Alternatives to Debian logo

Alternatives to Debian

Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, Linux Mint, and Arch Linux are the most popular alternatives and competitors to Debian.
16K
164

What is Debian and what are its top alternatives?

Debian is a popular Unix-like operating system known for its stability, security, and vast software repositories. It is a community-driven project that is free to use and open source. Debian uses the apt package manager for easy software installation and updates. However, its release cycle can be slow compared to other distributions, and it is often considered more suitable for servers than for desktop use.

  1. Ubuntu: Ubuntu is based on Debian but provides a more user-friendly experience with regular releases and additional support options. Key features include a wide range of software applications, long-term support releases, and a focus on ease of use. However, some users may find Ubuntu to be less stable than Debian.
  2. CentOS: CentOS is a free and open-source operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is known for its stability and security, making it a popular choice for servers. However, CentOS has a slower release cycle compared to Debian, and some users may find it less user-friendly.
  3. Fedora: Fedora is a community-driven distribution sponsored by Red Hat, providing the latest features and technologies. Key features include a focus on innovation, regular updates, and a user-friendly experience. However, Fedora has a shorter support cycle compared to Debian.
  4. OpenSUSE: OpenSUSE is a flexible and user-friendly distribution known for its robust package management system. Key features include YaST configuration tool, rolling releases, and a large software repository. However, OpenSUSE may not be as stable as Debian for mission-critical systems.
  5. Arch Linux: Arch Linux is a lightweight and customizable distribution aimed at experienced users. Key features include a minimalist design, rolling release model, and the Arch User Repository for additional packages. However, Arch Linux requires more manual configuration compared to Debian.
  6. Manjaro: Manjaro is based on Arch Linux but provides a more user-friendly experience with pre-installed software and drivers. Key features include an intuitive installer, rolling releases, and access to the Arch User Repository. However, some users may find Manjaro less stable than Debian.
  7. Gentoo: Gentoo is a source-based Linux distribution known for its flexibility and performance optimization. Key features include a customizable build process, rolling releases, and a large selection of packages. However, Gentoo requires more advanced technical knowledge compared to Debian.
  8. Mageia: Mageia is a community-driven distribution focused on simplicity and stability. Key features include user-friendly tools, regular updates, and a large software repository. However, Mageia may not have as extensive package selection as Debian.
  9. Slackware: Slackware is one of the oldest Linux distributions known for its simplicity and stability. Key features include a minimalist design, manual configuration options, and a focus on adherence to Unix principles. However, Slackware may not be as user-friendly as Debian for beginners.
  10. MX Linux: MX Linux is a lightweight and efficient distribution based on Debian with additional enhancements. Key features include the MX Tools for system management, a user-friendly installer, and a fast and responsive desktop environment. However, some users may prefer the pure Debian experience without additional modifications.

Top Alternatives to Debian

  • Ubuntu
    Ubuntu

    Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers. ...

  • Fedora
    Fedora

    Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. Fedora is the largest of many free software creations of the Fedora Project. Because of its predominance, the word "Fedora" is often used interchangeably to mean both the Fedora Project and the Fedora operating system. ...

  • CentOS
    CentOS

    The CentOS Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on delivering a robust open source ecosystem. For users, we offer a consistent manageable platform that suits a wide variety of deployments. For open source communities, we offer a solid, predictable base to build upon, along with extensive resources to build, test, release, and maintain their code. ...

  • Linux Mint
    Linux Mint

    The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use. ...

  • Arch Linux
    Arch Linux

    A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

  • openSUSE
    openSUSE

    The openSUSE project is a worldwide effort that promotes the use of Linux everywhere. openSUSE creates one of the world's best Linux distributions, working together in an open, transparent and friendly manner as part of the worldwide Free and Open Source Software community. ...

  • Linux
    Linux

    A clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance. ...

  • Raspbian
    Raspbian

    It is optimized for the Raspberry Pi hardware. It provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 35,000 packages, pre-compiled software bundled in a nice format for easy installation on your Raspberry Pi. ...

