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Rocky Linux vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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
Rocky Linux saves time and costs by reducing licensing fees, server maintenance, and deployment issues, with strong community support.
Sentiment score
4.9
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides better ROI and cost savings for SAP deployment than Red Hat, enhancing revenue by 10-15%.
When it comes to return on investment, a lot of money is saved since we moved from a purchased license to the open source provided by Rocky Linux.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
We save time through fewer environment-related issues and more consistent QA and deployment processes.
Senior Technical Lead QA at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
ROI has been good as we have significant open source community involvement.
Technical Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
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
4.8
Rocky Linux is reliable and user-friendly, with active community support and effective documentation facilitating self-support and problem-solving.
Sentiment score
5.6
SUSE Linux Enterprise support is generally praised for expertise, though experiences vary, with high costs for certain interactions.
The support level is extraordinary, providing on-time assistance.
Senior System Engineer at Al Jazeera Media Network
We have not yet needed to contact a vendor regarding Rocky Linux.
Senior Network Engineer at KLC bvba
Even if we raise a support ticket, we receive a resolution or a reply from the team within two business days.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
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
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
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
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.9
Rocky Linux excels in scalable environments with stability, automation compatibility, and user-friendly management of non-responsive servers.
Sentiment score
6.0
SUSE Linux Enterprise is praised for its strong scalability, ease of maintenance, cloud compatibility, but faces some kernel issues.
Even if the server is not responding and we want to attach the volume on another instance or a temporary instance, it is very easy and straightforward with no hiccups.
CloudOps Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
It has handled growth or changing needs well.
System Administrator at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Particularly in virtualized and containerized environments, allowing us to scale resources without introducing major OS-level issues.
Senior Technical Lead QA at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
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
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Rocky Linux is stable, user-friendly, and efficient on low-resource systems, highly rated for QA and development workloads.
Sentiment score
7.9
SUSE Linux Enterprise is praised for its stability and reliability, with occasional minor issues in newer versions and Hyper-V.
Rocky Linux is stable, scalable, and it is very much easier to use.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Rocky Linux is stable.
Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Rocky Linux is stable and reliable for workloads, especially for QA and development environments.
Senior Technical Lead QA at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
When HANA is utilized by many applications, I notice that while utilization does increase, we have never faced lagging or server unresponsiveness.
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

Rocky Linux needs improved software components, faster updates, better documentation, Windows integration, and enhanced cloud-native and virtual machine support.
SUSE Linux Enterprise requires improvements in package management, security policies, cloud integration, UI, documentation, licensing, and support services.
It is based on customer requirements, as they might want to use Rocky Linux or Ubuntu, depending on their needs.
System Engineer at clusterkit
Rocky Linux could be improved by having more integration with Kubernetes.
Linux architect at European Commission
Currently, it takes more than one month to release a new package or kernel, so speeding that up would help reduce reported vulnerability remediations.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
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

Rocky Linux is praised for cost-effectiveness and stability, without licensing fees, ideal for budget-friendly enterprise deployment.
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides flexible pricing, emphasizing support over licensing, with mixed affordability perceptions but justified by scalability and support.
We switched to Rocky Linux because of the license price, and in our business, we don't need to have a higher cost as that is not a good idea.
Network Infrastructure Manager at SAGEMCOM
There is no extra cost for a license if we are purchasing Rocky Linux from the AWS Marketplace.
CloudOps Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Rocky Linux is free, and I can download it and deploy it in whatever environment I have, whether it be H3C, VMware, or Hyper-V.
Server & Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
IT Manager at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees
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
The licensing cost is a bit high.
Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

Rocky Linux offers stability, quick setup, and RHEL compatibility, ideal for production with strong community support and security features.
SUSE Linux Enterprise excels in stability, security, easy administration, cost-effectiveness, and adaptability, ideal for enterprise workloads.
Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization, specifically through cost savings, because we did not have to buy any licenses or extra licenses of other distros, such as Oracle or Red Hat.
IT / IAM Senior Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
For production deployment, Rocky Linux is a great choice because it offers full RHEL compatibility without licensing costs, along with strong community support.
CloudOps Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released.
Linux architect at European Commission
SUSE Linux had a clean user interface, which was a valuable feature for me.
Lead Desktop Support Technician at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
It has a stable and reliable OS.
IT Manager at a wellness & fitness company with 5,001-10,000 employees
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
 

Categories and Ranking

Rocky Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
13th
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 November 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Rocky Linux is 5.9%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 4.0%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Rocky Linux5.9%
SUSE Linux Enterprise4.0%
Other90.1%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

BasilJiji - PeerSpot reviewer
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Has supported critical applications and reduced infrastructure costs through community-driven updates
To improve Rocky Linux, providing releases for each package, firmware, and kernel more quickly would be beneficial. Currently, it takes more than one month to release a new package or kernel, so speeding that up would help reduce reported vulnerability remediations. Documenting the frequently asked questions and related issues in a PDF or Word document would be helpful so that everybody can refer to them, eliminating the need to post a question and wait for a reply, thus reducing time delay. Currently, there aren't many needed improvements, only the support aspect needs a little improvement. Everything else is going well and smoothly.
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
Comms Service Provider
18%
University
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Rocky Linux?
Rocky Linux could improve its documentation and onboarding for newer users, especially around troubleshooting SELinux and system configuration. The documentation and example configurations regardin...
What is your primary use case for Rocky Linux?
My main use case for Rocky Linux is for QA and development, such as setting up environments, running automated test suites, validating services, and troubleshooting application behavior in a RHEL c...
What advice do you have for others considering Rocky Linux?
I would improve the documentation, troubleshooting tools, and integration guidance for modern DevOps, container, and AI workloads. Better migration guides and more real-world examples would also he...
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.
What is your primary use case for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
I understand your point regarding my current use case for SUSE Linux Enterprise. I want to know if the purchase process is mostly directly from SUSE or through the AWS Marketplace, and what ways I ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3
 

Overview

 

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, ...
Find out what your peers are saying about Rocky Linux vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.