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Oracle Solaris vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 11, 2026

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
4.6
Oracle Solaris offers high ROI with stability, integration, reduced downtime, performance boosts, and cost benefits, enhancing operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
4.9
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides better ROI and cost savings for SAP deployment than Red Hat, enhancing revenue by 10-15%.
In terms of ROI, there have been performance improvements because Oracle Solaris is lighter.
CIO at Clarinox Technologies
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.
Senior cloud engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.6
Oracle Solaris support is 24/7, efficient yet sometimes slow, with helpful tools and mixed user ratings on effectiveness.
Sentiment score
5.6
SUSE Linux Enterprise support is generally praised for expertise, though experiences vary, with high costs for certain interactions.
The technical support by Oracle is good.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
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.
Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl
I rate the customer service 10 out of 10 because SUSE has 24/7 availability support, extended support, security, multi-Linux distribution support, upgradation, and everything is user-friendly.
Devops MAnager at DXC Technology
The customer support is good; whenever we have opened a case, they have provided detailed explanations of the issues and resolutions.
Senior cloud engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.1
Oracle Solaris excels in scalable performance, efficiently handling extensive workloads with robust file systems and virtualization, despite hardware dependencies.
Sentiment score
6.0
SUSE Linux Enterprise is praised for its strong scalability, ease of maintenance, cloud compatibility, but faces some kernel issues.
Currently, we are using it more for horizontal scalability to run a large number of workloads on the same physical system using the built-in virtualization technologies such as LDOMs and zones.
System specialist at Savecore
SUSE Linux Enterprise is widely recognized for its strong scalability, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to global enterprises.
Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl
Its scalability is quite good since we are using Azure, which allows us to easily scale up or down our resources as needed.
Senior cloud engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Oracle Solaris is highly stable and secure, with rare crashes and minimal disruptions, making it ideal for reliable operations.
Sentiment score
7.9
SUSE Linux Enterprise is praised for its stability and reliability, with occasional minor issues in newer versions and Hyper-V.
The servers work properly, provide alerts for high CPU and memory usage, but do not encounter CPU or memory issues.
Senior cloud engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I would rate stability for SUSE Linux Enterprise an eight out of ten.
Solution specialist Data and AI at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle Solaris needs improvements in hardware support, GUI, training, cost reduction, integration, package management, and open-source tool support.
SUSE Linux Enterprise requires improvements in package management, security policies, cloud integration, UI, documentation, licensing, and support services.
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 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
Oracle Solaris needs to improve its compatibility with office tools like Excel.
CIO at Clarinox Technologies
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.
Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl
The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications.
Lead Desktop Support Technician at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The license we subscribed to should carry over within the same instance family.
IT Manager at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Oracle Solaris pricing complex; it's beneficial for performance but costly compared to Linux, with desired pricing improvements.
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides flexible pricing, emphasizing support over licensing, with mixed affordability perceptions but justified by scalability and support.
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
CIO at Clarinox Technologies
I would rate pricing for SUSE Linux Enterprise considering one is a high price and ten is a low price.
Solution specialist Data and AI at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
IT Manager at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The licensing cost is a bit high.
Senior cloud engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

Oracle Solaris offers superior virtualization, security, performance, ZFS features, and seamless Oracle integration, praised for stability and reliability.
SUSE Linux Enterprise excels in stability, security, easy administration, cost-effectiveness, and adaptability, ideal for enterprise workloads.
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
The operating system is lightweight, which makes it easier to use on an average computer compared to systems like Windows.
CIO at Clarinox Technologies
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.
Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl
The LVM is very easy to configure, along with simple disk scanning compared to other systems.
Senior cloud engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
SUSE has a high availability cluster with syncing, and in production environments where zero downtime is expected, the high availability SAP cluster helps us to keep production up 24/7.
Devops MAnager at DXC Technology
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
53
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
6.4
Number of Reviews
36
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 Oracle Solaris is 1.9%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 5.4%, down from 7.8% 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 Enterprise5.4%
Oracle Solaris1.9%
Other92.7%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

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.
MoezCHEBBI - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Lead DevOps Engineer at Kyndryl
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
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise22
 

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?
I would rate pricing for SUSE Linux Enterprise considering one is a high price and ten is a low price.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
SUSE can make improvements to SUSE Linux Enterprise. I have suggestions about what they can add to the product to simplify users' lives. They need to intensely work on their marketing strategy.
 

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: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.