Debian alternatives & related posts

Ubuntu logo

Ubuntu

78.5K
57.9K
468
The leading OS for PC, tablet, phone and cloud
78.5K
57.9K
+ 1
468
PROS OF UBUNTU
  • 230
    Free to use
  • 96
    Easy setup for testing discord bot
  • 57
    Gateway Linux Distro
  • 54
    Simple interface
  • 9
    Don't need driver installation in most cases
  • 6
    Open Source
  • 6
    Many active communities
  • 3
    Software Availability
  • 3
    Easy to custom
  • 2
    Many flavors/distros based on ubuntu
  • 1
    Lightweight container base OS
  • 1
    Great OotB Linux Shell Experience
CONS OF UBUNTU
  • 5
    Demanding system requirements
  • 4
    Adds overhead and unnecessary complexity over Debian
  • 2
    Snapd installed by default
  • 1
    Systemd

related Ubuntu posts

CDG

I use Laravel because it's the most advances PHP framework out there, easy to maintain, easy to upgrade and most of all : easy to get a handle on, and to follow every new technology ! PhpStorm is our main software to code, as of simplicity and full range of tools for a modern application.

Google Analytics Analytics of course for a tailored analytics, Bulma as an innovative CSS framework, coupled with our Sass (Scss) pre-processor.

As of more basic stuff, we use HTML5, JavaScript (but with Vue.js too) and Webpack to handle the generation of all this.

To deploy, we set up Buddy to easily send the updates on our nginx / Ubuntu server, where it will connect to our GitHub Git private repository, pull and do all the operations needed with Deployer .

CloudFlare ensure the rapidity of distribution of our content, and Let's Encrypt the https certificate that is more than necessary when we'll want to sell some products with our Stripe api calls.

Asana is here to let us list all the functionalities, possibilities and ideas we want to implement.

See more
Tassanai Singprom

This is my stack in Application & Data

JavaScript PHP HTML5 jQuery Redis Amazon EC2 Ubuntu Sass Vue.js Firebase Laravel Lumen Amazon RDS GraphQL MariaDB

My Utilities Tools

Google Analytics Postman Elasticsearch

My Devops Tools

Git GitHub GitLab npm Visual Studio Code Kibana Sentry BrowserStack

My Business Tools

Slack

See more
Fedora logo

Fedora

607
510
96
Operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project
607
510
+ 1
96
PROS OF FEDORA
  • 23
    Great for developers
  • 10
    Represents the future of rhel/centos
  • 10
    Great integration with system tools
  • 10
    Good release schedule
  • 8
    Reliable
  • 6
    Fast
  • 5
    Has SeLinux
  • 5
    Docker integration
  • 4
    Awesome community
  • 4
    Updated with Bleeding-edge software
  • 4
    Latest packages
  • 3
    Great for ops teams
  • 2
    Python distribution
  • 2
    Complies with International Standard
CONS OF FEDORA
  • 3
    Bugs get fixed slowly from kernel side
  • 2
    Much less support from Wiki
  • 2
    Systemd
  • 2
    Boring
  • 1
    Less packages in official repository
  • 1
    A bit complicated
  • 1
    Learning curve for new users
  • 0
    Slightly difficult to install for beginners

related Fedora posts

Tim Abbott
Shared insights
on
DebianDebianUbuntuUbuntuFedoraFedora
at

We use Debian and its derivative Ubuntu because the apt ecosystem and toolchain for Debian packages is far superior to the yum-based system used by Fedora and RHEL. This is large part due to a huge amount of investment into tools like debhelper/dh over the years by the Debian community. I haven't dealt with RPM in the last couple years, but every experience I've had with RPM is that the RPM tools are slower, have less useful options, and it's more work to package software for them (and one makes more compromises in doing so).

I think everyone has seen the better experience using Ubuntu in the shift of prevalence from RHEL to Ubuntu in what most new companies are deploying on their servers, and I expect that trend to continue as long as Red Hat is using the RPM system (and I don't really see them as having a path to migrate).

The experience with Ubuntu and Debian stable releases is pretty similar: A solid release every 2 years that's supported for a few years. (While Ubuntu in theory releases every 6 months, their non-LTS releases are effectively betas: They're often unstable, only have 9 months of support, etc. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone not actively participating in Ubuntu the development community). Ubuntu has better integration of non-free drivers, which may be important if you have hardware that requires them. But it's also the case that most bugs I experience when using Ubuntu are Ubuntu-specific issues, especially on servers (in part because Ubuntu has a bunch of "cloud management" stuff pre-installed that is definitely a regression if you're not using Canonical's cloud management products).

