtualization, despite hardware dependencies.
It is lightweight compared to Windows and scales well, especially in a VM environment.
Assistant Consultant at cmc
You can use it on cloud, VPS, and on-premises.
Security Researcher at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I would describe Kali Linux's scalability as very scalable because I can deploy it on a range of different machines, whether that is my laptop or using maybe Raspberry Pi or Android.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Regarding vertical scalability, Oracle Solaris is probably one of the most scalable operating systems in the industry.
System specialist at Savecore
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Kali Linux is praised for stability, especially in virtualization, with regular updates and effective maintenance by Offensive Security.
Sentiment score
8.2
Oracle Solaris is highly stable and secure, with rare crashes and minimal disruptions, making it ideal for reliable operations.
We utilize snapshots for penetration testing, allowing us to revert back if anything goes wrong, which is one of its good features.
Assistant Consultant at cmc
Due to the huge user base that uses it, it is kept up to date regularly.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Kali Linux is stable for my use cases, though not the latest version.
Product security engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Kali Linux needs improved usability, stability, and community support, with enhancements in security, documentation, and AI integration.
Oracle Solaris needs improvements in hardware support, GUI, training, cost reduction, integration, package management, and open-source tool support.
If real-time customized port scanning can be added, for example, instead of a default port such as 8080 or 443, if we can use a customized port such as 9876, that capability would be great.
Senior Technical Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
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.
Senior Solution Architect & Delivery Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
If there were video courses attached to how to safely use it, especially for absolute beginners with no previous experience using Linux operating systems, I think that could be very useful.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The firewall must be more capable because security is the main concern of every organization and every user.
Head Of IT at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Oracle Solaris needs to improve its compatibility with office tools like Excel.
Technology Consultant at Clarinox Technologies Kenya
Oracle is going to discontinue it, so I do not think any improvement is possible in Oracle Solaris.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
 

Setup Cost

Kali Linux is cost-effective for enterprises, primarily free but offers a perpetual license option for enterprise versions.
Enterprise users find Oracle Solaris pricing complex; it's beneficial for performance but costly compared to Linux, with desired pricing improvements.
I simply create a VM, so there are no costs involved.
Senior Solution Architect & Delivery Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Kali Linux has been positive, as it operates under an open-source model.
SWE-1 at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The pricing and the deployment, resource usage are all spot on and clearly defined, making it helpful and useful for me to deploy and calculate costs.
Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
Technology Consultant at Clarinox Technologies Kenya
 

Valuable Features

Kali Linux excels in security tools, seamless installation, and customization, making it ideal for ethical hackers and IT professionals.
Oracle Solaris offers superior virtualization, security, performance, ZFS features, and seamless Oracle integration, praised for stability and reliability.
Kali Linux has positively impacted my organization by improving efficiency in penetration testing; its open-source nature permits extensive customization and inclusion of numerous comprehensive pre-installed tools, contributing to a secure network environment with effective monitoring of network applications.
SWE-1 at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
A unique and really helpful feature of Kali Linux, compared to other operating systems, is that many of the offensive security tools are already pre-configured and pre-installed.
Product security engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Kali Linux positively impacts my organization by allowing us to monitor changes and security posture for the company.
Consultant at Cognizant
The operating system is lightweight, which makes it easier to use on an average computer compared to systems like Windows.
Technology Consultant at Clarinox Technologies Kenya
Additionally, regarding security, you do not have to implement any antivirus software.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
Oracle introduced a GUI environment with Solaris 11.5.
Head Of IT at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Kali Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Kali Linux is 4.1%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 2.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Kali Linux4.1%
Oracle Solaris2.4%
Other93.5%
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.
Shafiq Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of IT at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Long-term server platform has supported secure banking operations and simplified virtualization
Oracle Solaris is a very good operating system. Most of the time, we do not need to change or replace any configuration. If at any point in time we need to change something, it is really simple and a user-friendly environment. Although it is a CLI, Oracle introduced a GUI environment with Solaris 11.5. Currently, 11.5 has the operating system GUI as well as the CLI. The technical persons working on the operating system most of the time prefer to work on the CLI. It is actually really good and easy to use. As it is a server-level operating system, most of the time you do not need any extra features in the operating system because you are not using the operating system on home machines, desktops, or laptop machines. The extra features are not needed if we are talking about the enterprise level or an official operating system.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
12%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Kali Linux?
I use the tool with Nmap to perform network audits. We use it to find vulnerabilities in our network through attacks. It's for those who want to launch or create viruses or perform attacks on syste...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kali Linux?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Kali Linux has been that it was free to use.
What needs improvement with Kali Linux?
I think Kali Linux is good, but there is a widespread misunderstanding related to Kali Linux because many people believe Kali Linux is a tool for hackers and that anything can be hacked using it. T...
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Solaris 11, Solaris
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Siemens, IVV
Find out what your peers are saying about Kali Linux vs. Oracle Solaris and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.