Debian vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comparison

Debian and Red Hat are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. Debian is ranked #15 with an average rating of 9.0, while Red Hat is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. Debian holds a 4.7% mindshare in OSB, compared to Red Hat’s 8.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Debian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

Debian

Read 4 Debian reviews

2,331 Views
2,238 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Read 366 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) reviews

18,866 Views
18,489 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Debian

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 21, 2025

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Debian are competitors in the enterprise Linux market. RHEL often leads with structured support and reliability, making it more appealing despite its higher price, whereas Debian's flexibility and cost-effectiveness make it attractive for cost-conscious users.

Features: RHEL offers comprehensive security, certified hardware compatibility, and enterprise-ready applications, benefiting businesses focusing on security and support. Debian features a vast software repository, stability, and robustness, attracting developers and tech-savvy users seeking an open-source platform.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: RHEL’s streamlined deployment and professional customer support facilitate smooth rollouts and issue resolution. Debian provides highly customizable deployment to fit different infrastructures but requires more technical expertise, relying on community-centric support.

Pricing and ROI: RHEL involves significant costs but ensures high ROI for businesses needing premium support and compliance. Debian offers no-cost installation, enhancing ROI for startups or businesses looking to minimize expenses while accepting community-driven support.

To learn more, read our detailed Operating Systems (OS) for Business Report (Updated: November 2025).

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Operating Systems (OS) for Business

November 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

Debian

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

15th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

366

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Debian is 4.7%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 8.3%, down from 11.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	8.3%
Debian	4.7%
Other	87.0%

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

Sabry Tarek

DevOps Technology Lead at TriStratus Ltd

Has supported daily deployment of critical infrastructure and boosted productivity through robust community resources

The best features Debian offers are stability and the documentation. Debian's stability helps me in my daily work because my work relies on stability; I'm trying to deploy production workloads, and Debian offers that stability for me. In addition to the documentation, I can find any part under Debian documentation versus other Linux distros, so it gives me comfort to go through all options. Debian has positively impacted my organization because it is one of the oldest Linux or GNU/Linux distros, which I believe has the biggest community compared to other Linux distros, so we have a lot of brains.

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Bruce Lundberg

Linux HPC Systems Administrator at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Reliable patch management, high uptime, and incredible knowledge base

In terms of security, it does a lot of things that most people still turn off. SELinux is turned on by default. They have pretty good firewall rules in their defaults. The audit rules always take tweaking, but, overall, it comes out of the box not too bad. I used to write scripts to harden them from there. There are multiple ways to provision and patch. You have everything from local repositories to doing it by hand. Their knowledge base is incredible. There is so much information out there. It has never taken me longer than 30 minutes to find an answer to anything, even very tough ones. One company I worked for was a security company, and we did a lot of patching on everything. It was designed around security and email hosting, and uptime was pretty much whatever we wanted it to be. I have had a couple of times when the uptime was bad, but it was caused by a third-party solution. In fact, the Norton antivirus was definitely the worst. Red Hat had nothing to do with it.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The best features Debian offers are its low weight, lightweight architecture, and faster response to services."

"Debian's stability helps me in my daily work because my work relies on stability; I'm trying to deploy production workloads, and Debian offers that stability for me."

"Debian offers the best features in that it is open source, simple, and battle-tested, with a good release cycle."

"Debian is the most straightforward and compatible option, which greatly simplifies our engineers' tasks."

"One of the main reasons we chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux was its reliability and stability. Compared to the Microsoft Windows environment, the Linux environment provided much greater stability."

"I like RHEL's clustering capabilities and high-level architecture. It has high availability, built-in disaster recovery, SSH features, and scripting."

"It helps our customers save money and do things quickly."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a stable operating system, and OpenShift enhances efficiency with a built-in Ingress controller, unlike some managed Kubernetes services."

"It is a stable solution."

"Since we started recommending and our clients started using it, I can see the cost-to-performance ratio go up by over 50%."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux's built-in security features are very good."

"The security, ongoing support, and ease of taking a system and getting authorization from a government agency have helped the way our organization functions."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pros

Cons

"I cannot say that I have seen a return on investment with Debian because I am a DevOps engineer, and it is my job to do this."

"It seems there should be a more deterministic way to do that. It does seem that you are running a lot of random install scripts to install things or relying on another two or three package management services, so there could be better software installation methods."

"I wish the company responsible for Debian would send communications about updates and new features to keep people informed and to give Debian the recognition and praise that it deserves."

"I believe Debian can be improved by adding more containerization features out of the box, and it should make some updates when it comes to the UI."

"Some libraries supported by others, such as Oracle, are not supported by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Especially in terms of Java, as now Java is with Oracle, if the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system could align with those libraries, it would be helpful for end-users, eliminating the need to figure out which library is causing issues."

"I really think that the upgrade policies between the major versions, like from from RHEL 5 to RHEL 6, should be much easier, similar to what is in place for upgrading from RHEL 6 to RHEL 6.8."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux should provide more training because many people are not very familiar with Linux's user interface."

"The solution should provide demos so that users can learn to use it and improve their environments."