See more
Marcel Kornegoor

Since #ATComputing is a vendor independent Linux and open source specialist, we do not have a favorite Linux distribution. We mainly use Ubuntu , Centos Debian , Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora during our daily work. These are also the distributions we see most often used in our customers environments.

For our #ci/cd training, we use an open source pipeline that is build around Visual Studio Code , Jenkins , VirtualBox , GitHub , Docker Kubernetes and Google Compute Engine.

For #ServerConfigurationAndAutomation, we have embraced and contributed to Ansible mainly because it is not only flexible and powerful, but also straightforward and easier to learn than some other (open source) solutions. On the other hand: we are not affraid of Puppet Labs and Chef either.

Currently, our most popular #programming #Language course is Python . The reason Python is so popular has to do with it's versatility, but also with its low complexity. This helps sysadmins to write scripts or simple programs to make their job less repetitive and automating things more fun. Python is also widely used to communicate with (REST) API's and for data analysis.

See more
CentOS logo

CentOS

13.7K
9K
53
The Community ENTerprise Operating System
13.7K
9K
+ 1
53
PROS OF CENTOS
  • 16
    Stable
  • 9
    Free to use
  • 9
    Reliable
  • 6
    Has epel packages
  • 6
    Good support
  • 5
    Great Community
  • 2
    I've moved from gentoo to centos
CONS OF CENTOS
  • 1
    Yum is a horrible package manager

related CentOS posts

Marcel Kornegoor

Since #ATComputing is a vendor independent Linux and open source specialist, we do not have a favorite Linux distribution. We mainly use Ubuntu , Centos Debian , Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora during our daily work. These are also the distributions we see most often used in our customers environments.

For our #ci/cd training, we use an open source pipeline that is build around Visual Studio Code , Jenkins , VirtualBox , GitHub , Docker Kubernetes and Google Compute Engine.

For #ServerConfigurationAndAutomation, we have embraced and contributed to Ansible mainly because it is not only flexible and powerful, but also straightforward and easier to learn than some other (open source) solutions. On the other hand: we are not affraid of Puppet Labs and Chef either.

Currently, our most popular #programming #Language course is Python . The reason Python is so popular has to do with it's versatility, but also with its low complexity. This helps sysadmins to write scripts or simple programs to make their job less repetitive and automating things more fun. Python is also widely used to communicate with (REST) API's and for data analysis.

See more
Shared insights
on
UbuntuUbuntuOpenStackOpenStackCentOSCentOS
at

Hello guys

I am confused between choosing CentOS7 or centos8 for OpenStack tripleo undercloud deployment. Which one should I use? There is another option to use OpenStack, Ubuntu, or MicroStack.

We wanted to use this deployment to build our home cloud or private cloud infrastructure. I heard that centOS is always the best choice through a little research, but still not sure. As centos8 from Redhat is not supported for OpenStack tripleo deployments anymore, I had to upgrade to CentosStream.

See more
Linux Mint logo

Linux Mint

279
385
69
The most popular desktop Linux distribution and the 3rd most widely used home operating system behind Microsoft Windows...
279
385
+ 1
69
PROS OF LINUX MINT
  • 15
    Simple, Fast, Comfort and Easy to Use
  • 14
    Stable
  • 12
    Elegant
  • 11
    Good for beginners
  • 10
    Free to use
  • 3
    Out of the box
  • 3
    Reliable
  • 1
    Good software support
CONS OF LINUX MINT
  • 3
    Easy to mess up with a few settings (like the panel)
  • 2
    Security breaches
  • 1
    Idiots can break it because it is open source

related Linux Mint posts

Arch Linux logo

Arch Linux

556
551
108
A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.
556
551
+ 1
108
PROS OF ARCH LINUX
  • 17
    Large Community
  • 15
    Package Manager
  • 13
    Customizable
  • 12
    Rolling Release
  • 11
    Arch User Repository
  • 11
    Bleeding Edge
  • 10
    Extensive Documentation
  • 8
    Arch Build System
  • 7
    X86_64 architecture supported
  • 4
    Can fix bugs yourself if you know how to
CONS OF ARCH LINUX
  • 4
    Systemd only
  • 3
    Only X86_64 architecture is offically supported
  • 1
    No Guided Installation
  • 1
    System maintenance
  • 1
    Unstable
  • 1
    Comparatively fewer offically supported packages

