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Kali Linux vs Windows 10 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
6.2
Kali Linux improves vulnerability testing, offering cost-effective security benefits through AWS deployment and open-source tools for businesses.
Sentiment score
1.3
Windows 10 increases efficiency with fewer crashes, better security, and user-friendly features, achieving ROI within 18 months.
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
I have saved time by avoiding the lag I sometimes face on the TryHackMe in-built machine, and I have learned more efficiently.
Associate Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Kali Linux provides strong community support and documentation but lacks direct customer support, relying on user self-research.
Sentiment score
4.8
Windows 10 users often prefer online resources over Microsoft support, despite its helpfulness and knowledgeable staff, due to faster solutions.
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
We have informed Microsoft, but the issue is still there, and it has been more than three to four months.
Technology\Cloud Architect | IT Infrastructure Security & Compliance at IDFC Bank
The customer service and support from Microsoft are quite responsive and generally good.
Senior Manager at Morgan Stanley
The Office 365 support is good, it takes a while sometimes to point to the problem, but they're good.
IT Administrator at a university with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Users find Kali Linux scalable and flexible, supporting diverse platforms, ideal for penetration testing and educational purposes.
Sentiment score
5.4
Windows 10 is adaptable and scalable for diverse organizations, offering seamless expansion and cross-device compatibility with regular updates.
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.
Enterprise Cloud Operations Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Regarding the scalability of Kali Linux for my work and projects, whenever I was conducting brute force attacks and provided more than two or three million lines of payload, the system would freeze.
Product security engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We can focus fully on our work without pressure or concerns about issues on our own PCs.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
For scalability, I would rate it a nine or ten because performance-wise, Windows 10 has never given me those issues.
Senior Engagement Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I can increase the licensing amount easily when there is company growth or when new people join.
Assistant Vice President at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Kali Linux is praised for stability and dependability, recommended for virtualization, with occasional issues resolved using older versions.
Sentiment score
6.5
Windows 10 is appreciated for stability and reliability, despite occasional update issues and third-party software compatibility challenges.
Due to the huge user base that uses it, it is kept up to date regularly.
Enterprise Cloud Operations 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
Kali Linux is very stable for my needs.
Consultant at Cognizant
The challenges were related to third-party agents and their supportability.
Technology\Cloud Architect | IT Infrastructure Security & Compliance at IDFC Bank
Windows 10 is stable for my daily development work, providing frequent security updates and user-friendly updates, which are excellent.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
I would rate the stability of the product an eight.
Senior Engagement Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Kali Linux users seek better automation, UI, security, and support, with improved installation, hardware detection, and beginner-friendly resources.
Windows 10 requires improvements in updates, security, user interface, stability, resource usage, pricing, and compatibility for better user experience.
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.
Enterprise Cloud Operations Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft can improve their Teams product because everybody uses Teams, and it's very clunky and unfriendly in terms of scrolling back, downloading files, and moving back and forth within the different teams.
Senior Engagement Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Investment in Windows 10 may not be ideal as the world is changing with advancing technology in the AI age.
DevOps Engineer at CipherTV Corp.
The transitions within Teams are not smooth, and call quality in meetings is not great.
Senior Manager at Morgan Stanley
 

Setup Cost

Kali Linux is a cost-effective, open-source solution for enterprises seeking a comprehensive operating system with no licensing costs.
Enterprise buyers find Windows 10 licensing flexible but desire clearer pricing and competitive adjustments for better affordability.
Kali Linux is free software, an operating system that's available to download without any cost or licensing fees.
Associate Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
For those buying a Windows license, it might be better to buy a Windows 11 license.
DevOps Engineer at CipherTV Corp.
Windows is considered overpriced, especially given the normal software functionalities.
Design engineer at a construction company with 201-500 employees
Windows 10 is cost-effective when compared to other competitors available such as Mac and Linux.
BI developer at Jubilee Life Insurance Company Ltd
 

Valuable Features

Kali Linux is favored for its pre-installed security tools, user-friendly design, and customizable features for efficient cybersecurity tasks.
Windows 10 is popular for its user-friendly interface, enhanced security, fast performance, and strong application and hardware compatibility.
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
When using mapping software such as QGIS or ArcGIS, the system remains stable, especially when handling heavy files.
Co-Founder at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Device encryption is a main priority for us as developers in a FinTech company because we have the most secure user data.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
The configuration management tools, such as SACM, are effective.
Technology\Cloud Architect | IT Infrastructure Security & Compliance at IDFC Bank
 

Categories and Ranking

Kali Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windows 10
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
284
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Kali Linux is 3.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows 10 is 2.9%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Windows 102.9%
Kali Linux3.2%
Other93.9%
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.
R Pranavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Collaborative development has become more secure and efficient for our team
We have faced some issues with Windows OneDrive because if one developer has a folder in a common OneDrive folder, it took some time to show it to others. It becomes somewhat difficult to work, as there is latency on that, so if you update that, it will be more efficient and useful for the developers. My main focus on Windows 10 is the giving of regular updates, so it might take some time to update Windows, which is also mandatory. As a developer, when we are working with Windows 10, if it takes more time to update and restart the PC, it affects our efficiency at work. If we could stop the updates on a regular basis or if they were delivered faster, it would be easier. As a developer, the frequent updates are too annoying for working on it, so it would be better if we stop the frequent updates and only provide the most important ones. Performance issues over time due to background apps and programs piling up and using an SSD instead of a hard disk are also concerns.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
14%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Educational Organization
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Performing Arts
8%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business125
Midsize Enterprise64
Large Enterprise120
 

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...
What needs improvement with Windows 10?
We have faced some issues with Windows OneDrive because if one developer has a folder in a common OneDrive folder, it took some time to show it to others. It becomes somewhat difficult to work, as ...
What is your primary use case for Windows 10?
As a developer, we can work collaboratively, and Windows 10 is also good from a UI perspective. I chose to rate it an eight because I have faced issues when updates come in, which can be annoying. ...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Kali Linux vs. Windows 10 and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.