"The package compatibility between different releases is a little confusing sometimes."

"The customer service and technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are okay; I would rate it a five out of ten."

"I'm not certain if Red Hat could smooth out the migration process from CentOS to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). I think it's more internal stuff that needs to be ironed out rather than Red Hat having issues."

"I would like Insight to include some features from OpenSCAP, which they offer for compliance services. I played with it a little bit, but haven't gotten the updated setup to get that. It creates excellent documentation."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"This is a cost-effective solution."

"That has been mostly handled by Red Hat. As we are a Red Hat shop, we have a lot of people around that already."

"I like my developer account. The free sixteen licenses that they give with the developer account are great because that gives me the ability to keep using it at home instead of trying CentOS or something like that."

"I'm unsure what the standard RHEL license costs for one machine. We pay for premium support that guarantees a response in two hours."

"We get our licenses directly through Red Hat."

"The pricing is fair. The workstation licensing cost is fair. If you're running enterprise-level deployments, depending on what you're using, the volume licensing is good. I personally am worried that if they get so successful, they can increase the price, and then it won't matter because we'll be stuck on them. Hopefully, their open source mentality keeps that from happening. Where it's right now is good."

"It's expensive."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux is quite expensive, particularly its technical support, which can cost $500 per hour."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user281973

Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 24, 2017

It's improved our company's system environments that run Oracle databases.

Red Hat is mission critical to our environment Red Hat has improved the mission critical environments running Oracle databases, while CentOS has improved our web environment and MySQL. Oracle and SAP Environment and all HPC environments. 10 years No issues Very stable i don´t find any problem…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Educational Organization

Media Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	83
Midsize Enterprise	47
Large Enterprise	249

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is fantastic. It is an inexpensive solution that has excellent security, performance, and stability, and also lots of features. I specifically like that the solution has fe...

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What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that I strongly believe Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers a good relationship between value and price, and despite it being quite pric...

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Also Known As

Debian 12

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for AWS

Overview

Debian is a reliable open-source operating system ideal for servers and desktops. With its wide array of packages and stable releases, it suits developers and organizations seeking dependable performance and security.

Debian stands out for its stability and extensive package repository, making it a go-to choice for developers. Its open-source nature ensures transparency and flexibility. Debian's package management system, APT, simplifies software installation and updates. Its security updates are regular and prompt, ensuring systems are protected. With support for multiple architectures, Debian caters to various environments from desktops to large-scale servers.

What are the key features of Debian?

Package Management: APT tool for efficient software installation and updates.
Security: Regular security updates maintain robust protection.
Open Source: Community-driven with transparency and flexibility.
Architecture Support: Compatibility with diverse hardware systems.
Stability: Reliable performance across server and desktop configurations.

What benefits and ROI should be considered in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Free distribution reduces expenses.
Performance: Stable and reliable for demanding applications.
Customizability: Open-source nature allows tailored solutions.
Community Support: Extensive community for troubleshooting and advice.

Debian is widely used in industries such as web hosting, scientific research, and education, where reliability and long-term support are priorities. Its flexibility allows it to be adapted for specialized applications in scientific computing or educational environments, ensuring it meets industry-specific technical requirements.

Debian

Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers stability, security, and support for mission-critical applications with robust tools and scalable architecture, ideal for diverse environments and hybrid cloud compatibility.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides organizations with a reliable platform ideal for high-performance computing and virtualization. Known for its robust security and seamless network administration, it integrates well with OpenShift and Ansible, ensuring adaptability and scalability. Despite challenges with documentation, upgrade complexity, and cost, RHEL remains a formidable choice thanks to its comprehensive documentation and extensive community support.

What are the key features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Stability and Security: Maintains high stability and advanced security measures, critical for enterprise environments.
Extensive Support: Offers robust support through community and documentation, assisting with problem-solving and integration.
Automation with Ansible: Simplifies tasks and enhances efficiency, optimizing operations across the infrastructure.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Supports cloud environments, enabling flexibility and strategic deployments.
Scalable Architecture: Adapts to different workloads, making it suitable for growing organizational demands.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Reliable Performance: Ensures consistent and secure operations across diverse environments, including cloud infrastructure.
Efficient Management: Centralized operations make it easy to manage enterprise workloads effectively.
Community and Documentation: Access to a strong community and comprehensive documentation aids in resolving issues.
Integration Capabilities: Easily integrates with technologies like OpenShift and SAP, enhancing operational versatility.
Adaptability: Supports a wide range of environments and technical requirements, improving strategic deployment.

Organizations across industries like financial services, telecommunications, and application hosting implement Red Hat Enterprise Linux for server and application management. Its compatibility with technologies such as SAP, Oracle, and Ansible supports functions including web, database, and enterprise solutions, ensuring stable and secure performance in high-pressure environments.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Travel Channel, Mohawk Industries, Hilti, Molecular Health, Exolgan, Hotelplan Group, Emory University, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, HCA Healthcare, Paychex, UPS, Intermountain Healthcare, Brinker International, TransUnion, Union Bank, CA Technologies

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November 2025

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