SUSE Linux Enterprise vs openSUSE Leap comparison

openSUSE and SUSE are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. openSUSE is ranked #13 with an average rating of 9.0, while SUSE is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.2. openSUSE holds a 6.4% mindshare in OSB, compared to SUSE’s 6.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of openSUSE users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of SUSE users who would recommend it.

openSUSE Leap

Read 6 openSUSE Leap reviews

6,234 Views
5,650 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Read 32 SUSE Linux Enterprise reviews

8,546 Views
7,631 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

openSUSE Leap

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 3, 2025

SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap both compete in the Linux distribution category, with SUSE Linux Enterprise having the upper hand due to its enterprise-grade features like SAP and Oracle support, which cater to businesses requiring comprehensive solutions.

Features: SUSE Linux Enterprise includes an offline repository in DVD media and boasts strong support for the Oracle product stack and integration with SAP HANA and Windows Active Directory. Its YaST tool simplifies server management and pacemaker cluster management adds to its robustness. openSUSE Leap provides ease of use and server management capabilities, supported by the BTRFS file system for stability and ease of snapshots.

Room for Improvement: SUSE Linux Enterprise could enhance integration with Autodesk and improve the initial setup process. The complexity of updates and package conflicts and need for better cloud interaction are areas for improvement, alongside cost-effectiveness and clearer documentation. openSUSE Leap users highlight the need for improved GUI stability and better Active Directory integration along with more comprehensive documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SUSE Linux Enterprise offers deployment flexibility in public, private, and hybrid cloud environments and strong technical support praised for responsiveness. openSUSE Leap focuses on on-premises deployment with support mainly from community forums, providing a collaborative support experience.

Pricing and ROI: SUSE Linux Enterprise, as a paid solution, includes a support subscription and offers significant value, especially for SAP deployments compared to competitors like Red Hat. Despite recent pricing increases, it continues to be favored for its comprehensive enterprise capabilities. openSUSE Leap, being open-source and free, is an economical choice for users or organizations not needing extensive enterprise support, benefiting from community-driven support.

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

Buyer's Guide

SUSE Linux Enterprise 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

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

SUSE Linux Enterprise

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

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 openSUSE Leap is 6.4%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 6.9%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

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.

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Naveen Venugopal

Research Engineer at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

Efficient IT management with crucial automatic updates but needs developer-friendly configuration

Sometimes it is a bit of work for developers to change the configurations. Some kernels will not fit with some packages, and this aspect could be improved. Furthermore, the system's rigidity when updating packages and services needs improvement. Additionally, there should be more loosely bound functionalities to improve developer experience.

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

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

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

"openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman."

"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."

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

"From a functionality perspective, the suite is quite rich. We like that."

"SUSE Linux Enterprise is stable."

"I like how the tool handles kernel modules and upgrades - we rarely have issues after upgrades, unlike with other Linux distributions like Oracle Linux or Ubuntu. The kernel module management is excellent. Changes made in one version typically work the same in other versions too, which isn't always the case with other distributions. There's also lots of information and community support available if you run into any problems, both on the official website and in forums and user groups. I know many people who use it specifically, so it's easy to get independent support if needed. I've been working with the tool for a long time, since 2003, before they became SUSE Linux Enterprise. It's always been one of the most admin-friendly Linux versions."

"Out-of-the-box SLES supported all of our HBAs and hardware specific components."

"SUSE Linux was stable for me. I did not experience any problems with its stability."

"The technical support services are good."

"It also was very easy to setup, and offered an easy to use advanced setup option as well. This helped to create special configurations for different use cases."

"The initial setup is simple and takes five minutes for deployment and if you have automation in place, it will take four minutes."

More SUSE Linux Enterprise pros

Cons

"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."

"I would like openSUSE Leap to have better link integration with Windows."

"There is room for improvement in the console."

"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."

"Sometimes it is a bit of work for developers to change the configurations."

"We previously had trouble integrating Autodesk with the SUSE Manager, but the issue was resolved."

"I would like to see better functionality for interacting with cloud-based systems."

"The quality of support offered by SUSE Linux Enterprise is not that great, making it an area where improvements are required."

"Compared with the competition, of late actually, the solution has increased its pricing tremendously."

"If you want to do something simple like changing an IP number, you have to be quite aware of all the configuration files where you will change that."

"The platform doesn't support certain APMs."

"The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu."

More SUSE Linux Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source."

"This is an open-source operating system that can be used free of charge."

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

"openSUSE Leap is an open-source solution that is free of cost."

"When we first implemented this product, we had licenses for support."

"The product's licensing options align well with the evolving landscape of Linux variants."

"The product is expensive. We purchase its yearly license."

"Regarding pricing, everybody would want it to be cheaper."

"SUSE Linux Enterprise is reasonably priced compared to other operating systems. I find it's a much better option for us than Oracle, for example, because of the pricing structure. The pricing is easier to explain to clients and makes it easier to get clients' commitment. The licensing is also simpler to manage and keep track of. Their responsiveness is great - they give feedback very quickly when we ask questions about licensing or other aspects. This helps ensure we're always at the gold standard regarding licensing and everything related to SUSE Linux Enterprise."

"I would advise others to download the free or strictly open source versions, then test them in their environment before committing to a purchase. This will allow for testing suitability for applications that they want to run."

"Anyone can use Linux because it is open-source."

"The price is reasonable."

More SUSE Linux Enterprise pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

16%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about openSUSE Leap?

openSUSE Leap has helped me with using containers in Podman.

See all answers

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

What do you like most about SUSE Linux Enterprise?

The initial setup is simple and takes five minutes for deployment and if you have automation in place, it will take four minutes.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?

I used the open-source version, so there were no setup costs.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?

The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu. The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications. Additionally, I encounter...

See all answers

Comparisons

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

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 6% of the time

CentOS vs openSUSE Leap

Compared 6% of the time

More openSUSE Leap Competitors

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 30% of the time

Ubuntu Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 19% of the time

Rocky Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

CentOS vs SUSE Linux Enterprise

Compared 5% of the time

More SUSE Linux Enterprise Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

June 2025

Download openSUSE Leap product report

Buyer's Guide

SUSE Linux Enterprise

June 2025

Download SUSE Linux Enterprise product report

Also Known As

No data available

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3

Overview

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

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

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs. openSUSE Leap

June 2025

Free Report: SUSE Linux Enterprise vs. openSUSE Leap

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