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Oracle Solaris vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 3, 2025

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
Oracle Solaris enhances ROI with integration, ease of use, troubleshooting efficiencies, despite concerns about costs and limited feature benefits.
Sentiment score
6.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides higher returns for SAP deployments than Red Hat, offering cost-effective subscription pricing and support savings.
In terms of ROI, there have been performance improvements because Oracle Solaris is lighter.
I have seen a return on investment by switching our clusters from on-prem to Azure public cloud, using our same Bring Your Own Licenses, which saved costs on licensing.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Oracle Solaris support is reliable with 24/7 service, though some users find self-resolution faster than official assistance.
Sentiment score
5.0
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers reliable paid support with variable costs, often supplemented by community resources and user forums.
The technical support by Oracle is good.
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides a stable, secure, and well-supported platform for enterprise workloads, with powerful management tools and robust support for clustering, cloud, and containers.
The customer support is good; whenever we have opened a case, they have provided detailed explanations of the issues and resolutions.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Oracle Solaris offers robust scalability and adaptability, excelling in both vertical and horizontal scaling for large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.0
SUSE Linux Enterprise is scalable, easy to maintain, cloud-compatible, and reliable, although some package compatibility issues exist.
Regarding vertical scalability, Oracle Solaris is probably one of the most scalable operating systems in the industry.
Its scalability is quite good since we are using Azure, which allows us to easily scale up or down our resources as needed.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is widely recognized for its strong scalability, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to global enterprises.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Oracle Solaris is renowned for its high stability, reliable security, and minimal crash occurrences compared to other operating systems.
Sentiment score
7.9
SUSE Linux Enterprise is stable and reliable, with occasional glitches, especially in newer versions or specific configurations.
When HANA is utilized by many applications, I notice that while utilization does increase, we have never faced lagging or server unresponsiveness.
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle Solaris users seek better compatibility, modernization, open-source support, and enhanced documentation, with improved interfaces akin to Linux.
Users of SUSE Linux Enterprise face challenges with updates, integration, costs, support, and seek improved documentation and features.
Oracle is going to discontinue it, so I do not think any improvement is possible in Oracle Solaris.
Oracle Solaris needs to improve its compatibility with office tools like Excel.
Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.
The license we subscribed to should carry over within the same instance family.
We face difficulties troubleshooting issues without sufficient resources.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Oracle Solaris competitive yet costly, valuing integration and security but noting complex licensing and setup expenses.
SUSE Linux pricing is mixed, affordable compared to Red Hat, but costs increase with support and add-ons.
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
Upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
The licensing cost is a bit high.
 

Valuable Features

Oracle Solaris excels in virtualization, security, and performance with features like Zones and ZFS, offering reliable cloud readiness.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is praised for seamless upgrades, YaST management, Oracle/SAP support, security, performance, and BTRFS flexibility.
The operating system is lightweight, which makes it easier to use on an average computer compared to systems like Windows.
Additionally, regarding security, you do not have to implement any antivirus software.
It has a stable and reliable OS.
SUSE Linux had a clean user interface, which was a valuable feature for me.
The best features SUSE Linux Enterprise offers include a streamlined installation process with the YaST installer, thorough documentation, and tools such as AutoYaST that enable automated, repeatable deployment.
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 1.9%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 6.4%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SUSE Linux Enterprise6.4%
Oracle Solaris1.9%
Other91.7%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Prabir Kumar Kundu - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience robust performance and security for large organizations
For big organizations who look for performance, better security, and better manageability, I usually recommend Oracle Solaris. It is not recommended for smaller organizations because you need a specialized person to manage this operating system. Linux can be managed by anybody. However, maintaining Oracle Solaris, creating clusters, and tuning at the OS level needs a specialized resource. Smaller organizations may not have those resources, or it will be too costly for them to maintain. Everybody is moving towards the cloud. I am not sure how they are going to do that because it is going to be a dead product already compared to its competitors. I would recommend Oracle Linux instead of Oracle Solaris now. On a scale of 1-10, I rate Oracle Solaris a 9.
MoezCHEBBI - PeerSpot reviewer
Has delivered expert training and enabled smooth migrations using automated deployment tools
SUSE Linux Enterprise is a mature and reliable platform, but there are areas where it can be improved. Modernizing the system management tools is important as many users appreciate YaST for its centralized management, but there is a growing demand for more modern, web-based, and modular tools. The introduction of tools such as Agama, a web-based installer, and Cockpit in newer releases is a step in the right direction.SUSE has made progress with multi-Linux support, allowing organizations to manage and support not just SUSE systems but also other distributions such as Red Hat and CentOS; continuing to expand these capabilities, especially for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, will help organizations manage diverse infrastructure more effectively. Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

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.
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
We are facing an issue with licensing usage. The subscription does not carry over within the same instance family, so upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The functionality is good, but the licensing subscription model needs improvement. The license we subscribed to should carry over within the same instance family. Why are we required to re-subscrib...
 

Also Known As

Solaris 11, Solaris
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Siemens, IVV
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, ...
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Solaris vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.