related Arch Linux posts

Denys
Software engineer at Typeform · | 13 upvotes · 1.9M views
  • Go because it's easy and simple, facilitates collaboration , and also it's fast, scalable, powerful.
  • Visual Studio Code because it has one of the most sophisticated Go language support plugins.
  • Vim because it's Vim
  • Git because it's Git
  • Docker and Docker Compose because it's quick and easy to have reproducible builds/tests with them
  • Arch Linux because Docker for Mac/Win is a disaster for the human nervous system, and Arch is the coolest Linux distro so far
  • Stack Overflow because of Copy-Paste Driven Development
  • JavaScript and Python when a something needs to be coded for yesterday
  • PhpStorm because it saves me like 300 "Ctrl+F" key strokes a minute
  • cURL because terminal all the way
See more
Shared insights
on
UbuntuUbuntuLinuxLinuxArch LinuxArch Linux

I once used Ubuntu as my exclusive Linux distro, but then I decided to switch my primary operating system to Arch Linux.

While more difficult to install, Arch Linux offered more flexibility during the installation process which allowed me to customize my system to fit me perfectly. With Ubuntu, instead of installing everything i did want, I had to remove everything that I didn't need.

See more
openSUSE logo

openSUSE

111
160
13
The makers' choice for sysadmins, developers and desktop users
111
160
+ 1
13
PROS OF OPENSUSE
  • 4
    Stable
  • 3
    Lightweight for server
  • 2
    Snapshot
  • 2
    Rolling release
  • 2
    Reliable
CONS OF OPENSUSE
    Be the first to leave a con

    related openSUSE posts

    Linux logo

    Linux

    3K
    2.4K
    41
    A family of free and open source software operating systems based on the Linux kernel
    3K
    2.4K
    + 1
    41
    PROS OF LINUX
    • 17
      Open Source
    • 11
      Free
    • 8
      Reliability
    • 5
      Safe
    CONS OF LINUX
      Be the first to leave a con

      related Linux posts

      I use Visual Studio Code because at this time is a mature software and I can do practically everything using it.

      • It's free and open source: The project is hosted on GitHub and it’s free to download, fork, modify and contribute to the project.

      • Multi-platform: You can download binaries for different platforms, included Windows (x64), MacOS and Linux (.rpm and .deb packages)

      • LightWeight: It runs smoothly in different devices. It has an average memory and CPU usage. Starts almost immediately and it’s very stable.

      • Extended language support: Supports by default the majority of the most used languages and syntax like JavaScript, HTML, C#, Swift, Java, PHP, Python and others. Also, VS Code supports different file types associated to projects like .ini, .properties, XML and JSON files.

      • Integrated tools: Includes an integrated terminal, debugger, problem list and console output inspector. The project navigator sidebar is simple and powerful: you can manage your files and folders with ease. The command palette helps you find commands by text. The search widget has a powerful auto-complete feature to search and find your files.

      • Extensible and configurable: There are many extensions available for every language supported, including syntax highlighters, IntelliSense and code completion, and debuggers. There are also extension to manage application configuration and architecture like Docker and Jenkins.

      • Integrated with Git: You can visually manage your project repositories, pull, commit and push your changes, and easy conflict resolution.( there is support for SVN (Subversion) users by plugin)

      See more
      Rogério R. Alcântara
      Shared insights
      on
      macOSmacOSLinuxLinuxGitGitDockerDocker

      Personal Dotfiles management

      Given that they are all “configuration management” tools - meaning they are designed to deploy, configure and manage servers - what would be the simplest - and yet robust - solution to manage personal dotfiles - for n00bs.

      Ideally, I reckon, it should:

      • be containerized (Docker?)
      • be versionable (Git)
      • ensure idempotency
      • allow full automation (tests, CI/CD, etc.)
      • be fully recoverable (Linux/ macOS)
      • be easier to setup/manage (as much as possible)

      Does it make sense?

      See more
      Raspbian logo

      Raspbian

      139
      178
      10
      A free operating system based on Debian
      139
      178
      + 1
      10
      PROS OF RASPBIAN
      • 7
        Runs well on rpi
      • 2
        Easy to use with little experience
      • 1
        Very Lightweight
      CONS OF RASPBIAN
      • 4
        Desktop enviroment is unstable
      • 1
        Uses ARMHF architecture, not commonly supported

      related Raspbian posts